Over the past couple of months I've become aware of Kickstarter.com, a unique way of providing funding for ideas and startups. Designers and developers set a funding target with Kickstarter, let's say $10,000, and members of the public are invited to pledge a contribution which usually links to a delivery of the item once production starts. If it's a good idea the target is soon reached and your product arrives. If we, the pledging public, decide it's not such a winner and fail to cough up the initial target none of us is charged a penny. It's as simple as that. Once the target is reached our accounts are debited with the agreed pledge and production starts.
A few weeks ago I pledged $70 for the LunaTik watchband for the iPod Nano. Now I'm persuaded by Ben Brooks of The Brooks Review to splash out $25 on the OneLessDrop cable-tidy project from Dean Heckler. It's a great idea, designed to stop your unattached cables from slipping off the back of the desk, and I'm happy to add my pledge. If it works and Dean gets his target funding I pay my $25 and eventually receive a cable tidy. If not, I pay nothing.