Welcoming the smallest power strip in the world

A new crowdsourcing project aims to banish dangerous, faulty electronic wires connected by bulky power strips in order to make our lives just a little bit easier. A kickstarter project for an American company called Mogics has designed a circular power strip which has gained a $50,606 backing so far after only pledging a $15,000 goal.

Mogics power strips were inspired by a college student who had too many devices which needed to be plugged in at the same time and a need for a better portable travel adapter. Mogics claims it to be the worlds smallest power strip. Perfect for your hand luggage!

Mogics two power strip types include the 'Donut' and the universal version the 'Bagel' (UK, EU, AU, US) consist of six ports for your devices and two USB sockets and an integrated length-adjustable cord on one power strip that can also be used as a travel adapter. Mogics Power Donut serves as a more convenient electronic device due to its compact size and shape which can keep any desk neat and organized. You must be thinking that surely something so small cant be safe, well the power strip has an integrated Safety fuse installed inside, and for added security, an additional spare fuse (also 6.3A). It will cost consumers $26 to buy a donut or bagel power, or $36 for early birds.

With just under two months to go until the project is funded on Feburary 29th, this handy power strip has gained much support on Kick Starter and Mogic has rewarded its backers with more earlybird offers based on their pledges.

Sources: Kick Starter,
Laura Bailey

You cannot miss these custom-molded earphones from Kickstarter

Crowdfunding projects always aim high – they usually promise to change our whole life and say that the world as we had perceived before buying the product is not going to be the same. Similarities appear in case of Revols, the world’s first low-cost yet high-end earphones.

Revols offers a pair of custom-molded earphones for 200$. You just plug it in your ear and after 60 seconds it will fit to your ear-interior. Fair enough, right? They state on their Kickstarter page that traditional custom fit earphones take a month and more than 1000$. Sounds even better!

Left to right: Navi (Revols), Jason (Onkyo), Daniel (Revols)

Bad joke, but the earphones are really equipped with high-quality sound system thanks to a cooperation with Onkyo, a Japanese corporation working in the area for more than 70 years. What’s more, Revols is a Bluetooth earphone which means that you do not have to worry about any cables, just about the one behind your neck connecting the two buds – it guarantees a higher quality of sound. Revols features also Passive Noise Isolation – as it is tailored to your ears. So you can listen to music at a lower volume, but you have also the opportunity to decide, how much outside noise you would like to hear over your music.

The moulding process is the real deal – you need the special Revols application on your phone first. You can start the 60-seconds counter once you have the buds in your ears. You gently push them in and you will feel warm as the nano-composite gel hardens caused by Bluetooth signal sent from the app.

It seems mysterious, Engadget was told that the gel-hardening technology is secret proprietary , patent-pending at the moment. However, several media wrote about the campaign, mainly throughout North America. The Verge was amazed by them with the concern what happens if the user waits 6 months for them and then does the moulding wrong? Revols says they can provide with new buds for 10-15$ once shipping starts in June 2016.

Their Kickstarter project started on 9^th November and will last for two months. Their initial goal was 100,000$ - which was actually backed in 7 hours.  Today, on 14^th December they have more than 1,000,000$ and almost 4,500 backers. One month still to go from the campaign. 

Bence Szabó

Source: Kickstarter 

Kickstarter recebe uma surpresa indesejada

A conhecida plataforma de crowdfunding foi recentemente alvo de um ciberataque que comprometeu algumas informações pessoais de utilizadores registados.

A equipa responsável pelo manuseamento do Kickstarter apercebeu-se da eventual violação de segurança no passado dia 12 de Fevereiro. Apesar da violação ter sido rapidamente interrompida, foi publicado dia 15, no blog oficial da plataforma, que os dados pessoais de vários utilizadores podem ter sido comprometidos.

O sucedido foi publicado no blog oficial pelo CEO da empresa, Yancey Strickler, avisando que as informações pessoais comprometidas incluem: nome de utilizador, endereço de e-mail, morada de envio de correio, números de telefone e palavras passe encriptadas.

Yancey Strickler recomenda "fortemente" que cada utilizador altere a palavra-passe não só à conta oficial do Kickstarter, mas também a qualquer outra plataforma em que utilize a mesma palavra-passe. É também recomendado que sejam utilizados sistemas de geração de passwords automáticas, como 1Password e LastPass.

O CEO e toda a equipa do Kickstarter termina o comunicado pedindo imensas desculpas pelo sucedido e avisam que a fonte da violação ainda não foi descoberta.

O Kickstarter é uma das principais plataformas de crowdfunding e tem ajudado milhares de criativos a concretizar os seus projetos, com destaque para a área dos videojogos. Exemplos como Mighty No. 9 angariaram mais de 4 Milhões de dólares.

Fontes: Exame Informatica, pplware, Público, TribunaHoje, IGN, Examiner.com, Gamespot, CNN, BBC News


Duarte Ferreira (Edição de texto, titulo e fontes)

João Rodrigues (Edição de Imagem, título e etiquetas)