A Kickstarter Project That Wants to Turn Kids Into App Developers

Every week, we look at what's new on Kickstarter to find the most innovative and interesting new projects on the crowdfunding website. That's because in the last couple of years, some of the most exciting developments in technology have come not from the established players but from small teams with big dreams, like the Pebble smartwatch and the Oculus Rift.

This week, we particularly loved the idea behind Tickle - an app development tool for children. Tickle is based around Scratch, which is a visual programming language that was developed at MIT.

Scratch is designed to be easily understood by children, and allows them to use event driven programming using a GUI. Tickle is a Kickstarter project that wants to bring the Scratch experience to the iPhone and iPad, and wants to enable anyone to create apps. By funding development through Kickstarter, the project's creators want to make Tickle freely accessible to everyone.

With Tickle installed on an iPhone or iPad, children will be able to create simple games, or more advanced projects, depending on how much they have learned. According to the Kickstarter page, Tickle supports concepts like data structures, functions, publish-subscribe, and object oriented programming.

You can see how the developers are hoping that Tickle will be used in the video below:

Tickle is trying to raise $30,000, and has so far raised nearly $7,000. Since the eventual app is going to be made free, there are no tangible rewards to be gained from backing, which could become a problem in raising funds; but hopefully for the team, enough people will be interested in the idea that they fund the project anyway. The funding is open till September 9.

If you're looking for an actual product to buy, you definitely have to check out Skully AR-1 on Indiegogo. Skully is also raising funding till September 9, but it has already reached over $900,000, against a $250,000 goal, to deliver an augmented reality helmet for motocycling.

The idea is to provide a biker with the kind of Heads Up Display that you would find in a fighter jet - for the fairly expensive price of $1,399. If you're buying from outside the US, then the international edition is even more expensive, at $1,599.

As you can see in the video below, the Skully is really cool, with features like a built-in GPS, navigation, and even a rear view mirror option - there's a small display just outside your direct line of sight, so it doesn't get in the way of seeing the road, but is easy to see when you want to. The effect is very impressive, but it's hard to justify spending so much money on a single use device - it's not like you're going to walk around wearing a full-sized helmet for AR functions when you're not riding a bike. But while it might not be very practical, there's no denying that the Skully is supremely cool.

To see more stories from the world of crowdfunding, click here.