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Kickstarter Technology Projects Ship
An anonymous reader writes "Shocking Kickstarter news this morning, not only did I actually I receive my Brydge this morning, but a Kickstarter software project shipped on time! Connectify Dispatch, the load balancing software for Windows, was released today as well. Perhaps the Kickstarter model of funding technology is not nearly as doomed as some naysayers here would have it. Why are so many here hostile to crowdsourcing? Shouldn't we be glad to have Venture Capitalists cut out of the loop so that companies actually listen to us?"
Now, that said, I'm still waiting on three or four video games to be released like Grandroids, NASA's Astronaut game, Kitaru and, of course, the OUYA console. I'm also waiting on a movie that is well overdue (although the dude running it is very responsive and was clearly in over his head), playing cards, a new cartoon from Ren & Stimpy's creator, a board game called "The New Science" (which I might also try to review for Slashdot) and another DVD/CD combo and T-shirt which were very recent so it's not a big deal.
Now, I've only put money in here that I didn't really care about. Yeah, it adds up to real cash but I've been quite happy with all of the things I've gotten out of this and super excited about the future projects. I agreed that the facebook glasses sound like a scam but I was really disheartened when people called the OCULUS a scam. Nobody seems to be covering Zeyez's engineering updates and all the comments are just that it's still a scam and they want their money back.
So why is there there so much negativity associated with Kickstarter? My experience has been largely positive although I would have thought I would be seeing the NASA game sooner (the other funding didn't hit until November of 2012) and I thought I would be watching "Flood Tide" by now. Aside from that, my experience has been largely positive. Do people have negative stories where they've been screwed or cheated or lied to on Kickstarter?
My work here is dung.
It's nice to know Kickstarter works.
I just worry that its increasing popularity is going to bring in the scammers and con men. Any venture where honesty is important and there is money to be made seems to ultimately attract them.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
It's an interesting bit, seeing this happen. wonderful news all around.
But I'm more interested in seeing which of the crowdfunding websites ends up being more reputable, for projects like this. In terms of delivering their product, doing so on time, etc.
Some are certainly more important than others...
http://www.indiegogo.com/DrinkSavvy?c=home
But purely from an intellectual standpoint, it'll be interesting seeing which of the sites end up on top. And why.
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
Windows already has load balancing that works quite well built into it. When will you fucking freetards stop reinventing the wheel?
While waiting for my post limit timeout and missing the fucking frosty, I actually clicked the link. I wouldn't call this load balancing. I'd call it an internet connection bondage thingy. Kind of a niche and silly idea, in my not so humble opinion.
A few months ago, Offbeatr launched as "the Kickstarter of porn". Since then, five projects have been funded - over $60,000 pledged in total - and it's all for furry projects. Will they all ship? It's too early to say, but the fact that these project creators have track records is part of the reason they're being funded in the first place.
So, I looked at it. $220 for a Bluetooth iPad "docking station"(keyboard and speakers). $500, $600, $700 for an iPad...
Why not just by a Macbook Air?
I'm still kinda wondering how the clamshell case will support the iPad 4th gen.. which, to my knowledge, isnt for sale yet? Since.. Mini != 4th gen. Plus, does not appear the mini would fit in the clamshell, and there are no pictures of the mini in the clamshell, or any mention of an insert
OMG... I have a sig?
Why so Ser^H^H^H Surprised?
I've gotten a couple, and they all shipped when they said they would.
And naysayer without any rational argument are stupid negative twits.
Yes, more avenue for business to get cash is good.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The negativity surrounding KickStarter is based on a number of things.
