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Second the MOTOACTV if it's a gadget timepiece your after.

If you're not in a hurry there is always the Pebble

And if you want a cheaper alternative we have Sony's offering. It says it is running Android but CMW seems to have debunked that claim.

That said I also believe as others here have stated that your watch is more about style and status

It's still on kickstarter. 31 hours to go at the moment I'm posting this.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crateentertainment/grim-dawn

No-one else will make a deal with Ms Moss under better terms for book 5

no one?

Asking for donation of at least $50,000.00 just to port free software onto Android is another

Did you read the list of deliverables near the top of the project page? I wouldn't agree to do that lot for $50,000. Then again, if anyone reckons it's outrageous, they could always set up a Kickstarter with the same deliverables and, say, a $5,000 goal. Or $500, $50, whatever you think is reasonable.

And, of course, the nice thing about Kickstarter is that it's voluntary. Nobody's forcing you and me to pay, even though we'll reap the benefits if it gets funded. If everyone agrees that it's a rip-off, it won't get funded, simple as that.

Yes, sorry - I had added links after previewing in a separate tab, but ended up submitting the original.

So here we go:
KickStarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/
IndieGoGo: http://www.indiegogo.com/
RocketHub: http://www.rockethub.com/

Mythic: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/273246798/mythic-the-story-of-gods-and-men
Projektor: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747147409/projektor-make-your-mobile-devices-larger-than-lif

KickStarter Mobile Phone App project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/128239212/kickstarter-mobile-phone-app
GloSpex (original): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/glospex
Go GloSpex (resubmit): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/go-glospex

Double Fine adventure: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure
Pebble: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/

Javascript timer with now-blank divs that once housed actual server-written content - view any project page source, look for "ksr_page_timer". The divs that follow once contained server-written data (e.g. "44 hours left") - which needn't have been removed for the javascript timer to work.

xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/1055/

Quirky: http://www.quirky.com/

Note that the example projects mentioned were but a few. There's so many more that would stand out as examples of things where better screening, intervention, communication and combinations of the aforementioned would have been thoroughly welcome and easily serve as material that could cause a 'PR hit' than the subject matter of TFA.

Yes, sorry - I had added links after previewing in a separate tab, but ended up submitting the original.

So here we go:
KickStarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/
IndieGoGo: http://www.indiegogo.com/
RocketHub: http://www.rockethub.com/

Mythic: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/273246798/mythic-the-story-of-gods-and-men
Projektor: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747147409/projektor-make-your-mobile-devices-larger-than-lif

KickStarter Mobile Phone App project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/128239212/kickstarter-mobile-phone-app
GloSpex (original): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/glospex
Go GloSpex (resubmit): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/go-glospex

Double Fine adventure: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure
Pebble: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/

Javascript timer with now-blank divs that once housed actual server-written content - view any project page source, look for "ksr_page_timer". The divs that follow once contained server-written data (e.g. "44 hours left") - which needn't have been removed for the javascript timer to work.

xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/1055/

Quirky: http://www.quirky.com/

Note that the example projects mentioned were but a few. There's so many more that would stand out as examples of things where better screening, intervention, communication and combinations of the aforementioned would have been thoroughly welcome and easily serve as material that could cause a 'PR hit' than the subject matter of TFA.

Yes, sorry - I had added links after previewing in a separate tab, but ended up submitting the original.

So here we go:
KickStarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/
IndieGoGo: http://www.indiegogo.com/
RocketHub: http://www.rockethub.com/

Mythic: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/273246798/mythic-the-story-of-gods-and-men
Projektor: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747147409/projektor-make-your-mobile-devices-larger-than-lif

KickStarter Mobile Phone App project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/128239212/kickstarter-mobile-phone-app
GloSpex (original): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/glospex
Go GloSpex (resubmit): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/go-glospex

Double Fine adventure: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure
Pebble: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/

Javascript timer with now-blank divs that once housed actual server-written content - view any project page source, look for "ksr_page_timer". The divs that follow once contained server-written data (e.g. "44 hours left") - which needn't have been removed for the javascript timer to work.

xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/1055/

Quirky: http://www.quirky.com/

Note that the example projects mentioned were but a few. There's so many more that would stand out as examples of things where better screening, intervention, communication and combinations of the aforementioned would have been thoroughly welcome and easily serve as material that could cause a 'PR hit' than the subject matter of TFA.

Yes, sorry - I had added links after previewing in a separate tab, but ended up submitting the original.

