Maker Paradise - Hear tips from the creators of crowdfunding projects daily.

The inspiration?What if you are a parent or teacher who see’s your children or students tuning out of science and education? You want to ignite the love of exploring science, but you aren’t sure how to make that happen. You think to yourself, “There must be something better than just buying more textbooks. Isn’t there a way to get my kids involved directly in the discovery process?” Of course, you want to know for certain that it’s safe. You also would want easy to follow guides that your kids can do on their own. Educators need the costs to be reasonable, and easy setup in a home or classroom such that kids can start exploring science in minutes. The unique solution?Glowgene is a direct experience science kit based on simple chemistry principles, which students can use to get a direct introduction into first hand science. The exciting part is that the GlowGene kit lets students do experiments which have until recently been perceived as the stuff of huge companies and expen

The need?Okay, maybe someone is not going to delete your favorite word from the dictionary, but imagine if there is a word you love and it never made it into the dictionary in the first place. That's just as bad in the end because until the word is available in the dictionary you can't share it, refer to it's definition, and most importantly you can't use it in Scrabble. Words are the building blocks of language. If we want to have more nuanced and powerful ways to communicate, we need to make sure we aren't losing important words. Words also evolve, and the fact is that some physical dictionary companies can't keep up. It's not so much a technology issue, but just that traditional dictionaries often have a lengthy process for inclusion. The unique solution?Let's imagine that you could engage a team of machine learning experts and combine them with one of the most loved online word resources on the net. That describes what Erin of Wordnik is doing with this crowdfunding campaign. The beauty of Wornick is that

The inspiration?What if there was a new way to encourage your child to learn which involved a smart interactive play system that uses both your child's physical gestures and also their imagination? Until now, parents have seen their children become more and more involved with iPads and other tablets, so why not take advantage of that natural desire and channel it towards something educational? The unique solution?Imagine if you could put any of several dozen cards in front of the iPad, and it magically turned into an animated character that your child could interact with and learn something from? AR Magic Cards comes in various sets, so you can keep expanding the learning opportunities. It is also interesting for your child to combine various cards to learn new things. For example, when your child combines the card for a country's flag with one of the characters the animation will change clothes right in your child's hand as they look through the iPad. The animations can say hello in various languages, and al

The inspiration?As a busy mother, Bridget often found that she wished she could arrange the best photos of her children into memory books but there just wasn't time.  The main problem is that most memory book apps ask you to go through all your existing photos, and generally that means the photos pile up. You might spend the 30 minutes to 1 hour going through those photos the first time, but after that you end up putting if off and eventually you are back to not having those memory books to share with your children. The unique solution?What Bridget created with For Keeps is a much simpler process. You can just choose the "keepers" (the best photos) right after you take the photo. This means it's done! Then you can order the book, and it will arrive at your doorstep. The makers?Bridget Millar is a busy mom. She loves her children and decided that other parents are also busy and need a better solution than anything that's out there now. Having the book delivered right to your doorstep is the key.  You

The need?Our balance when we walk or stand is something we take for granted, and when we lose some of our balance due to injury or age, we often "automatically" compensate without even realizing it. Your body might compensate for a while, in essence hiding the symptoms while your body could be trying to tell you something needs to be changed. How can you actually know if your balance is ok or if you have suffered an athletic injury that you are automatically compensating for? This is an even more important issue for people who have elderly patients. Every year 250,000 people suffer hip injuries in the United States alone. The loss of mobility, the surgery expenses, and the difficulty of healing after the fact of a hip injury is extremely hard. It is much better to catch the balance issue as soon as they might be occurring, which allows people to deal the problem and often improve their balance before it causes a serious fall. The unique solution?Dr. Katherine Forth is a NASA scientists who has been helping as

  The inspiration?Your five year old wants to get the latest action figure. The only problem is that the action figures available today are usually fighting, blowing things up, and celebrated for unrealistic qualities such as super-strength, super-speed, or being billionaires who live inside of robots. Possibly those are good options for older kids, but do you really want that to be the first impression of what a hero is for your five year old son? Here's the big issue. There are extremely few (read none) alternatives because most toys which have a story are linked to big movies. The formula for big movies is explosions, extreme situations, and unrealistic heroes. So how can you offer your kids something better? The unique solution?Ed and his wife Crissi looked and realized that they couldn't find a toy that really represented the kind of values they wanted their sons to grow up with. So they created HeroBoys. The incredible thing about HeroBoys is that you can also add-on a monthly story by subscri

The need?Did you ever find yourself stumbling in the dark? Imagine you are walking home alone at night and wished you had a bit more light? How many times have you seen someone riding a bike at night, and noticed that their bike light was not working? Or what if you are hiking or camping and you want that extra bit of light to guide your way, or give your tent a bit of light to read by before you fall asleep. Many people have small desk areas, and they would love a compact light that doesn't take up too much room. The unique solution?SWITCH is the lamp which can work on your desktop, and then in seconds fold up and go on the walk with you to your bike, and then snap onto the front of your bike in seconds to become your safety light on your ride home. SWITCH is so compact, and lightweight that it fits in your pocket, but the design is flexible so you can wear the light on your belt, your bike or use it on your desk. Who are the makers of SWITCH?Speaking with Alex is inspiring. He and his co-founders are still

