Crowdfailing: $179 Tiko 3D printer joins growing list of high-profile Kickstarter flops

Why it matters to you

Despite raising a massive $2,950,874 on Kickstarter, creators of the Tiko 3D printer have revealed the project has crashed and burned.

“Tiko is the 3D printer you’ve been waiting for,” reads the tagline on Tiko’s 2015 Kickstarter campaign. “Simple, accessible, and dependable, all for a pledge of $179.”

Sadly it turns out that you’ll be waiting a lot longer for it, while that “dependable” description can also be discarded. And that $179 investment isn’t sounding such good value, either.

That’s because Tiko, the “Unibody 3D printer” is the latest casualty in a spate of high-profile Kickstarter 3D printer projects. Despite having raised a whopping $2,950,874 against a $100,000 funding goal, the printer’s creators have taken to Kickstarter to reveal that the project is, for all intents and purposes, cancelled. Although the creators claim to have shipped 4,100 printers out (a total of 16,538 backers pledged money) it seems that’s where it might end.

More: Inside Indiegogo’s plan to circumvent crowdfunding failures

“We had no idea how difficult it would be to go from a prototype to mass production,” Tiko’s creators wrote in an update. “We learned along the way, but most mistakes were costly and irreversible. Our greatest mistake was committing to inventory too soon. We didn’t realize it at first, but by ordering components in bulk, we had backed ourselves into a corner. Design flaws appeared, and we were trapped. By the time we understood our predicament, it was already too late. We were in too deep, and there was no turning back. Our cheerful mission to empower innovators had become a struggle to survive.”

Now, the team says it is speaking with investors, but acknowledges that “these discussions cannot be rushed. It’s a lengthy process, and it could take months for us to reach something conclusive.” They promise an update at some point in the future.

It’s just the latest in a terrible run of crowdfunded 3D printers which, for reasons of both price and features, sounded almost too good to be true — and then turned out to be exactly that.

“If you go through the top 20 crowdfunded 3D printer campaigns and examine who succeeded versus who didn’t, there’s not a huge success rate for the top campaigns,” Michael Armani, CEO and cofounder of 3D printing company M3D, which raised $3.8 million on Kickstarter, told Digital Trends. “We’re observing the industry going to chaos. It’s one company after another that’s going down. A lot of people say we should be happy as one of the survivors, but the truth is that I’m sad. I’m really disappointed to see so many companies failing. Kickstarter has really become the wild west in a lot of ways.”

While companies like M3D have delivered on the promise of affordable 3D printers, Armani is correct in observing that crowdfunded 3D printers are looking like an increasingly toxic investment for backers. Any time you get into a tech “race to the bottom” things aren’t looking good — and, sadly, it seems that this is the paradigm we’re stuck in right now.

The mismanaged Tiko is just the latest example of that effect. And its out-of-pocket backers are the victims.

Golf Pad’s Link system lets you track your game without draining your phone

Why it matters to you

The Link upgrades Golf Pad’s existing Tags by removing the need to be connected to a smartphone.

Back in 2015, Golf Pad ran a highly successful Kickstarter campaign for its Tags system. Now, the tracking product is used by thousands of golfers around the world. As an Android-only system, though, iPhone users have been left out. Golf Pad’s new Link system is their answer.

The biggest difference between Link and Tags is its compatibility with both iPhone and Android phones. Better yet, Link keeps track of the entire game without needing the phone to be on the golf course. Each swing is recorded to the Link and when the golfer’s phone is in range, the data will automatically sync up. By removing the need for constant connectivity, the Golf Pad Link becomes a much freer experience.

More: Boost your swing with new Powerband BOA Boost golf shoe from Adidas

Essentially, the Link is a small, wearable device that clips to a user’s belt or fits in their pocket. Besides recording golf swings, it also contains high-accuracy location sensors. Using GPS and GLONASS satellites simultaneously, the Link is able to a get a consistently accurate reading. This has the added benefit of saving phones from having to use a lot of their precious battery power. With a single charge of the Link’s battery lasting two rounds of golf, there is no worry of it running out halfway through.