1. project issues
a. There are scam projects. Period. Sometimes they're easily outed, other times you won't know it's a scam until it's well over with.
b. A lot of projects - especially in technology/design (and why these are 2 separate categories is beyond everyone - the overlap is ridiculous) - do not deliver on the estimated shipping date. KickStarter themselves acknowledged this and made everybody using those categories add a 'risks' explanation in which the project creator will explain what difficulties a project may face and how they believe they can overcome these difficulties.
c. Some projects, delivered on time or not, don't deliver what was promised or do deliver what was promised but then the 'thing' falls apart or is otherwise not particularly useful. Think an iPhone holder using a suction cup that fails to keep suction. A fire piston that leaks and fails to ignite the material (fabrication issue, manufacturer has taken responsibility after the creator informed them of the issue, so backers will get a good one). A colorful iDevice cable that is rendered obsolete by the new design (yes, they pledged for the old connector design... more than a year ago before anybody even knew Apple would change things around, but deliver is after that change.
d. Some projects just don't deliver. You already mentioned Zeyez.. that one remains to be seen. But then there's projects like Hanfree. Its creator eventually had to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after some backers went to the courts out of principle - the guy received tens of thousands of dollars, then apparently mismanaged those funds (what they were hoping to find out through the case).
And in 'd' lies a bigger issue, along with 'a'.
2. KickStarter's responsibility
a. KickStarter doesn't really vet projects. They have gotten better about this - demanding prototypes in design/technology and all that, but once live they are very hands-off.
b. If it turns out to be a scam, or the creator fails to deliver, KickStarter tells backers their issue is with the creator and they can go pursue legal matters but leave KickStarter out of it (in a recent case, KickStarter was actually named - this was covered at Slashdot).
c. KickStarter - and amazon - still take a chunk of the funds. On paper they're doing some tricky business where - supposedly - legally the funds they receive is separate from the funds pledged to the creator. But common sense says that KickStarter benefits financially - on an individual case - from scam projects. In the long run, it might hurt their platform which reduces revenue overall, but purely for an individual project.. they already got their chunk of money and are keeping it well out of the hands of backers seeking to get their money back.
C. Ambiguity of KickStarter as a platform
Simply put.. is KickStarter a (pre-order) store, or not?
Legally, it might be. Others believe you're investing (you're not - no dividends, shares, etc.). Others see it somewhere in between. This ambiguity - and with it more questions than answers, rights-wise.
Now, you asked about personal experiences.. pretty sure I posted about this before, but basically.. so far most projects have delivered, albeit late, and the delivered projects have been pretty much as expected or better.
That said, just today one of the projects I backed seems to have delivered the product to pre-sales outside of the KickStarter backers before the vast majority of KickStarter backers received the product themselves. That's disappointing. Of course the pre-sales people paid a good chunk more and didn't get to 'experience' the KickStarter development process, but it does feel like slighting the backers in a way. I would certainly recommend to any KickStarter project creator that they fulfill their KickStarter obligations first.
I'm waiting for venture capital to start cherry picking ideas from Kickstarter and racing them to market. Kickstarter is almost like free market research.
Sure, a Kickstarter project might engender loyalty, but how long will that last after Kickstarter projects get a reputation for late delivery and failure?
"Shouldn't we be glad to have Venture Capitalists cut out of the loop so that companies actually listen to us?"
I like the concept of Kickstarter, and have donated to one of the projects over there myself, but nobody should go into it thinking it makes them anything more than what they already were to the company: a customer with a potentially open wallet. One could argue that you don't even have influence on the company, because they've already decided what they're going to try to bring to market; your only role is in deciding whether it's something you want.
In a word, I would argue no. Primarily because you are a customer with Kickstarter, but you are an investor with venture capitalism. In a way, "investors" in Kickstarter projects are getting a raw deal, because they receive only the product (which you could buy eventually anyway, if it does come to market), but with venture capitalism you receive an ongoing share of the profits of the company in exchange for the risk of giving them money. The scale of the investing is also a key point in this.
I can see how Kickstarter is motivating the comparisons, because there hasn't really been anything exactly like it before, but the two roles are not the same.
Why would a data set of three have any statistical relevance out of a set of 50,000?
Oh yeah, it doesn't. But congrats on avoiding being scammed.
But I am seen more and more the "Lets take open source hardware and software, bundle it up, and then make millions doing nothing more then giving away T-Shirts" model in Kickstarter.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
I hope the have fully licensed that IP.
I've got to say the best run project I've participated in has been the Teensy 3.0 by Paul Stoffregen.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulstoffregen/teensy-30-32-bit-arm-cortex-m4-usable-in-arduino-a?ref=live
He kept everybody informed at least weekly during the project and shipped a quality product on time.
