April 10, 2017 · In The News

Hasbro’s Innovation Fix, the Smart Hub War and Other Newsworthy Stories

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Enterprise crowdfunding is resonating with people more than ever. Take, for example, Hasbro, who made $5B for the first time in December because of their commitment to innovation. Their head of Design and Development said that they “work hard to ensure that our organization fosters innovation, no matter where it comes [from]“. Enter Indiegogo’s Next Great Game Challenge, which not only helped Hasbro tap into outside innovation, but helped the creators of Mr. Toast and Hex Casters (formerly known as Hexes) bring their ideas to life. Could there be a better partnership?

Tech

Start-ups are stepping in to solve some of the greatest problems in this world – like the short battery life of the Nintendo Switch game console. To really help the “Switch reach its full potential”, SwitchCharge is a case with wireless charging capabilities, and a kickstand for ease of viewing your games. SwitchCharge saw a market opening and seized it – and people are saying that it will solve the Nintendo Switch’s biggest problems. Nintendo is probably kicking itself in the battery holder for not making it first.
In-case-you-missed-it like I did, there is a “smart hub war” raging in homes around the world between Amazon’s Alexa, and Google. Scary, I know. To appease both sides, Clarity developed a touchscreen speaker that works with both Amazon and Google. As of now, no other smart hubs have touchscreens, and combining both of these virtual assistants gives users access to extra functionality – like Netflix AND Amazon Prime.

Creative

Filmmaker Mariel Brown is trying to learn about her life like any true artist would – by making a movie about it. Unfinished Sentences explores Mariel’s complicated relationship with her father, a poet, by using his death as a lens. When her father died, she “felt like a thread that was slowly unraveling,” so she started filming a series of interviews as a way to cope with her grief. She definitely inherited some of her father’s ease with words. Before her Indiegogo campaign she also received funding from the government of Trinidad and Tobago, which helped her make amazing progress on the project. Get your tissues for this one.
The devastating Indiegogo-funded films continue. Silent Beauty is another film about healing from trauma. The filmmaker used her family’s archive of home movies to deal with years of sexual abuse from her grandfather, who was a baptist minister and pillar of the community. She never said a word to anyone. By telling her story, she hopes to bring awareness to the silence surrounding abuse in Latinx communities, which spans generations. Like I said, devastating. Even if this isn’t something you’ve directly experienced, it’s a great lesson on why talking stuff out is so important.

Where are they now?

After a big success on Indiegogo, earning $1 million at the box office across 477 screenings with their theatrical release,  and getting picked up for distribution by YouTube Red, Rooster Teeth is making Lazer Team 2. Which is a pretty obvious move given Rooster Teeth’s track record. YouTube Red has already picked it up, and they have tapped Nichole Bloom from NBC’s “Superstore” and Showtime’s “Shameless” as their star.