So here we go:
KickStarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/
IndieGoGo: http://www.indiegogo.com/
RocketHub: http://www.rockethub.com/

Mythic: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/273246798/mythic-the-story-of-gods-and-men
Projektor: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747147409/projektor-make-your-mobile-devices-larger-than-lif

KickStarter Mobile Phone App project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/128239212/kickstarter-mobile-phone-app
GloSpex (original): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/glospex
Go GloSpex (resubmit): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/go-glospex

Double Fine adventure: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure
Pebble: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/

Javascript timer with now-blank divs that once housed actual server-written content - view any project page source, look for "ksr_page_timer". The divs that follow once contained server-written data (e.g. "44 hours left") - which needn't have been removed for the javascript timer to work.

xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/1055/

Quirky: http://www.quirky.com/

Note that the example projects mentioned were but a few. There's so many more that would stand out as examples of things where better screening, intervention, communication and combinations of the aforementioned would have been thoroughly welcome and easily serve as material that could cause a 'PR hit' than the subject matter of TFA.

Yes, sorry - I had added links after previewing in a separate tab, but ended up submitting the original.

So here we go:
KickStarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/
IndieGoGo: http://www.indiegogo.com/
RocketHub: http://www.rockethub.com/

Mythic: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/273246798/mythic-the-story-of-gods-and-men
Projektor: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747147409/projektor-make-your-mobile-devices-larger-than-lif

KickStarter Mobile Phone App project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/128239212/kickstarter-mobile-phone-app
GloSpex (original): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/glospex
Go GloSpex (resubmit): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/go-glospex

Double Fine adventure: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure
Pebble: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/

Javascript timer with now-blank divs that once housed actual server-written content - view any project page source, look for "ksr_page_timer". The divs that follow once contained server-written data (e.g. "44 hours left") - which needn't have been removed for the javascript timer to work.

xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/1055/

Quirky: http://www.quirky.com/

Note that the example projects mentioned were but a few. There's so many more that would stand out as examples of things where better screening, intervention, communication and combinations of the aforementioned would have been thoroughly welcome and easily serve as material that could cause a 'PR hit' than the subject matter of TFA.

Yes, sorry - I had added links after previewing in a separate tab, but ended up submitting the original.

So here we go:
KickStarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/
IndieGoGo: http://www.indiegogo.com/
RocketHub: http://www.rockethub.com/

Mythic: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/273246798/mythic-the-story-of-gods-and-men
Projektor: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747147409/projektor-make-your-mobile-devices-larger-than-lif

KickStarter Mobile Phone App project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/128239212/kickstarter-mobile-phone-app
GloSpex (original): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/glospex
Go GloSpex (resubmit): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/go-glospex

Double Fine adventure: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure
Pebble: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/

Javascript timer with now-blank divs that once housed actual server-written content - view any project page source, look for "ksr_page_timer". The divs that follow once contained server-written data (e.g. "44 hours left") - which needn't have been removed for the javascript timer to work.

xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/1055/

Quirky: http://www.quirky.com/

Note that the example projects mentioned were but a few. There's so many more that would stand out as examples of things where better screening, intervention, communication and combinations of the aforementioned would have been thoroughly welcome and easily serve as material that could cause a 'PR hit' than the subject matter of TFA.

Yes, sorry - I had added links after previewing in a separate tab, but ended up submitting the original.

So here we go:
KickStarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/
IndieGoGo: http://www.indiegogo.com/
RocketHub: http://www.rockethub.com/

Mythic: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/273246798/mythic-the-story-of-gods-and-men
Projektor: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747147409/projektor-make-your-mobile-devices-larger-than-lif

KickStarter Mobile Phone App project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/128239212/kickstarter-mobile-phone-app
GloSpex (original): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/glospex
Go GloSpex (resubmit): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/go-glospex

Double Fine adventure: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure
Pebble: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/

Javascript timer with now-blank divs that once housed actual server-written content - view any project page source, look for "ksr_page_timer". The divs that follow once contained server-written data (e.g. "44 hours left") - which needn't have been removed for the javascript timer to work.

xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/1055/

Quirky: http://www.quirky.com/

Note that the example projects mentioned were but a few. There's so many more that would stand out as examples of things where better screening, intervention, communication and combinations of the aforementioned would have been thoroughly welcome and easily serve as material that could cause a 'PR hit' than the subject matter of TFA.

Yes, sorry - I had added links after previewing in a separate tab, but ended up submitting the original.