The need?What if your backpack became automatically safer just by putting it on?  What if whenever you were on the train, subway, walking down a crowded street, or waiting in line to buy a ticket, you knew for a fact that no one could access your backpack’s content’s easily? Just to make it even better, what if your backpack was designed to reflect raindrops in such a way that they can’t get inside the zipper area? Almost everyone has had that uncomfortable feeling where we wonder if our wallet, laptop, or other important items are exposed because we are walking or commuting with a normal backpack – which is easily accessed from the back. The problem is, you can’t see what’s going on behind you all the time. The unique solution?It might sound simple, but we think that’s exactly what makes it brilliant.  Why not put the zipper on the other side of the backpack (the side which will be against your back)? Sarah Giblin, is the founder of RiutBag.

The inspiration?Did you know that Lewis Caroll actually wrote a different version of Alice in Wonderland first?  Lewis Caroll is actually the pen name for Charles Dodgson, who was an Oxford mathematician at Christ Church college. He wrote the book after telling the story to the daughters of the Dean of Christ Church college on an outing on the river. The children who heard the story begged him to write it down. The book was published to the general market under the familiar name “Alice in Wonderland” with illustrations done by John Tenniel two years after Lewis Caroll first gave the book to Alice Lidell. The original was called “Alice’s Underground Adventure”, and had drawings done by Lewis Caroll. What’s unique?This November will mark the 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland. This is pretty much the book that Alice Lidell received from Lewis Carroll. What an amazing treasure for your children, niece, nephew, or your own library. This version includes the images of

The inspiration?Parents spend thousands of dollars a year on babysitters. More importantly, even with a baby sitter they are still having to worry about the quality of care their child is getting. What if there was a trusted network of neighborhood mothers, church moms, and your own relatives to which you could quickly post requests for babysitting? The unique solution? Instead of leaving your child with a babysitter, it would be much nicer if your child could be at the home of one the other moms from your neighborhood or church group. This means that your child spends more time on play dates, which is often good developmentally for your child. It also helps the mom who has your child over, since her children also benefit from having a friend over. Komae is an app that you can use on your computer or your phone to add people into your trusted network. After you have a network in place (which can be as small as just you and one friend), then you just post whenever you would like to have someone in your trusted

The inspiration?What if you could create a game which involves a familiar theme of Television Networks, but this time you are in the driver seat of choosing which programs to put into which slots, and how to pair them up with celebrities?  Gil Hova had come up with a “gaming mechanism” that he loved, but he waited until he found the right theme that would work with the game. He wanted the game to appeal to almost everyone one you might want to play a round with. Not just your normal gaming buddies, but a game that families, couples, and kids. Most importantly, the game needs to have 3 dynamics: * Easy to get started* Fun to actually play but challenging* When you finish a round, you are looking forward to the next time What’s unique?Gil shared with me how The Networks combines two key elements that make it fun to play. Everyone is familiar with television, and we know that there are different time slots. New shows come out and old ones get cancelled. Providing the player with the abilit

The inspiration?What if someone handed you a formula that would define the next set of games that you developed. Sure those games are playable, and variations on the theme still bring enjoyment. But some of the challenges of the formula that has been followed up to this time, is that there is a kind of play-your-card-roll-the-dice. In those other games, sometimes these it feels more like the luck of draw and the dice dominate the game – not the player skill and certainly not the long term player skill. What’s unique?Gloomhaven understands the formula perfectly, and then chooses to break it, bend it, and come up with something different and new. If Gloomhaven were a character it might be a dwarf, climbing over the castle walls of all the existing games, to reach the borderlands and dig up new gold… This new gold comes in the gaming mechanisms, deep story, and evolving campaign play style of Gloomhaven. Who are the makers?Make no mistake about it, when I spoke with Isaac, I really got that he

The inspiration?Have you ever wondered why you can't interact with your computer in a better or more natural way? If you are an artist, DJ, graphic designer, musician, or if you are in a scientific lab or want to design a better way for cashiers to handle checkout at the counter... Until now you have had to go through a very expensive and painful process to design the kind of input which suits your specific needs. The unique solution?Sensel Morph uses 20,000 sensors and "custom overlays" to transform into almost any kind of input you require. What is incredible about the Sensel Morph is how sensitive the sensors are. They can pick up the effect of a trailing end of a paintbrush, or the depth of pressure when someone plays a note on a keyboard. Sensel Morph enables you to design your own overlay, or to share overlay designs from the community of users. If you are a DJ you can view the interfaces created by other DJ's. If you are a music producer, you can browse overlays made by your peers. Or you can make your

