January

10% of the films at Sundance are Kickstarter-funded

19 films selected; four win top prizes
(http://www.kickstarter.com/pages/Sundance2012?ref=yir2012)

FUBAR hits the New York Times Best Sellers List
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1607639297/fubar-2-empir...)

The Kickstarter Popsicle
Little Bee Pops celebrates backers with a new flavor
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/730155451/little-bee-pop...)

Incident in New Baghdad nominated for an Oscar
Second Kickstarter-funded film to be nominated
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1941167757/incident-in-n...)

-----

February

Double Fine Adventure (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doublefine/double-fine-a...
) kicks off a huge year for games

Games in 2012:
561,574 backers
$83,144,565 pledged
2,796 projects

-----

March

Backers make Chattanooga the first US city with its own font
Font integrated into bike lanes, billboards, and even the public library, then released online for free
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chatype/chatype-a-typefa...)

Stanford teaches Kickstarter for class credit
(Our Kickstarter School is still free)
(http://www.kickstarter.com/pages/storyviz?ref=yir2012)

A Kickstarter-funded bus stop in Georgia
Athens artist spices up the morning commute
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1016187241/the-love-shac...)

-----

April

Google Maps integrates images from DIY mapping project
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1775485688/balloon-mappi...)

Dark Sky app predicts the weather
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jackadam/dark-sky-hyperl...)

Air Quality Egg makes fighting pollution awesome
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/edborden/air-quality-egg...)

Kickstarter turns three
(http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/happy-3rd-birthday-kickstart...)

-----

May

Classical music goes open source
Musopen and Open Goldberg Variations release recordings to the public domain
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/Musopen/record-and-relea...)
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/293573191/open-goldberg-...)

Cards Against Humanity tops the Amazon charts
Friends make irreverent card game, sell 100,000+ copies, ruin family gatherings forever
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maxtemkin/cards-against-...)

-----

June

A Kickstarter-funded opera premieres at the Kennedy Center
188 backers help produce Paola Prestini’s Oceanic Verses
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/MexicoSings/oceanic-vers...)

MaKey MaKey inspires the world’s first banana piano
One project, infinite possibilities
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joylabs/makey-makey-an-i...)

Open source geiger counters measure radiation levels in Japan
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seanbonner/safecast-x-ki...)

Musician writes songs for backers, including his grandma
The cutest thing we saw all year
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2031742392/he-said-she-s...)

-----

July

Kentucky sixth-graders send a camera to space
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scifres/the-edge-and-bac...)

Design firm Final Frontier develops a civilian space suit
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/872281861/final-frontier...)

Publisher's Weekly calls Kickstarter the #2 publisher of graphic novels
(http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/co...)

Kickstarter gets parodied
The New Yorker, The Daily Show, Portlandia, McSweeney's, The Onion, Funny or Die, and others make us laugh
(http://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2012/07/30/cart...)
(http://www.kick-stopper.com/)
(http://www.ifc.com/portlandia/videos/portlandia-kickstarter)
(http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/welcome-to-the-official-k...)
(http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/70f7ef3d34/bar-refaeli-s-se...)

-----

August

T-Rex wins Olympic gold
Boxer Claressa Shields, subject of the doc T-Rex, triumphs in London
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zcdc/t-rex/posts/286163)

87 projects go to Burning Man
Art cars, bathroom beacons, laser lights, oh my!
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/search?term=burning+man)

Kickstarter-funded journalists cover the world
(http://www.kickstarter.com/pages/journalism?ref=yir2012)

-----

September

Amanda Palmer debuts in the Billboard Top Ten
Thanks 24,883 backers with a block party
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palm...)

The world's first pizza museum
Philadelphians pay tribute to the glory that is pizza
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2023690459/pizza-brain-t...)

Kindergarten class launches experiments into space
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1569698176/1000-student-...)

XOXO Fest explores the creative universe
Kickstarter-funded festival unites artists, creators, and technologists
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/waxpancake/xoxo-festival...)

Projects transform public spaces
The Lowline, Kulturpark, and Logan Parklet create new urban environments
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/855802805/lowline-an-und...)
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1353197694/kulturpark?re...)
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/122241678/lets-build-the...)

-----

October

The first hackerspace opens in Baghdad
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bilal/baghdad-community-...)

Kickstarter opens to UK creators
Picade first to launch, Chime Pavilion first to succeed
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pimoroni/picade-the-arca...)
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/georginanaishmsa/the-chi...)

Photography exhibition travels across Afghanistan
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/52943134/streets-of-afgh...)

-----

November

OpenROV sends underwater robots around the world
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/openrov/openrov-the-open...)

Atlanta's first squirrel census
Turns out, there are even more squirrels than we thought
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jamiewashere/inman-park-...)

Windowfarms grow in the American Museum of Natural History
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/windowfarms/learn-to-gro...)

-----

December

63 Kickstarter-funded films (http://www.kickstarter.com/pages/filmsintheaters?ref=yir2012) open in theaters

The first marriage proposal via Kickstarter project
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1042570429/the-last-door...)

The Griz Coat (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hansr/griz-coat?ref=yir2...) makes bear hugs even better
(Aaron's dancing skills not included)