“Every few days, we bring one product from sketch to store”

That’s the promise of a pretty cool crowd sourcing site, called Quirky.

What is it and how does it work?
Quirky is a site that lets people submit ideas for new products to be developed. Presenting an idea costs about $100, so make sure you really think it’s a good idea and take some time to think out the details before submitting. This is essentially your business proposal for venture capital. Of the ideas submitted, the rest of us get to vote for our favorites and contribute to the product idea. Days later, a product is selected and the process begins to develop the product idea into a product.

Product development consists of a few more steps and like the product selection process, site members get to influence the process by suggesting a product name, designing a logo, etc. It all happens pretty quickly, but email reminders help you keep on top of new product stages. Once a product has completed all of its development stages, Quirky begins taking pre-orders. Depending on the product, they’ll accept pre-orders for, on average, from 300-500 units. Once they fill the pre-order, the product goes into full production.

How to make money
The best part about this site is the ability to earn some extra money. The idea originator gets a decent perentage of the sales, of course, but then many of the contributors do, too. It may be a good amount or just pennies per sale, but it’s on every sale. I like to think of it in terms of something like the Slinky or the Rubik’s Cube. Had one of those products started on Quirky, several contributors would be laughing all the way to the bank. The example on the right shows actual earnings for some people on a $15 product. Helping out with a product’s development might not make you filthy rich, but it could bring in some nice Christmas money.

A good example
A pretty good example of this was the first product I helped with, Scratch-n-Scroll, which is currently selling nicely.

Scratch-n-Scroll is a standard mousepad with an added writing surface. This mousepad is for all those times you are working at your desk and cant find a pen to jot down that phone number or list item you know you will forget later on.

Simply, write notes to yourself on your mouse pad using just the pressure from your finger or the built in plastic stylus as a “pen.” Cool thing is, just like your childhood toy the magic slate, you can erase the notes at any time simply by flipping up the semi-transparent top sheet.

When I got to it, it was a really good idea among a list of ideas we had to vote on. It was my first pick of those offered, so I was glad to see it chosen for development. Through all the stages, I think the only thing I did was offer some comments about the design and function. My help was noted and I now get a very small amount of money (I think it’s like 1.5 cents) from every sale. If they sell 10,000 of these things, I’ll make about $150, which is pretty good for having just commented on how to improve the design.

Make the most of it
As someone without a ton of free time, I always look at how to get the most benefit from the time I spend on anything new like this. With Quriky, there’s three ways to earn money. The first two we’ve already gone over: submit your idea or help with someone’s idea. The third is to help sell the finished product. When I linked to the above Scratch-n-Scroll, I did so with a unique affiliate link. On this product, I get a 10% commission on any referred sale, and sold one already by just dropping a link on Twitter. If you choose to help with product development, don’t just help with one product. Help with any product that you like enough. If you help with 10 products that are all in production and selling, you can build up a nice residual income. Finally, when I signed up (and I think they’re still doing it), I got $20 in my account just for signing up to help contribute, so at the very least, go sign up.

If you do sign up, leave a comment here and let me know what you think of the site and what products you assisted in.

With all the fancy (and often expensive) new phones coming out, many people worry about theirs breaking, getting scratched up, etc., and this is a good reason to have a phone case. For a lot of people, being able to have the phone at your hip via a belt clip is also advantageous. Last week, I got a couple cell phone cases with belt clips in the mail to review from FoneGear.

Originally, I was just going to review an Arizona Cardinals case from their NFL line, but they carry more than just the NFL phone cases, so I also grabbed a Michigan case for my friend Greg and a wall charger for my iPhone. As a side note, if you visit the site looking for your team and don’t see it, refresh the page and you’ll get more teams to show up.

NFL themed cases

The first thing I noticed when I opened up the box was the rugged exterior of the Cardinals phone case. As with just about any case, if you throw it on the ground, your delicate phone may suffer, but this thing will protect your phone in the event of a small drop. For that matter, this thing could probably stop knife, though I didn’t try that. The case, itself, consists of two pieces of what feels like leather. The pieces are thick and rugged with a definite texture to them for a good grip. It’s held together with elastic to make a good fit to any bar or flip phone, which is good because it doesn’t help much if your phone falls out of the case.

On the back of this case is a belt clip with swivel and quick release. The swivel is designed so that it doesn’t move around freely, but has stopping points that require some actual intent to get past. This keeps the phone from swiveling all over while you’re walking or running. Some cases swivel freely and although it’s not the end of the world or anything, it’s nicer if they don’t. The quick release is positioned in the right place and releases smoothly when you want it to but keeps your phone in place all other times. The case slides up out of the clip, so even if you accidentally hit the release, you’re fine unless it’s in the middle of a kart wheel or hand stand. The clip was the only part of this case that I think could use improvement. While it holds well (really well, actually), that’s at the cost of not being very easy to clip on. It just doesn’t open wide enough to make it an easy operation with one hand.

