List of Dodgy Crowd Source Funded Projects

[Jarrod Roberson]

I figure anything making medical or energy claims is 100% bogus and a scam and stop reading immediately.

[dustout]

"Meet SCiO. It is the world's first affordable molecular sensor that fits in the palm of your hand. SCiO is a tiny spectrometer and allows you to get instant relevant information about the chemical make-up of just about anything around you, sent directly to your smartphone."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/903107259/scio-your-sixth-sense-a-pocket-molecular-sensor-fo

Some claims:

* Get nutritional facts about different kinds of food: salad dressings, sauces, fruits, cheeses, and much more.
* See how ripe an Avocado is, through the peel!
* Find out the quality of your cooking oil.
* Know the well being of your plants.
* Analyze soil or hydroponic solutions.
* Authenticate medications or supplements.
* Upload and tag the spectrum of any material on Earth to our database. Even yourself !

[Rasz]

"Meet SCiO. It is the world's first affordable molecular sensor that fits in the palm of your hand. SCiO is a tiny spectrometer and allows you to get instant relevant information about the chemical make-up of just about anything around you, sent directly to your smartphone."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/903107259/scio-your-sixth-sense-a-pocket-molecular-sensor-fo

Some claims:

* Get nutritional facts about different kinds of food: salad dressings, sauces, fruits, cheeses, and much more.
* See how ripe an Avocado is, through the peel!
* Find out the quality of your cooking oil.
* Know the well being of your plants.
* Analyze soil or hydroponic solutions.
* Authenticate medications or supplements.
* Upload and tag the spectrum of any material on Earth to our database. Even yourself !

not a scam, its an ir spectrometer in a very small form factor. same thing nasa uses to analyze stars hundreds of light years away
+ company lets journalists touch and use their _working prototypes_

[riccardo.pittini]

Seen this new project? what do you think about it...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lix3d/lix-the-smallest-3d-printing-pen-in-the-world

Seems that the project is getting very popular... few things that I would put a warning are:

- Power from USB, let's say limited to 2.5W. This will limit a lot the melting speed of the filament
- I think that supports only one type of filament material /speed-temperature settings (for optimal extrusion)?

[MacAttak]

It's taken a while, but it looks like government is starting to take notice of crowdfunding scams. State of Washington vs. Asylum 5/1/2014

Interestingly, within a day of that being posted to the comments page of a kickstarter project that's been mostly ignored by the creator for a year, they've made two update posts already. Might not have anything to do with them being a Washington state company / resident. But then again, maybe it's not a coincidence.

[george graves]

Seen this new project? what do you think about it...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lix3d/lix-the-smallest-3d-printing-pen-in-the-world

Seems that the project is getting very popular... few things that I would put a warning are:

- Power from USB, let's say limited to 2.5W. This will limit a lot the melting speed of the filament
- I think that supports only one type of filament material /speed-temperature settings (for optimal extrusion)?

It "prints" at about a snail's pace.(most all of the videos are speed up) - I'm sure they shot day's worth of video to get something usable looking.

But as a consumer it screams "YES, I can 3d print something!  I don't need to know arduino, or C or wire up a bunch of stuff!  I can 3D print in the AIR!"

You might laugh at it.  But that's what they want. (I'll call them/they "pro-sumers" - not quite consumers, and not pro)

That is how you start up a great kickstarter.  Like it or not.  Not that I would ever do that.  You'll sell 10,000 of something that is kinda pointless.

[george graves]

Not a scam....but this is an interesting breakdown of a kickstarter art poster project. It's a poster of the The Brooklyn Bridge made using typography.

The guy misspelled Brooklyn ("Brookyln"), and not him or any of his backers ever saw the error until most of them had shipped.

https://medium.com/@cameronmoll/5b374cfeb43c

 

[tsmith35]

The guy misspelled Brooklyn ("Brookyln"), and not him or any of this backers ever saw the error untill most of them had shipped.

That's quite an interesting story! Thanks for sharing. I guess the focus was on that guy's amazing artwork, and not on the text at the bottom.

[Artlav]

The guy misspelled Brooklyn ("Brookyln"), and not him or any of his backers ever saw the error until most of them had shipped.

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a tatol mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
 
This actually works for real.

[george graves]

Google Disemvoweling.  And make you you spell it right...or you might get some NSFW results.

..........a piece of alphabetic text is rewriting it with all the vowel letters removed.[1][broken citation] This original sentence:

    The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

would, after being disemvowelled, look like this:

    Th qck brwn fx jmps vr th lzy dg

[DavidGoncalv]

There is a Kickstarter a couple years ago that successfully funded and complete a first run of such a '3-d' pen - the 3doodler: http://the3doodler.com/

I have one now for printing out simple toys and things for my nieces - it's ~ok~, and this new project isn't going to make a better one.

[corrado33]

100% efficient drivechain invention, seems legit

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/367465572/chi-eer-a-real-efficient-engine-motor?ref=category

What the heck was he washing? Clothes covered in blood? Geeze.

(End of the video)

[tsmith35]

What the heck was he washing? Clothes covered in blood? Geeze.

Looks like he was washing the bane of anyone who washes clothing (especially parents): new, brightly-colored shirts. Either that, or he added some dye for color...

