Tag: heater

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Food and Beverage

Ican warms office grinch’s heart by keeping coffee warm or soda cold

While the product’s video doesn’t seem to have much of a point to it as it plays the Grinch song, the point of ican itself seems to be that it can function as a personal drink warmer or cooler. The hot coffee poured into one’s mug at the office can stay hot during that excruciatingly boring board meeting; or that cold can of soda can stay cool while crunching headache-inducing numbers.

The personal drink heating and cooling unit plugs into a standard outlet, and there are plans in the works for it to be able to plug into a car cigarette lighter and run off of the car battery for all of those road warriors out there.

Ican seems to be an interesting idea worth checking into further. Backers who like having their drinks delivered on demand might like to check out the Rover remote control cooler.This campaign seeks to raise $40,000 in funding. For $125, backers get one product with an expected delivery in July of this year.

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Egloo uses candlelight to warm up those cold winter nights

With the rising costs of heating oil, gas and electric in the winter, many people look for alternatives for heating their homes. Egloo offers warmth by candlelight for up to five hours. The mini heater uses four votive candles that sit on the base of the gadget. Then the grill and chambers are placed on top of that. Egloo’s campaign claims that it can heat a room for only $0.10 per day, an enticing prospect indeed.

As a heating device, Egloo is not the best option since it only raises the room temperature about 2-3 degrees in a room that is 20 sqm. However, if one is looking for a gadget that works as a hand warmer or potpourri pot, then Egloo could potentially add a touch of elegance and ambiance to a small room with its Italian terracotta style pottery. This campaign seeks to raise $30,000 by late January. Backers get one product for $60.

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Tibio lamp answers hot air’s call to “blow me down”

TibioEveryone knows that heat rises, which can be annoying to deal with in the winter. The top of your living room is nice and toasty while the bottom where everyone sits is frigid. Tibio is a small product about the size of a roll of paper towels that hangs on your wall above the heater. A built-in fan helps to circulate warm air down to where the people hang out. Tibio is decorative with several options for its design and blends right into your home. It seems like a simple, but effective way to save money on one’s heating bill and much less bulky than the Hot Tube. One costs backers £55 with a campaign goal of £48,000 on Kickstarter.

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Thermoelectric heater offers convection to wind in your direction

The Premise. The concept of the perfect space heater is something that people have been looking to capitalize upon for years. The problem is particularly challenging outdoors where one might be far away from an outlet.

The Product. According to designer Omid Moallemi, the pyramid-like thermoelectric heater was developed to make “al fresco” living in cold weather climates like England a bit more hospitable. The concept is simple. It takes in cold air, the unit heats the air by convection and thus pushes out hot air. It bills itself as being self-powered, which certainly sets it apart from many other heaters on the market.

The Pitch. While the campaign page contains a brief explanation as to why it was invented and how it works, there’s no video to show anything in action (presumably because a working prototype doesn’t truly exist as of yet). The two included photos are mockups, and they do little to make sense of the unit. This is a campaign that is very light on information, which doesn’t help particularly considering that its value (heat production) is something that can’t be conveyed by simply looking at it.

The Perks. It’s a little unclear what a pledge of £500 gets you. The reward tier promises customization of a unit, but the delivery of a “free” unit doesn’t begin until the £1,000 reward tier. You’ll have to wait awhile in any case as delivery isn’t estimated until December 2014.

The Potential. As a concept, there’s a lot to be said for this if it works as described, that is. Since the heater is self-powered, it requires no charging, doesn’t utilize solar panels and is completely self-contained. However, it probably does require at least a decent breeze to do its thing. Unfortunately, there’s really no way to know what kind of heat the product puts out. It may be cold logic, but it’s probably best to wait this one out and see if it actually makes it to market.