Hasta La Gadget!

The Pocket Stand x 2. Photo: Mike Paek

Another day, another awesome Kickstarter project. This time, the proposal up on the America’s Next Top Gadget stage is the Pocket Stand, a tiny support and amplifier for the iPad.

The stand is a tiny, clip-on widget that will hold the iPad in the three familiar positions: Upright in horizontal and vertical orientations, and down on the desk with a tilt for easy typing. This is the same as any number of other products.

The gimmick here is the amplifier, courtesy of a passive horn speaker built into the body of the stand. It takes the iPad’s puny output and guides it through an acoustic cavity, letting it relax, stretch and decompress. At the other end, the sound emerges refreshed and 7-10dB louder. A video shows the difference.

The design, by Mike Paek and Sam Chan, has been through many 3D printed prototypes to hone and tune the sound. Amazingly, the result looks a lot like a human ear. The Pocket Stand is made of a skid-proof “rubber-like” polymer, and will be injection molded. It will cost $20.

As ever with Kickstarter, you need to pledge some money to get the project started, and you’ll be charged only if it reaches its $15,000 goal.

I like this widget, but what really sold me on this pitch is the video, embedded at the top of this post. It’s the first Kickstarter video I have seen with outtakes included at the end. Nice touch.

The Pocket Stand – iPad Amplifier & Stand [Kickstarter. Thanks, Mike!]