Do you know what’s easier than buying physical objects as gifts for Christmas or Hanukkah? It’s even easier than buying gift cards (well, maybe equally easy, since gift cards can be emailed nowadays)! Ok, well, whatever: this holiday season, make life a little less stressful by giving back to some cool tech Kickstarters.
Supporting tech Kickstarter campaigns is a great way to show the people in your life that you know what they like; that you’ve put money towards some cool new product or initiative that can potentially take-off (especially if the pledge level you provide gives some kind of perk, whether it’s the product itself or even just a t-shirt). Plus, it’s très convenient: you can do it straight from your couch/bed/whatever and avoid the mall crowds that are surely running rampant across the country.
But, I mean, you can also just support these tech Kickstarters for your own selfish reasons – have you gotten yourself a gift, lately? No? Well, here you go. I’ve gone ahead and sorted the campaigns by how soon they’ll end.
Here are 12 of the coolest tech Kickstarter projects you can support this holiday season:
SnapJet: Smartphone Polaroid Printer
Hours Left in the Campaign: 36
This may actually be one of the best campaigns that people don’t know about right now. (I imagine that if people did, it would get way more funding than it currently has – not to say that it doesn’t already have a lot). SnapJet turns your smartphone into a portable Polaroid printer. Simply take a picture and lay your phone on the SnapJet printer, then print.
Sunn Light
Hours Left in the Campaign: 36
A smart LED light that changes color and brightness in rhythm with the sun. Seriously amazing. It’s as if we’re going back to our primal, human, circadian rhythms – indoors. I want to support this for myself.
FLUX All-in-One 3D Printer
Days Left in the Campaign: 3
3D printing, 3D scanning, and laser engraving – all in one device. The best part? It’s designed so that consumers can afford it (estimated to sell for $499 to $679 once manufactured – that’s thousands less than current devices).
Arki: Body Posture Monitor
Days Left in the Campaign: 3
There are plenty of wearables on the market that track your activity, but only Arki will analyze your body posture and notify you when your walking posture is effed up. Get your spine together for the new year.
Hush Smart Earplugs
Days Left in the Campaign: 4
We’ve previously written about the Hush smart earplugs – earplugs that combine sound-eliminating foam and noise masking, and can be controlled with your smartphone.
Plan V Portable Phone Charger
Days Left in the Campaign: 6
Pretty unique idea: it’s a charging device that doubles as a keychain so that it’s always on you. All you have to do is attach a 9-volt battery, and the power from that goes into your phone.
MOCA Heart Scanner
Days Left in the Campaign: 6
The MOCA heart scanner will provide you with important health metrics in seconds with just the tip of your finger (and no, it’s not going to draw blood from you or anything). It will give you data on things like your heart rate and even blood oxygen level.
KaliPAK: Portable, Renewable Energy Generator
Days Left in the Campaign: 11
A portable generator that runs on energy reserved from the sun. The campaign is one of the few on this list that yet to reach their funding goal. Support the campaign – the backing also allows them to provide KaliPAKs to African communities that typically have little to no access to electricity.
COBI: Connected Bike System
Days Left in the Campaign: 14
COBI is a piece of hardware you can attach to your bike that connects your smartphone and turns your bike into a smart, interconnected device. From navigation and tracking, to an advanced light system and safety features, contributing to COBI would make a fantastic gift for the bike riders and enthusiasts in your life.
Pantelligent: Intelligent Cooking Pan
Days Left in the Campaign: 18
The first smart cooking pan. Pantelligent lets you know how long to cook certain dishes and will walk you through the entire process, even monitoring the temperature at which you cook your food to ensure perfectly cooked meals.
Bitsbox: Monthly Coding Project for Kids
Days Left in the Campaign: 35
For the kids: a project that aims to provide both a free website and a monthly subscription box replete with activities aimed at teaching kids to code. This looks so promising and could potentially make coding a part of the primary school curriculum everywhere.
Next Keyboard: Better iPhone Keyboard
Days Left in the Campaign: 37
For just $20, you can get your beta access to the Next keyboard for iPhone. Features will include a more distinct shift key, next-word prediction, and even themes! THEMES!