A week into the new year, and undoubtedly many of even the most mundane of resolutions are losing steam or fading away altogether. But over at Kickstarter, the crowdsourcing site, innovators are resolving to drive new tech in the new year and are as steadfast as ever.
Here is a look at some tech-centric campaigns that could fall short of their goals, with spittle-flinging words of motivation and a good ole-fashioned kick in the pants.
KeyMouse
Married under common law for decades now, the keyboard and mouse have finally produced offspring -- they're twins! The KeyMouse is a split keyboard, which each half resting on a laser mouse.
"It allows users to operate the mouse without moving their hands out of typing position," the campaign states. "No more moving your hand back and forth between the keyboard and mouse."
So far, nearly 90 fans want a keyboard and mouse combination that enables them to move a cursor without moving hands off keyboards. The KeyMouse has reached 22 percent of its $100,000 goal with just over three weeks left, a solid pace that indicates that there's no room for doubts now.
Listnr
It isn't a reason to leave a child unattended, but Listnr provides another pair of ears for a variety of sounds and will report what it hears to users via mobile notifications. Making use of the cloud, Listnr can even trigger other smart devices when it hears a certain sound -- for example, it can trigger lights when it hears a car pull into a driveway.
"With our beta version internally, our data suggests over 75 percent of a baby's sounds are recognized and categorized correctly," states Listnr's campaign. "We expect this to be above 90 percent before shipping. Other sounds, like finger snapping, or stepping, and clapping sound will be recognized by the time of release."
More than 50 backers have poured over $6,000 into the campaign, yet that's a far cry from Listnr's goal of $50,000. However there are nearly two months left in Listnr's campaign, so reaching just 12 percent of its goal at this point is no reason for despair just yet.
PC-IRS5-01
Getting past its rather bland and boring name, the PC-IRS5-01, hereafter the IRS5, promises an innovation that could make PCs feel more at home in living rooms. The IRS5 module enables IR remote controls to wake up living room PCs that have been powered off or put them to sleep, which saves energy and further streamlines the media center experience.
"Since we already have production prototypes in hand, we currently have nearly all facets of the production phase ready to go," the campaign states. "Our vendors are waiting now for the go-ahead and will begin production of a specified quantity of IRS5 units based on the outcome of this campaign."
With nine days left in the campaign, and approximately 39 percent of its $10,000 goal, the IRS5 may soon be in need of a Powerade and a motivational pep talk.
