Crowdfunding Roundup: Nano edition
Each week, TUAW provides readers with an update on new or significant crowdfunded Apple-related projects in the news. While our policy is to not go into detail on items that haven't reached at least 80 percent of their funding goal, this update is designed to give readers a heads-up on projects they might find interesting enough to back.
It's been an exciting week so far -- so exciting that we haven't been able to do a lot with gathering the crop of Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns that have popped up in the last week. Today's list is going to be rather short as a result -- expect things to be back to normal next week.
Our first entry this week accurately bills itself as "the smallest backup charger for iPhone." Oivo is a brilliant idea, a collapsible battery charger that you can pop a set of four readily-available AA batteries into for a quick hit of juice. The top and bottom halves of the charger magnetically couple together so you have a tiny square fob on your keychain. Pull them apart, drop in the batteries, and you're good to go. Oivo also works as an iPhone stand while you're charging. 39 percent funded with three weeks to go, I think Oivo is going to make it.
For some people, the upcoming Watch from Apple is going to be way too large. For those people, we recommend that they back the MOTA SmartRing campaign on Indiegogo. Currently 44 percent funded with over three weeks to go, this is this first of these "intelligent ring" projects that looks like it may actually make it through funding. And hey, who doesn't want to have notification of a tweet coming in on a tiny ring on your finger?
There are actually quite a few minimalist cases that are similar to our next entry, the Koala Case. This case is 27 percent funded with 17 days to go, and I'm not going to say much about it since I honestly think it's too similar to a number of cases already in production.
And our final entry of the week is the Pocket Dock-It. Take an Apple charging brick and put a Lightning connector on top, and call it a Pocket Dock-It. It's certainly small, but your iPhone will hanging around wall sockets way too often. Don't expect to see this product in your local gadget store soon, as it's only at 3 percent funding with two weeks to go.
And that's a wrap for this exciting week. We'll be back next Thursday for another roundup of crowdfunded projects that you can support or ignore. Many thanks again to Hal Sherman for providing some tips about new and exciting projects, and if you're aware of any other crowdfunded Apple-related projects, be sure to let us know about them through the Tip Us button at the upper right of the TUAW home page for future listing on the site.