So here we go:
KickStarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/
IndieGoGo: http://www.indiegogo.com/
RocketHub: http://www.rockethub.com/

Mythic: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/273246798/mythic-the-story-of-gods-and-men
Projektor: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747147409/projektor-make-your-mobile-devices-larger-than-lif

KickStarter Mobile Phone App project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/128239212/kickstarter-mobile-phone-app
GloSpex (original): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/glospex
Go GloSpex (resubmit): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816244302/go-glospex

Double Fine adventure: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure
Pebble: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/

Javascript timer with now-blank divs that once housed actual server-written content - view any project page source, look for "ksr_page_timer". The divs that follow once contained server-written data (e.g. "44 hours left") - which needn't have been removed for the javascript timer to work.

xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/1055/

Quirky: http://www.quirky.com/

Note that the example projects mentioned were but a few. There's so many more that would stand out as examples of things where better screening, intervention, communication and combinations of the aforementioned would have been thoroughly welcome and easily serve as material that could cause a 'PR hit' than the subject matter of TFA.

I hadn't heard of Projektor before and had trouble finding it on the Kickstarter website. Here's their project page - turns out that Kickstarter noindexes projects that have failed to meet their funding goal in order to make it harder to find them.

Not sure it will blend, but at least it will shred.

That's not even the biggest KickStarter failure. Eyez by ZionEyez took in a cool $340,000, promised actual physical hardware in return, and hasn't delivered anything except broken promises and pictures of the development team's expensive holidays to exotic foreign paradises. There have been other less high-profile failures to deliver - Hanfree, some pen, various other things I'm forgetting...

Even putting aside the ones that didn't deliver at all, there's delayed delivery Vere Sandals claimed one date and then not only didn't deliver its backers' pledged rewards promptly, but actually started selling the same sandals that their backers were still waiting for, at retail, for less than the backers had paid for them!

Then there's the projects that seem to be stuck in hardware development hell, such as HexBright and OpenViszla.

That's not even the biggest KickStarter failure. Eyez by ZionEyez took in a cool $340,000, promised actual physical hardware in return, and hasn't delivered anything except broken promises and pictures of the development team's expensive holidays to exotic foreign paradises. There have been other less high-profile failures to deliver - Hanfree, some pen, various other things I'm forgetting...

Even putting aside the ones that didn't deliver at all, there's delayed delivery Vere Sandals claimed one date and then not only didn't deliver its backers' pledged rewards promptly, but actually started selling the same sandals that their backers were still waiting for, at retail, for less than the backers had paid for them!

Then there's the projects that seem to be stuck in hardware development hell, such as HexBright and OpenViszla.

That's not even the biggest KickStarter failure. Eyez by ZionEyez took in a cool $340,000, promised actual physical hardware in return, and hasn't delivered anything except broken promises and pictures of the development team's expensive holidays to exotic foreign paradises. There have been other less high-profile failures to deliver - Hanfree, some pen, various other things I'm forgetting...

Even putting aside the ones that didn't deliver at all, there's delayed delivery Vere Sandals claimed one date and then not only didn't deliver its backers' pledged rewards promptly, but actually started selling the same sandals that their backers were still waiting for, at retail, for less than the backers had paid for them!

Then there's the projects that seem to be stuck in hardware development hell, such as HexBright and OpenViszla.

That's not even the biggest KickStarter failure. Eyez by ZionEyez took in a cool $340,000, promised actual physical hardware in return, and hasn't delivered anything except broken promises and pictures of the development team's expensive holidays to exotic foreign paradises. There have been other less high-profile failures to deliver - Hanfree, some pen, various other things I'm forgetting...

Even putting aside the ones that didn't deliver at all, there's delayed delivery Vere Sandals claimed one date and then not only didn't deliver its backers' pledged rewards promptly, but actually started selling the same sandals that their backers were still waiting for, at retail, for less than the backers had paid for them!

Then there's the projects that seem to be stuck in hardware development hell, such as HexBright and OpenViszla.

That's not even the biggest KickStarter failure. Eyez by ZionEyez took in a cool $340,000, promised actual physical hardware in return, and hasn't delivered anything except broken promises and pictures of the development team's expensive holidays to exotic foreign paradises. There have been other less high-profile failures to deliver - Hanfree, some pen, various other things I'm forgetting...

Even putting aside the ones that didn't deliver at all, there's delayed delivery Vere Sandals claimed one date and then not only didn't deliver its backers' pledged rewards promptly, but actually started selling the same sandals that their backers were still waiting for, at retail, for less than the backers had paid for them!

Then there's the projects that seem to be stuck in hardware development hell, such as HexBright and OpenViszla.

I've backed a few that completed:
An Evening with Neila Gaiman and Amanda Palmer - They've finished the tour, put together the recordings and given out the download links. CDs should be shipping soon if they haven't already. The finished product contained a lot of really cool stuff that doesn't normally appear on CDs. Some of my favorite bits were "Ask Neil and Amanda Almost Anything", but I can't honestly imagine a record company ever allowing that stuff on a CD because they'd never believe it would sell.

