The 10 Coolest Tech Projects on Kickstarter Right Now

Image via Complex Original

If you haven’t noticed, Kickstarter is kind of a big deal. Founded in 2008, the social fundraising site has helped thousands of inventors and entrepreneurs realize their dreams. In 2011, it helped raise nearly $100 million for over 27,000 projects. Out of that pot, 11,836 projects were able to get full funding. Just recently Kickstarter celebrated another milestone with two projects each raising $1 million. It’s become the defacto way for people to get their products financed without having to hit up VCs or ask their parents to mortgage their homes. And we couldn’t be happier. We’ve seen some amazing products come from Kickstarter, like the TouchFire iPad keyboard.

However, without our help, a lot of these projects wound’t see the light of day. That’s why we looked through the site and picked the 10 tech projects we feel deserve funding. If you’re looking for something to do with your tax refund, check it out.

Ramos Alarm Clock

Status: Fully funded

We've seen some alarm clocks that go above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to making sure you get your ass out of bed, but the Ramos outdoes them all. Handcrafted from a number of hard-woods, the Ramos works just like any other alarm clock until it's that time of the morning. When it's time for you to wake up, the Ramos will sound its alarm, and the only way for you to turn it off is to enter a special code into the keypad placed inside a decorative frame that you're supposed to hang somewhere far from your bed like, say, the bathroom. If we had this, we would be on time for work.

Dash

Status: Fully funded

When popular in-car navigation company Navigon decided to stop making stand-alone navigation units and focus on its smartphone apps, it was a turning point for the consumer electronics industry. It showed that smartphones could do the job of many other gadgets. The Dash is a testament to that. The Dash is an in-car stereo that allows you to use your iPhone as the main interface. All you do is have the DIN box installed and plug your phone in when you're in your car. You're able to use all your radio apps (Pandora, Spotify, etc), access all your stored music, and use your navigation apps like Google Maps. Dash eliminates the need to fiddle with awkward wires and interfaces. This, we think, is the true future of in-car entertainment.

Last Alert

Status: $2,392 pledged of $3,500 goal; 6 days to go

There are many apps that allow you to track your phone. Apple even went as far as to include one with iCloud. But one weakness all those apps have is their ineffectiveness to help you find your phone in the event that your battery dies. Last Alert hopes to change that. The app does three things: it alerts you when your phone is about to die; right before it does, the app sends you an email with the location of your phone right before its battery crapped out; then it allows you to use another iOS device to use those coordinates to track down the lost iPhone. This is one of those things you will wish you had only when you lose your dead iPhone.

Magnic Light

Status: $36,665 pledged of $50,000 goal; 17 days to go

You don't often hear about revolution in the field of bicycle lighting, but that's exactly what German inventor Dirk Strothmann is doing with the Magnic Light. Unlike other magnetic lights currently on the market, the Magnic Light doesn't require you to attach magnets to your bike rims. The powerful lights are powered via eddy currents that are generated, contact-less, when your wheels move. It attaches easily to your break caliper or your wheel hub using two screws. The light doesn't require any batteries; only your constant peddling. If you pledge $200 you get both the rear and front Magnic Light.

Chomp

Status: $11,369 pledged of $25,000 goal; 6 days to go

This project will appeal to all of our readers who also produce music on the their computers. The Chomp is an inexpensive, open source ($50) MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controller that allows users to connect up to 48 buttons, knobs, and sensors. Why would you need this? The example used by the high-school inventor Max Justicz is: Imagine you're using Garage Band (or any other musical software) and you would like to control on the variables, lets say the volume, using a solid knob. You can connect the knob to the Chomp, adjust the settings in the given software, and voila. If you're serious about digital production, you should at least check it out.

SparkLab

Status: $6,997 pledged of $25,000 goal; 22 days to go

A group of Stanford d.school students decided to try and fix one of the biggest problems afflicting school districts all over the country: the lack of funds to purchase cutting-edge tools that allow students to learn how to build the products of tomorrow. To do so, the group would like to outfit a van with a laser cutter, 3D printer, auxiliary generator, vinyl cutter, tables, cabinets, awning, hand tools, and other materials, and bring them around to local schools so students can get some hands-on time with the all the tools. We believe this is much needed in schools today, and while this project won't solve the national problem, it's a great start.

NTH Music Synthesizer

Status: Fully funded

Here's another open-source music project that will allow people to create digital music. The NTH Music Synthesizer is an easy-to-use synthesizer that will, as the inventors say, allow you to go from “sweet and sublime to raw, and thrashing, and retro sounds.” For the techies, all this is done with a PIC microcontroller, and an 8-bit DAC, analog low-pass filters, and and integrated step sequencer. The controls are simple and straight-forward, and the design is as just as geeky as we like. And because it's open-source hardware, it's hackable meaning you can tweak it as you please for your own unique sounds.

ZSlider

Status: $1,478 pledged of $17,500; 35 days to go

DSLRs have become the defacto video camera for the budding director and cinematographer. For those that want to take their shooting to the next level, a company called igus makes linear slider that makes it easy to shoot tracking shots (or do panoramic photography). The ZSlider makes it even easier by allowing you to add a belt driven kit that can either be moved by a motor or by a hand crank depending on your needs. The ZSlider currently only works on the igus W1080 slider rail, but creator Anthony Zeh says he's working to adapt it to others in the future if the project is fully funded.

Cora App

Status: $3,039 pledged of $10,000; 40 days to go

In the past we've shown you what to do with the gadgets you no longer want (because throwing your old phone in the trash is bad, guys). But what about all the other stuff in your house that you plan to toss out? The Cora app has the answer. Tell it what it is you want get rid of and the app will tell you either how to make something new out of the object, or, if arts and crafts isn't your thing, if there are any people in your 'hood that need what you don't want. If no one wants it, it'll then tell you how to properly throw it away. If the app is fully funded it will be made available as a free download for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

Node

Status: $21,368 pledged of $50,000; 22 days to go

NODE is one of the coolest projects we've ever seen on Kickstarter. As a handheld device packed with a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis magnetometer, and three-axis gyroscope, NODE's potential uses are pretty limitless. The device connects to your phone via Bluetooth so as not to drain too much energy. The code is open source so anyone can build an app that takes advantage of the device. But when upon purchasing NODE, the user will also get an app which features three modules: KORE which lets you monitor all the sensors, CLIMA which lets you get an accurate reading on the current atmospheric pressures (weather), and LUMA which allows you to control the NODE's eight powerful LEDs. Variable Technologies, the company behind the NODE, plans to release many more modules in the future which will no doubt lengthen its list of uses.