{"id":1258,"date":"2012-08-01T22:58:06","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T05:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/?p=1258"},"modified":"2012-10-11T18:17:18","modified_gmt":"2012-10-12T01:17:18","slug":"kickstarter-it-works-for-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/?p=1258","title":{"rendered":"My Kickstarter Win\/Loss Record"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\" target=\"_blank\">Kickstarter! Kickstarter! Kickstarter!<\/a> And yet I often hear people darkly warning anyone who will listen that KS is a fad, or a ripoff, and a lot of projects never get backed, and they all ship late, and there&#8217;s nothing to say the people won&#8217;t just take your money and run, and all that. Hmm. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/profile\/danamrich\" target=\"_blank\">I have been backing projects on Kickstarter<\/a> since before it was cool (that is, in December of last year, before <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/doublefine\/double-fine-adventure?ref=users\" target=\"_blank\">Double Fine<\/a>) and my experience has not been doom or gloom. In fact, I can now report back on several projects that I have funded&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/1104350651\/lunatik-touch-pen-the-evolution-of-the-stylus?ref=users\" target=\"_blank\">LunaTik Touch<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/1104350651\/lunatik-touch-pen-the-evolution-of-the-stylus\/widget\/video.html\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong>What It Is:<\/strong> A clicky pen with a capacitive rubber tip. Click the back and it&#8217;s a pen; retract the rollerball and it&#8217;s an iPad stylus.<br \/>\n<strong>When I Backed It:<\/strong> February 2012<br \/>\n<strong>When They Promised It:<\/strong> April 2012<br \/>\n<strong>When I Got It:<\/strong> July 2012<\/p>\n<p>I loved the idea right away, and the company, Minimal, had a good track record. The late arrival didn&#8217;t bother me, and when it did arrive, that packaging was completely professional. But since ordering and receiving it, I&#8217;d seen a lot of other pen\/stylus combos, and I&#8217;d gotten used to the Wacom Bamboo stylus; this harder tip had a very different feel. The tip also tends to slowly unscrew as I use it. I used it as my main stylus for two weeks, then took it into the office just for use during meetings.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Was It Worth It:<\/strong> Sorta. Having used it now, I feel I could have gotten a cheaper alternative, or even lived without it. But that was the only way to find out. And <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/grifiti\/tagtool-stylus-mechanical-pencil-and-pens?ref=users\" target=\"_blank\">I am ready to love again<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/1719433562\/recoil-windersnever-fight-tangled-cords-again?ref=users\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Recoil Winders<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/1719433562\/recoil-windersnever-fight-tangled-cords-again\/widget\/video.html\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/a><strong>What It Is:<\/strong> A small recoiling winder for headphones and small computer cables<br \/>\n<strong>When I Backed It:<\/strong> February 2012<br \/>\n<strong>When They Promised It:<\/strong> April 2012<br \/>\n<strong>When I Got It:<\/strong> July 2012<\/p>\n<p>I keep a lot of cables with me in my\u00a0<del>murse<\/del>\u00a0messenger bag, and I&#8217;d been looking for a way to keep them tangle-free.\u00a0I got a three-pack (small, medium, and large), but as a bonus, they threw in a fourth small winder &#8212; a common thank-you gesture for projects that receive a lot of funding. Kat and I use the small ones for earbuds and I have an iPhone charge cable in the medium one. It&#8217;s a little tricky to get the hang of it, but once you remove and rewind the cables two or three times, it&#8217;s pretty easy, and the winders work very well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Was It Worth It:<\/strong> Absolutely. This solved my problem better than I thought it would. In fact, I liked these so much, I went back and bought a few more from <a href=\"http:\/\/recoilwinders.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">their retail site<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/michaelbielaczyc\/steampnuk-blaster-gun-prop?ref=users\" target=\"_blank\">Steampunk Blaster<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/michaelbielaczyc\/steampnuk-blaster-gun-prop\/widget\/card.html\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"220\" height=\"380\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong>What It Is:<\/strong> Resin prop raygun and holster for steampunk cosplay<br \/>\n<strong>When I Backed It:<\/strong> March 2012<br \/>\n<strong>When They Promised It:<\/strong> June 2012<br \/>\n<strong>When I Got It:<\/strong> July (almost August) 2012<\/p>\n<p>I spotted this at the same time that I was working on my steampunk outfit, and I thought it had a great look. It was also clearly a small creator without the same kind of resources as, say, Minimal. But, like the big guys, it also arrived two months late, though I think the reason is better: the guy got married this summer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Was It Worth It:<\/strong>\u00a0Totally. This looks unique as a prop and feels awesome in my hand.