Each Link system comes with one wireless reader and 15 lightweight tags that screw into the ends of your golf clubs. Every tag has its own identity, so once it is paired with a specific club, Golf Pad will recognize it with every use.

Before each swing, just tap the Tag to the Link to begin recording. The reader will vibrate to confirm that a successful and an optional confirmation tone can play from your phone. Additionally, users with an Apple Watch, Pebble, Samsung Gear, Android Wear, or Magellan smartwatch can get the confirmation directly on their wrist.

Once a stroke has been made, a number of statistics are tracked automatically. These include club distances, strokes gained, shot dispersion, fairways hit or missed, greens in regulation, distance trends, scoring analysis, course strategy, and putting. After a couple rounds with the Link, the Golf Pad app will begin making recommendations on which club should be used. The app uses a sophisticated algorithm based on distance, temperature, humidity, and more to make its choices. The more you golf, the smarter Golf Pad becomes about your performance.

Golf Pad Link is currently available on Kickstarter for $139. For anyone who already uses the Tags, the Link reader can be purchased separately for just $99. With the Link almost doubling its pledge goal, shipments are expected to go out this coming May.

The Best Unlimited Data Plan: Verizon vs. T-Mobile vs. AT&T vs. Sprint

In February 2017, something miraculous happened: Almost every major carrier in the U.S. announced revamped, tweaked, or entirely new unlimited data plans. Verizon, the nation’s largest in terms of total subscribers, brought back uncapped data for the first time in more than five years; T-Mobile and Sprint, both of which offered unlimited data before Verizon’s announcement, removed throttling schemes from their respective plans; And AT&T, the nation’s second-largest carrier, made unlimited data available to customers who don’t pay for DirecTV or U-verse.

But just because all four major carriers now offer “unlimited” data doesn’t mean that the plans are equal. Beyond subtle (and not-so-subtle) variations in pricing, there’s fine print to consider. Some plans slow the download speeds of subscribers who exceed a data limits. Others impose caps on certain forms of traffic. And still others omit basic benefits like tethering.

More: AT&T vs. Verizon vs. Sprint vs. T-Mobile: Who has the best individual plan?

We’ve broken down each of the major four carriers’ plans down to their essentials to see which offers the most bang for your buck.

Our pick

T-Mobile One Unlimited Plan

It’s tough to choose a winner among four imperfect unlimited data plans, but one stands above the rest. We think that T-Mobile offers the best value for your money.

Why we chose it

T-Mobile’s One plan is more than just an unlimited plan. Sure, subscribers get unlimited music and high-definition video streaming and 10GB of tethering data. But they also get benefits that other carriers don’t offer. T-Mobile One customers get texting and data in 140 countries around the globe. Thanks to Binge On, they get the option to stream standard-definition videos without worrying about contributing to their throttle cap. And every Tuesday, subscribers get discounts on fast food, Lyft rides, movie tickets, and more.

More: AT&T executive calls out Google Fiber — “Pardon our dust”

And that’s to say nothing of T-Mobile’s excellent network. OpenSignal’s latest rankings put it among the top in terms of speed, and a forthcoming expansion this year promises to drastically improve its rural coverage.

For $70 a month, there’s no better unlimited plan out there. Verizon comes close. Its unlimited plan’s pricing ($80 for a single line), terms, and geographic reach rank best in class. But T-Mobile’s extras — in addition to its plan price’s included taxes and fees — put it over the finish line.

Carrier
Price
Throttling cap
Tethering
Other extras
T-Mobile
$70-$180
28GB
10GB
T-Mobile Tuesdays, international data and calling
Verizon
$80-$200
22GB
10GB

Sprint
$60-$190
23GB; music throttled to 1.5Mbps, gaming throttled to 8Mbps
10GB
Plans start at $50 a month until 2018
AT&T
$100-$260
22GB
N/A

In the next few pages, we’ll go over all of the details of each carrier’s Unlimited plan.

