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Crowdfunding Roundup: Some winners and a few slow starters
Every 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. Wow, we're hearing about a lot of Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns that are figuratively "knocking it out of the park" by not only meeting, but exceeding their funding goals. Let's take a look at what's out on Kickstarter this week: Boldy is a new magnetic iPad and iPhone mount that uses a curved, half-egg shaped mount with a "cup" on the back of a special case to create an amazingly adjustable setup. It has a bit of a ways to go to reach funding, as it's only at about 10.7 percent funding. Fortunately, the campaign goes for another 45 days. If you're one of the three humans on the planet who doesn't have at least one device mount, Boldy looks like it is definitely worth waiting for. OK, so some of you young punks don't even know what a typewriter is/was, but if you have any love at all for retro tech you're going to love the Qwerkywriter. It's a typewriter-inspired mechanical keyboard that is just flippin' beautiful. Dreams don't become reality without your backing, though -- with three weeks to go, the Qwerkywriter campaign has only raised about 35 percent of funding. Please back this project so I can pretend I'm typing on my grandmother's old Underwood typewriter. We already had a full post about the Edyn connected garden accessories earlier this week, but the campaign on Kickstarter is still underway. If you want to make your gardening a little bit easier, to be able to understand what's going on with those plants, back this project. Edyn has already made funding -- it's 181 percent funded with 27 days to go -- but can always use more money to help get manufacturing up and running. TUAW readers know that I'm fascinated with the "Internet of everything", and I have sensors, switches, and webcams just about everywhere in my house to see what's going on and give me control from anywhere I happen to be. Well, oort is looking a creating a unified ecosystem of products connected to your iPhone or iPad through a small puck-like hub. Having just launched, the oort project is only at 2.1 percent of funding, but I expect it to take off. Ever heard of "juice jacking"? It's a method of compromising a smartphone or tablet that's plugged into a USB port for charging. Now, while as far as I know this has never been an issue, LA-based SparqEE wants to make sure it never happens to you. How are they doing this? With the Umbrella USB, which is basically a tiny USB adapter that passes power to your juice-hungry device but no data. In other words, it's a way to stop someone from infecting your devices with malware if you happen to plug into the wrong USB port... 112 percent funded with three weeks to go! Here's a great way to get girls interested in coding: APPALOOSA! is a mobile app prototyping kit that combines stories, supplies and source files to get young girls interested in app development. The project has modest goals and is fortunately almost halfway to its funding goal with 39 days to go. This should be an easy project to push over the top, and it's a very worthy Kickstarter. Let's say that you happen to own a very nice, expensive Breitling watch. Are you going to give that up for some "smart watch" anytime soon? Probably not. That's why Glance makes sense -- it's a digital accessory that fits under a watchband and works with smartphone apps to provide you with information, all while you're using your favorite watch. Regretfully, at only 25 percent funding with three weeks to go, Glance may not make it into production without your help. And finally, we head over to Indiegogo where the Pouff3D 3D scanner is trying to get off the ground. Maybe it's the name; perhaps it's the idea that not everyone needs a smartphone-connected 3D scanner that looks like a weird piece of living room furniture. Anyway, the project is probably going to die an early death; it has only captured $88 of an $85,000 goal with 16 days to go. And that, my friends, is it for this week in the wild and wacky world of crowdfunding. Come back next week when we'll see what new ideas (and probably even more smartphone/tablet mounts) show up. Thanks again to Hal Sherman for providing tips on a number of the projects. 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.
Mobile Miscellany: week of October 7th, 2013
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought a sneak peek of HTC Sense 5.5, along with an exclusive HTC One in Vivid Blue to Carphone Warehouse and the beta release of Nokia Glance Background for Lumia smartphones. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of October 7th, 2013.
Mobile Miscellany: week of June 10th, 2013
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week, the Lumia 925 touched down in Germany, a popular RSS client for Android broke free of its Google Reader shackles and BBM Channels received some sorely needed features. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of June 10th, 2013.