Of course for every great project there are less great projects that made big promises and due to various factors haven't been able to keep them -- like the Pebble Watch.
Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
Many people are reluctant to give their money to someone without a known reputation.
The only way to build trust in anything is to have it consistently follow through on its promises over time.
I propose that in order to accomplish this, a feedback mechanism is necessary. Such a mechanism would need to provide a way for potential investors/donors to know the likelihood that they will receive what they are promised. There are many forms that this could take, but I think that until potential investors/donors feel that they have a reasonable way of judging the risks they are taking there will remain a large portion of the population that remains skeptical.
So far 2 of the six projects I've backed actually delivered.
By far the best was Teensy3 - that thing rocks. It shipped in just a few months after funding and it's a ton of fun. The dude that did that one is on my "would back again" list.
The other project was a film - and I saw the film just last week.
Kickstarter Technology Projects Ship
Try not to use words in a context that is ambiguous as to whether it's a noun or a verb. I thought someone had created a system that could generate holograms of sea-going vessels.
Also, is this a story, or was the submitter just unable to fit it into 140 characters for Twitter?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
The only real scam around is IndieGoGo, where failed Kickstarter projects go to take people's money withzero obligation or course of refund.
My own Kickstarter project, used to launch Teensy 3.0 (a low-cost Arduino compatible board with a 32 bit ARM chip), shipped on time.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulstoffregen/teensy-30-32-bit-arm-cortex-m4-usable-in-arduino-a
We had 2 levels of rewards shipping, half within 2 weeks, the other half the next month. We did end up shipping the last several September rewards on October 1st, so technically we slipped 1 day for small group of rewards. Otherwise, all the September rewards actually shipped in September, and the rest shipped before the end of October.
Of course, a tiny number of backers didn't respond with their address or had other logistical problems with their info. Most of those shipped late, but even then, we resolved nearly all of them in October.
PJRC: Electronic Projects, 8051 Microcontroller Tools
I've supported one Kickstarter because it was a photography project by a friend who is a professional photographer, i.e. he's been published in Time magazine. I supported it because it was a thoughtful project with a timeline and real deadlines. Once the funding was met and he started the project, he gave status updates every few days and completed the project on time. I was happy to participate.
Every other offer that's been solicited by friends I've turned down. The most recent one, which did get funding, was a friend who started a handmade clothing company. This person is the CEO and chief designer. The company has had 3 employees on and off over the last 3 years. A shipping deadline was missed last Christmas to deliver handbags, scarves and laptop bags. This person has taken donations from friends and family and given them receipts so they can claim them on their taxes, but the company is not a 503c. The Facebook message from the launch was "If this doesn't get funded, my company is going out of business."
I feel like Kickstarter is a great idea, but the latter has become the norm for me. "I've completely screwed up as an owner, but I'm not really begging if its on Kickstarter." Or "I have this idea, but I have no idea how to execute it but I need money, off to Kickstarter!"
... when there is a story about a product that actually ships.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
There are STILL starving children in Africa and you people are donating your money to folks with a new idea for making hot sauce. F*&% off.
The simple fact is that no one on Kickstarter is there for any reason other than "we want your money because no one else would give us any."
This can be new start-ups with more dreams than schemes, venture capital won't touch them because they have zero experience in doing what they are doing. The idea that "I've never done it, but how hard could it be?" should -and does- raise alarm bells among the sensible.
The second group of Kickstarter money seekers can be classified as the "glorified pre-order" group. These are the established companies that use Kickstarter to fund their normal course of business. The return on investment is too low to justify VC funds, so companies come to crowdfunding as a way of avoiding negotiations with their bank, that is all.
Somewhere in Kickstarter are some interesting little projects (usually local arts projects) that genuinely benefit from this model.
Any VC who would put his clients' money into some of the high risk, high profile Kickstarter projects (I'm looking at you, Ouya) deserves to be fired - which is why they don't. There are no projects on Kickstarter that operate in the VC sphere. None.
This "Brydge" product looks an awful lot like an Apple keyboard.
Sadly, I just have to wonder how long it will take before they get sued.