Shoot the bad guys and save the planet with Battle Planet!

Defuse the bombs, defeat your enemies, and try to survive.

Dropped onto a planet where my ancestors once dwelled, I’m armed only with a single gun, a jetpack, and the knowledge that my ride should be back in roughly a year. The place is mostly deserted, so it seems like it might be an actual cake walk. Well, until you factor in Tyranid spaceships launching bombs at ancient burial sites, subterranean worms, and bounty hunters all after me at once. Thankfully, the more I shoot, the nastier I am to my enemies and I have a job to do. It’s time to clear the planet that my Ancestors are interred in. This is Battle Planet.

Read more at VRHeads.com

What do I need to jump from Big Four to an alternative carrier?

Making the change to an alternative carrier can save you money and give you better service, but you need to know a few things before you do it.

When you port out your number and switch away from one of the Big Four to a carrier that might work better for you, nothing is hard. You either click a few buttons online and enter a few details or make a phone call from someone else’s phone and a person on the other end clicks their buttons. But it’s not something you want to go in blind and learn from regretful mistakes. Trust us, we’ve been there.

The good news is that you already know what you need to do and only need to ask yourself the right questions. We can help. Here’s a list of the things you need to get sorted before you make the jump.

A phone

Some alternative carriers will sell you a new phone, but most likely you don’t need one. The phone you’re using now will probably work!

You need to know what type of network and what frequencies your phone supports. That information might be on the box or papers that came with it, but if you don’t have those Google will help. If you don’t understand what you’re seeing there, a quick question in our forums will get you squared away.

Take that information and check it against the network details for the carrier you want to use. You’ll find those online at their website or you can give them a quick call. If things match, you’re golden.

If you love the phone you have now you can find a compnay that gives you the right service for it.

You might need to get your phone unlocked if you bought it from the phone company you’re using now. That’s something they will do for you as long as you’ve met certain requirements like paying the bill for a set number of months. If you’ve paid the phone off or finished the contract, they’ll help you. If for some reason they can’t or won’t, there are literally hundreds of third-party phone unlocking services online. Check the reviews and pick one and you’ll be good to go in short order.

If you want to buy a new phone, you want to buy one that’s unlocked and has the right network frequencies and bands. The people selling you the phone can help or a quick online search has the answer. We’ve got a few suggestions ourselves.

More: The best unlocked phones

Check the coverage

What works well for me might not work well for you. Every carrier has a map that shows their network footprint. Find it and give it a skeptical look.

Be cautious if you’re on the fringe of coverage or there are any fancy modifiers like carrier-partner or anything but the words LTE or 4G when you’re looking at the map. And be sure you’re looking at the data coverage map, not the voice calling coverage map.

If you’re in the middle of coverage with no big gaps on the map, you’re probably good. If not, don’t be afraid to look at a different carrier.

How much data will you use and how many minutes do you need?

An independent alternative carrier will have more options when it comes to buying service. That’s how they can be profitable — they buy a LOT and break it into chunks to resell to us.

Look at your last couple of phone bills and see how many calling minutes you used and how much data you used. Give yourself a little slack and pick a plan that gives you what you need and doesn’t have you paying for stuff you’re not using.

If you end up not buying enough, you can always add more at any time and adjust for next month. If you choose too much, you can choose less next month. That flexibility is one of the benefits of moving away from the big companies.

You need a little bit of tech-fu

Don’t worry, you don’t need a lot of tech knowledge, but you will need to know a couple things about your phone.

You’ll need to know what size SIM card you need and how to change it. Your manual has all this information or Google does. Your new phone company will be happy to sell you the correct size SIM card as long as you let them know what you need.

Programming the network on your phone is easier than you think so don’t be intimidated.

You’ll also need to know how to program the new network into your phone. Things might work when you insert a new SIM card but most times not everything works correctly. This is because you need to set what’s called an APN.

