Keep sharing PenSe: Apple Pencil Case with everyone! Late last night I posted a stretch goal (a Desk Top Charging Dock) but this morning I decided that we should ask you, our backers, what you want for PenSe's stretch goal? We can stick with the "Desktop Charger" or we could do something Crazy like a "Handwriting Recognition App for iPad Pro". What do you think?
CHOOSE OUR STRETCH GOAL!
Regardless of the stretch goal chosen, it will not slow down PenSe production. While we hope to have both ready at the same time, we promise that fulfilling PenSe is our first and foremost priority! Please let us know which stretch goal you want on FaceBook , Twitter or right here on Kickstarter.
And get ready for a Pizza Party this weekend! Because WE MADE IT!
Thanks Again Craig, Ted, Greg and PenSe Team!
Over 600 Backers! LAST 48 HOURS! Anodize images and Pizza Party Friday!
over 8 years ago
– Thu, Feb 25, 2016 at 06:48:13 AM
Hello Backer, Thanks for your support this month, its been a wild ride and we are so glad that PenSe made it! Backers, you will all be sent surveys during the next week or two. And if you're in the Boston/Cambridge/Somerville Massachusetts area... we are planning an actual pizza party this Friday evening (we will update you on time and more shortly).
We are awaiting some anodize samples from Plater, they will hopefully arrive later today, I did have them snap a quick cell phone photo. These samples where not blasted and we are still working to get the coloring right, the green and pink look pretty good, the purple looks too dark, and we will amend it to a lighter shade. We wanted to at least show you that preliminary production is already in the works.
600 Backers is HUGE! Thank you all, lets see if we can hit 700 in the next 48 hours! Oh ya Pizza Party, it started as a joke but we are going for it more info soon, all backers are invited! We will post a backers only update to confirm time and place.
Thank You All So Much! Craig, Ted, Greg and PenSe Team
Happy Birthday Steve Jobs! (A brief Tribute) Last Minute Press! Better Anodize Images.
over 8 years ago
– Thu, Feb 25, 2016 at 02:24:07 AM
Happy Birthday Steve Jobs! (A brief Tribute) Last Minute Press! Better Anodize Images.
This Evening Gesmer Updergrove, our amazing legal support team and so much more, invited our team to an Angel Investors Group, at We Work Boston, Ted and I attended. We received some great insight from an amazing panel of Angel Investors.The event was very enlightening and we also where lucky enough to get some last minute press form Shelagh Starr of Founders WireHere
In addition we did receive the anodize samples I posted about earlier today. I wanted to post some better images. These prototypes where not blasted and do not represent the end product, they simply give an idea of our color possibilities (as mentioned earlier we will be lightening the Purple anodize). We believe PenSe is a very good idea, but what will make PenSe a great product is all in its finish. We are putting a large amount of time and resources to ensure this.
A Tribute to Steve Jobs as his birthday comes to a close on the west coast.
The "Think Different" Campaign and PenSe and Appostasy Inc.
This brief tribute to Steve Jobs seemed like a good opportunity to explain a little about our new company at large. Founded less than 5 months ago and incorporated early December as Appostasy Inc. We realized we may be rubbing a sour note, even offending some people with our companies name “Appostasy”. We chose this name in the spirit of Apple’s “Think Different" Campaign aligning with its mentality with the rebels, the misfits, the crazy ones... what we are not making is any comment for, against or towards any religion.
Apostasy, from the Greek word apostasia, means “a defiance of an established system or authority; a rebellion…. to stand apart from” (it is also largely affiliated with the abandonment or renunciation of ones religion).
It is our mission to improve products released by Apple (but not limited to Apple). As a long time Apple user, I continue to love their products but find them, at times, “confining”. Appostasy’s mission is to preserve Jobs' vision of freedom represented in The "Think Different" Campaign (and most recently in their fight for iPhone privacy). We are a company setting out to make an existing products better, and/or provide new solutions that allow users more freedom. This was a large part of my mission while CTO of TarDisk LLC, and it reverberates double fold in Appostasy. We do it for ourselves, for Apple users everywhere, for people who believe in breaking “rules” as a means of bring about something new, and with hopes of making way for something new. And to honor visionaries Like Steve Jobs! Happy Birthday.
Craig & PenSe
PS.
