aganick

If this were true, would we not see more truly hardware startups in existence? There are countless hardware products that have demand, yet go unfunded or are not attractive to VC's because of the large upfront costs or various market / IP concerns. Ever tried to develop and then manufacture an ASIC before?

Hardware is just that, "hard". Crowd funding, or crowd "pre-ordering" is just one approach to give these types of companies a fighting chance at marketing and developing a product. If it were not for the lack of project accountability and poor hardware track record, I think Kickstarter would be a very good solution towards some of these issues.

Unfortunately until this changes, I think backers might have a better chance at the casinos. At least you have fun losing your money there (usually)!

This could be the answer to the European's latest fear mongering scheme!

http://www.businessinsider.com/cell-phones-cause-cancer-2011...

While the LoS aspect is potentially desirable in specific applications, I agree that initially it can be perceived as a limiting factor. Researchers at Boston University,Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Nakagawa Lab in Japan are working with software tools to characterize non LoS applications using reflective and refractive surfaces found indoors. A powerful system can be envisioned if someone managed to utilize these principles with a device that contains a receiver with a wide view.