List of Dodgy Crowd Source Funded Projects

[Galenbo]

There are a few studios around the world that specialise in Kickstarter campaigns, for example the studio that did http://kck.st/IfPkIA charges $20K USD plus 5% of the campaign total.

This makes it hard for the little guys who genuinely need to Kickstart their project and don't have a spare $30K USD to spend on marketing!

+20K (and if some fancy CGI, +40K I guess) for a video must be a shocking number for those naive backers.

"With this kickstart campaign we hope to raise enough money to market another Kickstart campaign to..."
I wouldn't be surprised if those studios bought actions in Kickstart inc.

[0xdeadbeef]

It's mildly confusing when you call shares/stocks "actions".

[Galenbo]

It's mildly confusing when you call shares/stocks "actions".

I use too many languages to be accurate in this. Such errors will happen again.

Aandeel(Nl) -> Action(Fr) -> Action(En) -> Wrong
Aandeel(Nl) -> Aktie(De) -> Action(En) -> Wrong

Aandeel(Nl) -> Action(Fr) -> Share(En) -> Right
Aandeel(Nl) -> Aktie(De) -> Share(En) -> Right

[mgf897]

Just stumbled across this
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1915118535/piio-a-gpio-board-for-raspberry-pi/description

I was most concerned about the autorouting until I discovered the relays are supposedly rated for 250V 7A!   

EDIT: board layouts here
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1915118535/piio-a-gpio-board-for-raspberry-pi/posts

[codeboy2k]

Just stumbled across this
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1915118535/piio-a-gpio-board-for-raspberry-pi/description

I was most concerned about the autorouting until I discovered the relays are supposedly rated for 250V 7A!   

EDIT: board layouts here
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1915118535/piio-a-gpio-board-for-raspberry-pi/posts

The product may still work as claimed, but the routing , and even the component placement choices, is just awful.

The relays may be rated at 7A (maybe that's what fit the area and budget) but I hope somewhere on the page it says no more than 1 - 2 Amps max.
The traces look like about 50 mils or so.  They will get warm at 2A, and too hot to touch at 3A.

[SeanB]

7A, though at 7.1A the traces act like fuses for a safe disconnect.

[katzohki]

Free energy inverter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1338118691/free-energy-inverter?ref=category_newest

The project involves the assembly of high voltage electronic components and control circuits, but unfortunately I am no electric engineer, although a good handyman and excellent self learner.

OK...

A certain amount of X ray and other exotic electromagnetic effects will be present when the machine is in operation, so I hope not to die in the process of getting it to work.

Apart from that it should be a piece of cake...

People who fuck around with X-Rays piss me off. I don't need one of these nutjobs living next door to me.

I look forward to receive your feedback so that we might rewrite Maxwells Equation together in a more complete and accurate form.

Well he did say he's not an "electric engineer"...

[FrankBuss]

Free energy inverter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1338118691/free-energy-inverter?ref=category_newest

I hate it when people use pictures from patents, but don't cite the patent number. This is the patent from where the pictures where stolen. Doesn't looks very useful. And of course, the whole campaign is bullshit. Probably he copied the 120 PDF file from some other crackpot "free energy" website. At least he could have done one of these silly videos with lots of motors, batteries and multimeters which proves nothing.

[katzohki]

Yeah forgot to mention that it looks like a ripped off patent.

Efficient power supply suitable for inductive loads

Slow clap... 

[jarrodhroberson]

What kind of audio-phoolery is this?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/vero-revolutionary-headphone-cable/x/6609972

[katzohki]

What kind of audio-phoolery is this?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/vero-revolutionary-headphone-cable/x/6609972

Cables... the worst kind...

[SaabFAN]

The only time I noticed a difference in sound was when I switched from small signal-wires (about 1,5mm in diameter) to proper loudspeaker-cables (about 5mm diameter just for the copper). The music was louder and the bass was more powerful. And the new cables don't get warm when I turn up the volume
Everything else is a surprisingly successful marketing-scheme... Maybe I should try it sometime: "Audiophile WiFi-Antenna for the best MP3 Download-Quality!" 

