Categories
Podcasts

Backerjack Podcast #16: Cyclops Cameras, Talking Trash, and Smart Homes vs. Smartphones

In sweet Episode 16 of the Backerjack Podcast, Steven Sande and Ross Rubin check out some of the latest products seeking funds and preorders:

  • Flex Cam PIC, a whimsical and inexpensive still and video camera that wraps around objects and comes in a range of colors and silly characters. It has some similarities to Podo.
  • GeniCan, a clip-on to your garbage can or recycle bin that builds your shopping list by scanning the barcodes of products you’ve consumed. As we note, it has the same goals as SmartQsine.
  • Oomi, a comprehensive and tightly integrated Z-Wave-based home control system that features easy setup. It rivals another recent ambitious smart home project, Paigo.
Categories
Announcements

New wearables innovation report now available

It’s no surprise that the record for most-funded Kickstarter project was set — twice — by Pebble, a pioneer in smartwatches. After all, wearables require a level of imagination, attention to personal style and leading-edge tech that have been the hallmark of crowdfunded projects.

Part of the Product Innovation Pipeline Report series produced by Reticle Research, the latest Wearables report includes complete campaign data and profiles for all wearables featured on Backerjack in the fourth quarter of 2014. Those 45 curated projects, which include smartwatches, child locators, video glasses, pet finders, and stress management products, are essential to understanding innovation happening in the red-hot field of wearables.

Categories
Podcasts

The Backerjack Podcast, Episode 7, with Ross Rubin and Steve Sande

It’s time for Episode 7 of The Backerjack Podcast. This week, Ross and Steve take on three projects:

  • It’s an LED light bulb, it’s a pico projector, it’s Beam. Insert it into a standard light socket and then project your content just about anywhere. It’s cool enough to put goosebumps on your gooseneck. Find out why we think it’s a a particularly bright idea.
  • More impressive than The One discussed in Episode 6, the Neo Smart Jar tracks the nutritional value of its contents and even suggests recipes. Find out why it’s at the leading edge of  IoT.
  • Pigeon takes another stab at the connected picture frame. Will this grannytech fly or wind up as roadkill?
Categories
Podcasts

The Backerjack Podcast, Episode 4, with Ross Rubin and Steve Sande

Steve and Ross, your two favorite crowdfunding connoisseurs, focus on four fresh products in this week’s Episode 4 of The Backerjack Podcast:

  • For those whose smartphone distance represents the longest yard, you can keep tabs on key factoids on the portable Chumbyesque  Displio.
  • Those who fear the gases, chemicals and radiation threatening to penetrate their tin foil hat can monitor it all with the Scarab. On the other hand, those who think more immediate threats come from people spitting in their food can drool over the Saliva Scanner.
  • And those who want to pair their tablets and phones with the most radical redesign ever of a mobile keyboard can partake of the tripartite TextBlade .

All the campaigns and preorder pages are still active so check out our thoughts before signing up to back them.

Subscribe via iTunes or RSS, download the podcast by saving this link, or listen to it with the player below:

 

Categories
Announcements Featured

Introducing Product Innovation Pipeline Reports for retailers, manufacturers and investors

For over a year, Backerjack has been the only editorial Web site devoted exclusively to covering the world of crowdfunded product innovation. The campaigns that we’ve focused on include cutting-edge ideas in many different product categories. But retailers, manufacturers, and investors who want to track these products need more to tap fully into the promise of open innovation.

Introducing the Product Innovation Pipeline Reports. PIPR reports cut through the clutter to curate the most innovative physical products in specific categories along with detailed data that provide clues about consumer demand before products are even available. Consistent across Kickstarter, Indiegogo and other platforms, this data includes:

  • total funds raised
  • total number of backers
  • campaign creator and location
  • product pricing
  • whether the campaign was successful

In addition, each report includes independent profiles of products with links back to the original campaign and company Web site. PIPR reports reveal what could unlock the next product opportunity to drive hundreds of millions of dollars.

The first two reports cover digital imaging — an area of keen interest for any professionals selling or investing in smartphones or digital SLRs and their accessories — for the first two quarters of 2014. The Q3 report will be available soon, and the Q4 report later by March. Many of these products that were funded in the first half of 2014 are just coming into production now and are seeking distribution,

Stay tuned for many more reports launching in the coming months.