Connect Families with Video

Story of the ufone.... from zero to kickstarter in two years...

About a year ago I figured I'd connect my scattered family with videochat -me being the tech guy I figured it would be easy - so I tried to set up my 90-year-old mom and my daughter and her kids, and my brothers on Skype - made sure the software was installed, sent around webcams all the usual..

Results were a disaster - My mom always had some issue—the video would freeze, a message box would appear, or she’d unknowingly hangup—then she’d call me. Ironically, we’d end up on the phone trying to get a video call going.

And the video calls to my daughter ended when my granddaughter threw up on the keyboard of her laptop. 

My brothers, smart as they were, never figured it out.

So, me being the entrepreneurial type, figured I could find a better way.  Well 2 years later I've got the ufone...

One Touch Connect

Ufone was designed for one-touch instant connect. Tap the screen, and it wakes up. Tap the picture of your mom (or sister, brother…) and there she is in her kitchen making dinner. Video and audio are high quality so conversations are natural. It's connected 24/7, resting in sleep mode when no one is calling. So calls can be as short as a quick tap to say hello as you pass by, or a nice long chat over a cup of coffee. It runs on your home WiFi network so you get free worldwide calling with no monthly bills or contracts.

Portable
The design was inspired by small barbells. You can easily grab it by the middle and set it on the floor in front of the baby for a quick hi Grandma!, then grab it and head out to the porch. Ufone is ruggedized to handle sticky fingers, baby drool and kitchen splashes. Turn it to portrait or landscape and the camera adjusts. The base has a solid stable feel and includes high quality speakers that project from behind the screen.

Works with Cell Phones, Skype, GoogleTalk
With the free Ufone Mobile app you will be able to make live video calls while you're out, so you can check on your parents, monitor your home, even send photos from your phone to other Ufone users. College kids or family members living abroad can call Ufone using Skype, Google or their smartphone.

And this is just the beginning.
With built in Bluetooth and WiFi we have great plans for add-ons that extend Ufone. Things like mobile apps for remote home monitoring, elder care options like blood pressure readings and an array of cloud-based services.

So here’s where you come in.

The traditional way with hardware is to run around and find a venture firm to fund you, since hardware isn't cheap - but since this was a community project from the beginning, I wanted it to be a community project right through funding, so I put the project up on a place called kickstarter - a crowd funding site.  Folks come by an pledge money - they get a ufone when we make them, but they don't get charged until we raise the total amount we need.  And we don't get a dime unless we do raise that amount - It's a real risk, but I think we can do this with enough support.

So, head on over to Kickstarter and check us out!

Thanks!