At $12.99, these cases cost a lot less than some others without any less quality. It was definitely less than I expected them to cost.

Collegiate smartphone cases

The second case I got was a little different. This one was from the Collegiate series of cell phone cases for smart phones and the logo wasn’t the only difference. While slightly less rugged and textured, this case was still really thick and almost as durable. It looked a little nicer than the Cardinals case (for my tastes, anyway) and seemed well-suited for a smart phone. Of course, I threw my iPhone in it right away and it fit snugly. Both cases have a soft inner lining. This is more important with this case because smartphones generally have their screen exposed.

Like the Cardinals case, this one has a swiveling belt clip and like the previous case, this one swivels only with intent. That is to say, you have to pretty much try to make it move for it to move. Again, this is a good thing. One difference with the belt clip is that this one is more of a pressure clip as opposed to the previous phone’s spring clip. Instead of pinching with two fingers to open it like a clothespin, this one just slides onto your belt or the edge of your pocket, car visor, etc. Normally, I would say that makes it more likely to come loose from your belt, etc., but in this case, it has a firm grip, so that doesn’t seem like a concern. Additionally, this case comes with a snapping loop. With this loop, the case could be attached to a purse, stroller, etc. and just hangs as if it were on a key ring. It’s nice to have options.

At $19.90 (some are $19.99), this case offered a little bit more for a price closer to what I’ve seen with most holster cases.

More cases, chargers, etc.

While I was shopping, I figured I’d get something else that I need, and that’s a good wall outlet charger for my iPhone. There’s really not a lot of features to talk about on a wall charger. The questions here are of price and base functionality. Of course, the most important of the two is the functionality. This charger does what it’s supposed to, so that part of the equation is good. As for the price of $29, this was comparable to other chargers of its quality. There are cheaper chargers, but many of them even look cheaper. In the end, I’ll pay a few bucks more for to feel more comfortable with a better charger.

Ordering experience
Ordering on the site was pretty painless. FoneGEAR has a decent shopping cart and most things were pretty easy to find and add to my cart. The one quirk was the listing of NFL phone cases in that it seems to only list 12 at a time and they are randomly chosen from a much more complete set. I’d prefer to see an alphabetized list. Completing the purchase was pretty straight-forward and everything arrived pretty fast and well-packaged.

Conclusions
I’d love to see more options like the Arizona Cardinals case for a smartphone, but they also have a lot of styles I didn’t mention like NBA, foneGIRL and foneSTAR, to name a few. For the most part, if you’re looking for a new phone case, you should be able to find something you’ll like. They also carry other accessories, gps cases, laptop cases, etc., so there’s a chance you’ll wind up buying more than just a phone case like I did.

The prices were generally pretty good, but they’re having a sale right now, too. At the time of this writing, everything is 20% off, AND they are also offering free shipping on orders over $35.

And because I know you love contests, I can’t forget to tell you about the one FoneGear is having. You can read the official rules, but it all boils down to a simple tweet. Anyone can enter by following @foneGEAR on Twitter and Tweeting out a message containing their favorite NFL or NCAA team with the hashtag #foneGEAR and a link back to this post! Enter today for your chance at some gear for your phone.

Since the iPhone came out, many phones have come out surrounded by speculation that they could be the phone to put Apple’s iPhone out of business. Frankly, I don’t think any phone will do that for a long time, even if it’s better than the iPhone, but it’s certainly nice to see so many step up to the plate. The possibly under-hyped G1 from T-Mobile has secured a strong position in the race to be the perfect smart phone and created a loyal following for the Android platform. Palm joined in with the over-hyped Pre, which has plenty of its own merits, but hasn’t seemed to live up to all the marketing. Now we have yet another contender, that seems to have appeared from out of nowhere just recently.

Meet Droid
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and we all know how important design is in choosing a new phone. I got my hands on some high resolution photos from Verizon.

(Click any of the images for the high res versions)

PhoneScoop.com uploaded an unboxing video below. It’s just a glimpse, but it’s good to hear some opinions on how the phone feels to use. It makes a great point about the keyboard being so flat, but other than that, it looks great:

Better still, check out Gizmodo’s review for a video that shows how fast this thing is.

