While it’s probably neat to be able to light a candle from your phone, it’s a fantastic example of something the world could do perfectly well without.

The company is launching its crowdfunding campaign on its own website today. It will probably be mind-bendingly over-subscribed. And for every dollar it raises, I will lose another fragment of my already fraying faith in humanity.

He bases his faith in humanity based on whether a product the world could do without is selling? His faith in humanity is seriously misplaced.

Business owners create products that will make money. Consumers buy products that bring them status, prestige and/or make them feel good. It doesn't have anything to do with saving the world or rationality.

Most products people buy and use on a daily basis aren't healthy for them, don't save the world and aren't environmentally friendly. That goes for both high and low-tech products.

Someone needs to buy this guy a pet rock to make him feel better. (That startup made its creator millions of dollars.)

The liability on this will be incredibly high since it involves fire. If it really somehow does have the ability to extinguish itself, it might be useful for those people who light candles all the time and forget to put them out. My neighbor was just telling me about how her friend's house burnt down because of a candle and how she fell asleep one night with a candle burning. If it has a timer, that could have saved at least one person's house and the peace of mind of another. That's more utility than most products on the market.