APN’s for the bigger carriers are already set, and the phone will pick the one that’s the closest match to your new service. But to get things like MMS or full speed LTE up and running usually requires you to enter a few lines through the settings. It’s easy if you have a little guidance, which you’ll find at your phone company website. If in doubt, hit our forums for help.

Make sure you have a fallback plan

It might be tempting to pay the last bill from your old carrier with a wheelbarrow of pennies while letting the world know what a rip-off they are, or even thinking they can stuff it and stiffing them on that last payment. But don’t do it.

You can’t go back if you burn the bridge. You never know how new service from a new company will be until you try it. If it’s unacceptable, you’ll want to switch back while you explore other options so you’re not without a phone.

That’s hard to do if you went out in a blaze of glory. Anyways, the people working at the store aren’t the people who are ripping you off every month so be nice. Tell them how they can save money by switching!

Changes can be turbulent soemtimes, but with a little thought switching phone companies doesn’t have to be!

Reigns selected as big winner at Google Play Indie Games final

Long live the King!

The first ever Google Play Indie Games contest has wrapped up with UK developers Nerial winning twice over for their outstanding game Reigns. This comes as little surprise to us: Reigns is a fantastic game and one of our favorites of 2016.

On top of winning the overall prize, Reigns also won the Unity prize, which provides Nerial with a 12-month subscription to Unity’s professional game development platform.

We took another look at Reigns, as well the runner ups, The Battle of Polytopia and Causality. You can find the full list of finalists here.

Reigns

Reigns is a game all about making the right decisions to keep your kingdom prosperous and secure. You start out as a young king taking over control of his kingdom in the first year of his reign. Advisers, citizens and animals appear as cards, coming to you with issues and questions that require a ruling — swipe right for yes, swipe left for no.

The decisions you make will affect the four aspects of your kingdom: the church, the people, the army or the treasury. Each is tracked at the top of the screen by the meter, and your duty as king is to monitor them and make sure that no meter becomes entirely full or empty — if that happens, your fate is sealed and the heir to the crown rises and becomes the new King.

It’s an absolutely unique title that will hook you in with it’s dark sense of humor, stylish design, simple game-play and intriguing storytelling. Check out our beginner’s guide for more information on how to play the games and some tips to help you start your reign out right.

Download: Reigns ($2.99)

The Battle of Polytopia

Fans of turn-based strategy games like the Civilization series will absolutely want to check out The Battle of Polytopia. Developed by Midjiwan AB from Sweden, this stylish game packs in a deceiving amount of strategy and fun. Explore the world around you and build up your kingdom by investing in new technology and troops as you capture villages and expand your empire.

It’s easy to see why this game made Google Play’s top three — with multiple game modes including the rarely seen pass-and-play option for playing against friends and 20 tribes to unlock and play as, this feels like a full-fledged strategy game packaged with cartoony graphics and scaled down perfectly for playing on a mobile device. The turn-based game-play against the AI is brisk and you can add more opponents or up the difficulty level if you’re in need of a bigger challenge. Best of all, it’s a free download from the Google Play Store! This games feels perfect for your daily commute on public transit, or really any time you got time to kill — If you start a Domination game (last tribe standing wins), you can save and resume your game at a later time as needed.

Download: The Battle of Polytopia (Free)

Causality

Causality will absolutely blow your mind. This is just a brilliant game where you control time and make adjustments to the level and alter the sequence in such a way that you help your stranded astronauts reach their goals.

Set in simplistic-yet-beautiful alien landscapes, this stylish game will have you wracking your brain as you try to figure out how to guide each astronaut to their color-coded exit within the time frame. Of course, you have full control over the timeline, and can jump to any point in time and change an aspect of the level. There are 60 mind-bending puzzles to unlock and complete in this outstandingly polished and challenging game.

Download: Causality ($1.99)

Android Gaming

• Best Android games
• Best free Android games
• Best games with no in-app purchases
• Best action games for Android
• Best RPGs for Android
• All the Android gaming news!

