The Glade 4.0

http://www.kickstarter.com

One of my students brought this to my attention last night, and Shel's thread on the iPod Nano Wristband reminded me of it, because this website is exactly how that got funded

Basically you can submit a creative idea of some sort, set a specific budget needed to accomplish it, and people have something like 2 months to raise the money they think they need. People can pledge any amount and if the goal is reached, your credit card gets charged. If the pledges don't reach the goal, no one loses any money. The creator also has to specify rewards for the investors, which can range anywhere in price.

I thought it was cool! Gotta start thinking of ideas

It's a neat site, great concept and a novel way to get things accomplished. I donated to one project a couple months back , the Kevin Moore CD -Shine. I've also toyed with donating to projects that get close to their dollar goal but are almost out of time (whether or not I like their project). They do allow you to track a specific project in order to see how much time/money is needed =).