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In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you’d like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with “Insert Coin” as the subject line.

It’s safe to say that most people’s idea of home networking involves the following steps: buy a wireless router, set it up with an SSID and a password, and then never ever think about it again as long as the WiFi keeps working. But if you’re one of a dedicated few who want deeper IT admin-level control over your family’s internet usage, then a new Kickstarter campaign from PowerCloud Systems just might be right up your alley. The product is called Skydog, and while you do get a slim and compact dual-band 802.11n five-port Gigabit router out of it, Skydog is really more about the cloud-based platform than the physical hardware. Customers are able to visually survey who and what device is on their home network, manage permissions based on that information, allocate bandwidth priority, troubleshoot network issues with ease and more.

PowerCloud Systems is no stranger to cloud-managed networking — it’s been providing just such a solution to enterprises such as hotels, schools, multi-dwelling units and retail chains ever since 2008 when it was spun out of Xerox PARC. In order to bring that level of sophistication to the home audience, however, the company needed consumer-facing software to simplify the process for the masses, and that’s exactly what it has tried to do with Skydog. After the break, we offer a tour of the service and interview the people behind it to see just why they’re seeking funding via Kickstarter.

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Source: Skydog (Kickstarter)

GameStick, a would-be OUYA competitor that we wrote about back in January when it launched its Kickstarter campaign, has been delayed. The device achieved backing on Kickstarter in February and originally planned to start shipping in March, with “fulfilment to customer” pegged for April. But the launch has now been delayed until June — with the project creators saying it’s been a victim ”of the success we have created”.

Close to $650,000 was pledged via Kickstarter by almost 5,700 backers — more than 6x more money than the GameStick’s creators original goal of $100,000. When funding hit $560,000 they added a stretch goal introducing one more console colour to the mix, and giving backers the option to vote on a fourth colour choice via Facebook.

In an update to backers, the GameStick creators pointed to greater than expected production volumes as the reason for the three month delay, along with switching from air freight to sea shipping to keep costs down. ”The main production run has gone from a few thousand units to tens of thousands of units. This has meant that we have had to change production methods and move to high-volume tooling,” the message said.

The first backers are not expected to receive their GameSticks until the last week in June.

Initially we had hoped to deliver GameStick to you at the end of April. We now expect to complete mechanical tooling about 4 weeks later at the end of May. Then the units are assembled, tested and assuming there are no issues, packed prior to shipping to each territory. We expect to ship around the 10th June. The volumes are now too large for us to be able to afford to air-freight them, which was our plan, so now we are going to have to use sea freight to deliver them. That’s going to take around 2 weeks. Then we have fulfillment in territory – which we estimate will take between 1 and 5 days depending on where you are located. This means we think the likely date of arrival of your hand crafted GameStick will be at the last week of June.

The GameStick is so named for its USB stick design, which means the console is even smaller than the cube-shaped OUYA. The GameStick controller has a space to fit the console inside for safe keeping when it’s being carried in a bag or pocket.

As for internal hardware, the GameStick has a dual-core Cortex A9 chip clocked at 1.5GHz, along with a dual-core Mali 400 GPU at 400MHz, plus 1GB of memory and 8GB of flash storage. It uses Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi for connectivity and runs Android Jelly Bean. Gamepads, mice and keyboards can be hooked up to it — with support for up to four controllers at once.

We know how important a cup of joe can be to the majority of us as it helps give us the energy we need to make it through another work day, especially if you’re the type to take numerous shots of espresso throughout the day. But getting an espresso wherever you go can be rather difficult, which is why the Nomad Go Everywhere portable espresso machine should be something right up your alley.

The only thing you’ll need with the Nomad Go Everywhere espresso machine is hot water as you won’t even need electricity in order to enjoy a nice cup of espresso at any time. You’ll just need to load up the machine with your ground up espresso beans and hot water, which we’re sure you’ll be able to produce when needed. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Brainwave Sensor Will Validate Log In Credentials Using Only Your Mind, The BikeSpike Is A Tracking Device That Will Help Owners Locate Stolen Bikes,

InXile’s Torment: Tides of Numenera has made Kickstarter history by becoming the most-funded Kickstarter game ever. It initially only had plans of raising $900,000, but gamers were so impressed with the idea of the game that 74,405 backers ended up pledging $4,188,927 to support the project. The total amount InXile received is more than 4.5x its initial goal, and it plans on taking full advantage of that funding by providing gamers with a whole bunch of new features.

InXile created a chart of financial goals it had reached. $900,000 was the initial goal, however, whenever funding reached another goal on the chart, InXile would add on more features that would please players. At $1.2m, it added gender options for your characters. At $2m it added new areas, music, deeper story lines, and more. Backers were able to fund the game and achieve 17 new goals on the chart, bringing many more features, deeper stories, more areas, more quests, and more developers to the game.

Torment is a single-player RPG whose development is based on “four pillars”. The first pillar is a “Deep, Thematically Satisfying Story”, where the “philosophical underpinnings” drive the game. The second pillar, “A World Unlike Any Other”, centers around the game’s beautiful world of Numenera, which is said to have “magic” that is surprisingly different.

The third pillar, “A Rich, Personal Narrative”, is centered around a character-driven story with even NPCs having deep-seeded storylines. The final pillar is “Reactivity, Choice, and Real Consequences”, which brings replayability to the game. Every time you make a decision, go down a different path, or make a different approach, the course of your game changes.

Torment has many aspects that promises to hook you for hours upon hours. The game is being developed on the Unity Game Engine, and will be available to download through Steam. The expected release date for this game is December 2014, but like many Kickstarter projects, we could see some delays. You can pre-order Torment: Tides of Numenera from InXile’s store right now. If you want to read up on the tons and tons of features this game will offer, check out its Kickstarter page here.

Torment: Tides of Numenera breaks record as most-funded Kickstarter game is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
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A new Kickstarter campaign from San Antonio-based Ubertronix, Inc. aims to turn your Android smartphone into a wireless trigger for your DSLR. The project follows others that offer similar devices, but this one, the brainchild of Josiah Leverich, who founded Ubertronix a little over a year ago to build camera remote hardware, has some unique elements, including a way to use your smartphone as a lightning sensor for capturing impressive storm photos.

Ubertronix began as a way for Leverich to build and market his Strike Finder camera trigger product, which is a dedicated piece of hardware that features built-in sensors to help capturing high-speed photography, and lightning specifically. The ShutterBox is an extension of that tech, which features a hot shoe-mounted receiver box that communicates wirelessly with your Android smartphone via Bluetooth. It uses the phone’s built-in sensors for triggering automatic shutter activation, including light sensors for lightning, as well as motion detection for capturing wildlife or other movement-based events.

The ShutterBox can also be used as a standard wireless remote for triggering single shots, time lapse, bursts of exposures and more. It’s even designed to be able to work with multiple slave units for capture across multiple cameras at once, or for triggering remote flashes in a studio setting.

The idea behind ShutterBox is to leverage the devices already in users’ hands instead of making them invest in and learn new proprietary hardware. The ShutterBox receiver will still cost you $199 as a pre-order (or $249 retail), but since a lot of its features are app-based, there’s ample potential for later capability improvements and expansion.

Ubertronix has already manufactured hardware in the past, and has already penned an agreement with a Texas-based company to build the PCBs required for the ShutterBox. It’s got a wide range of camera compatibility, and the startup is only seeking $25,000 in initial funding with an initial target ship date of June 2013. More cameras are coming with Wi-Fi remote functions built-in, like the Canon 6D, but if the ShutterBox can truly leverage smartphone sensors as well as it claims to be able to, that would add considerably to the value of a remote trigger app.