Miskatonic School for Girls deck Buildiing Game - They've shipped the boxed games and I've received mine. The materials and construction are little better than average for board game. The game itself is fun and has a lot of replay value, but is probably too difficult for kids under 10 and drunk people.

Jessica Frech's Album - Okay... her accent makes some people hate her, but I like it. She's finished the allbum and sent out download links. I didn't buy a CD so I don't know if those have shipped or not. The album isn't as silly as the songs she routinely posts to her blog, but it's good.

Creatures: The Card Game - The card decks have long since been shipped and I received mine. It's a fun game to play with younger kids, but it requires an active imagination to make it fun. Playing it with some of the adults that I know would be excruciatingly dull.

I've backed other projects that delivered, but I'm not writing a novel so I'll leave it at that. There are only two successfully funded kickstarters that I've backed that I have any real doubts about ever receiving a finished product from. They keep giving occasional updates appear to be making slow progress toward finishing, however, so I can't honestly say that they won't (thus I will not name them). If the two fail to deliver, I'm okay with it. It looks to me that they're trying and I backed them because I want those two particular projects to exist and was willing to risk a few bucks to help that happen.

I've backed a few that completed:
An Evening with Neila Gaiman and Amanda Palmer - They've finished the tour, put together the recordings and given out the download links. CDs should be shipping soon if they haven't already. The finished product contained a lot of really cool stuff that doesn't normally appear on CDs. Some of my favorite bits were "Ask Neil and Amanda Almost Anything", but I can't honestly imagine a record company ever allowing that stuff on a CD because they'd never believe it would sell.

Miskatonic School for Girls deck Buildiing Game - They've shipped the boxed games and I've received mine. The materials and construction are little better than average for board game. The game itself is fun and has a lot of replay value, but is probably too difficult for kids under 10 and drunk people.

Jessica Frech's Album - Okay... her accent makes some people hate her, but I like it. She's finished the allbum and sent out download links. I didn't buy a CD so I don't know if those have shipped or not. The album isn't as silly as the songs she routinely posts to her blog, but it's good.

Creatures: The Card Game - The card decks have long since been shipped and I received mine. It's a fun game to play with younger kids, but it requires an active imagination to make it fun. Playing it with some of the adults that I know would be excruciatingly dull.

I've backed other projects that delivered, but I'm not writing a novel so I'll leave it at that. There are only two successfully funded kickstarters that I've backed that I have any real doubts about ever receiving a finished product from. They keep giving occasional updates appear to be making slow progress toward finishing, however, so I can't honestly say that they won't (thus I will not name them). If the two fail to deliver, I'm okay with it. It looks to me that they're trying and I backed them because I want those two particular projects to exist and was willing to risk a few bucks to help that happen.

I've backed a few that completed:
An Evening with Neila Gaiman and Amanda Palmer - They've finished the tour, put together the recordings and given out the download links. CDs should be shipping soon if they haven't already. The finished product contained a lot of really cool stuff that doesn't normally appear on CDs. Some of my favorite bits were "Ask Neil and Amanda Almost Anything", but I can't honestly imagine a record company ever allowing that stuff on a CD because they'd never believe it would sell.

Miskatonic School for Girls deck Buildiing Game - They've shipped the boxed games and I've received mine. The materials and construction are little better than average for board game. The game itself is fun and has a lot of replay value, but is probably too difficult for kids under 10 and drunk people.

Jessica Frech's Album - Okay... her accent makes some people hate her, but I like it. She's finished the allbum and sent out download links. I didn't buy a CD so I don't know if those have shipped or not. The album isn't as silly as the songs she routinely posts to her blog, but it's good.

Creatures: The Card Game - The card decks have long since been shipped and I received mine. It's a fun game to play with younger kids, but it requires an active imagination to make it fun. Playing it with some of the adults that I know would be excruciatingly dull.

I've backed other projects that delivered, but I'm not writing a novel so I'll leave it at that. There are only two successfully funded kickstarters that I've backed that I have any real doubts about ever receiving a finished product from. They keep giving occasional updates appear to be making slow progress toward finishing, however, so I can't honestly say that they won't (thus I will not name them). If the two fail to deliver, I'm okay with it. It looks to me that they're trying and I backed them because I want those two particular projects to exist and was willing to risk a few bucks to help that happen.

I've backed a few that completed:
An Evening with Neila Gaiman and Amanda Palmer - They've finished the tour, put together the recordings and given out the download links. CDs should be shipping soon if they haven't already. The finished product contained a lot of really cool stuff that doesn't normally appear on CDs. Some of my favorite bits were "Ask Neil and Amanda Almost Anything", but I can't honestly imagine a record company ever allowing that stuff on a CD because they'd never believe it would sell.

