It was a big week at Indiegogo and we were very excited to welcome David Mandelbrot into the proverbial CEO chair and Slava Rubin into the proverbial Chief Business Officer chair. Except we all know that there really is no chair since our execs are so *chill* that they don’t even need desks.

Tech Crowdfunding News

I know everyone is very paranoid about recording calls, but it’s actually kind of useful for non-creepy, non-NSA reasons. If you have ever tried to record one on your “smart” phone, it’s kind of a nightmare. With JIC you can record conversations with your iPhone case, and either play them through the case itself, or upload them to your computer. A great weapon in the next fight you get in with your significant other in which no one can agree about what was said.

Everyone in San Francisco may not remember that there is a drought in California since it’s been raining for what seems like years and years and we are babies about weather. Regardless of how wet it is outside, the water level of lakes is still much lower than it should be. Shock Top is supporting drought-alleviation campaigns on Indiegogo, and its latest is Droppler. It doesn’t track your water usage to make you feel like you’re singlehandedly responsible for drying up the state, but to help you figure out how to reduce your consumption. Plus it looks sleek and modern and very grown-up.

We also had an entire round-up on Forbes about the Indiegogo perks that you can (and should) take on trips with you. Mokacam is your GoPro upgrade – it’s cheaper and does more stuff so I think there is a clear winner. ONAGOfly will zoom around to take your aerial shots, and if you just want to use your phone the i-Blades case will expand your storage. The Seed water bottle will remind you when you’re distracted to drink water so you don’t pass out in front of the locals. If you’re cheap and only stay in hostels, eGeeTouch will protect the expensive photo gear (perhaps including a drone) that you have organized in your PRVKE Smart Pack. You won’t even have dirty clothes thanks to Srubba, a bag that washes your clothes for you. If you bought one of those $99 flights from San Francisco to Iceland, Torch will heat your jacket. And to get around, you definitely won’t look like a nerd in your ESMAR Electric Shoes to move 3x faster between classic monuments, or FlashChaser, an electric unicycle/motorcycle hybrid. You might also forget your chargers and really feel like a dunce.

Where are they now? Special edition: Film

In case you are a film n00b like I am, there is a very cool festival that is held concurrently with Sundance for the even indie-er films: Slamdance. We had nine films there, three of which won awards. That is a lot of films and a lot of awards. Fursonas got the highest honor with the “Spirit of Slamdance” Award by not only making a great film that examined the community of people interested in animal anthropomorphism and dressing in elaborate animal suits, but contributing to the overall Slamdance fun. Sounds like they embodied our values pretty well, too. Hunky Dory, a sweet story about a dive-bar drag queen who becomes his 11-year-old son’s caretaker when his ex-partner abandons him, got a Jury Honorable Mention for Acting. Finally, Gwilliam, a tale as old as time about love between man and golblin, received a Jury Honorable Mention for Anarchy short

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