On Wednesday night, law enforcement officials contacted Kickstarter and alerted us that hackers had sought and gained unauthorized access to some of our customers’ data. Upon learning this, we immediately closed the security breach and began strengthening security measures throughout the Kickstarter system.
No credit card data of any kind was accessed by hackers. There is no evidence of unauthorized activity of any kind on all but two Kickstarter user accounts.
While no credit card data was accessed, some information about our customers was. Accessed information included usernames, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and encrypted passwords. Actual passwords were not revealed, however it is possible for a malicious person with enough computing power to guess and crack an encrypted password, particularly a weak or obvious one.
Sock 101 is all about the socks. The startup built in Kansas City is bringing fashion back to socks. We’re not talking about your average Gold Toe or even the latest in argyle socks. Sock 101 makes a fashion statement with socks that complement any man’s fashion-sensible wardrobe.
Speaking of fashion sense, the durable, nice looking socks are affordable as well. Every pair of socks the company sells are only $7. The have awesome names as well like the blue infused “KC,” the red, white, and blue “Patriot,” the polka dotted “Dapper Dot,” and President George H.W. Bush’s favorite “The Johnny,” a crimson and white sock that the former President insists will be “perfect for days in College Station, Texas.”
In true startup fashion, Sock 101 also offers a subscription sock service where you get a new pair of socks delivered to your door once a month without even having to think about it.
If you’re like me and have a different pair of shoes to match every outfit, the socks from Sock 101 are absolutely perfect.
Now the company is looking to expand on their “Johnny” sock and do color combinations to match every major school.
Not convinced yet? Sock 101 offers these 5 ideas where your socks from Sock 101 will be a huge hit:
1. At the Game
Lift a little pant leg and show of your school spirit at the game. You have hats and shirts. Why not socks?!
2. At the Office
The first thing that most people notice about your look are your shoes. The second? Your socks! Imagine sitting down in a meeting and crossing your legs. The next thing you know, somebody is wide eyed staring at your socks. Will they think you are cool? You betcha.
3. At the Bar or Party
Whether you are watching the game or looking for love, our socks are guaranteed to make you stand out. Please see our warning above. Although we’d love to hear from you, please do not send us complaints about too much attention from the opposite sex.
4. On a Date
Do you want a second date? Wear our socks with your outfit. You will look more fun and more stylish. We guarantee it. If you don’t want a second date or are designated wingman, just wear plain white socks or gold toes.
5. On the Course
These socks are great for golf! They are lightweight, breathable, comfortable, and durable. One of our owners has walked eighteen holes over a dozen times this year in the same pair of socks with no holes, rips, or tears. They still look great. As you can see, our socks are seriously versatile!
They’ve got several winning testimonials on their Kickstarter page where they are looking to raise $25,000 so that they can bring the team line to fruition. Nothing is as telling as the testimonial from President Bush, sent in a personal letter you can even read on the Kickstarter page.
Recently, I downloaded the Kindle FreeTime app for my Kindle Fire. It allows my boys to essentially have their own Kindles within my Kindle, complete with parent controls and set time limits on games, books, and apps.
It’s worked beautifully. The boys are slowly getting acquainted with technology, but I don’t have to worry about them racking up Angry Birds charges by accidentally clicking through to the Internet. And the time limits I’ve already programmed in keep us from fighting over when Kindle time is done.
This is great for my kids now, but how am I going to help them manage that time as they get older? And, frankly, my husband and I need a little control over our devices, too. With our jobs, it’s really easy to get sucked into social media, emails, and texts, even during our limited family time.
It’s one of those problems I have, but I didn’t really realize I had it until I got an email explaining Circle. All at one time, I was made aware of the problem AND the solution. I love that.
Circle works as a kind of middleman between the home router and the different devices used by family members. Through an iOS app, the administrator can manage everything from how long someone can use social media to which category of websites kids are allowed to access. There is also a “pause” mode, ensuring a device-free dinner or family time.
I know what you’re thinking. “My kids can figure out how disable that in 2 seconds flat.”
The team at Circle has thought of that. The device has no off button, so it can’t be turned off. If it is unplugged from the wall, it continues to run on the internal battery. When that battery starts to die, the administrator receives a notification on his or her cell phone. For now, that’s as failsafe as it gets.
Using Circle in the home can ensure that everyone is learning to manage their online time responsibly, adults as well as children.
