Hasta La Gadget!

Back in the summer we covered Fuel3D’s Kickstarter campaign for a high res scanner that can turn real world objects into 3D models with accurate geometry and colour — a companion device for the rise in ownership of 3D printers (which of course need 3D blueprints to print).

Fuel3D went on to raise more than $300,000 via its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, and today the technology that came out of the U.K.’s Oxford University has further added to its war chest for continued development and getting the product to market — snagging $2.6 million in early stage financing from a syndicate of private investors, led by Ben Gill of London-based Chimera Partners.

It’s also talking early IPO, with plans to follow this tranche of external funding with a mezzanine financing round, expected to take place before the summer — and, possibly, an initial public offering as early as 2015.

“We have established a core group of shareholders that have taken a long term view on the technology and management of Fuel 3D Technologies,” said Gill, commenting on the funding in a statement. “The 3D printing market is the focus of significant investor interest at the moment, and Fuel 3D’s disruptive technology feeds that interest from a unique angle. We are actively exploring a number of interesting financing options, including the possibility of an early IPO.”

Fuel3D said the big response to its Kickstarter campaign, which had only been aiming to raise $75,000 so pulled in 4x that original target, helped it draw interest from the broader investment community.

“We had a phenomenal response to our product on Kickstarter and the attention this generated led to many enquiries from the broader investment community,” said Stuart Mead, CEO, Fuel 3D Technologies, in a statement. “We have always been confident that our technology has the potential to revolutionize the industry and are delighted to have found a group of ambitious and well-resourced investors who share our vision.”

While Fuel3D is not the first to build a high resolution 3D scanner by any means, its focus on making such high end tech affordable — putting a sub-$1,000 price-tag on the device for its Kickstarter campaign — is presumably what’s especially exciting investors here.

The expected retail price of Fuel3D’s device will actually be $1,500 — albeit, that’s still far below rival high res scanners which it says retail for $15,000+.

Fuel3D’s device also breaks from the relatively rigid turntable model for scanning objects, such as the rival Photon 3D scanner, allowing for more freestyle scanning. So, for instance, human faces can be captured in situ — i.e. on people’s necks — without having to do any kind of separating of head from body.

The other focus for Fuel3D is on capturing accurate colour and detailed texture, offering wide scope for its scanner beyond the 3D printing space — i.e. for use by 3D artists, animators, game designers and so on.

Fuel3D’s original Kickstarter campaign was aiming to ship to the earliest backers in April, with additional shipments penciled in for July and September as it worked through to fulfill orders.

What you’re looking at is Giant Stash Pillowcase. It is a $30 pillowcase,that looks like a giant Ziploc full of Mary Jane.

It also has a secret stash pouch so you can put your weed in it, so it is doubly practical. It would be hilarious if the cops came into your house and found this. Of course it also might make them mad and get you in even more trouble.

I’m sure that won’t happen though. Don’t be paranoid.

Just one question. Why didn’t they call this the “Kushion?”

[via Geekologie]

There is nothing quite like the feeling of a product line expanding to include even more family members, don’t you think so? Hence, here we are with good news that the Lumen range will be getting yet another addition – we are talking about the LuMini, which is a smaller and more affordable version of the Lumen TL800, and it is already available for pre-order on the famous crowdfunding site known as Kickstarter. The Lumen TL800 happens to be an app-enabled Bluetooth smart bulb, where the team over at Tabu decided to take note of feedback that they received about the TL800 into consideration before setting out to work on a smaller and more flexible version – the LuMini. Being smaller in size, this would also mean that it will be easier on your bank account in the long run.

The whole goal of the LuMini is to make sure that smart lighting remains accessible to everyone, where it will hopefully be able to transform the concept of the smart bulb from the bulb of tomorrow to the bulb of today – and every single day, too. The LuMini happens to be an LED RGB (Red, Blue and Green) bulb, and it is 50% smaller compared to traditional LED bulbs, arriving in E12, E14, E17, E27 andE26 standard sockets. This ought to give you some peace of mind since those sockets ought to play nice with majority of the lamps out there.

Using funds that are raised from the Kickstarter campaign, Tabu will then move on to finish up the firmware design and production molding, while working to increase Android device compatibility. At this point in time, Lumen plays nice with Nexus 7 (with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean) and Galaxy S4 (with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean), where recent models of the Lumen TL800 and the LuMini will also be compatible with Samsung phones with Android 4.3 and above. Pledges for the LuMini begins at $25 for the first 200 backers.

Press Release
[ LuMini smart bulb pre-orders on Kickstarter begin copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

It looks like a 3D-printed mousetrap, or maybe some sort of torturous orthopedic device for your hand; in actual fact it’s what startup Tivitas believes will pave the way for … Continue reading

A new Kickstarter project takes a useful thing and makes it even more useful, by offering a strap that not only carries your DSLR but also protects it when not in use. It’s the perfect way to minimize your equipment when you’re out shooting on a trip and don’t need your full camera bag and gear, and it’s so deceptively simple, it’s a wonder it doesn’t already exist.

The Miggo strap is designed by Israel-based industrial designer Ohad Cohen, who was a founder of professional camera bag maker Kata, which remains one of the leading makers of bags for pros and hobbyists. Cohen was the first product designer at Kata, then later was in charge of R&D, so he knows a thing or two about creating camera gear.

Miggo is designed around the philosophy that while there’s plenty of interest in photography since the advent of smartphones, people avoid high-quality cameras and gear because of the convenience factor of using their mobile devices. To alleviate that, the Miggo combines a sling strap to secure your camera with a wrap that protects it when not in use. It also comes in a grip variety for those who prefer tying their camera to their wrist to prevent drops. Both versions quickly tie around both camera lens and body to provide a secure protective layer, which then allows you to chuck the camera into a shoulder bag or backpack along with all your other stuff, instead of having to use a segmented, padded camera bag designed specifically for protecting gear.

It has a tripod mount adapter built-in so you don’t have to remove it to take time-lapse or other stabilized shots, and there are versions for both standard DSLRs and smaller-bodies compact mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras, like Sony’s NEX series. Early backers can pre-order for $30 while supplies last, at which time it goes up to $35 for the Grip + Wrap or $40 for the Strap + Wrap.

I’m so tired of lugging my 70-lb. bag of camera gear around airports that this seems like a very appealing option when I don’t feel like I’ll need my entire kit. The company anticipates shipping the Miggo by June of this year, and development has progressed to the point where prototypes are essentially ready to ship (once a proper production line is established). Miggo hits the sweet spot between affordability, convenience and smart design, so it’s very likely they’ll reach their modest $20,000 goal quickly.