The general premise for the goal of having a paid product rather than having an ad-supported product is definitely noble. And it will work for many people and many products. However, I heard more about the idea of not selling your soul to advertisers than hearing about the actual product itself.

Right now there's nothing tangible for me to get excited about. I consider myself a tech-minded person, despite not being a hacker, but this project still seems vague to me.

Often projects that get press make most of their funding right off the top with the rest trickling in without a huge boost. Pending some big press for the project, I'm not sure yet if it can make it. But I've enjoyed Dalton's interviews and blogs over time and he has some great insights, so I'm still rooting for it.