Further, on a different note, I like crowdfunding, but personally I would like to see "crowdlobbying", or "lobbyfunding", so we can get those pesky copyright laws out of the way.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
I think the idea of Kickstarter is not a 'preorder store', but is in fact a 'Everyone can be a venture capitalist!' website. You agree to give someone money, and *IF* their product/company succeeds, you get something out of it. in the case of Kickstarter, instead of 10% of the next 5 years profits or whatever, you get 1 or 2 of the product, and maybe your name on a shirt or something. Less risk, less reward, but essentially venture capitalism for the masses.
If that idea does not appeal to you, (that is to say, your not interested in risking a little money on a cool idea) then go to Quirky or something.
(for those of you not familiar with quirky, the basic idea is, people pay 10$ to submit a product idea. the community votes on ideas, and the most popular go for review by the company. If they are chosen, they go through a multi step community design, refining, branding, and naming process, until a final product emerges, which the company then produces. The original idea submitter then gets a percentage cut of the profits from that product as it sells.)
This is tailored more to people who don't want to spend money on vapourware, but want to help support ideas they like.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
I don't get the connection of VC Vs Kickstarter donators talked about here? VC's want to make an investment in the person or company with a product idea and for that investment will get a percentage of the action per a contracted agreement, they are not interested on obtaining a finished product, they are looking to buy into a start-up company.
The Kickstarter donators either just want one (or more) of the finished products to be produced or are just donating to the project to support the project with no expectation of any return. A person with an idea would go to a VC to sell them a piece of the 'company', while a person would use Kickstarter in lieu of getting a personal bank loan to buy material and build, sell, and ship products.
Apples and Oranges.
It's all about reputation. I backed Tim Schafer's adventure game because he has proven himself and everybody trusts him.
If someone is unknown, then the risk is higher and you should treat it as casino bet: you must assume the money will be lost, but if you're wrong, then it'll be a welcome surprise!
Kickstarter should also return their 5% fee on no-delivery projects so that their interests are aligned with the backers. A 5 cents on the dollar refund (minus transaction fees) is negligible while the company wants to use that money to grow
I think that taking that hit is worth it because it motivates kickstarter to improve their average success rate, and that's a good thing for the long term.
1) Build software first
2) Put it on Kickstarter
3)....
4) Profit!
but you got a freaking Bluetooth keyboard. That hardly says anything about kickstarter hardware products. There are literally hundreds of these, and a good portion of these are already compatible with the ipad. There is no risk, no innovation, nothing. Heck if you want my opinion I'd say you got scammed because you funded the reinvention of the wheel.
BTW, if you needed a keyboard you should have got a freaking laptop. If you really want a tablet and touch interfaces there are the ASUS Trasformer series which won't drain battery life with bluetooth, they actually nearly double it as they contain built in batteries.
People are against crowdsourcing(at least the model espoused by kickstarter) because it's essentially a charity for people who want to be rich. There's nothing wrong with putting your money there if you have the cash and want to feel good about bringing a product to market, but in the end the ROI is pretty much nil, your legal recourse for anything but blatant fraud is non existent. It works, and will continue to work, but it's about people who have money to burn making themselves feel good which isn't necessarily the best long term strategy.
I developed software for a one-click process to make your house a green home, calculating the sweet spots in tens of thousands of combinations of energy efficiency retrofits for your house, identifying which incentives you qualify for and filling out the paperwork for you, finding qualified contractors in your area to do the work, and connecting you to green lenders if you need it. Built the prototype without a dime in investment or savings. Then I submitted the project to Kickstarter to raise capital to market it, and the snarky hipsters rejected it saying "we don't allow home improvement projects.". Apparently any variety of accessory for their iPhones is fine, but a tool that would save homeowners thousands of dollars per year, boost the value of their homes and reduce or eliminate their carbon footprint is not.
Kickstarter? Kickstopper.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Seriously an attached keyboard for iPads? If you buy one to be productive and get work done .. get it over with and buy a Microsoft Surface or Transformer tablet with keyboard.
Hivemind harvest in progress..
Aw, when I read the title I thought we were getting this:
http://www.fxguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Halo4_002.jpg
See, I'd back THAT..