A few posts ago I linked to a Kickstarter campaign for slip-on shoes for everyone – i.e. hickies. A pretty neat idea, but sort of leaning to the goofy side of life. My next Kickstarter link seems to have a bit more potential.

Are you familiar with Kickstarter? It’s a relatively new (year or so?) way for ideas to get funded. Some lame, and some totally awesome. Basically, you put your idea online, ask for money, and if people dig it, they’ll give you money in exchange for some type of return – a free book when it comes out, acknowledgments in the credits, etc.

Giving more power to the people – i.e. a new way to take power from The Man. Rad.

Now on to the brilliance. These dudes from MIT have created a neat little device that will turn just about anything into a touchpad that will control your computer. The video below demonstrates some great – and goofy – examples, but picture controlling your computer with a banana or turning your stairs into the keys of a piano (Big anyone?).

I’m not sure where this technology will take us, but my guess is we’re just scratching the surface. Technology is insane!

You can find out more on the MaKey MaKey Kickstarter page.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfQqh7iCcOU[/youtube]

Hats off to Trent Walton for sharing the link. I’m easily following 100+  blogs at this point, so I’m not all that familiar with Trent, or where I came across him, but he seems pretty cool. Worth a look if you’re into the radness.