Miskatonic School for Girls deck Buildiing Game - They've shipped the boxed games and I've received mine. The materials and construction are little better than average for board game. The game itself is fun and has a lot of replay value, but is probably too difficult for kids under 10 and drunk people.

Jessica Frech's Album - Okay... her accent makes some people hate her, but I like it. She's finished the allbum and sent out download links. I didn't buy a CD so I don't know if those have shipped or not. The album isn't as silly as the songs she routinely posts to her blog, but it's good.

Creatures: The Card Game - The card decks have long since been shipped and I received mine. It's a fun game to play with younger kids, but it requires an active imagination to make it fun. Playing it with some of the adults that I know would be excruciatingly dull.

I've backed other projects that delivered, but I'm not writing a novel so I'll leave it at that. There are only two successfully funded kickstarters that I've backed that I have any real doubts about ever receiving a finished product from. They keep giving occasional updates appear to be making slow progress toward finishing, however, so I can't honestly say that they won't (thus I will not name them). If the two fail to deliver, I'm okay with it. It looks to me that they're trying and I backed them because I want those two particular projects to exist and was willing to risk a few bucks to help that happen.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/847271320/ogre-designers-edition

Funny, I hadn't heard of that one. I once drew a G.E.V. board with hexes on that scale myself, but I did it so I could use the original small size pieces without stacking them. Can't say I see the point of the larger pieces... except that we're all geezers now who can't read the print on the original pieces.

If the kickstarter bubble bursts (through a sullied reputation or scamming or whatever), another one will come along to replace it that learns from the mistakes of the past.

It has already happened. Kickstarter isn't the first incarnation of the concept. Its ideological predecessor, fundable.org, went defunct due to credit card scammers using it to launder money / little success in wrapping people's heads around the concept (even though it was essentially the same as Kickstarter).

Kickstarter already burst, but the failed projects get no press. Great example: Disapora.

Someone actually called Diaspora a Facebook competitor way back in 2010. And..... nothing. 180,000 users as of November 2011, not exactly a facebook competitor. And Dispora received $200,000 in June 2010, over 20 times their $10,000 goal. That's a lot of money that could have gone to real startups with a real future, not some pie-in-the-sky facebook killer. If they couldn't get it done with $200,000, what would they have done with $10,000? Nothing at all? "Our Promise. We promise to you that Diaspora will be aGPL software which will released at the end of the summer."

And according to Kickstarter's TOS they're responsible for nothing. If the company you invested in uses the money for blow and hookers, you're out of luck.

If the kickstarter bubble bursts (through a sullied reputation or scamming or whatever), another one will come along to replace it that learns from the mistakes of the past.

It has already happened. Kickstarter isn't the first incarnation of the concept. Its ideological predecessor, fundable.org, went defunct due to credit card scammers using it to launder money / little success in wrapping people's heads around the concept (even though it was essentially the same as Kickstarter).

Kickstarter already burst, but the failed projects get no press. Great example: Disapora.

Someone actually called Diaspora a Facebook competitor way back in 2010. And..... nothing. 180,000 users as of November 2011, not exactly a facebook competitor. And Dispora received $200,000 in June 2010, over 20 times their $10,000 goal. That's a lot of money that could have gone to real startups with a real future, not some pie-in-the-sky facebook killer. If they couldn't get it done with $200,000, what would they have done with $10,000? Nothing at all? "Our Promise. We promise to you that Diaspora will be aGPL software which will released at the end of the summer."

And according to Kickstarter's TOS they're responsible for nothing. If the company you invested in uses the money for blow and hookers, you're out of luck.

If the kickstarter bubble bursts (through a sullied reputation or scamming or whatever), another one will come along to replace it that learns from the mistakes of the past.

It has already happened. Kickstarter isn't the first incarnation of the concept. Its ideological predecessor, fundable.org, went defunct due to credit card scammers using it to launder money / little success in wrapping people's heads around the concept (even though it was essentially the same as Kickstarter).

Kickstarter already burst, but the failed projects get no press. Great example: Disapora.

Someone actually called Diaspora a Facebook competitor way back in 2010. And..... nothing. 180,000 users as of November 2011, not exactly a facebook competitor. And Dispora received $200,000 in June 2010, over 20 times their $10,000 goal. That's a lot of money that could have gone to real startups with a real future, not some pie-in-the-sky facebook killer. If they couldn't get it done with $200,000, what would they have done with $10,000? Nothing at all? "Our Promise. We promise to you that Diaspora will be aGPL software which will released at the end of the summer."

And according to Kickstarter's TOS they're responsible for nothing. If the company you invested in uses the money for blow and hookers, you're out of luck.

37 Saddest Failed Kickstarters

I've no connection with buzzfeed. I am a backer of the Pebble Watch on Kickstarter.