“As a parent, we have an obligation to learn how to live with technology and help our children explore the internet in a balanced, safe and smart way,” said Circle founder and CMO, Crystal Wiley in a statement. “Circle empowers me to stay on top of and effectively examine my household’s internet habits, and provides tools to improve our family’s online experience.”
Taking a page from Apple’s playbook, the team at Circle has made the device simple and beautiful. The tiny box will fit into the décor of any home, without all the wires and black boxes we typically associate with technology.
Circle recently announced a new Kickstarter campaign, aimed at raising the money they need to bring the product fully to market in 2014. As of publication, they were at X of their $250,000. If you’re like me and thinking, “Hey, I didn’t realize I need that, but I do!” head over and pledge a few dollars.
Comments Off on 89 Year Old Grandma Reaches Her Kickstarter Goal0LikeLike 2,315
89 Year Old Pearl Malkin creating one of her “Happy Canes” (photo: CNN)
Kickstarter, the most popular crowdfunding platform in the world, saw $319 million dollars pledged for a wide variety of projects last year. With Kickstarter anyone can get their project funded.
Even 89 year old Pearl Malkin, has successfully had a kickstarter project funded. Her project called “Happy Canes” raised $3,606 from 154 backers, BusinessInsider reported.
While Malkin is a vibrant woman at 89, at one point she was stricken with vertigo which required her to use a cane. She felt that traditional canes were drab and boring and livened her cane up with flowers that she glued to the cane herself.
She decided she would make a go of these canes for others and with the help of her grandson, put on a Kickstarter campaign. “I want to be an example to young and old people that age shouldn’t be a barrier for what you want to do in life,” she said.
Comments Off on Miami Startup SocialTyer: It’s What Happens After KickStarter0LikeLike 2,475
Kickstarter has become quite the phenomena as of late. Over $319 million dollars was pledged using the crowdfunding platform, across a myriad of products. After a company gets funded on KickStarter, what happens next?
Companies that reach their funding goals begin shipping their products. Those that have received a lot of traction may quickly land distribution deals, but those that don’t may have a hard time kickstarting again after their crowdfunding campaign.
That’s where Miami startup SocialTyer comes in.
“SocialTyer is a social-commerce website that helps entrepreneurs sell their early-stage products with the help of the powerful social media community. Inspired by the recent success of crowdfunding, we wanted to offer a way for entrepreneurs to make a direct impact immediately after getting funded for production. Apart from spending thousands of dollars on traditional marketing or getting absolutely ripped-off by wholesaling away, there aren’t many ways to do so in a fast and efficient way. . To do so, we came up with the idea of empowering the social media community and offering them the opportunity to become modern-day salesmen: they introduce these products to their network and get commissioned when a sale occurs. Entrepreneurs trusting our service pay us absolutely nothing to sign up and don’t have to worry about that until we actually create a sale for them.” Jonathan Gosper, co-founder of Social Tyer told nibletz.com in an interview.
Gosper, along with co-founder Girish Alwani, met at the University of Miami. Both young men come from vastly different international backgrounds. Jonathan grew up in France and was introduced to the entrepreneurial world after co-founding hi-tech luxury brand Colibri. His occasional struggles to market his products and the study of advertising greatly inspired him to come up with SocialTyer’s concept. Girish grew up in the Caribbean and studied finance. His belief that everyone should get a chance to be a micro-entrepreneur has fingerprints all over SocialTyer.
So far, spreading the word and communicating the idea behind SocialTyer has been the biggest challenge for Gosper and Alwani. The idea has started picking up steam after being in stealth mode for over six months. ” We had numbered goals for entrepreneurs to contact and sign up for beta listing, beta sign up requests and a people joining our social media accounts. Although some thought we were being too optimistic in our projections and goals, those milestones were all reached with 1/3 of the time we allowed us.” Gosper said in regards to their traction.
Comments Off on $319 Million Pledged On Kickstarter In 20120LikeLike 2,012
Kickstarter, the crowdfunding website used as a Launchpad for entrepreneurs across the globe announced this week that $319 million dollars had been pledged in 2012.
The money was pledged for a variety of projects from cd/album releases to gadgets, apps and software. 2.2 million people accounted for the pledges.
18,109 projects were funded with the $274 million collected out of the $319 million.
Business Insider reported that 177 countries helped projects raise money, which is 90% of the countries in the world.
Comments Off on Los Angeles Startup: Smarter Stand, Works For iPad Mini Too0LikeLike 3,811
Dotan Saguy, the founder of Los Angeles startup Smarter Stand, has just written in to tell us that his unique device works for iPad Mini as well.
