Earlier this week, the company behind the hottest semi-failed Kickstarter campaign of 2014, the Coolest, announced that it has settled with the attorney general in its home state of Oregon. Now the details of that settlement are out, and we’ve learned that the worst-case scenario is that backers will each receive $20 if the company fails to deliver. [More]
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After Raising $3M On Kickstarter, ‘Gravity’ Blanket Stops Claiming To Treat Anxiety
By 5.12.17
Would you like to sleep better and feel happier and less anxious? Who wouldn’t? That’s still the sales pitch for Gravity, a weighted blanket available on Kickstarter that has collected $3 million in pledges. However, after the science behind its boasts was challenged, the Gravity blanket no longer claims that it can treat anxiety, depression, and insomnia. [More]
Your Pebble’s Warranty Is Void Now, Even If It’s New
By 12.8.16
The way that smart watch company Pebble is going out of business isn’t what we’re used to seeing: instead of officially filing for bankruptcy first or being fully acquired by another firm, Pebble sold only its software assets to Fitbit. The end of Pebble as a company means that the warranties on its devices are now done, too: even new devices that you might have just purchased. [More]
Fitbit Buying Smartwatch Maker Pebble’s Software, Hiring Engineers
By 12.7.16 — Updated: 12.8.16
Smartwatches and other wearables just haven’t caught on as much as the electronics industry assumed that they would. Pebble — a smartwatch company most famous for pre-selling its products on Kickstarter only to then make sure that Best Buy shoppers got their orders first — has confirmed that it is shutting down and selling off its various assets. You can now count Fitbit among the scavengers picking at Pebble’s bones. [More]
Oregon Department Of Justice Announces Investigation Of Coolest
By 9.30.16
Back in 2014, the Coolest was a Kickstarter hit that drew even more backers as it appeared on national TV. It crushed records as well as crushing ice in its built-in blender. Yet over two years later, all of the original backers still don’t have their coolers, even as the Coolest is available in brick-and-mortar retail stores and on Amazon. Now the Oregon Department of Justice is investigating the company behind the Coolest, which is based in Portland. [More]
Amazon Adds Kickstarter Products To Launchpad Store
By 7.27.16
A year after wading into the world of startups by partnering with more than 25 crowd-funding platforms and venture capital firms to offer up-and-coming sellers a place to showcase their unique products, Amazon announced today that it has finally partnered with the most prominent name in the crowd-funding arena, Kickstarter, to bring more than 300 products to the masses. [More]
Reddit, Yelp, Kickstarter, 55 Other Internet Businesses And Activists Ask FCC To Investigate Zero-Rating
By 5.25.16
That thing where an ISP — like your wireless or cable company — can exempt certain services from counting against your data cap is called zero-rating, and it exists in a weird regulatory space. There are no rules against it, but there are also no rules explicitly permitting it. The businesses that do it, of course, say it is “innovative” and “competitive.” The FCC hasn’t openly decided whether or not it agrees. So a whole huge group of consumer advocates, business advocates, and businesses have gotten together to ask the FCC officially, and publicly, make up its mind. [More]
9 Things We Learned About How Few Americans Are Regularly Taking Part In The “Sharing Economy”
By 5.19.16
Though it might feel like you can turn a corner without seeing an ad for this ride-hailing app or that on-demand delivery service, Pew Research Center’s first-ever survey of how American adults interact with the new digital economy shows there’s a big difference between how many people have ever tried one of these services and the people who use them on a regular basis. [More]
Coolest Offers Opportunity For Backers To Pay $97 And Jump The Line, Another Revolt Ensues
By 4.15.16
Back in 2014, the Coolest, a cooler with built-in speakers and a blender, crushed the record for the most-funded Kickstarter project along with lots of ice for frozen margaritas. The problem, though, was that the cooler’s creator charged early backers $165 for something that would eventually retail for $400, and running out of cash made some production snags even worse. Now they have a new proposal for backers: pay an extra $97 to jump the line and get their coolers next. [More]
Kickstarter Buys Music Community Service Drip
By 3.17.16
After years of providing a platform for people to help fund everything from homemade hot sauces to feature films, Kickstarter itself has made its first big investment, acquiring streaming service Drip.
[More]
Coolest Tells Kickstarter Backers That Coolers Are Further Delayed
By 2.29.16
The Coolest hit Kickstarter in 2014, raising over $13 million and promising backers “a party disguised as a cooler.” That party may be winding down or at least significantly delayed, as the project’s creator says that they’re looking for an investor to help keep cranking out coolers. [More]
Kickstarter Hires Investigative Reporter To Figure Out Where Mini-Drone Campaign Went Wrong
By 1.20.16
A company based in Wales showed up on Kickstarter with what looked like a working prototype of a really impressive consumer drone small enough to land on a saucer. Yet the promised drones never shipped. What happened? Kickstarter decided to find out, taking an unusual tactic: the company hired a local investigative reporter to, well, investigate. This week, the report came out. [More]
Founder Of Jelly Belly Looking For Re-Entry Into Candy Industry With Caffeinated Jelly Beans
By 1.8.16
We’ve already seen caffeinated Cracker Jacks, chewing gum, and peanut butter (some of which are already off the market), and now the founder of Jelly Belly is hoping to give a jolt to the candy market with caffeinated jelly beans. [More]
Kickstarter-Funded LinkWallet Misses Promised Deadline For Refunds
By 12.30.15
Last year, we shared the frustrations of people who backed a product called PingWallet, (later LinkWallet) on Kickstarter. The wallets were supposed to ship at the end of 2013, then were delayed to the end of 2014. When that deadline passed, the founders declared that they would issue refunds to backers by December 22, 2015. That would be a satisfactory result if those refunds had ever been sent. [More]
Does The Laser Razor Yanked From Kickstarter Actually Work? Well, Sort Of
By 11.23.15
The prospect of shaving oneself with a laser is, in theory, unfathomably cool. That’s what made the Skarp razor an incredibly successful project on Kickstarter before the platform canceled the campaign due to the apparent lack of a working prototype. Was that really true? How well would the razor work for an unbiased observer? CNET sent a reporter and his arm hair to find out. [More]
Cooler Raises $13.3M On Kickstarter, Tries To Sell More On Amazon Before Shipping To All Backers
By 11.19.15
Last August, one of the most financially successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time concluded. It was a cooler called the Coolest, which was pricey but promised to contain most of what you need for a beach party. $300 backers were supposed to receive the Coolest, which would retail for $500. Then backers noticed that the product was available on Amazon’s crowdfunded products section… even though original backers from over a year ago hadn’t received theirs yet. [More]
You Don’t Need To Wait Until February To Get Your Cute Kitty Egg Mold
By 10.20.15
A few weeks ago, a news story circulated about a cute and successful Kickstarter funding campaign. The story behind the product was simple: a woman who likes to cook eggs traveled through Asia, where adorable food molds are popular. She came home and designed a cat-shaped mold for cooking fried eggs, and the Internet threw money at her: more than $72,000 as of this writing. The end? No, not quite. [More]
Laser Razor Raises $4 Million, Gets Kicked Off Kickstarter For Maybe Not Existing
By 10.13.15
Hey, remember how a few years ago, Kickstarter changed their rules to require that all hardware projects funded through the platform actually exist in a working form? Late last night, Kickstarter enforced that policy on a campaign that had already raised $4 million. Kickstarter administrators apparently didn’t believe that the product, which promises a “shaving revolution,” exists yet as promised. [More]