<\/p>\n<p>Of the 30 projects I&#8217;ve backed, six were not funded, and five are still in the funding stage &#8212; which means the other 19 were successful. So&#8230;the worst I can say is, yeah, KS projects often ship late. But ripoffs? Not that I can see. I am stoked for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/1652790707\/torch-bicycle-helmet-with-integrated-lights?ref=users\" target=\"_blank\">the Torch bike helmet<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/552506690\/brydge-ipad-do-more?ref=users\" target=\"_blank\">Brydge iPad keyboard<\/a>, both of which are backed and in preproduction, and I am really hoping <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/430854338\/retronix-r-800-r-800b-by-j-backlund-guitar-project\" target=\"_blank\">the Retronix guitar<\/a> gets funded.<\/p>\n<p>To me, Kickstarter is a shopping mall for early adopters. Proceed with caution &#8212; like you would for any purchase &#8212; but I don&#8217;t have any reason to treat Kickstarter with extra suspicion.<\/p>\n<p><strong>UPDATE!<\/strong> Several more projects I&#8217;ve backed have come through, so I thought I would continue to offer reports\/reviews on those as well. I&#8217;ll just keep adding.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/grifiti\/tagtool-stylus-mechanical-pencil-and-pens\" target=\"_blank\">Tagtool Stylus<\/a><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/grifiti\/tagtool-stylus-mechanical-pencil-and-pens\/widget\/video.html\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong>What It Is:<\/strong>\u00a0Combination fountain pen\/capacitive stylus<br \/>\n<strong>When I Backed It:<\/strong>\u00a0July 2012<br \/>\n<strong>When They Promised It:<\/strong>\u00a0July 2012<br \/>\n<strong>When I Got It:<\/strong>\u00a0September 2012<\/p>\n<p>I like fountain pens, but I&#8217;ve never had a really nice one, like a Mont Blanc or what have you. I also like iPad stlyii, so I tend to back a lot of those projects anyway. This seemed like the perfect marriage for me &#8212; a cool titanium pen I could use at work and switch-hit between old world and new-fangled instantly.<\/p>\n<p>When the pen arrived two months late (because it is a Kickstarter project, after all), I popped the fountain pen cartridge in and it was everything I always thought a fountain pen should be &#8212; amazingly smooth, very responsive. Awesome, I thought. I put the cap on.<\/p>\n<p>No, wait, no I didn&#8217;t.\u00a0The cap would not stay on. At all. I tried to keep it in\u00a0place but it simply didn&#8217;t remain where I put it; if I move the pen\u00a0at all, gravity takes over and the cap (which is plastic, not titanium) slides off. This makes it tricky, at\u00a0best, to use as a stylus, and equally problematic for the pen part, since the ink dried out in a day without being covered. It went from a $30 double-use item to a zero-use item.<\/p>\n<p>I contacted Tagtool to see if it was an isolated incident, and they were very polite and sent a replacement right away&#8230;which led me to believe that it was not. The replacement took three weeks to arrive, and the new pen still doesn&#8217;t feel like its cap is an exact fit (the cap sits at a slight angle) but now there&#8217;s a new issue: the pen doesn&#8217;t work. Ink simply does not flow to the nib. I actually squeezed the cartridge and ink came squirting out of the neck of the nib, but then when I go to write with it, it&#8217;s bone dry. So&#8230;yeah, fuck that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Was It Worth It: <\/strong>No. Great idea and pleasant customer support, but two pens that don&#8217;t work correctly in two different ways is a huge disappointment.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/thejumpshot\/jumpshot-a-new-weapon-to-battle-pc-frustration\" target=\"_blank\">Jumpshot<\/a><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/thejumpshot\/jumpshot-a-new-weapon-to-battle-pc-frustration\/widget\/video.html\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>What It Is:<\/strong>\u00a0Easy PC diagnostic tool + cutesy USB flash drive<br \/>\n<strong>When I Backed It:<\/strong>\u00a0September 2012<br \/>\n<strong>When They Promised It:<\/strong>\u00a0November 2012<br \/>\n<strong>When I Got It:<\/strong>\u00a0Early access October 2012<\/p>\n<p>I knew this was a gamble, because I was not really buying what I wanted most. I am interested in the software, but they will at some point charge for access to it. I backed the project to get it started, and I don&#8217;t really need another USB stick, but I really want to see if this software is as easy as it claims. I backed the project at a level that gave me early access to Jumpshot (and free usage on multiple machines) before my USB stick arrived&#8230;and sure enough, after hearing that USBs were shipping and I&#8217;d get mine soon, I received a link to download the software in October. I downloaded it and the service was not available. The client needs to connect to the online host, which has all the latest diagnostic tools &#8212; they can keep updating them on their end and I just get the latest goodness whenever I need to run a diagnostic check. I think this is a smart system, but I now see the flaw: What if my computer is so borked I can&#8217;t get online? Hmm.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the idea that I can make a bootable USB drive full of one-click solutions and cute cartoon characters and fix, say, my dad&#8217;s laptop is a good one. We&#8217;ll see where this goes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kickstarter! Kickstarter! Kickstarter! And yet I often hear people darkly warning anyone who will listen that KS is a fad, or a ripoff, and a lot of projects never get backed, and they all ship late, and there&#8217;s nothing to &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/?p=1258\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1258"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1302,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions\/1302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/dan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}