We reported about the Smarter Stand over the summer when it had surpassed 10x it’s funding goal on crowdfunding site Kickstarter. When all was said and done Smarter Stand received over 15x the original amount they had hoped for. The best part, the Smarter Stand is one of the simplest little iPad accessories ever produced.
Essentially what Saguy has done, is created a clip that holds Apple’s optional smart covers in place at one of the creases. Without the Smarter Stand, the smart covers fold like an accordion of sorts. With the Smarter Stand in place, the material and hard material under the cover remains in place and the smart cover can be converted into a stand with many different angles.
When Saguy had heard about the release of the iPad Mini he couldn’t want to get his hands on one to see if the Smarter Stand would work on the smaller smart covers. He is happy to report that it does.
If you were lucky enough to get a Smarter Stand from the original Kickstarter campaign and have since bought an iPad Mini go ahead and try it out, it works great. If you just purchased an iPad Mini and a smart cover and want the Smarter Stand all you have to do is go to smarterstand.com
Comments Off on Chicago Startup Everypurse Blows Out Kickstarter With PowerBag For Women0LikeLike 1,661
A new startup in Chicago has taken Kickstarter by storm with their integrated purse, charging bag. This bag designed for women, is a clutch style handbag on the outside. Inside though it has a battery charger that will fit most of the current line of smartphones via USB.
Integrating bags and power charging solutions isn’t new though. Michigan based Power Bag has been doing it now for two years. That company, founded by Homedics founder Ron Ferber, offers a full line of backpacks, rolling luggage, and messenger bags with integrated charging solutions and a variety of batteries for every work and travel scenario.
While Powerbag offers a “tablet bag” which I’ve personally been carrying around for nearly a year as a Murse (read man purse), it’s not a purse by any stretch for a woman.
In fact our reviews coordinator Allie Fox told Ferber and the PowerBag team personally that they were missing the boat by not offering a variety of stylish bags for women.
No worries now though because Everpurse has done a really good job of producing just that. The purses come in a variety of colors and in fact it looks like quite a few men have signed up on Kickstarter to buy a purse for themselves. Everpurse offers a black leather purse that looks no more feminine than half the leather iPad cases out on the market today.
To have the ability to charge your phone without the need for a plug is a definite plus, and far outweighs how unmanly carrying a purse around could be.
Everpurse trumps PowerBag in another department as well and that’s charging the device itself. All of the PowerBag products require the user to plug a standard “wall wart” AC charger into the wall and then into a weather protected charging mechanism on the bag, or directly into the battery pack.
Everpurse uses a white, stylish looking induction charger that you could easily put on a foyer table, coffee table or night stand. Simply place the Everpurse on top of the induction charger and you’re good to go.
People love it and so do we. We can’t believe that no one has taken this concept to market yet. The best part is that the product idea came from a busy social worker who realized her phone was dead after 6 hours on the go every day. People call me crazy because I carry several on the go charging apparatus but the one thing that drives me absolutely crazy is a dead phone.
Everyone seems to love Everpurse. They blew it out of the water on Kickstarter raising $238,187 of the $100,000 they aimed to raise.
Now that the Kickstarter campaign is over, start looking for Everpurse, soon.
Comments Off on Interview: Outgrow.me is the Marketplace for Products Successful in Crowdfunding0LikeLike 3,378
Outgrow.me is one of those startups that we came across and I immediately thought to myself. They are on to something. What is outgrow.me? Are you familiar with kickstarter or indiegogo – have you heard of projects that have Have you ever wondered what happened to that kickstarter or indiegogo project that you heard about weeks or months ago? Where did project end up? Is it possible to find the High Roller Adult Big Wheel or the Pebble after the hype has died down? What option follows a successful crowdfunding campaign?
Those questions are finally being answered with Outgrow.me. It’s the solution that was just waiting to be created. We talked to Sam Fellig the founder of outgrow me read below.
What is outgrow.me?
“Outgrow.me is an online marketplace for successfully crowdfunded projects.”
In layman’s terms, how does it work?
“Outgrow.me picks up where the crowdfunding platforms leave off. It’s a marketplace for successfully crowdfunded projects from all over the web. Outgrow.me offers product designers the ability to further grow their brand by marketing their products to a growing community of shoppers that support innovation, creativity, and small businesses. On the flip side, Outgrow.me offers shoppers a unique shopping experience filled with highly innovative and creative products supported by the online community.”
