kickstarter

A proposed new smartphone would include two physical switches to control privacy. The Murena 2 would run Android apps, but use its own operating system. The makers have reached a (very low) funding goal on the Kickstarter site with around 450 sales ... at the time of writing. That theoretically means the project can go ahead, though without any legal guarantee it will do so. The main selling point of the phone is a privacy-focused design, which the makers say is to tackle data being collected on Android and iPhones even when the owner isn't actively using the handset. The most eye-catching part ... (view more)

Facebook has made a major investment in virtual reality technology by purchasing Oculus VR, a virtual reality technology firm for $2 billion US dollars. For the past several years Oculus VR has been developing Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset ... that is said to revolutionize home entertainment. The Oculus Rift was first unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (or "E3") during the summer of 2012. The head-mounted display generated a great deal of interest among the video game community. This interest led Oculus VR to initiate an August 2012 Kickstarter campaign to further ... (view more)

Kickstarter, a popular site for raising money for technology and art projects, has been hit by hackers. The site says no credit card information was compromised but warns users to review their passwords. Kickstarter is a popular "crowdfunding" web ... site. It lets members of the public pledge money towards a project, usually as a pre-order for a finished product; the pledgers only have to hand over the cash if the project reaches a set funding target. The most successful such project was Pebble, a wristwatch device that used Kindle-style electronic ink to display information from a ... (view more)