[miguelvp]

I am speechless that some one actually is going to pay $199 or one of their early prototypes.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sparqee/umbrella-usb

Not really dodgy since most people wouldn't know how to make one of this but charging $99 for a custom engraved yellow anodized aluminum edition sound like they don't care about taking advantage of ignorant people

[PlainName]

charging $99 for a custom engraved yellow anodized aluminum edition

They are not a shop, and people coughing the dosh are not customers. They are looking for funding, and punters are investing in their vision. The 'perks' are what you get for investing.

How do you feel about the $5 perk on most kickstarters that give you nothing at all except a warm feeling? Is that overpriced? Doesn't that "sound like they don't care about taking advantage of ignorant people"?

With the perk you express amazement about, no-one is buying a $3 USB plug for $99. They are investing $99 in this project, and the project people are gifting an anodised USB plug (limited edition) as a thank-you.

[rob77]

charging $99 for a custom engraved yellow anodized aluminum edition

They are not a shop, and people coughing the dosh are not customers. They are looking for funding, and punters are investing in their vision. The 'perks' are what you get for investing.

How do you feel about the $5 perk on most kickstarters that give you nothing at all except a warm feeling? Is that overpriced? Doesn't that "sound like they don't care about taking advantage of ignorant people"?

With the perk you express amazement about, no-one is buying a $3 USB plug for $99. They are investing $99 in this project, and the project people are gifting an anodised USB plug (limited edition) as a thank-you.

and in addition there are people out there which will pay whatever they need to pay just to have something different/unique.
so  why not let them pay and support the project if they're willing to pay much more for unique/limited edition item ?

and btw.. this project is not dodgy - that little thingy is useful and pretty doable. it's not only useful just because of security (for real end-users unaware of possible risks and ways to protect themselves ), but also to get rid of the annoying  "charge only/mass storage" prompt on many phones  while charging from a computer

[PlainName]

that little thingy is useful and pretty doable

It is not just doable: I have one I bought a couple of years ago (mini-USB to micro-USB adaptor, and I wanted a data connection so thought it was crap at the time!). Indeed, a quick search of Ebay turns up:

eBay auction: #321254386023

[rob77]

that little thingy is useful and pretty doable

It is not just doable: I have one I bought a couple of years ago (mini-USB to micro-USB adaptor, and I wanted a data connection so thought it was crap at the time!). Indeed, a quick search of Ebay turns up:

eBay auction: #321254386023

the description seems to be dodgy. they're reffering to the  "dumb USB mode" which is the 0,5A spec. while they're talking about boost to 1A... most of the usb ports are not even capable of 1A (physically).

[PlainName]

I included that as an example of stuff already out there (negating the need for the kickstarter, possibly). I didn't intend to suggest anything about the quality or implementation of it.

[rob77]

I included that as an example of stuff already out there (negating the need for the kickstarter, possibly). I didn't intend to suggest anything about the quality or implementation of it.

i know how you meant it i was just commenting on the product itself, since i spotted something dodgy in the description

[PlainName]

Oh, right. Have at it, then 

[djococaud]

Umbrella USB :
Why not just making a USB A->micro USB cable with only 2 wires (5V + GND) in it ?
It would just be more practical than a big/ugly dongle plugged in the wall...

[rob77]

Umbrella USB :
Why not just making a USB A->micro USB cable with only 2 wires (5V + GND) in it ?
It would just be more practical than a big/ugly dongle plugged in the wall...

because your Windows computer will provide only a fraction of the available power without correct device identification, so the umbrella has to identify itself to the operating system, ask for the highest possible power and pass through that power to the phone being charged.

[CanadianAvenger]

Umbrella USB :
Why not just making a USB A->micro USB cable with only 2 wires (5V + GND) in it ?
It would just be more practical than a big/ugly dongle plugged in the wall...

because your Windows computer will provide only a fraction of the available power without correct device identification, so the umbrella has to identify itself to the operating system, ask for the highest possible power and pass through that power to the phone being charged.

Yes and no, it requires the computer [not just "windows"] HARDWARE to have a power management chipset that supports this [most desktops don't - many laptops do ... though this is changing]. Otherwise the port will be limited anywhere between 100mA and 900mA depending on the implementation. The phone in this case will follow the "low power" profile, as it was unable to negotiate more power with a host chipset.

[rob77]

Umbrella USB :
Why not just making a USB A->micro USB cable with only 2 wires (5V + GND) in it ?
It would just be more practical than a big/ugly dongle plugged in the wall...

because your Windows computer will provide only a fraction of the available power without correct device identification, so the umbrella has to identify itself to the operating system, ask for the highest possible power and pass through that power to the phone being charged.

Yes and no, it requires the computer [not just "windows"] HARDWARE to have a power management chipset that supports this [most desktops don't - many laptops do ... though this is changing]. Otherwise the port will be limited anywhere between 100mA and 900mA depending on the implementation. The phone in this case will follow the "low power" profile, as it was unable to negotiate more power with a host chipset.

but mainly it's a windows problem - most of the drivers (all of them ?  ) allow the 100mA (low power) without identification on windows. on linux systems (with the same hardware) the drivers usually allows you to draw 500mA without identification. all of the controllers have power management, and it's the job of the driver (OS specific) to setup the controller and and control the power schemes.