kickstarter

Kickstarter continues to be the gamer's best friend. The latest project to blow past its goal is GameStick, a sort of Raspberry Pi meets Ouya creation that reached its $100,000 goal by day two of its crowdfunding campaign and has already ladled $70,000 more of green gravy on that figure with 27 days still to go.

GameStick is an open-source, Android-based, portable game console meant to turn any screen with an HDMI port into a gaming hub. The entire system consists of a basic handheld controller with a dongle that slides out to plug into the screen and communicate back to the controller via Bluetooth. … Read more

Want to be able to write directly on your iMac? You may soon have the right tool in hand, if the designers can generate enough cash.

Designed by the minds at Cregle, the iPen 2 is aiming to out-stylus its predecessor with a version for both the iMac and iPad. The current iPen lets you write and draw on the screen but only supports the iPad.

Cregle is trying to drum up the necessary funding for the new iPen via a Kickstarter project looking to bring in $360,000 by February 5.… Read more

I recently put together a new sound system for my living room. With a couple of chunky bookshelf speakers on tall stands, it hardly blends into the vintage expedition decor of the space. I should have held out for a Transparent Speaker.

The Transparent Speaker is a Kickstarter project that looks a bit like a cross between a sound system and a fish tank. It puts all the audio components you need in a glass case. This helps it blend into its surroundings, like an audio system version of a chameleon. … Read more

Too many great iPhone games suffer from digit interruptus: onscreen controls force your thumbs or fingers to block too much of the action. Plus, there's no tactile feedback. meaning you don't get the button-mashing goodness associated with the best console and arcade games.

Developers have proposed a variety of solutions to this problem. For example, ThinkGeek's iCade 8-Bitty gives you a Nintendo-style controller with a D-Pad and lots of buttons -- but it works with only a smattering of games. Plus it's a hassle to carry around.

The upcoming iMpulse controller is small enough to ride … Read more

Great audio can be expensive, but Ben Carter's ambitious Kickstarter project aims to make a serious dent in the price of quality turntables. A $150 pledge secures an Orbit belt-drive turntable, fitted with an Ortofon phono cartridge. As I write this blog, and just a few days after the Kickstarter project was launched, Carter has already passed the halfway mark to reaching his $60,000 goal!

I spoke with Carter on Thursday; he has a background in marketing and consulting, and Bob Hertig is handling the engineering for the project. Orbits will be manufactured by U-Turn Audio in the … Read more

Apple has changed course on a technical specification that recently put a third-party charging accessory out of luck.

The company today said it's now allowing its newer Lightning adapter specification to coexist with the older (yet still quite popular) 30-pin adapter in the same accessory.

"Our technical specifications provide clear guidelines for developing accessories and they are available to MFi licensees for free," Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told CNET. "We support accessories that integrate USB and Lightning connectors, but there were technical issues that prevented accessories from integrating 30-pin and Lightning connectors so our guidelines did … Read more

The technology lab behind a Kickstarter-funded project to build a portable device-charging station announced today that it will refund its crowdfunded $139,170 to donors after Apple refused to license rights to its Lightning connector.

POP, a minimalist portable power station, was billed as "the intersection of charging design" and was expected to feature four retractable cords for charging a variety of devices, including iOS and Android devices. The portable charging station featured a 26,000 mAh battery capable of charging 10 iPhones, according to Junior Edison, the company behind the effort.

In addition to its portable convenience, … Read more

Cyrcle is a bit hard to define. It's a Kickstarter project. It's an augmented-reality device. It's a creature of social media. Its maker Symplio calls it an "intelligent decorative object."

We met Cyrcle's prototype predecessor Rymble last year. The new incarnation is pretty different, though they both share a circular shape and a similar desire to bring social-media notifications into the real world. … Read more

Tablets are dandy just as they come, but sometimes you can really stand to have a keyboard at your fingertips. You can carry around something like Apple's wireless keyboard or a fat case with a keyboard built in. Or you can get behind the Nibiqu iPad keyboard project on Kickstarter.

I don't really know what Nibiqu stands for, but I do know it's mighty thin at less than a quarter inch in thickness. It doubles as a case, but the most compelling aspect is the full keyboard with keys that depress. The maker is advertising it as "the thinnest keyboard for your iPad," though it may have some competition in that department.… Read more