Strangely, the Smarty Ring that we covered a few weeks ago showed up again on Indiegogo last week with an entirely new funding page. We’ve seen copycat projects before, but this time the copycat page is actually from the original founders.
Smarty Ring provides “alerts right on your finger”
Note: this photo does not even remotely represent the actual dimensions of the product.
The Smarty Ring Indiegogo campaign ended this week smashing its fundraising goal amid a huge flurry of interest in the final stretch. Unfortunately, as stated at the top of their project description “All pictures shown here are conceptual design”
The Fin ring
Headlining on Indiegogo right now is the Fin wearable bluetooth ring. While it may not keep you up to date on your messages like some other ring projects we’ve looked at, the Fin aims to be a super lightweight and unobtrusive user input device for any number of bluetooth gadgets. It took some work to figure out how it works, but even with that information, one wonders if they will really be able to deliver the performance and user experience they’re advertising.
Indiegogo conducts brief survey on trustworthiness
If you log into Indiegogo today, you might notice a small survey pop up in the bottom left corner of your browser window.
With campaigns as troubled as Ritot, Smarty Ring, and TellSpec, one wonders if Indiegogo is starting to feel like it’s garnered a reputation as a hotbed for scams. Features like Flex Funding and the new Forever Funding show that they are doing everything they can to facilitate money changing hands which sets them apart from their competitors who are at least occasionally stepping in when problems arise. Seems like the place to go if you want to run an additional fundraiser for no reason or copy another campaign entirely.
Let’s hope the results of this survey bring about some changes in Indiegogo policy.
Ritot projection watch
Author’s note: Portions of the research for this project were provided by reader K. Thank you for your help.
Every few weeks, we see another crowd funded campaign trying to revolutionize the way we look at our wrists to see the time. While most of these products aim to add new features to a standard watch, Ritot claims that they can display the time in a whole new way. Not content to look at the simple display of virtually every watch ever made, Ritot is trying to take it a step further with a watch that projects the time on the back of the hand.
Presumably, using the back of a hand provides a larger “screen” for displaying the time and other information, but anyone who’s tried to read a PowerPoint slide in a sunny conference room can think of at least a dozen problems with this solution. Instead of providing demonstrations of their unique solution, all Ritot has managed to produce is misleading graphics and shady details about their level of progress. This is one campaign where I wish I had a chance to dive in earlier, but with just three days left in the campaign, it’s better late than never.
The Dash headphones: surprisingly possible
The Dash wireless earbuds cropped up earlier this week on Kickstarter, and you guys have been blowing up our inbox requesting a review. We can see why you’re interested; they’re offering a pair of wireless earbuds with integrated heart rate monitor, bone microphone, touch-sensitive controls, voice feedback, 4GB MP3 player, and more. While a cursory glance might bring up memories of the Smarty Ring, a device with a similarly extreme sizing and technology requirements, there are a few details present in the Dash campaign that make it not so far fetched.
Your fundraising goal is bullshit
When your average tech journalist wants to talk about the success of a new product or service, he has a lot to draw on. Netflix subscriptions can be compared to cable subscriptions, iPhone sales can be compared to Android sales. Even the number of reported returns or one star Amazon reviews can tell you a lot about the success of a company’s new product.
Unfortunately, in the world of crowd funding, there isn’t a whole lot to go on when trying to gauge success. Many crowd funded products are too unique to compare to products already on the market. Others attempt to butt heads with established brands, but journalists can’t verify their claims without review units. Readers want to hear who won and who lost, but the world of product development makes that distinction cloudy.
Fortunately, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and just about every other crowd funding site offer an arbitrary and random way to gauge the success of a campaign without drawing on information from any of the established and reliable sources mentioned above: the funding goal.
