Top ten Kickstarter tech innovations of 2013

We’re big fans of Kickstarter’s Technology section here at Electronic Products. It’s a primary source for cutting edge, independent gadgets and gizmos that embody contemporary trends in technology and the Maker Movement. The crowd-funding giant empowers entrepreneurs with the means of creating products for the specific audience that want those products; in essence, sparking innovation. It’s that simple: Have a great idea, pitch said idea, and if there’s an interest, funding will accumulate.

With Electronic Product’s inaugural Inspiration Awards lurking nearby, here are the top ten Kickstarter contenders of 2013 as chosen by your page view-count.

1.EX¹ PCB 3D printer
EX¹ is a must-have 3D printer for all electronics hobbyists. This beast automates PCB production by eliminating the need to spend hours making one by hand, every time you wish to prototype a circuit. The printer creates each PCB in a matter of minutes across multiple surface types, including plastic, glass, wood, ceramic, silicone, fabric, and even paper.

2. Brewbot
As its name implies, Brewbot is a robot specializing in brewing. But not the brewing of coffee, tea, or other such dry-humored concoctions. Instead, the device automates and simplifies the beer-brewing process by letting users control it with their iPhone. All that’s required is selecting a designated recipe, loading the ingredients, and activating the process. Craft-brewing has never been this easy.

3. NanoLight
NanoLight is the oddest-looking, most-efficient light bulb in its class. The 10-W bulb casts more than 1,600 lumens and consumes less than 50% the energy of a compact fluorescent bulb of the same output; that’s as much light as a 100-W incandescent light bulb. Bonus points are awarded for its outlandish appearance. There’s no mistaking that NanoLight is made from a bunch of PCBs with LEDs that have been stitched together.

4. The SparkCore
Adding Wi-Fi to a DIY projects has never been easier, thanks to the SpareCore. The device is the Arduino equivalent of a mullet: business in the front, party in the back. The SparkCore features a built-in Wi-Fi receiver positioned opposite an Arduino. Best of all, it combines the power of an ARM Cortex M3 chip, the best Wi-Fi module available (CC3000), cloud computing, and a REST API to create a flexible development board capable of inserting Internet connectivity within mere seconds.

5. Surv
Surv is an app that crowd-sources security camera locations from user-inputted data, to establish a map of all known cameras within a specific location. The compiled map includes detailed descriptions pertaining to the camera type, its location, purpose, and visibility. Surv will automatically detect cameras within a 100-meter radius of your location and immediately alert your phone.

6. HackRF
HackRF brings the versatility of software-defined radio (SDR) right into your home. The open-source USB-powered SDR peripheral captures incoming wavelengths and uses software to convert them into the desired protocol of your choice: Bluetooth, ZigBee, LTE, 4G, AM/FM radio, etc.

Unlike mobile devices that use different chips for 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth, HackRF unifies reception onto a single chip. The device is small enough to allow easy portability and is completely USB powered, ensuring that you can create your own 4G LTE signal by converting whatever is available.

7. MotorMood
Like every motorist out there, you’ve undoubtedly encountered that rude tailgater that clings to the back of your vehicle with the stubborn indignation of a moron. But, rather than risk an accident in your attempt to brake-check the tailgater, consider flashing them an angry face using a MotorMood. The technology broadcasts a series of facial expressions to share your mood with fellow commuters using light up facial expressions attached to rear of your car.

 MotorMood can be used to flash a smile as an indicator of gratitude or as means of telling someone to go-fly-a-kite using the angry face.

8. Devotect Fuel Micro Charger
Fuel Micro Charger charges your mobile device with just enough juice to make emergency calls after your phone’s battery dies. The miniature device is roughly the size of a quarter and provides those extra 20 to 30 minutes of crucial talk time.

9. Monkey Light Pro
Monkey Light Pro takes bike riding to an entire new level of vogue. Through the use of four bars of 256 ultra-bright LEDs attached to bicycle wheel spokes, the lighting system displays full moving 70-pixel-diameter animations whenever the wheel spins between 10 and 40 mph. Users can even choreograph an image playlist and wirelessly transmit it to the Monkey Light Pro using Bluetooth.

10. Kano
Some will argue that technical skills are better acquired through a hands-on approach. Kano will have to agree; the kit enables user to learn about computer building by putting together a miniature computer based on the Raspberry Pi microcomputer system. Building Kano is a matter of stacking together blocks.

Outside of being a fun user experience, Kano is an excellent resource for learning how program, through a visual programming language similar to “Scratch,” called Kano Blocks. Users may also access Codecademy and “Hacking Fundamentals.”