Addon Spotlight: Glance, a multi-use top bar
Each week, WoW Insider's Mathew McCurley brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. Keeping your interface neat and tidy while still retaining a lot of your precious information can be a tough feat. Some poor souls never get away from a disaster UI, started and finished in sadness, shame, and wreckage. Do not fret, young ones. There are addons that can help you be neat and tidy without too much work on your part. I promise. Glance was an addon that I first discovered while trolling through the comments on my various columns, as am I known to do. My readers are a steadfast bunch, always willing to show support for their man and recommend some great tools to players in need. Well, as it turns out, I am one of those players in need. A few weeks back, I got an email that asked me what was an easy way to get into LDB bars and addons, and I didn't really have a great answer. The first thing that popped into my head was the concept -- the bar addon works as a dock for other LDB plugins. It didn't feel right explaining the whole thing in that way, so instead I went looking for an addon that resembled LDB but didn't take the setup some LDBs require. That addon is Glance.
LG Masterpiece now available on Telus
Look familiar? Sure enough, LG's Masterpiece for Telus up in Canada is really nothing more than a rebrand of the Glance for Verizon. It's not a terribly high-end phone by any stretch -- think 1.3 megapixel camera and a striking lack of 3G data -- but seeing how LG candybars are relatively rare in North America, we feel like there's still an aura of importance to this phone that we can't seem to shake. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it's under 11mm thick and is pretty easy on the eyes; give us a new version with EV-DO and a 3.2 megapixel cam and we might even be in for the ride ourselves. As-is, we'd like to see it free on contract -- but alas, you'll be grabbing it for CAD $49.99 (about $46) on a three-year plan.[Via MobileSyrup]
Verizon announces LG Glance, enV 3, and enV Touch
Three widely-expected models from LG have now gotten fully, completely, and utterly official for Verizon this morning. Starting at the bottom rung, the Glance is a low-end but surprisingly handsome candybar -- a form factor we don't frequently see from LG for Big Red -- with a 1.3 megapixel camera, a "woven metal" battery cover, and a QVGA display; it'll be available on June 5 for $49.99 on contract after rebate. Next up, the env3 replaces (you guessed it) the env2 with that now well-known landscape clamshell design featuring dual displays, dual keypads, and full QWERTY on the inside. It's got EV-DO, QVGA internal and 160 x 96 external displays, a 3 megapixel cam with video recording and flash, and visual voicemail support. It's just a smidge more expensive than the Glance, running $129.99 after rebate and it's in stores tomorrow. Finally, the big kahuna: the enV Touch succeeds the Voyager with a full touchscreen on the outside and an enV-esque QWERTY interior, rocking a 3.2 megapixel autofocus shooter, two -- yes, two -- wide VGA displays, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Touch drops in alongside the Glance come June 5 for $149.99 on contract after rebate.
LG Glance coming June 5 with fancy looks, unfancy price
We've gotten word that LG's VX7100 Glance for Verizon should be getting hawked in all channels as of June 5 -- ride alongside the enV Touch. Under normal circumstances, we'd say that a midrange LG buried all the way down in the 7000 series wouldn't have much of a shot at getting any spotlight opposite the much flashier VX11000 launching the same day, but PhoneArena's got some real pictures of this thing now -- and by all accounts, it's looking a good deal fancier than its price. The braided gold rear probably isn't for everyone, but it's a cool alternative to the ubiquitous flips these guys have been launching; we're hearing that it'll hit for $50 after a $50 rebate, and it's definitely not easy to find a phone that looks this flashy at that price level (at least, not without Bedazzling it yourself). It's said to pack a QVGA display (looks about right from the rendered UI here), a 1.3 megapixel camera, and a body just over 9.5mm thick. Give us a silver version, Verizon, and we're totally sold. [Thanks, anonymous tipster]
LG VX7100 Glance spied, probably not the form factor you were expecting
If you were to play an impromptu game of word association with us and we said "LG," "candybar for Verizon" probably wouldn't be your first response. Of course, that wouldn't be a legal response since it's three words, not one, but let's try to stay on task here -- the point is that you don't see a whole many LG candybars hit Big Red. Well, seeing is believing, and phoneArena now seems to have scored the first semi-decent picture of what will become the VX7100 Glance, a surprisingly okay-looking black candybar with silver accents. Rumor has it this one will be playing in the low- to midrange, which we can totally believe given its relatively low "VX" number designation and the fact that it'll lack EV-DO; other than that, though, specs are hard to come by at this point, and your guess at a release date is as good as ours. Call us easy sales, but the totally red-free menu here has us stoked already.