[MadModder]

Omg... "Multipole technology inside"   

[valley_nomad]

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nanoplug-the-world-s-first-invisible-hearing-aid

The creator claimed that they couldn't get the CE mark for their amazing product because its battery is too small. So they instead sent the backers some existing hearing aids worth about 10 times less

[0xdeadbeef]

Well, that doesn't look dubious but like a scam that was planned as such from the beginning.

I can offer a really dubious one though:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/295213551/xeos-3d-printer/

Indeed a guy of this name designed (!) this concept during his bachelor thesis in 2012 at a German university. We're talking industrial design here, not engineering!
Now he seems to have moved to Kansas City, presents only old renderings from 2012 and wants to collect a sum as low as $15,500 in only a few days.
Indeed this must be the shortest campaign I ever saw on Kickstarter. Hit and run tactics? And what can you do with $15k?
Prices start at $99 for the single-head version, which is kinda ridiculous. Also no information whatsoever about resolution, speed etc.

[bitwelder]

I can offer a really dubious one though:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/295213551/xeos-3d-printer/

Funding Suspended
Funding for this project was suspended by Kickstarter 5 minutes ago.

[valley_nomad]

Since the end of successful Tiko campaign there have been two episodes of 3D printer drama unfolded on Kickstarter. The first one was Nea (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1920177285/nea). Now this one 

[0xdeadbeef]

Both seem to come from the same person though. At least both (fake) accounts were verified by the same person "Dale Groth" who has another canceled project in his history:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2009151012/rgm-crate-rube-goldberg-machine-crate
Guess this fake profile was just created to verify other fake profiles.

[redshift]

Apparently "launching soon on kickstarter": http://www.nikolalabs.co/   

[Richard Crowley]

Apparently "launching soon on kickstarter": http://www.nikolalabs.co/   

Does Nikola Tesla have a Kickstarter account?  I thought he was dead.

Can you imagine how much (if any?) usable RF spectrum would remain for communication if Nick's idea of wireless power transmission had succeeded?   

[redshift]

They're at TechCrunch Disrupt in NY today: http://startupalleyny15.techcrunch.com/index.php?day=1&comp=556

With a team of real people: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/nikola-labs-llc

I wish I could be there to watch this 

[matseng]

They're at TechCrunch Disrupt in NY today: http://startupalleyny15.techcrunch.com/index.php?day=1&comp=556

With a team of real people: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/nikola-labs-llc

I wish I could be there to watch this 

You can now look at the pitch at http://techcrunch.com/video/pull-battery-power-out-of-thin-air-with-nikola-labs/518805768/

[redshift]

That was interesting to watch. Thanks for the link!

I'm very confused about how a reputable university like Ohio State got involved with all of this. I tried looking up the patent filings they mentioned but I couldn't find them.

As soon as I saw that there were industry judges, I was sure someone was going to call them out. But this never happened. In fact the first question was "Could you tell me a bit more about why you started with an iPhone case?" 

On their twitter you can see what the disassembled cases look like: https://twitter.com/NikolaLabs/status/594248353308774400.

They'll probably reach their goal and confirmation bias will be enough to convince people that they're getting 30% extra power 

[valley_nomad]

Rob Lee claimed that their trick is to collect the energy transmitted from the phone. However, the statistics shows that the power consumed by those communications (e.g. GSM Wi-Fi) is less than 50% of total smartphone power consumption. How can they save 30% in total by harvesting those energy without affecting the communication performance?

[gildasd]

Rob Lee claimed that their trick is to collect the energy transmitted from the phone. However, the statistics shows that the power consumed by those communications (e.g. GSM Wi-Fi) is less than 50% of total smartphone power consumption. How can they save 30% in total by harvesting those energy without affecting the communication performance?

Magic?
Must be Magic.