Awesome Stuff: Rethinking Retro: Rocket Skates, Coolers And Tickers

from the retro-what? dept

For this week's Awesome Stuff post about interesting crowdfunding projects, we're taking a look at products that are a kind of modern rethink of some more "retro" ideas. Of course, I'll also toss in a quick reminder that our own crowdfunding project for our net neutrality coverage is still moving forward. We're close to 60% of the way there, and could use your help (and, remember, all pledges are backed with matching money!).

• RocketSkates Yes, RocketSkates. Both retro and futuristic (though a bit dorky) these are electric skates that you can use to zoom around. Think of them as a poor-man's Segway, without the giant clumsy machine to have to drag around. You control them with your feet (so no remote necessary), and can easily switch to walking when necessary. Also, because everything these days has an app, it has an app for route tracking, interactive games (?!?) and more.
• LaMetric The modern take on the classic ticker machine. This one is one that you can set up (via an app of course) to display whatever kind of info you might like. The square pixel display, however, is very, very retro. The video highlighting the project is... a bit over the top at points, but I can definitely think of a bunch of use cases where something like this could come in handy.
• Coolest Cooler The cooler to end all coolers. With a retro look, but every possible modern convenience you could think of -- including a battery powered rechargeable blender, a waterproof bluetooth speaker, USB charger, built in cutting board and integrated storage for plates and knives, it's the cooler that cooler people have only dreamed about. I'm not much of a "cooler" guy, but if I were, it looks like this would be a tough cooler to beat. And it looks like tons of people agree. It's already over $6 million with a month and a half to go, meaning it has a chance to pass the most funded ever, the Pebble. Already it looks like it's either the third or 4th most funded with plenty of time to go.

That's it for this week... have a happy retro weekend, and don't forget to check out our own campaign as well...

Filed Under: awesome stuff, cooler, retro, rocket skates