Vaavud’s Portable Anemometer is a Kickstarter Project that’s Gone with the GoPro Wind

Every now and then a Kickstarter project catches my eye and makes me wanna say “Cowabunga dude…surf’s up!”.

Interaxon’s  Muse Mind Controller, the next big thing in Gaming as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Interaxon’s Muse Mind Controller and Tailly the Wearable Tail”, readily comes to mind…..that and the fact I wrote about it and I’m betting big on it like a gambler at the high Roller’s Table. Next to the Microsoft Kinect and other similar Controller Technology that mimic natural Human interaction to control electronic devices, Mind Controllers are poised on the brink of Greatness.

I’m of course referring to the very ambitious 20,000-pound ($30,456) Kickstarter campaign of Vaavud’s Portable Anemometer for the Apple iPhone as reported in the article “Smartphone wind meter has no electronics”, published March 23, 2013 7:00 AM PDT by Tim Hornyak, CNET News.

Designed by a trio of Danes from Stockholm, Sweden(Shakespeare’s Hamlet anyone?), it’s easily another GoPro in the making as stated in the article “The Mad Billionaire Behind GoPro: The World's Hottest Camera Company”, published 3/04/2013 @ 6:59AM by Ryan Mac, Forbes Magazine. It’s threatening to make the Danish Kitesurfin’ trio of Thomas, Maria and Andreas into instant billionaires in the next ten (10) years!

Very much like 37 year old Nick Woodman’s GoPro who came up with his go-anyplace-on-my-body mini Digital Camcorder out of the desire to capture the best shots from the point of view of the surfer. Vaavud’s doing it the same; helping kitesurfer’s find the best wind for Kite surfing, which happens to be their sport.

In the process they’ve developed another peripheral that can be used with the Apple iPhone and other smartphone that has uses both to:

1.      Windsurfing enthusiasts looking to log the best Waves and Wind (Surf’s up!)

2.      Weather Reporters with a death wish during a hurricane (…or Tornado…anyone?!)

3.      Scientists wanting to make a cheap off-the-shelf Remote Uplink Anemometer and weather vane to measure atmospheric conditions

Not because it’s yet another clever use of the Apple iPhone akin to Kickstarter alumni Orbotic’s Sphere Orb shaped robot as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “The Apple iPhone as a Remote – The R2-D2 Effect of Orbotic’s Sphero Robotic Ball” or Griffin HELO TC Helicopter as described “US$60 Griffin HELO TC Helicopter at CES 2012”, which by the way is very popular among IT Staff in ACCENT Marketing.

Rather because of its simplicity. Simplicity is what Vaavud’s Swedish Trio’s of ABBA Lookalikes  are using to survive, Sizzla Kolange Style.

It just a plastic anemometer with some magnets attached on the vanes, basically a “wireless” device. As it rotates in its pivot point snug in the Audio Jack of the Apple iPhone or any other smartphone or whatever orifice you can stick it, its magnetic field fluctuations is detected by the smartphones internal Magnetometer. The frequency of the fluctuations is then translated into windspeed which is displayed by the Vaavud’s Portable Anemometer App.

The Magnetometer is now standard issue in all smartphone ever since the Apple iPhone 3GS, making the Samsung Galaxy S IV as describe in Kelroy’s article “Samsung Introduces the GALAXY S4” more than capable of using this device.

Simplicity indeed: no electronic parts and just attached magnets creating a rotating magnetic field that detectable via the app that taps into the built-in Magnetometer. Backers for a minimum US$30 pledge get the product that’s actually on the bleeding edge of portable Weather Technology, easily a very low cost manufactured quality product with very high profit margins.

GoPro’s made founder and Surfing enthusiast Nick Woodman a billionaire some nine (9) years later since it surfed into the daring adventurer’s heart in 2004 with the concept of a Camcorder  you can strap on to your body to take video from any angle.  The company’s go-anywhere (and yes …..like duh-uh waterproof!!) GoPro Camcorder’s clocked some 2.3 million cameras sold to some very satisfied customers  valued at US$521 million in 2012. Already, GoPro showing sign of surpassing that figure US$100 million in sales in January 2013 alone.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co aka Foxconn, that Chinese assembler of devices for the likes of Apple, HP (Hewlett Packard) and Dell, plunked down a not too shabby $200 million direct investment in GoPro in December of 2012 as reported in “Foxconn CEO Terry Gou On His Company's Growing Relationship With GoPro”, published 3/18/2013 @ 1:58PM by Ryan Mac, Forbes Magazine. This, folks, is Foxconn CEO Terry Gou big bet on the future of the company that's making strap-on Camcorders with Social Networking built in (??), a hot commodity to watch for 2013 and beyond.

Fate and destiny seem to have intertwined and conspired, as Foxconn CEO Terry Gou’s son and Nick Woodman attended the same high school, separated only by a year. Vaavud’s Portable Anemometer is a Kickstarter Project that’s Gone with the GoPro Wind.

My prediction, akin to the one made of the Interaxon’s Muse Mind Controller as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Interaxon’s Muse Mind Controller and Tailly the Wearable Tail”; and guided by the billion dollar fortunes of GoPro’s CEO Nick Woodman, Vaavud’s  Portable Anemometer’s the next big thing in 2013, 2014 the latest.

The trio’s Kickstarter funding goal looks set to hit the stratosphere and even surpass it in the next few months by taking advantage of the growing popularity of Watersports, Mobile Social Networking and Mobile Computing as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “How the Apple iPad killed Ultrabooks, Printing and the Mouse as the World Rediscovers Tablets” via its simplicity and applicability for Fun and Science in the Sun.

Here’s the link:

Vaavud Kickstarter Campaign