If you’d pay 79p for an iTunes music download, a further few quid for a digital movie rental, then why wouldn’t you pay for the privilege of expanding your mind with access to “independent, in-depth reporting about science and technology”, the journalistic equivalent of one-off downloads. Currently raising start-up funds through funding platform Kickstarter, the San Francisco-based project has so far seen $121,000-odd pledged to what its creators are calling “the new home for the best journalism about the future”.