uses "crowdsourcing" many of them of the high tech variety.

Most of the finance seekers at the site seek modest amounts, but some have raised a million dollars or more, and they'done it very .

One of those more modest projects is a clever idea by Cody and Robert Solomon of SoloMatrix. The enterprising pair have developed a folding keyboard for the iPhone 4 and 4S that's purely mechanical -- no Bluetooth, no port connector, nothing to sap power from the phone.

The gadget, called the , is part of a case for the phones. The keyboard is the same size as the phone's virtual keyboard when the device is in a vertical position. As you tap Spike's keys, they activate their virtual counterparts beneath the tactile keyboard.

When a phone's full screen needs to be accessed, the keyboard can be flipped up, or as in the premium version of the product, pivoted behind the phone. The keyboard is less than a quarter-inch thick so it folds into the back of the protective case without creating a protrusion that would disrupt the sleekness of the phone, according to the Solomons.