Horray!  We did it!  Here you are at Astdroid.com, a place I hope many will visit in keeping up with the Astdroid project.  There’s lots to be done, and with your help and input I hope to make this project both successful and something we can all be proud of.

Let’s recall how we got here.

After pitching my initial idea to kickstarter, the project kicked off on June 9th .  In the first few days it garnered a good bit of attention from places like cnet, androidguys.com, and phandroid and earned the first few backers.

After the initial ferver, Astdroid funding fell on some hard times

As with most things on the internet, the attention was fleeting and things slowed to a halt through the middle of the funding period.  Being honest, I had my doubts about its success when with only 5 or so days remaining a mention on This Week in Google from Gina Trapani blew down the doors with support and backers.

(The Astdroid mention comes at about 1 hour, 2 minutes, 45 seconds in)

The mention on This Week in Google was not only a huge moment for Astdroid, but a personal moment of pride for me.  I’ve followed and respected Leo Laporte for well over 10 years and have been listening to him and Gina on TWiG since the start.  Hearing a blurb on their show got me giddy.  My favorite part however, might be the talk of my friends bugging Gina to get us mentioned… little did she know it was the backers of Astdroid themselves, none of whom I’d know before, who were going above and beyond to get the project attention!

After TWiG things took off!

After TWiG there was no stopping the project.  On July 8th with 3 days remaining we crossed the goal of the $1,800 and the project became a success.  In the final hours those that still wanted to be a part of the venture continued to show there support.  On July 11th the project deadline was crossed with over $250 beyond what was asked with 66 total backers.

Yesterday, after the project’s close, the excitment continued with a post on mashable.

Work on the project itself has begun!  On the day of the project’s close I picked up 167 lbs. of helium.  Can’t wait to begin experimenting!

That's alot of helium!

In the coming weeks I’ll be asking for suggestions, ideas, help, and feedback and continue to do my best to make this the group venture I hope it to be.  Please feel comfortable to share your thoughts!