There are some Kickstarter horror stories, like the Hanfree iPad stand. The project raised $35K, and never delivered. My uninformed guess is that they spent too much money on research, material selection, etc. and realized they didn't have enough left to actually fill the orders they had taken. The comments on the project page are brutal.

Sorry, your project has been rejected due to violation of the Community Guidelines. A replacement for Kickstarter is not a project. From the guidelines:

A project will eventually be completed, and something will be produced by it. A project is not open-ended. Starting a business, for example, does not qualify as a project.

Kickstarter is for projects that can be completed, not things that require maintenance to exist. This means no e-commerce sites, web businesses, or social networking sites. (Yes, this means Kickstarter wouldn’t be allowed on Kickstarter. Funny, but true.)

Thanks for thinking of us!

Sincerely,
Pedantic WetBlanket

Indie Game: The Movie actually had TWO Kickstarter "projects":

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blinkworks/indie-game-the-movie?ref=live
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blinkworks/indie-game-the-movie-the-final-push?ref=live

The film is done (even won a Sundance award), has played in a number of theaters and, now that the filmmakers are back home in Canada, should begin DVD distribution soon.

Indie Game: The Movie actually had TWO Kickstarter "projects":

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blinkworks/indie-game-the-movie?ref=live
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blinkworks/indie-game-the-movie-the-final-push?ref=live

The film is done (even won a Sundance award), has played in a number of theaters and, now that the filmmakers are back home in Canada, should begin DVD distribution soon.

The thing is, in large quantities, production should become cheaper, and there is a way to address #2 --- just put in a limit on each reward level which isn't readily mass-produced --- that's what Thomas Phinney did w/ his Call of C'Thulhu font Cristoforo:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tphinney/cristoforo-reviving-victorian-fonts-with-a-cthulhu

William

I agree. The current way it works is the project runs for a set period of time 30-40 days. Once the project closes you can't back out or up your pledge. That being said the Leisure Suit Larry KS project added paypal late in the game, so even though the KS project has been funded and closed you can still pre-order the game http://www.replaygamesinc.com/leisure-suit-larry-paypal-donations/. I've already pledged and been charged for the project so now all I can do is kick back and wait until October - December and read the Replay forums to see if they're making any progress. Same with the Banner Saga http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stoic/the-banner-saga.

Can I ask, what projects are these?

I supported a project that's seriously over time, more than a year by now. But people are very reasonable about it, as long as we think we'll get there in the end.

It wouldn't take a lot of products that fail to deliver after being funded to substantially weaken the funder-side perception of it being a good deal in general.

Yes it would, because funders aren't stupid.

One community that has really gone amok on Kickstarter is the online board game community. It stands to reason, because we're very well organized online compared to many other hobbies, and board games are usually small, risky ventures. When Steve Jackson (of Steve Jackson Games) proposes a reprint of OGRE, we know who he is and that he is capable of going through. Tasty Minstrel games isn't nearly as big a company as Steve Jackson's, but when they put out Kings of Air and Steam, we can easily look them up and see that they have completed several other kickstarter board games. And even for a relatively unknown designer, at a relatively unknown company, a game like Island Fortess has a chance, because it's vetted and endorsed by a community dedicated to doing just that.

When other communities get as net-savvy as the board game community, expect them to follow.

It wouldn't take a lot of products that fail to deliver after being funded to substantially weaken the funder-side perception of it being a good deal in general.

Yes it would, because funders aren't stupid.

One community that has really gone amok on Kickstarter is the online board game community. It stands to reason, because we're very well organized online compared to many other hobbies, and board games are usually small, risky ventures. When Steve Jackson (of Steve Jackson Games) proposes a reprint of OGRE, we know who he is and that he is capable of going through. Tasty Minstrel games isn't nearly as big a company as Steve Jackson's, but when they put out Kings of Air and Steam, we can easily look them up and see that they have completed several other kickstarter board games. And even for a relatively unknown designer, at a relatively unknown company, a game like Island Fortess has a chance, because it's vetted and endorsed by a community dedicated to doing just that.

When other communities get as net-savvy as the board game community, expect them to follow.

It wouldn't take a lot of products that fail to deliver after being funded to substantially weaken the funder-side perception of it being a good deal in general.

Yes it would, because funders aren't stupid.

One community that has really gone amok on Kickstarter is the online board game community. It stands to reason, because we're very well organized online compared to many other hobbies, and board games are usually small, risky ventures. When Steve Jackson (of Steve Jackson Games) proposes a reprint of OGRE, we know who he is and that he is capable of going through. Tasty Minstrel games isn't nearly as big a company as Steve Jackson's, but when they put out Kings of Air and Steam, we can easily look them up and see that they have completed several other kickstarter board games. And even for a relatively unknown designer, at a relatively unknown company, a game like Island Fortess has a chance, because it's vetted and endorsed by a community dedicated to doing just that.

