Kickstarter

As smartphones get smaller, flatter, sleeker, and shinier, they also get harder to hold onto. The HandAble holder is one way to avoid developing a smartphone death grip.

The accessory market is a crowded one, but HandAble is just clever enough and simple enough to warrant a look. It attaches to the back of the phone and consists of a retractable disk that you slip your fingers under, keeping the phone snug against your hand.

HandAble is the brain child of Aaron Block, a 78-year-old inventor. The accessory was originally a Kickstarter project, but one that failed to reach its funding goal. An unfunded Kickstarter project doesn't mean the idea has to die. HandAble is proof of that.… Read more

For the most part, keyboards just aren't very exciting. They sit there and go clickety-clack. What if you want a keyboard that goes squish-squash or splish-splash? Then you turn to the MaKey MaKey Invention Kit.

MaKey MaKey is a kit that turns just about any object into a touchpad. It consists of a circuit board and a set of alligator clips.

Clip those clips onto fruit, people, or pieces of bread. Even pencil markings can work. Open up a Web site or a program, plug the board into your computer's USB port, and you're good to go.… Read more

There's a very interesting sociological experiment going on over on Kickstarter right now, where the Pebble smart team watch has unwittingly tested the old notion that you can't have too much of a good thing. Apparently, though, you can.

That's right -- Pebble doesn't want any more of your money. It's drowning in cash. Earlier this week, with 75,000 watches already spoken for, it announced that only 10,000 more would be made available in exchange for a pledge of cash (essentially a preorder). Now they're all gone. All reward levels that would earn supporters their own smart watch are now all sold out.… Read more

NEW ORLEANS--Paying for goods or services at the checkout counter with your phone is the holy grail of mobile payments, something Google, the credit card companies, and the wireless providers are all trying to figure out.

But until that goes mainstream, startup iCache has a pretty novel approach for people who want to leave their wallet at home. The company's Geode product acts as both an iPhone cover and digital wallet, while packing a single programmable smart card.

It works like this: a user enters in their debit and credit card information through an included mag stripe reader, which … Read more

I'm looking at my guitar sitting on a stand in the corner of the room. It just looks so plain. If only it had screaming LED lights blazing along the neck and lighting up as I shred my way through a folksy murder ballad.

My imaginary light show could soon become reality with NeckFX, a Kickstarter project that aims to turn regular guitar necks into finger-triggered light shows.… Read more

The Pebble smartwatch is the hottest thing going...that no one can get their hands on yet. The "e-paper watch for iPhone and Android" won't even be available in prototype form until August, but already it's landed its first partner -- the fitness tracking app RunKeeper.

According to a post on the RunKeeper blog, the app's users had been clamoring for Pebble support, so when RunKeepers creators were approached about a partnership, they jumped at the chance:… Read more

Much has been made of Apple CEO Tim Cook recently dismissing the idea of Apple releasing a MacBook-iPad hybrid device, saying such convergence was a "compromise" to the end user.

"You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator," Cook said, "but those things are probably not going be pleasing to the user."

Well, the folks behind the Brydge keyboard case, a Kickstarter project that makes your iPad look and act more like a MacBook Air and has already raised more than $400,000 since it launched last week, have posted a chilling video that … Read more

Imagine raising $7 million from nearly 50,000 strangers in a matter of weeks. That's the power of a growing trend toward crowd funding, as demonstrated by the most successful Kickstarter campaign yet.

The Pebble watch syncs with iPhone and Android smartphones to deliver e-mail, text messages, and calendar alerts, among other things. Dubbed the "smart watch," Pebble's journey to becoming the most funded Kickstarter project to date is not exactly a Cinderella story, but it's impressive nonetheless. … Read more

Remember when kids used to play stickball, marbles, and hopscotch instead of iPhone games? Well I don't either. But this Kickstarter project wants to revive a medium of simpler times -- with a modern twist.

The Can is a tin can telephone wired for IP phone use. It has a microphone, a speaker, and a jack for your computer, phone, or tablet so you can pretend you're 7 years old and it's 1939 again.

Aside from its patently ridiculous design, alternately listening to and speaking into The Can seems like more fun than just slapping a regular phone to your skull.

As the video below shows, The Can comes in Commander and Mini editions, with the former featuring an indicator light for missed calls. The Mini, meanwhile, jacks into your cell phone with a TRS connector. … Read more