Electricity: The Story and Life of Nikola Tesla a made for television docudrama is raising funds via Kickstarter. Created by “the creative partnership of Carol Bourgeois, business executive and writer along with Wilhelm Cashen engineering savant and entrepreneur” who began the project in the fall of 2010. The overall business plan for Tesla Productions, LLC includes; “education, film, video, games, broadcasting, human experience, technology and products.”
Just over a decade ago Bostonian Ray Walters and his family moved west. They landed in the barbecue capital of the world, Kansas City. While Walters mannerisms and sports influences are definitely still intertwined with the north-east, for instance he still says Wicked Pisah and is a die-hard Red Sox fan, his culinary artistry is firmly planted in Kansas City.
According to Ray Ray’s Rub’s Kickstarter page, Walters’ real fascination with barbecue started 10 years ago at a restaurant called Arthur Bryant’s Barbecue. Walters’ a connoisseur of fine meat, fell in love at first bite with the succulent, slow cooked ribs that were served up at Arthur Bryant’s. Walters was determined to emulate the mouth-watering flavor and then tweak the recipe until it was his own.
Walters has been doing private catering for friends and family over the past decade, he even owns a pair of “Double D” slow cookers that he hauls on a trailer behind his pickup truck to deliver the goodness to his buddies. In 2010 Walters was the official caterer of the first Big Android Barbecue event in Austin Texas. Sure there are plenty of great barbecue joints in Texas but after some of the organizers (buddies of Walters’) tasted his world-famous barbecue the decision was made that for the next two annual events he would deliver the goodness.
Personally after trying his barbecue at that first Big Android BBQ event I was sold, and I’ve experienced North Carolina, Memphis and St.Louis Barbecue as well. Ray Ray’s is most definitely top-notch.
Walters insists there’s no real secret to his world-famous barbecue rub, he just keeps innovating and never stops learning.
If you’re questioning why we are running a story about a barbecue startup, why not? But for validation, a Washington DC based barbecue company called Pork Barrel Barbecue attracted an investment from ABC’s Shark Tank Shark Barbara Corcoran. By day Corcoran is a power real estate broker in the mean streets of New York City, but even she loves great Barbecue.
While Walters doesn’t have the luxury of pitching in the Shark Tank, he’s had the opportunity to cook for tens of thousands over the last decade, who’ve always asked him to package his famous rub and send it mail order. That’s exactly what he’s hoping to do if he reaches his modest goal of $10,000 on Kickstarter. Walters’ isn’t that far off. He’s already raised nearly $4,000 at the time of publishing with over 20 days left to go.
By day Walters is a tech writer for ZiffDavis publications ExtremeTech and Geek.com he’s also been an editor for Androidguys.com, host of the AGTN podcast, co-organizer of the Big Android Barbecue, Youth Pastor and more, but all the while, there’s been something literally cooking in his kitchen, his front yard and his head. Walters is simultaneously working on a book about Ray Ray’s Rub, which is included in perk packages over $50.
On the meat, Ray Ray’s Rub is full of great flavor and not too strong. Sure it would be great if Walters could find a way to actually ship his barbecue creations fully cooked and ready to eat. Who know’s perhaps after Ray Ray’s Rubs takes off he could get complete brisket and other dishes with the rub baked in, into stores across the country. For now though, it’s all about the rub.
Walters preaches about honesty, integrity and hard work which are the keys behind this startup he’s launching on Kickstarter. He has a great video that you can see below that isn’t fancy and doesn’t have a lot of effects but it’s honest and, you’ll love the way this north-east transplant says barbecue.
His Kickstarter entry is $1 and it goes all the way up to $2,000. He’s raising $10,000 to rollout 1000 bottles of rub, create the business, and expand his website. We’re willing to bet this will be one of the rare hard good food projects that gets over funded.
Smart watches have done really well on Kickstarter. We’re all familiar with the millions of dollars that the Pebble watch has raked in and many of us have heard about the Android powered Metawatch Strata which raised three times the $100,000 they were looking for.
A new company called Martian Watches, based in Irvine California recently started a Kickstarter campaign for their smart watch earlier this month. While at this writing the project is still under $100,000 of the $200,000 goal there’s still over 30 days left in the campaign. Once this watch starts picking up momentum it will surely out do Meta Watch’s Strata.
Why? Well for starters Martian Watches is looking to sync their smart watch with the iPhone for the purpose of bringing voice commands and Siri interaction to the wrist. You’ll look like a secret service agent as you speak commands into the watch on your wrist.