It’ll be feature rich
According to Verizon’s very nicely done marketing campaign, Droid Does. Verizon is pretty much saying that Droid does everything that the iPhone (and many others) do not. The commercials are centered around this and although the phone doesn’t have all the smooth curves the iPhone has, it already looks better than the G1, runs on the growing Android platform, and promises to deliver many of the missing some iPhone users have been asking about for the past couple years. Here’s some of the features it boasts that stand out to me:

- DVD quality video
- Speech recognition
- Augmented reality
- Multitasking
- Physical AND software keyboards
- 3.7 inch display (854×480 WVGA)
- 5MP camera with flash
- Intelligent dock
- Android 2.0 (open development, baby)
- Multitouch
- Replaceable battery
- Facebook integration
- It’s fast

I’m trying to get my hands on one for a real review, but so far it looks like it’s living up to the hype. What do you think from what you’ve seen so far? Is this your next phone? If it is, what phone will you be getting rid of for Droid?

I love electronics. The problem is that they all suck up electricity like mad. There was a time when I would have several computers running all through the night. These days, I’m much more aware of energy concerns and try to be more responsible with my usage. Having a huge electric bill is no fun either. That’s why I was pleased to get this little device in the mail.

Vampire Power
The TV TrickleSaver from TrickleStar is a little device that sits between your TV and its power source to stop it from slowly using power throughout the night when it would normally be in standby mode. This standby power is also called vampire power because your devices sit there all night sucking up power. The goal is to stop those power-sucking devices, be more green, and put a little green back in your pocket. But does it work?

Installing TV TrickleSaver
I really shouldn’t use that word, installing. You don’t install a TrickleSaver any more than you would install your dirty laundry in the washer. You just plug the TrickleSaver into the wall (or surge protector in my case) and then plug your TV into the TrickleSaver. It also has a secondary (”slave”) outlet for plugging in an accessory device like a game system or DVD/VCR/Bluray player. On the end opposite the power outputs they’ve placed the Trimmer, which adjusts the threshold (watts of the master device) at which devices switch on and off. The instructions point out a couple very important things. First, you probably don’t need to mess with the Trimmer. It tells you to just try it out first and see if it works at its current setting, and it did for me. This is a big plus because most people don’t want to have to figure out wattage and experiment. If it doesn’t work right off the bat, you can just adjust and test. The second important setup note is about what devices to use with it. Of course, you want toplug in your TV, but which of your accessories? It warns against plugging in devices with hard drives in them. I’d worry that it would interrupt nighttime recording of shows on my DVR, anyway, so I left the DVR alone. I would suggest plugging in some other accessory as the slave. Once everything is plugged in, your done.

(View the rest of the TV TrickleStar product images)

My experiences
As a test, I hooked up my TV and XBox. Unfortunately, I don’t have a meter to watch the electricity usage change on the spot, but my TV is relatively new, so it has a power button that is always lit up. It’s as if it’s constantly reminding me of my power consumption. I set it all up and turned off the TV and off went the power switch light, too. Great. So it works, but what about the hassle of having that in the way and installing? As I mentioned above, the setup is pretty simple, so that’s not a problem for me. It’s doesn’t really get in the way, either. It has a couple mounting holes on the back, so you could put a couple screws in the wall and mount it if you want. Personally, I don’t like to mount stuff any more than necessary. I prefer to just let it sit behind everything else. It’s not tiny, but it’s not so big that it can’t be tucked behind your A/V components.

Being and saving green
This is all about being green for the environment and saving a few bucks while you’re at it. Even the packaging says “Save Electricity. Save $$$. Save Earth.”(tm). I’m sure the first thing you want to know is “how much?”. That was my first question. Luckily, they have a handy little savings calculator. I punched in my TV (42″ LCD), and my XBOX. Then it asked how many hours a day my TV is on during the week (6) and on weekends (8) which I entered and the gears started turning. After some calculation, TrickleStar says I’ll save 1198 kWh and 789 kg CO2 per year. Not bad, but what about my wallet? Here’s the part that surprised me a bit. It says I’ll save almost $180 a year. Of course, that depends on my energy costs from my provider, but even if that’s off by a little, that’s great for a device that costs just under $20.

Conclusions
This was one of those devices that left me checking the site for similar products. I am contemplating picking up another one for the other TV for another $100 or so a year in savings. Paying around $20 once to save upwards of $100 a year is a no-brainer and it helps you be more green. If you’re looking to lower your carbon footprint and your electric bill at the same time, this is a great way to do it.

It’s that time of year again. The BlogWorld Expo has once again come and gone, and once again, it was a rewarding experience.