When other communities get as net-savvy as the board game community, expect them to follow.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1225737959/miskatonic-school-for-girls-deck-building-game

It funded, everyone involved got their copy of the game and it's available for purchase in the traditional manner now. A friend of mine bought it and we played this past weekend. It was a lot of fun, incidentally.

Yep, the only problem with Kickstarter right now seems to be that it's a little to popular. After the Doublefine Adventure success a lot of other game projects jumped on the train and a lot of them are already struggling to make it to their goal, as its simply to hard to get much publicity when there are so projects. The Sherlock Holmes adventure for example failed, even so it asked for far less money and seemed like a reasonable project. When you already have Doublefine, Larry, Wasteland, Jane Jensen and so on clogging the news most people probably didn't even notice that that project existed. Starlight Inception is also struggeling and Republic might also not make the cut. It of course helps little that some people seemed to go onto Kickstarter with a little to high expectations and ill propared. Portal 1986 Reborn seems interesting, but $900'000? Yeah, not going to happen. But none of that is "bubble bursting", is just a flattening of the curve after the initial hype, not every project can be among the first and get all the press and success.

It will still be interesting to see how Kickstarter will develop when peoples expectations actually meet reality. Having Tim Schaefer do another adventure sounds like a really good idea on paper, but so did Lucas doing more Star Wars or Indiana Jones at some point in the past and those didn't turn out to well. And with a lot of other projects you don't even have A-level people working on them, so even when they do everything right, all they might be able to deliver is an average game that people wouldn't bother to buy if they would have known beforehand. If those disappointed people then decide to no longer donate to Kickstarter, then might be issues, we probably find out in a year.

Yep, the only problem with Kickstarter right now seems to be that it's a little to popular. After the Doublefine Adventure success a lot of other game projects jumped on the train and a lot of them are already struggling to make it to their goal, as its simply to hard to get much publicity when there are so projects. The Sherlock Holmes adventure for example failed, even so it asked for far less money and seemed like a reasonable project. When you already have Doublefine, Larry, Wasteland, Jane Jensen and so on clogging the news most people probably didn't even notice that that project existed. Starlight Inception is also struggeling and Republic might also not make the cut. It of course helps little that some people seemed to go onto Kickstarter with a little to high expectations and ill propared. Portal 1986 Reborn seems interesting, but $900'000? Yeah, not going to happen. But none of that is "bubble bursting", is just a flattening of the curve after the initial hype, not every project can be among the first and get all the press and success.

It will still be interesting to see how Kickstarter will develop when peoples expectations actually meet reality. Having Tim Schaefer do another adventure sounds like a really good idea on paper, but so did Lucas doing more Star Wars or Indiana Jones at some point in the past and those didn't turn out to well. And with a lot of other projects you don't even have A-level people working on them, so even when they do everything right, all they might be able to deliver is an average game that people wouldn't bother to buy if they would have known beforehand. If those disappointed people then decide to no longer donate to Kickstarter, then might be issues, we probably find out in a year.

Yep, the only problem with Kickstarter right now seems to be that it's a little to popular. After the Doublefine Adventure success a lot of other game projects jumped on the train and a lot of them are already struggling to make it to their goal, as its simply to hard to get much publicity when there are so projects. The Sherlock Holmes adventure for example failed, even so it asked for far less money and seemed like a reasonable project. When you already have Doublefine, Larry, Wasteland, Jane Jensen and so on clogging the news most people probably didn't even notice that that project existed. Starlight Inception is also struggeling and Republic might also not make the cut. It of course helps little that some people seemed to go onto Kickstarter with a little to high expectations and ill propared. Portal 1986 Reborn seems interesting, but $900'000? Yeah, not going to happen. But none of that is "bubble bursting", is just a flattening of the curve after the initial hype, not every project can be among the first and get all the press and success.

It will still be interesting to see how Kickstarter will develop when peoples expectations actually meet reality. Having Tim Schaefer do another adventure sounds like a really good idea on paper, but so did Lucas doing more Star Wars or Indiana Jones at some point in the past and those didn't turn out to well. And with a lot of other projects you don't even have A-level people working on them, so even when they do everything right, all they might be able to deliver is an average game that people wouldn't bother to buy if they would have known beforehand. If those disappointed people then decide to no longer donate to Kickstarter, then might be issues, we probably find out in a year.