The inspiration?If you love commuting to work on your bicycle, and have ever returned to wonder where your bike is in a sea of other parked bicycles... then you will relate to the need behind this product. Every year more people are deciding to use their bicycle on a daily basis. It saves money, it's better for your health, and definitely better for the environment. Arriving at work after a few minutes of exercising in the fresh air builds a connection with the outdoors that being in a car doesn't provide. It's a way of life and it's becoming more popular every year. The joy of riding your bike to work, the concert, or the local cafe can also include a little frustration if you can't easily find your bike when you return to the bike parking zone. This problem becomes even more apparant if you return at night. This was the inspiration behind Pingbell. The unique solution?Pingbell is a beautiful bell that also serves as a smart bell, which means it remembers where you parked your bike on the map and when you ge

Inspiration?Getting fit is both a simple and a complex activity. On one hand, we want to push our bodies to the limit to increase our strength, flexibility, and overall conditioning. But... we also want to avoid risk of injury and we want to get fit in the shortest amount of time for the least amount of money and effort. The Terra Core is an innovative kind of fitness ball that was designed with these problems in mind. Giving people the chance to increase their fitness while reducing the chance of injury. What’s unique?Have you ever seen people lying backwards on an exercise ball, and wondering if maybe it wasn't the best idea? Now imagine if you could re-design the fitness ball, into something that made it safer, added options for more flexibility training, and also incorporated strength training using resistance bands. Terra Core is like having the benefits of the exercise ball, but with a lot more flexibility and less risk. How does it work?Check out the video, photo, and links below to get more

The inspiration?Ever leave something important behind when you left the house that you really needed? Sometimes the item we leave behind is a mere nuisance, sometimes we lose productivity, and sometimes it can be even more serious - for example when we forget to bring important medicine. We are leading increasingly busy lives and at the same time we have more things to remember to bring with us. These include our keys, wallet, charger, purse, items for children, and sometimes critical medicine. The unique solution.The "O" (simply the letter O), is a simple system that reduces cost, worry, and inconvenience of forgetting something important when we move from one location to another. The first and most unique aspect of The O, is that it works automatically without you having to do anything. For example, once you put an O on your purse, it will automatically remind you if you go out of range. The automatic monitoring is important because it means that once you put an O on something you can stop worrying about le

The inspiration.If you love working out or doing yoga while listening to music you probably have been frustrated by having your headphones fall off or just not feel comfortable while you exercise. Many people have tried wireless headphones, but even those were not really designed for doing an inverted pose in yoga, or to stay secure and comfortable while you jump rope. Mark Clayton, who has played professional football for the NFL, experienced broken headsets, lose headsets, and uncomfortable headsets while doing his workouts. Nothing out there felt like it was really designed to the standards that Mark thought people who work out deserve. The unique solution.Mark teamed up with Dale Lott, an expert in audio technology who has worked to create headphones which are sturdy enough for the military. Together they created LIVV headphones, which features a unique headband that disperses the tension over a wider area so it can stay properly attached without causing unnecessary pressure to your ears. Dale knows audio

The Inspiration.Do you have a friend who is a true sports fanatic? Ever see them getting crazy over a bad call, or even more crazy over a touchdown? What would be the ultimate gift for your friend? There are over 130 million NFL fans in the USA. It's not just guys. It's women, college students, high schoolers, CEOs. America is a nation that loves football. Jim and Brian thought about designing the perfect gift for these millions of football fans. What would it need to be? The unique solution.What if your friend had a 2nd referee during game time that would totally agree with your football loving friend on every important play? Referee Ralph is the fun, tongue and cheek, miniature referee that your friend will love. For every bad call made by a referee, your friend can get a second opinion from referee ralph. And for every touchdown your friend can get Referee Ralph to support the decision. OK. Let's face it. Football fans will go through extraordinary lengths to show their loyalty, and to enjoy every moment o

Inspiration?Being able to keep track of what is going on in your house - or anywhere else without having to install wiring. Cutting away the wires means you can have monitoring anywhere you need it, and even take it with you. Butterfleye is the simplest way to connect to your house and know that everything is ok. What makes this unique?Butterfleye does the worrying for you by monitoring what is happening when you can't be there. More importantly, Butterfleye screens out the time when nothing important is happening, and only records or notifies you when something important is happening. It's cordless. This means you can put it anywhere you need without expensive wiring. You can move it around when you need it. Butterfleye can travel with you. If the internet connection goes down, Butterfleye is smart enough to record to it's internal memory. Later when internet is available, Butterfelye will sync the data to the server. This increases reliability. Having a simple log of what Butterfleye noticed means

Inspiration?Most people have so many accounts and passwords that they can’t remember them all. What if there was a a solution to this problem that worked almost like a physical key? What is unique about PASSFORT?You keep your passwords on this tiny device that attaches to your keychain. You no longer have to remember or type you passwords. It will work on tablets, phones, and computers. So it is just very convenient. With PASSFORT you have a master key, that you have to enter to unlock the rest of the passwords. You can set the device to erase itself if the master password is entered incorrectly a certain number of times. Who are the makers behind this product?Emil and his team are designers and product creators. They work for a lot of other companies and they dreamed about bringing their own product to market. They actually had the idea several years ago, but they didn’t have the resources to bring it to market. When they found out about crowdfunding, they felt it was a good fit to bring PAS