Last year, Michelle and I found ourselves in the presence of some of the top bloggers at a dinner thrown by Market Leverage. Unfortunately, we were unable to make it to the dinner this year as we had so much going on. In fact, we missed out on a few things, but the weekend was still productive and a lot of fun.

Thursday night, we attended the TechSet party at The Bank night club in the Bellagio hotel. Budweiser sponsored free beers for a while, which was nice because the drinks were expensive. After a couple hours, the club kicked us all off the tables to open up table service, which cost anywhere from $750 up to $25,000, so we bailed. Before we left, however, we got up and danced (which I almost never do), and I was able to surprise NikNik and Reggie from MyTechOpinion.com. I guess I didn’t tell NikNik I was able to make it out after all, because the look on her face was priceless. Sadly, I didn’t really get a minute to stop and chat with them after that.

Friday morning, Michelle and I met Krystyl on the way into breakfast. She’s a social queen who I meant to meet last year and never did. I also met Brett Bumeter from Softduit Media on the way from the Hilton to the conference and enjoyed our chats on the walk over and at the exhibitors hall. I got to see online business consultant, Jim Kukral again and finally got to meet Drew from BenSpark.com. I spent some time running around the hall, engaging in discussion with the various vendors, and I started by finally meeting Ashley Edwards from IZEA. There were several companies that I became familiar with last year and some new stuff, but there were really just a couple things I found exiting that were actually new to me.

After a little relaxing back at the hotel, Michelle and I headed to an early anniversary dinner at the Benihana Japanese steakhouse in the Hilton. It’s a bit pricey for a steak dinner, but the quality of the food was comparable to what I’d find here for the same $50/plate or so. The real reason we went was for the experience. You sit at a table with 5 or 6 strangers and the chef prepares the food in front of you. The chefs do a good job of entertaining the whole time, too. It’s half cooking and half juggling. After dinner, we headed to see the Cirque du Soleil show, KÀ, which was just amazing. The tickets were given to me in order for me to provide an honest review of it, but it will cost me because now Michelle and I are eager to go back and see the other shows.

Saturday, I headed back over to see the opening keynote, which was a celebrity-filled panel on how celebs use Twitter, essentially. It included Anthony Edwards (ER, Revenge of the Nerds), Jermaine Dupri (music mogul), Robin Antin (Pussycat Dolls), and Matt Goss (who I hadn’t heard of). Planned but cancelled was Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster) and the panel was moderated pretty well by Brian Solis. Jermaine Dupri came off as a jerk, but a lot of what he said made sense, too. I think it was just how he came across as if he were the only one who mattered that bugged me. Anthony Edwards was full of analogies and was really polite and had some important points, too, as did Matt Goss. Robin Antin didn’t seem to bring much original perspective or anything really thought-provoking to the conversation. There were some differing opinions on exactly how much you should be sharing on Twitter and on how much you should really interact with fans. In all, though, it gave me some things to think about and it changed my idea of celebrity tweeters a little. It made me feel a little more open to trying to connect with someone regardless of their celebrity status. Anthony Edwards also took a moment to send out his very first Tweet in front of us, which I thought was pretty cool.

After the keynote, I saw John Chow for the first time of the weekend, so I walked over to say hello and he noticed that the IZEA booth was empty, so we decided to take it over. I swear John Chow has all the good off-the-cuff ideas. Last year, he had a contest to give away MarketLeverage’s money and I joined in. This year, taking over IZEA was a blast and I think we did a good job, too. A little confusion about when Ashley and Ted Murphy (IZEA CEO) were supposed to be there led to a test of how much John and I knew about IZEA and its Social Spark, SponsoredTweets, and Sponzai. Eventually, a stunned (but laughing) Ashley and Ted showed up and I got to meet Ted for the first time. There was so much interest in the IZEA booth at the time (mostly from John stealing people from other booths) that even after Ted and Ashley showed up, John and I continued to field questions to help with all the overflow. What antics will John and I get into next year, I wonder.

Saturday evening was reserved for a visit with Amy, a friend of Michelle’s that she hadn’t seen in years. She and her husband, Greg, have been living in Las Vegas, so we headed over and had a good visit with them and then headed home Sunday.

If you’re a blogger and serious about it at all, you need to be at BlogWorld. If not for all the sessions, you need to go just to connect in person with people who you’ve been interfacing with online and meet new people. I was pleased to finally meet several people I’d wanted to meed for a long time and enjoyed meeting lots of new people who I hope to continue to connect with online. Next year, I think I’ll plan for all the sessions again. I skipped them this year and although I probably wouldn’t have made it to many of them due to time constraints this year, I still feel like I missed out on some valuable information and interaction. For those who didn’t go, be sure to next year and find me and say hello.