‘Alien: Covenant’ preview evokes original’s nostalgic last supper

While the first official trailer for Alien: Covenant showed us terrifying images of a colony ship gone horribly wrong, this new preview gives us a full, uncut scene. It’s a stunning glimpse at the titular ship’s crew relaxing together with a final meal before readying themselves for a long cryogenic sleep.

Titled, “Prologue: Last Supper,” this four-minute preview has many of the tropes we expect from an Alien movie. There’s the harshly-lit cast of characters, some creepy moments of foreboding and a technologically plausible background, like pre-cryo vitamin packs and a spaceship that looks more functional than pretty. There’s even a pretty fantastic callback to the original movie’s famous dinner scene.

The overall tone of this new trailer is nostalgic, with the couples intended to colonize a new world waxing poetic about what meals they’ll miss the most while spending their last few moments together around the ship’s table. There’s a striking moment when Katherine Waterston’s terraforming expert, Daniels, addresses the crew that’s posed just like DaVinci’s well-known mural. It’s a brilliant way to remind viewers just how awful things will get once the Xenomorphs arrive.

This is the sixth movie in the sci-fi series, and a sequel to 2012’s Prometheus, also directed by Ridley Scott, making Alien: Covenant the third Scott-helmed movie in the franchise. Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace also reprise their roles from Prometheus, though Fassbender’s android here is a more advanced model named Walter.

Alien: Covenant is set to release May 19 in theaters, so we don’t have too much longer to wait for this high-concept, hard science fiction entry into the beloved series.

Via: Mashable

Source: 20th Century Fox

Google is donating $11.5 million to racial justice causes

Google will invest $11.5 million to support racial justice, the company announced in a blog post today. The funds are split between 10 different causes, with $5 million going to the Center for Policing Equality. “CPE’s National Justice Database is the first in the nation to track national statistics on police behavior, including stops and use of force, and standardizes data collection across many of the country’s police departments,” Justin Steele, a Google.org principal, writes on The Keyword blog.

He says that there isn’t a uniform method of data collection thus far, and as such makes apples-to-apples comparisons between reported statistics from one agency to the next nigh impossible.

“We believe better data an be part of the solution, which is why we’re investing in organizations using data and evidence to reduce racial disparities in the criminal justice system,” Steele explains.

As USA Today notes, this effort is double the amount Google has donated to these types of causes prior. It’s also an extension of Google’s core belief that through better data, and better ways of understanding it, we can solve a raft of problems.

Source: The Keyword, USA Today

Acer is making an air quality monitor

Acer’s next project is a different type of monitor than you might expect from the company. It’s an air quality monitor, actually. No, wait; where are you going? “The Acer Air Monitor features a sleek and simple design, the device allows real-time monitoring of key air quality indicators through a dedicated app for smartphones, and by the changing colors of a breathing LED light embedded on the chassis,” the company said in a press release. It all sounds very exciting.

As far as looks go, the device is pretty unobtrusive. It’s square, relatively small, white and has a ring that changes color based on the air quality. Speaking of which, the gizmo will send push notifications or even integrate with IFTTT so you can do something when the air quality in your home changes. How it’ll stand out in the admittedly crowded space remains to be seen. Acer expects the device to go on sale sometime between April and July of this year.

Twitter and PBS will livestream Trump’s speech to Congress

Twitter has been livestreaming everything from Presidential debates to boxing matches and NFL games to see what sticks. And just like it did with the inauguration, Twitter will once again pair with PBS to broadcast President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on February 28th.

This time PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff will host the live coverage alongside a team of analysts and PBS correspondents. Because there’s traditionally no State of the Union address in a president’s first year, the joint session address is a less formal affair, but is expected to cover similar topics. The Democrats will also have the opportunity for a post-speech response that will be streamed live on Twitter and PBS as well.

When Trump takes the stage on the 28th, the livestream will be available at jointsession.twitter.com, on NewsHours Twitter page or pbs.org/newshour.

Via: CNET

Source: jointsession.twitter.com