#HTE
Let Kickstarter Help You Get Organized
As a professional organizer who’s always interested in new products that might help my clients, I enjoy scrolling through Kickstarter to see what’s on offer. Right now, I’m seeing many interesting items.
Even though many of us have a smartphone on us at all times, a wristwatch can still be a valuable time management tool. I wear one when working with clients, and what I want is a watch that makes it easy to tell the time. That seems obvious, but many watches are designed to look cool rather than to be practical. The only other bit of information I sometimes need is the date. So, I was very pleased with the watches from Twenty-Fifth, which meet those needs perfectly. The watches are also water-resistant, which is another feature that’s critical to me.
Even my older eyes can easily read the numbers on those dials. The one bit of information that seems to be missing from the Kickstarter page and the company’s website is the length of the band—I have big wrists, and some bands are just too short for me to wear. This Kickstarter will be funded on Nov. 11.
The Float Shelf from Prism Designs is a nice way for Apple users to de-clutter a workspace; it’s a good place to put external hard drives and other such items. And if the end user’s desk doesn’t face a wall, it can also be used to display decorative items.
The Float Shelf is made from a solid aluminum extrusion and holds up to 10 pounds. There are two sizes available; one or the other will fit all iMacs, Thunderbolt displays and cinema displays (As someone with an old 20-inch cinema display, I appreciate this). This Kickstarter will be funded on Nov. 30.
The Map Box, created by From the Workshop, might not seem like a big deal. However from my experience, a box that is proportioned perfectly for holding maps upright—and one that would look good on a bookshelf next to travel books—is exactly what some end users would love to have. This project has until Nov. 20 to get funded; boxes are also available on Etsy.
The Gripster is a different type of bike storage solution than the others I’ve seen. It attaches to any bike’s handlebars to provide additional stability when a bike is leaned against a wall (it helps to protect the wall, too). There’s a magnet to provide storage options for the Gripster when it’s not in use.
I can see this being especially useful for an end user in an apartment who isn’t allowed to install anything onto a wall. It would also be good for anyone who might have trouble lifting a bike on and off a rack. This Kickstarter has until Nov. 20 to get funded.
The Cactus Rack is a freestanding rack for surf boards, snow boards, long boards, etc. This is another product that would be helpful for end users who can’t install wall-mounted solutions. It’s a modular design—there are options for two, four or six boards. A two-board expansion pack can be purchased separately if the end user acquires more boards; that’s definitely a cool feature. The rack is made from plantation-grown bamboo. It ships in a flat pack and assembles with an Allen key. This Kickstarter will be funded very soon: Nov. 5 at 5:59 p.m. Pacific Time.
The Eclipse from Native Union is a 3-port USB hub/charging station that also provides for cord control. (One of the three USB-A ports can be turned into a USB-C port with the flip of a switch.) Native Union found that most end users only charge two or three devices daily, so a larger and bulkier hub was unnecessary.
There are so many thoughtful features here—the video sums them up nicely. Here’s just one: “Eclipse uses an advanced transformer to guarantee safe currents that won’t damage your devices’ batteries in the long term."
My only concern would be that the cables will need to get rewound (in their individual channels) after each use if the end user wants to keep things looking neat when the devices aren’t charging—that rewinding may get a bit tedious. This Kickstarter will be funded on Nov. 18.
I’m always interested in a good hook, since hooks make it so easy to hang up clothes, towels, etc. Hooked, from Nicholas Marschner, is certainly attractive. My concern would be that it seems to protrude quite a distance from the wall, and it’s made of steel—this could result in some nasty injuries if someone ran into one in the dark. So end users would need to be careful about the placement of these hooks. This Kickstarter will be funded on Nov. 29.
A fidget toy may not seem like an organizing-related product, but some end users with ADHD (and others, too) find it easier to concentrate on the task at hand when they can play with a fidget. The P6-Spinner from Jetset Robot was designed to fit nicely in someone’s hand. It has a more adult/professional look than some other fidget toys, which might make it well suited for an office environment.
Xube is a travel toiletries organizer. End users who want to carry their own toiletries on a trip (or to the gym) can either buy a bunch of travel-size versions of their favorites—which are sometimes hard to find—or fill travel-sized bottles from their larger ones.
Xube is a variation on that second approach; it will hold four different shower products. And it uses nanosuction to attach to any flat surface, which could certainly be helpful in showers without any convenient ledges or shelves to hold these items. For end users who don’t mind the refilling process, this might be a useful item.
One big drawback, though: There’s no way to label which section has what product. The design team wrote, "After no small amount of consideration, we concluded that it would be best not to compromise XUBE’s sleek and minimal aesthetic.” Not all end users will agree with this trade-off.
This Kickstarter has until Dec. 2 to meet its funding goal.
http://www.core77.com/posts/57569/Let-Kickstarter-Help-You-Get-Organized