| Kickstarter pledges more transparency, publishes project stats page with daily updates Jun 21st 2012, 20:51  Every time we boot up a browser there appears to be a new iPad mount or Arduino project on Kickstarter, but just how many projects have there been to date? How many were successful? And how much might that microfunding startup be netting in commission cash? You can find all those answers through a new Kickstarter stats page (and some number crunching on a calculator), updated daily with key raw data that's tallied, and broken up by category as well. To date, 60,786 projects have launched, of which 24,986 (44 percent) were successfully funded, 31,722 failed and 4,078 are currently active on the site. Of the $261 million that's come in, $219 million has been in the form of "successful dollars," representing $10.95 million in income for the company itself based on a five-percent commission rate -- roughly the same amount raised for Pebble, a single project. Speaking of million-dollar-plus projects, there have been a total of seven, including one in the Music category, three in Games, two in Design and one in Comics (Pebble falls within the Design category, not Technology). There are plenty more stats to comb through if you've been hankering for a peek behind the scenes at Kickstarter -- it's all at our source link after the break. Kickstarter pledges more transparency, publishes project stats page with daily updates originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  Kickstarter Stats | Email this | Comments | | University researchers develop 50 gigapixel camera, hope it hits the mainstream in five years Jun 21st 2012, 19:51  Gigapixel cameras aren't exactly hot-off-the-presses, but a few wizards at Duke and the University of Arizona may be close to getting that sort of technology into your future point-and-shoot. Reportedly, electrical engineers with gobs of free time and an imagination the size of Coach K's ego have managed to synchronize 98 minuscule cameras in a single device, creating a prototype 50 gigapixel monster. The real kicker here is the hope for the future: these same researchers feel that "within five years, as the electronic components of the cameras become miniaturized and more efficient, the next generation of gigapixel cameras should be available to the general public." The prototype itself measures a whopping 2.5-feet square and 20 inches deep, but only around 3 percent of it is made of optical elements; the vast majority is circuitry needed to calculate the stupefying amount of information captured in 50,000 megapixels. University researchers develop 50 gigapixel camera, hope it hits the mainstream in five years originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jun 2012 15:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Nature, TG Daily | Duke | Email this | Comments | | ZTE Grand X (U970 and N970) and Grand X LTE (T82) hands-on Jun 21st 2012, 19:24  You may recall that ZTE unveiled its Snapdragon MSM8960-powered Grand X LTE handset (pictured right) just a few days ago, but as it turns out, the original Mimosa X design is still very much alive under that new Grand X moniker, and we were able to play with both Android 4.0 devices at Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai. In fact, there were three models in total, as the Grand X comes in two flavors in China: the U970 for China Mobile comes with 1.2GHz Tegra 2, TD-SCDMA radio, 1GB RAM, 4GB storage and a five-megapixel camera; while the identical-looking N970 for China Telecom packs a 1.5GHz MSM8660A, CDMA2000 radio, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, microSD expansion and an eight-megapixel camera. With all the phones attached to various cords we weren't able to get a good sense of their ergonomics, but they were all surprisingly light. In terms of build quality ZTE didn't disappoint, either (at least the casing is certainly a big step up from the Skate), and their 4.3-inch qHD LCDs looked good as well. Oh, and the vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich build flashed onto these devices ran smoothly during our brief hands-on, so hopefully they'll stay that way in the hands of buyers. Help yourself to our photos below. ZTE Grand X (U970 and N970) and Grand X LTE (T82) hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jun 2012 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | |
