Amazon is crowdfunding its own gadgets with Amazon Build It

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Amazon is branching out from streaming sticks and tablets, and it wants your help to figure out what it’s making next. The latest range from Amazon is called Build It, letting Amazon’s customers decide which of its next devices get manufactured.

It’s Amazon’s twist on crowdfunding, where products are given a thirty-day timer to gain enough preorders to go into production. Just like most crowdfunding sites, you’ll get a discount on the eventual price if you preorder, as a thanks for helping it come to market.

At launch, you’ve got a choice of three gadgets to back, all with Alexa support. The special pricing below lasts until March 19, with prices for the printer and clock rising by $20 at launch, and the scale by $10.

• Smart nutrition scale ($34.99): Put food on this then ask Alexa for nutritional information. If you have an Echo Show, it’ll also show all the nutritional info on the screen, perfect for hands-off cooking
• Smart sticky note printer ($89.99): There’s nothing worse than forgetting something that you knew you should have written down. Now you can use Alexa to print off sticky notes so you’ll never forget, or print things like puzzles. It’s a thermal printer so you never need ink or toner
• Smart cuckoo clock ($79.99): This minimalist styled cuckoo clock shows the countdown for any Alexa-powered timers you’ve set, with illuminated minute marks that any game show fan will fall in love with

Amazon says it will build at least one out of this trio of new concepts based on our preorders, with a promise to build all three if they all make their preorder goals. I hope at least one makes it, as I really want that smart scale to help with planning my keto diet.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.