According to this story in the OCRegister you’ll be able to pair your watch with your existing, Siri enabled iPhone and speak any normal Siri command into the watch. From there your iPhone will handle the Siri query as usual and give you the information that you’re looking for back as a text message on the watch itself.
The startups founders Jeffrey Hsieh and Stan Kinsey already have a working prototype and showed off a bunch of voice commands to folks at the OCRegister.
“Voice command to us was the ultimate solution for making the watch an extremely useful tool. More so than just trying to replicate what you can do on your phone,” Kinsey told ocregister.com
For now the voice commands work one way which seems to be causing a little bit of concern with the people commenting on the Kickstarter Page, but that shouldn’t effect their $200,000 project goal. The watch has already received great reviews from TechCrunch, The Verge and the OC Register.
Comments Off on Boston Startup: Ministry Of Supply Gunning For Kickstarter Fashion Award0LikeLike 1,657
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer could really benefit from Ministry of Supply's shirts
A new Boston startup called Ministry of Supply is looking to break the fashion category fundraising record on crowdfunding site Kickstarter. The current record is held by a company called Flint & Tinder that makes men’s underwear. They were able to break the fashion record by raising $291,493 back in May.
At the time this story was written (late Friday evening) the Boston startup that uses space suit technology to manage moisture, sweatstains and odor, in dress shirts, had raised nearly $275,000. The best part of this story is that their initial goal was just $30,000. In what’s becoming a trend now for Kickstarter projects, Ministry of Supply quickly blew through that goal.
“After we got the word out about the Kickstarter campaign through the help of friends and family sharing the news through social media outlets, we then saw the Kickstarter community really start to embrace us,” Ministry of Supply co-founder Kevin Rustagi told the Boston Business Journal
Ministry of Supply’s Apollo shirt is sweat free and will save many business people the embarrassment of odors and big sweat stains in meetings and around the office. The Apollo shirt will come in real handy in the heatwaves we’ve been experiencing across the country.
The company’s Kickstarter campaign goes until Wednesday so it looks like they should have no problem reaching the number 1 spot, and raising close to, if not more than $300,000.
Ministry of Supply is currently working hard on their e-commerce platform and opening a brick and mortar location which will contain a showroom as well as their offices. The Boston Business Journal reports that Ministry of Supply will also participate in MassChallenge this summer.
Just the other day we were talking about, and tweeting out how hot bartering was. We even ran an interview with the founder of Arizona startup Kwiddy which is an online site to facilitate person to person bartering or trading (as in real life).
Well this Brooklyn startup has taken a concept art piece and turned it into almost a viable startup. The SwapOMatic machine doesn’t accept credit cards, cash or change. Instead, if you see something cool in the machine that you want, you can swap it for something that you’re willing to give up.
For now the machine operates on the honor system and doesn’t give a monetary value to anything in the machine because value depends on how bad someone wants something.
However, with all the publicity and interest the SwapOMatic team has picked up, they are currently reworking it for the next design. This machine is part concept art, but it is an actual working machine. In fact they have it sitting at the Ample Hills Creamery in Brooklyn, where anyone can swap anything for the stuff inside of the machine.
On the company’s website it gives you a text base map of what’s currently inside the machine. Take a look below:
As you can see it’s a wide variety of things. Everything from YiGiOh trading cards to hand written poems have lived in the machine and traded for other stuff.
The SwapOMatic team has a kickstarter project going on now for $135,000 so they can do more research and development on how to actually make this a viable business and a product to promote bartering. They have raised $34,529 (at the time this article was written) of the $135,000 goal. There are 10 days to go.
Bartering is becoming hotter by the minute. Bartering goes back to probably the stone ages where people would trade their goods, like vegetables and milk, for meat and clothing. Bartering has taken on a new life of it’s own thanks to the internet and sites like Craigslist and now Kwiddy which offer online bartering solutions.
The trading and bartering phenomenon is so hot that A&E has just launched a new show called barter kings.
We’re hoping that the SwapOMatic team can either raise this $135,000 or other angel money so they can develop this idea. We could see a day where you could swap your iPad nano for a baseball card you’ve always wanted. Or a stack of cd’s for something else new and more interesting.
Nibletz Staff
data. Upon learning this, we immediately closed the security breach and began strengthening security measures throughout the Kickstarter system.
Kyle
Monica Selby
Molly McCarrick
Cameron Wright
