This week we announced our partnership with Celery, which is just the latest thing we have done to keep supporting our entrepreneurs with all the tools needed to raise funds, take pre-orders and successfully fulfill. Every day we are finding new and better ways to help people bring their ideas not just to life, but to market.

Tech News

‘Tis the season for sneezin’ (I’m really sorry about that one) and thanks to Uhoo, you can figure out what in your house is causing you the delightful post-nasal drip and itchy eyes that may plague you in the spring. It also measures pollutants, which have been shown to cause asthma and other health problems. Once you’ve figured out whether the air in your home or workplace is something to be concerned about, you can take steps to make it better, which can have a tremendous effect on your wellbeing, and even make you more productive. I guess oxygen is kind of important.

If you’re looking for other ways to clean up your environment, you might want to focus your attention on the water you drink. It does make up 60% of your body after all. WaterO will clean your tap water through reverse osmosis, pushing the water through a membrane that filters out any molecules larger than H2O, like heavy metals. It definitely gets rid of much more gross stuff than a Brita will, and doesn’t take up that much more space.

The world is not friendly to people who are visually impaired. Not only is it difficult to avoid running into people on the street, use a knife, and the list goes on, it’s also impossible to enjoy visual art. And that sucks. Although someone without sight will never enjoy visual art in quite the same way that seeing people do, 3-D technologies like Unseen Art turn classic paintings into a tactile experience. Now you can do more than just marvel at the Mona Lisa’s frustratingly inexpressive face, you can really feel it.

Social Impact Crowdfunding

Since I wrote about Dr. O’Reilly’s epic battle to fight pediatric cancer last week and save every single kid who is diagnosed, the campaign has raised 96% of its goal. Most of the funds will go towards finding treatments that are more effective and less miserable for the very rare cancers that Dr. O’Reilly treats, and the rest will be used for psychological and social support for the patients and their families. As we’ve seen from the heart-wrenching stories that Humans of New York has posted, what these children and families go through is unimaginably draining for anyone who hasn’t experienced it. They spend their savings, and their lives trying to save their little humans. So let’s get this campaign to 100% at least, and hopefully much, much more.

The legendary 826 Valencia in San Francisco is opening a new writing center in the Tenderloin neighborhood, so it can help more K-12 students be the writers they were born to become. Or just help them with their English homework. I remember learning about 826 Valencia from my 8th grade teacher as the “pirate store,” but that’s just a front for the good stuff. They are even using Instagram to come up with new exercises to engage the kids that stop by. Turns out IG is good for something besides looking at food and dogs. Stay tuned to get your new reading material!

Where are they now? Indiegogo Success Story

As a very impressive 87 year-old filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky took it upon himself to delve back into his youth through a five part film series. After running a successful Indiegogo campaign for Endless Poetry, the second part explores his adventures in young adulthood, “finding first love, revolting against [his] family and writing [his] first poems.” It’s like the ultimate therapy; in an interview Jodorowsky explained that when you make art, you learn to see the world in another way. It reveals your value to you.” If only we could all withstand such introspection.

Feeling inspired? Download the free Indiegogo Field Guide to get started today!