Crowd Funding

This isn’t technically tech news, but it does include a stormtrooper costume which makes it kinda nerdy – and right now it’s warming my heart quite a lot. In a month that typically sees men grow copious amounts of facial hair in the name of charity, one man is walking around Australia in a stormtrooper suit to raise money for just as worthy a cause. Scott Loxley, a member of the 501st Legion, is walking around Australia, some 15,000kms and spanning 18 months, to raise money for the Monash Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. The 501st Legion is an international costuming organization that specializes in raising funds for charity, and Loxley is doing his part by doing his trek in the full Sandtrooper costume from Star Wars, no mean feat in a country that is currently in Spring and moving quickly into Summer. Loxley is hoping to raise $100,000 for the Monash Children’s Hospital, but ...

Will Ferrell is a pretty famous guy, and regardless of whether you like his plethora of comedy exploits, I think you’ll be able to agree this initiative of his is a very good thing. Hosted on a website called willferrellhatescancer.org, Ferrell is working with Funny or Die to challenge gamers to raise $375,000 for charities that include Cancer for College and DonateGamers.org. Once this target is achieved, Ferrell will host a 2 hour gaming event on October 26th to be streamed on Twitch.tv, the cast of which will include pro gamers, special guests, and potentially, you. Yes, with a minimum of a $10 pledge to this charity drive, which is taking the form of an Indiegogo campaign, you could win an all expenses paid trip for two to San Francisco to game with Ferrell, as well as an opportunity to check out the Twitch offices and hang with everybody involved in the event ...

I would consider myself to be a relatively hardcore gamer, however, from time to time, I like to step back and take a look at some indie games and appreciate the passion that many of these indie studios pour into their projects. A Song for Viggo is one game that I have recently come across on Kickstarter, and its premise is a heart-wrenching one. Designed as a point-and-click adventure game that is completely animated from paper in stop-motion, A Song for Viggo follows the story of Steve and Karen after the death of their son, Viggo, and explores the emotions and turmoil that the parents go through in the days immediately after the event. A Song for Viggo is being created by a one man team, comprised of Simon Karlsson, who is doing all the game design, animation, paper crafting and music himself. It’s a gargantuan task, but Karlsson looks set on completing ...

There’s a new product on IndieGoGo that looks like it wants to take on the Router and Home Automation world in one go. It’s called the Soap Touch Screen Intelligent Router. Alpha and Omega of Home Automation, Cheetah Fast, Lock Tight Security, Parental Controls that actually work, and it is really really good looking As you probably know by now, I’m a technology geek. I love anything to do with Technology, Home Theater and I dabble a little in Home Automation as well. I have my home lighting controlled with a HomeSeer HomeTroller Zee Home Automation Controller and few strategically placed sensors to detect motion, temperature and more.  Home automation controllers let you control wired and wireless devices around your home.  You can write scripts to make things turn on and off based on almost anything from motion to light levels to manual switches.  I can control my lights from my ...