AUCTION: Custom Anodized Titanium Alpha Pens (10 pc Special Edition)

Hey Everyone!

This has been a long time coming. There is a fellow in the UK that does some amazing titanium anodizing; about the best I've ever seen. Here is a link to his Facebook page. Every piece is one-of-a-kind and I'm really excited about this collaboration!

I sent him 10 pens several months ago, and they have recently returned home. These Alpha Pens are beautiful and I'm sorry to part with any of them, but we didn't get all dressed up for nothing!

The 10 pens below are going up for auction on Ebay starting on September 1, 2014 : 9AM Pacific Time (5 day auction) 

• No minimum bid and no reserve! The retail price for a standard Ti pen is $240.00
• Each auction is spaced 30 minutes apart. The first pen will be posted at 9AM, the last pen at 1:30PM The auctions will close with the same 30 minute spacing, so if you miss one you can try for a different one. I have a feeling this won't make everyone happy, but after getting feedback from a number of people, this seems to be the most equitable format :) 
• Please be advised: the brilliant colors will become muted because of the oils on your hands. The oil simply changes the way the surface reflects light. You can bring back the bright finish by cleaning with something like Windex. DO NOT clean the threads. Just spray the Windex on a towel and wipe down the outside. 
• Auction Logistics: I have numbered the images 1-10 below and I intended this to be the listing order. However, the delight that is Ebay decided on it's own listing order. So, each auction has the pen number in the title (eg. 3 of 10), but the order the auctions will post to Ebay is basically random. As such, I recommend looking through the photos below, writing down the number of the pen you want, and then looking for that number in my Ebay store. Easy right?
• Shipping: USPS Small Flat Rate Box is the ONLY shipping option. $6 Domestic, $20 Canada, $24 to the rest of the world. Please remember this is a flat rate with tracking and delivery confirmation. 
• If you have questions, please post them here on my blog so other people can see the Q&A as well. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the link to my Ebay store, you won't see anything until September 1, 2014 @ 9AM Pacific! 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The photos: 

Number 1 of 10

Number 2 of 10

Number 3 of 10

Number 4 of 10

Number 5 of 10

Number 6 of 10

Number 7 of 10

Number 8 of 10

Number 9 of 10

Number 10 of 10

Contest: LeVar Burton Records Your Message on My Voicemail

Hi folks,

In my attempt to bring more awesome into people's lives, I just had to share this with you. Reading Rainbow is coming back via Kickstarter! Don't click away yet! : I pledged at the $400 level and LeVar Burton is going to record the voicemail message on my phone. I know, so awesome right?! The only trouble is, I have NO idea what I should have him say. So now, IT'S A CONTEST! Just submit your idea on my Facebook page to enter (link).

Yes, this LeVar Burton

The Rules: 

1. One submission per person, so make it a good one :) 
2. You must submit on Facebook, mainly because it's the best way to do this "in public" 
3. Obviously nothing rude or offensive...just have to say it
4. Be creative, I have a business phone and personal phone but only one gets THE voicemail. 
5. Feel free to describe the what/why of your idea, beyond just what you think he should say. 

The Winner: 

1. The winner will be the idea I like the best :) 
2. The contest will be open for at least 30 days
3. It will stay open as long as it takes to find a great idea
4. Or until LeVar actually needs to make the recording

The Reward: 

You can choose between...

1. Alpha Ready-Made flashlight (w/ battery & charger) 
2. Alpha Pen (EN/Ti/special edition brass) 
3. Lambda Top (one off) with a hand-machined tungsten ring

The Reading Rainbow Kickstarter: 

The show was launched in 1983 and canceled in 2009. I was surprised to find it lasted that long, but it means a lot of people "still" know the show. Even some people who are still kids! I haven't watched it since I was little. Really, I swear. Anyway, they are raising money to bring the show back, not to TV, but to the internet, and deliver it to kids for the price of FREE. We have a little boy that just turned 2, and I think it will be pretty cool for him to watch Reading Rainbow some day (for free) and I can tell him it's possible because of people like you and me.

Reading Rainbow raised their first Million in 11 hours! 

Yeah it's a kids TV show, but I have really specific memories of it. I mean, who can't hum a few bars at least?..."take a look, read a book." Clearly a lot of people can, because they raised over $1M in 11 hours and are up to $3.5M after 11 days. Please consider backing Reading Rainbow (Kickstarter Link) and please submit your voicemail idea to my Facebook page (contest link in case you missed it before) !

