Kickstarter projects for tablets
Ever heard of Kickstarter? It’s a site that specializes in helping people with ideas raise funds to turn those ideas into something real. People present their project idea, set a goal for what they want to raise, and then people pledge to support X amount of money. If they raise enough, the product will be made, if not, the pledgers don’t pay anything. Most of the time the system works like a pre order system for products that aren’t even made yet, by giving out gifts at certain pledge levels- normally the product, perhaps with something extra. There are a few iPad projects on Kickstarter, and some of them are really nice idea.
PadPivot
The PadPivot is basically a tablet stand for your leg. It solves the problem of havin gto balance your iPad (or another tablet) on your lap and allows you to more easily operate the device, both for typing and for using various apps. $25 pledged will get you your own PadPivot when it’s made, and they’ve already got 9 times what they hoped for.
Joystickers
Joystickers have three products they want made. The first is a tiny tactile button that is basically the button version of the Fling, giving gamers real buttons to press instead of on-screen ones. It works with any capacitive touchscreen, so not only the iPad. They also have two styli. The first one, a paintbrush style stylus, is pretty useless now that someone else has made a similar product. The other however promises to be the stylus out there with the finest tip- which is something I’d be really interested in. With $24000 to go in 28 days they really need every pledge, so if you’re interested check them out.They have various pledging options available depending on whether you want the Classic (button thingy) or the styli.
Stylus Cap
The Stylus Cap is yet another stylus with a different, interesting design. Instead of being a long pen-like device, it’s designed to be a pen cap with a capacitive stylus tip. That means that you can put it on an existing pen (sharpe, BIC and Pilot Fineliner models planned) and have the best of both worlds in a single pen. Simple, yet clever. A $20 pledge will get you one of these things, and this guy is also way past his goal already.
Dockem
The Dockem is a stand that will work with our motto- everything flat. It’s simply a couple of tiny pieces of plastic that attaches to your wall with some very strong double sided tape like material (you’ll have no problem removing them though). It’s universal with flat stuff because you decide how far from one another you put the Dockem pieces and so decide what device it will fit. The Dockem pieces then holds your device to the wall and lets you do whatever you were doing hands free. The downside is that you can’t easily change the distance between pieces, so you’ll have a hard time switching between devices or from portrait to landscape. Still it’s a great, ingeniously simple idea that could sure come in handy for many people. $15 is the minimal pledge you have to make to get one, and you have 15 days to help them get the remaining $1600.
Pocket Stand
The final project I thought looked interesting on Kickstarter at the moment is the Pocket Stand. It’s a relatively small plastic device that can function both as a stand for your tablet or as a sound chamber type passive amplifier for your iPad. $20 will get you one if it gets made, and these guys also need your help with only 23 days left to get an additional $14000 in pledges.
All these projects are quite simple yet very useful and very well thought out. It’s the kind of thing where you go “why didn’t I think of that” when you see it presented. Kickstarter is awesome for helping projects like these to become reality, and I hope they all do- even the two who have the longest to go. Note that the minimal pledges I quoted are just that- the minimal prices. Many of them comes with shipping on top, just so you remember to check up on that. If you pledge more than the minimum you normally get something extra as well, so make sure to check out the options if anyone of these were of particular interest. Remember, they won’t be made without enough support!
