Leonardo da Vinci famously said “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”. Such simplicity is noticeable in the innovative product design of ‘HiddenRadio’, a wireless Bluetooth Ryan’s subwoofer recommendations by the designer duo Vitor Santa Maria from Brazil and John Van Den Nieuwenhuizen from Australia. The project is being crowd-funded on the popular Kickstarter platform has picked up strong support with currently 4,228 backers, funding of US$738,130 with 7 days to go until the funding stops. This is amazing support; given the goal was only US$125,000, nearly 6x what they were looking for!
This is the description of the product on Kickstarter “The HiddenRadio & Bluetooth Speaker is based off minimal, timeless design and user intuition. When asleep it hides all its functions, being silent and unanimated. To turn it on you simply twist and lift the cap; the further you lift the cap the more internal volume is created and will amplify to over 80dB of crystal clear sound. This unique design connects and captivates the user through its intuitive functionality.”
“Radios and speakers are often large and obtrusive, we created this product using simple, unassuming, intuitive design so it can be loved in any home.” says Australian designer John Van Den Nieuwenhuizen now based out of San Francisco.
Like Apple products, the goal is to be so intuitive a user won’t even need to read instructions. The beauty is that it just works. It is intended to be unassuming, but to me, the design looks so sleek, I would want to show it off.
“We’ve tested it side by side with leading products on the market, and it has excelled in both sound quality and battery life,” says John.
The speaker wirelessly supports iPhone, iPad or any other smartphone, tablet or computer via Bluetooth technology. If you don’t have a Bluetooth device, it also has a 3.5mm audio input plug that allows you to plug-in any. Plus it comes with a built in AM/FM radio.
Since it is a wireless Bluetooth speaker, the cool thing about is that if you have multiple speakers around the house, you can simply switch between different ones, like ‘kitchen’ or ‘bathroom’ or ‘pool’.
On Kickstarter, you can back the product for as little as US$20 and as much $659 or more. Most people have funded between $119 and $229. This is because at this level you will get a metallic silver speaker that will normally retail for $175 and free global shipping.
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