A very successful Kickstarter we think is worth checking out! Vidonn® PulseBand A6™ - an intuitive, intelligent, and affordable solution to support a better life style every day. Featuring a seamless and waterproof design, OLED screen for notifications and a Heart Rate Monitor.
Check it out:
500 Backers! Thank You Kickstarter, Backers, this is Amazing!
over 8 years ago
– Sat, Feb 20, 2016 at 02:22:04 AM
We where fairly ambitious and admittedly a little concerned about setting funding goal at $32,000 when we launched PenSe. Having finished prototyping PenSe back in December of 2015 we didn't feel as though the timing was quite right. Apple was slowly releasing Pencil and we where concerned that there was not a large enough audience to release a case for the product that was limited to the iPadPro on Kickstarter. Also, I had forgotten how much time and work goes into both launching and maintaining a Kickstarter.
There is something to be said to being first to market with a product. Thankfully the limitations of the iPadPro lead us to work on our own stylus, while the general stylus can be obtained at a fairly low price, rarely are they solid aluminum or precise. And, as far as I know none to date, have the ability to magnetically attach to a range of iPads. Nor the high precision of a "Jot Style" disk tip.
Early this morning PenSe reached over 500 backers and over $26,000. An amazing response, we thank you all so much for believing in our vision! More people are searching for a product that will help make that new Apple Pencil a little more practical, portable, and safe. (For the iPad Air and Mini owners our early-bird PenSe with stylus is still available at only $40 and should please those demanding precision and accuracy!)
Keep letting people know about PenSe, keep thinking PenSe, & with a little luck we can hit funded this weekend.
Our team has spent this past week working with manufactures and setting up our last hurrah! We have one week to find some additional backers and secure PenSe as a Kickstarter Success Story. We are more confident now than ever that together we can make PenSe a reality....
...at which point there will be an enormous pizza party, and you're all invited!
Thanks Craig and the PenSe Team!
We are preparing our manufacturing team to meet demand but we still need you help!
over 8 years ago
– Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 04:41:07 AM
With two weeks of the campaign left we are happy to be 60% funded and really appreciate your support. We also still need your help, please spread the word among you community and especially social networks about our exciting product. Ask them: Do you Love your Apple Pencil as much as I do? - prove it with PenSe. Its essential that we make these last couple of weeks count.
PenSe’s Progress has been, thus far amazing, we have raised 2X more than any prior apple pencil accessory in under 2 weeks. For this we can not thank you enough.
This is how excited we are!
this was near impossible without PenSe's added grip!
In the next couple days PenSe Kickstarter will be getting a remake, we are working now creating cleaner prototypes, better images and finished product samples. We’re hoping we can WOW both you, our backers, and the rest of the Kickstarter community.
To further demonstrate our commitment we have already begun preparing our manufacturing team:
We have further revised our machine drawings, and submitted them to our manufacturer for review, further improvement and to lock in machine time. (Machine drawings posted below some data like measurements and tolerances withheld for obvious reasons.)
We have mailed prototypes to our plater/anodizer so they can devise the best racking racking method for anodize. They are also preparing final color samples. We should have color samples for you to view early next week, these samples will show each colors target and the range of tolerance our plater can guarantee for each color.
After a discussion with our plater, and advice from a friend at IDEO, we have decided to
bring on an expert Metal Finishing firm. To handle parts post Machining. They will expertly blast each component before anodize. (Another company right here in Massachusetts). Machining a product well is one thing, finishing a well machined product is another. To ensure no snags, hang-ups or down right ugliness down the line we are taking care as much of this as possible right now while our Kickstarter is still live.
At least one team member will be on site early on at each facility, with extra time and attention at our finishing firms, the perfect finish is essential. This is one of the many reasons have chosen to manufacture close to home. It gives us the ability to check in on production frequently and catch any potential problems right away.
We are 100% committed to making PenSe, and making it right the first time round.
Added perks: PenSe Professional Pack of 10 now includes custom engraving of your companies logo. Making for great gifts to team or clients.
Machine Drawings
Adapter Enclosure
Pen(Se) Cap
PenSe Body
Stylus
THANKS AGAIN KICKSTARTER & OUR BACKERS.
We're committed to giving you the best possible product. Again if there is anything additional you'd like to see in PenSe, please let us know. We're all ears. We're in this together.
Thanks again for taking this ride with us, we truly appreciate it.