Customer Story: unplanned torture test of the Beta QR

One of my (happy) customers sent me the following email. Always nice to get something like this :) If anyone else has harrowing story about a Prometheus product, please send it in! Remind me to tell you about the time an elevator repairman dropped an Alpha Ready-Made 9 stories...down an elevator shaft...onto some bullets. Okay, no bullets. that is a quote from Mystery Men. It did fall 9 stories though; conservatively 100 feet.

Thanks for the submission Ben! 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Jason,

I'm writing to you to share my own "unplanned torture test" of the Beta QR.  A friend and I went in together and ordered a couple of the Beta QR on Kickstarter and I had it for a few weeks and was impressed with the quality and the color reproduction. Not long after though, I dropped it out of my jacket pocket one day (around January, 18th) when I pulled out my gloves.  

We just had a fresh dumping of snow that morning and I saw this indentation on the ground thought nothing more of it other than "that's weird, how did that get there?" It didn't hit me till later that evening when I needed the flashlight that the indentation from this morning was where my Beta QR fell. I immediately grabbed my snow shovel and started clearing the snow and sifting thru it as best I could. After 45 mins I had no luck.  Defeated, I dumped the snow carefully between my house and my neighbor's with the hope that when the snow bank melts, my Beta QR will be there.   

We had the most snow storms this year than any other year here in Ontario. It was only today (April 8th) that our snow bank finally melted down to about a foot high. As I was throwing out the garbage this morning, I did my usual routine of check of the snow bank for signs of the Beta QR and the first image I attached to this Email was what I saw. I was so happy! I picked it up and turned it on to see if it still worked. It totally did!!! Under the snow from Jan 19th - April 8th...That has to be some sort of record. 

There were some white chalky buildup on the brass quick release and the part it connects to the Beta QR which I was able to clean off. There were some parts where the electroless plating have chipped off but I'm not sure if that's from me pushing it with my shovel when I was sifting thru the snow...At the base, there was a little bit of corrosion, I assume from the salt. The key ring was totally rusted but that was easily replaced. Other than that the light was perfectly fine. The O-ring protected the internals from any moisture. The front glass was also clear. 

So happy to have found my Beta QR again! Just wanted to share that story with you. I wanted to know how much a new body would cost but then I started to think this one may have some scratches here and there but it has character now and a story behind it. It is a true testament to how good your flashlights are. I have the Prometheus pen too and it is still looking sharp as ever. I can't wait to see what you come up next on Kickstarter or on your website.

Thanks Jason

If you want to use this article on your page feel free to do so, I give you authorization.

Regards,
Ben

Mike Bond with a new Kickstarter pen that I dig

If you are like me, you spent a lot of time with felt tipped drafting pens many years ago. They had a distinct aesthetic, like the exposed metal nib (tip). Why the awkward sticky outy part? The original drafting pen was designed for precision work and running against a straight edge. The bare nib give you line-of-sight to your work and clearance for the straight edge. I never actually knew that until I saw this project!

Check out this new interpretation by Bond, Mike Bond. It's not a drafting pen, it's just nostalgic for one. Mike has a small shop out of Hawaii, makes everything himself, does great work, and is a downright decent human being. He's a veteran of 6 Kickstarter projects...basically a granddaddy at this point. Oh and the pen has magnets. All things considered, what's not to like?

Here is the link to his project. Only 60 hours left! 

I know...you can't trust KS project creators who promote other projects. After all, I haven't even used the pen. However, Brad Dowdy from The Pen Addict has used the pen, and he is (I'm not kidding) the internet's foremost expert on pens. He loves the TechLiner. How can you argue with that?

Prometheus Lambda Top: Kickstarter Launch!

Hi Everyone!

I'm really excited to announce the launch of my third Kickstater campaign: the Prometheus Lambda Top!

Here is the link. 

Please head on over and check out out. Also, don't forget to share. It makes a huge difference!

Thanks so much for your ongoing support,

Jason

Lambda Top Prototype: Kickstarter Teaser!

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are doing well. Here is a teaser for my next Kickstarter project...launching (hopefully) in a week or two! I have three other related videos on my YouTube channel so please head on over and check them out. Spoiler...one of the videos is smashing a ruby with a steel hammer. Hey, it was for science!

Prometheus Introduces a Maglite 2D "Deep Carry" Pocket Clip!

You asked and I delivered! The world's best pocket clip for the world's most popular flashlight. If you've struggled with another hands-free carry option for your 2D-Cell size Maglite...look no further. Post if you are interested. Material is 16ga 6/4 Titanium. Preliminary pricing is $275 MSRP. Hey, it's a lot of titanium.