Yep, the only problem with Kickstarter right now seems to be that it's a little to popular. After the Doublefine Adventure success a lot of other game projects jumped on the train and a lot of them are already struggling to make it to their goal, as its simply to hard to get much publicity when there are so projects. The Sherlock Holmes adventure for example failed, even so it asked for far less money and seemed like a reasonable project. When you already have Doublefine, Larry, Wasteland, Jane Jensen and so on clogging the news most people probably didn't even notice that that project existed. Starlight Inception is also struggeling and Republic might also not make the cut. It of course helps little that some people seemed to go onto Kickstarter with a little to high expectations and ill propared. Portal 1986 Reborn seems interesting, but $900'000? Yeah, not going to happen. But none of that is "bubble bursting", is just a flattening of the curve after the initial hype, not every project can be among the first and get all the press and success.

It will still be interesting to see how Kickstarter will develop when peoples expectations actually meet reality. Having Tim Schaefer do another adventure sounds like a really good idea on paper, but so did Lucas doing more Star Wars or Indiana Jones at some point in the past and those didn't turn out to well. And with a lot of other projects you don't even have A-level people working on them, so even when they do everything right, all they might be able to deliver is an average game that people wouldn't bother to buy if they would have known beforehand. If those disappointed people then decide to no longer donate to Kickstarter, then might be issues, we probably find out in a year.

Some of the larger projects I've personally supported which have resulted in real products are Musopen, a children's intro-to-physics comic book, a photographic examination into the world of the legal Nevada brothel, two neat bits of camera hardware, and a soft-wake sleep mask.

A few more small things have succeeded. One big project has not yet produced anything because of problems finding materials and crafters, but the guy is determined to finish despite having depleted his funds. I also fully expect results from the Double Fine project, and from the Goats project (since I know Rosenberg can deliver).

Some of the larger projects I've personally supported which have resulted in real products are Musopen, a children's intro-to-physics comic book, a photographic examination into the world of the legal Nevada brothel, two neat bits of camera hardware, and a soft-wake sleep mask.

A few more small things have succeeded. One big project has not yet produced anything because of problems finding materials and crafters, but the guy is determined to finish despite having depleted his funds. I also fully expect results from the Double Fine project, and from the Goats project (since I know Rosenberg can deliver).

Some of the larger projects I've personally supported which have resulted in real products are Musopen, a children's intro-to-physics comic book, a photographic examination into the world of the legal Nevada brothel, two neat bits of camera hardware, and a soft-wake sleep mask.

A few more small things have succeeded. One big project has not yet produced anything because of problems finding materials and crafters, but the guy is determined to finish despite having depleted his funds. I also fully expect results from the Double Fine project, and from the Goats project (since I know Rosenberg can deliver).

Some of the larger projects I've personally supported which have resulted in real products are Musopen, a children's intro-to-physics comic book, a photographic examination into the world of the legal Nevada brothel, two neat bits of camera hardware, and a soft-wake sleep mask.

A few more small things have succeeded. One big project has not yet produced anything because of problems finding materials and crafters, but the guy is determined to finish despite having depleted his funds. I also fully expect results from the Double Fine project, and from the Goats project (since I know Rosenberg can deliver).

Some of the larger projects I've personally supported which have resulted in real products are Musopen, a children's intro-to-physics comic book, a photographic examination into the world of the legal Nevada brothel, two neat bits of camera hardware, and a soft-wake sleep mask.

A few more small things have succeeded. One big project has not yet produced anything because of problems finding materials and crafters, but the guy is determined to finish despite having depleted his funds. I also fully expect results from the Double Fine project, and from the Goats project (since I know Rosenberg can deliver).

Some of the larger projects I've personally supported which have resulted in real products are Musopen, a children's intro-to-physics comic book, a photographic examination into the world of the legal Nevada brothel, two neat bits of camera hardware, and a soft-wake sleep mask.

A few more small things have succeeded. One big project has not yet produced anything because of problems finding materials and crafters, but the guy is determined to finish despite having depleted his funds. I also fully expect results from the Double Fine project, and from the Goats project (since I know Rosenberg can deliver).

Some of the larger projects I've personally supported which have resulted in real products are Musopen, a children's intro-to-physics comic book, a photographic examination into the world of the legal Nevada brothel, two neat bits of camera hardware, and a soft-wake sleep mask.

A few more small things have succeeded. One big project has not yet produced anything because of problems finding materials and crafters, but the guy is determined to finish despite having depleted his funds. I also fully expect results from the Double Fine project, and from the Goats project (since I know Rosenberg can deliver).

Not completed, but looks like it will finish: Schlock Mercenary: Capital Offensive- mainly waiting on the printers for the parts to the game; artwork and design's done.

And you could do a bit of Google-fu (http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/successful) and see the other projects out there for yourself... ;-D