Every week, puts up a load of cool new projects. Creators of films, gadgets, and even restaurants throw their ideas up on the site in hopes of getting enough funding for completion. Donations of a certain size are rewarded with gifts. By going to Kickstarter, the inventors can reach a whole bunch of people in a few simple steps and still maintain 100% control over their creation. Here are three new projects that grabbed our attention.
hopes to improve bike lighting with leds that line the frames of road bikes. The goals are to increase visibility of the bikes for drivers and to improve side illumination on the road. Revolights uses the following safety numbers to highlight the importance of such an invention:
—The two most frequent causes for the 52,000 reported bicycle accidents are collisions with motor vehicles (58%) and individual falls (30%) (from the National Center for Statistics and Analysis )
—Of the 716 reported fatalities, 69% occurred in urban areas and 39% were between the hours of 5 p.m. and midnight (from the National Center for Statistics and Analysis )
—Nearly 70% of all nighttime Bicycle-Car collisions are due to inadequate side visibility (Source was this . I did not find a more recent offical source for this statistic.)
The team hopes to have the project complete by the end of 2011 and is looking for $43,500.
The wants to build a remote controlled flying contraption that can both hover and fly. If it works, we could see using the device for cheap aerial footage at a surfing competition or mountain biking event. They’re looking for $25,000.
This one is lacking a bit on the technical wow factor, but that’s the point. are looking for $4800 so they can travel to 12 countries and explore the different places where people find sanctuary. The end project will take the form of a photo portfolio and essays.
–Joe Spring