Tag: ice

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Food and Beverage

Opal makes easily chewed crushed ice for when you chill out

Ice: the ingredients don’t vary much and neither does the recipe. It can be made into perfect spheres at home. However, those who frequent some of the finer concession sands may encounter  a form of crushed ice that’s easy on the teeth and soaks up the flavor of that which it cools.

That ice, as it turns out, is called “nugget ice” or “pellet ice” and a company called Scotsman claims to have invented it in 1981. Scotsman does make a home nugget ice maker, but it stands nearly three feet tall; most of the company’s focus is on large industrial systems. Enter the Opal, a countertop nugget ice maker that has the look of a modern stainless steel appliance and is almost a tenth of the price of the competition. Opal’s proposition is pretty straightforward. Pour in water and wait. The product makes up to a pound of ice per hour, which is faster than most freezers. its clear, LED-lit receptacle can store up to 3 lbs.

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Food and Beverage

Hailstonez ice spheres chill your drinks, won’t ruin them with dilution

While the right drink can be the perfect complement to a well-cooked meal, a drink that’s watered down certainly distracts from it.

So Hailstonez is changing the way that drinks are kept chilled. The product was thought of using the concept of heat transference through solids; in this case, cold retention. Since a sphere has the lowest surface-area-to-weight ratio of all shapes, a sphere of frozen ice is better than an ice cube. Less surface area of the ice in contact with any liquid means that ice spheres won’t melt as quickly, which in turn means drinks dilute less rapidly. The vertical stack method that Hailstonez uses allows for the ice mold to be filled faster, and it takes up less space in the freezer. The mold makes 96 ice spheres. Plans are in the works for both 1.5 and 2.5 inch ice balls.

This particular product seems like it has some potential, and is much more clearly explained than the Glacious LE ice sphere campaign. This campaign seeks to raise $58,000 on Kickstarter. Early bird backers get one product for $30 with an expected delivery of May 2015.

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Apparel Kids/Babies

MittGrips hold onto kids’ mittens, keeps their little wrists warm

Little kids love the winter. For them, it’s a time of sledding, snowman building and tubing. For parents, it’s usually a hassle trying to get kids all bundled up for the outdoors. Those little ones always seem to lose their mittens and risk getting frost bitten.

MittGrips are a solution to this problem. These mitten holders slip over mittens or gloves after they’ve been put on. There’s a thumb loop that keeps them secure. After putting them on, then goes the jacket. This way, kids can keep their mittens on while also having a layer of protection against the cold and snow.

While this is a fun project that will prove useful to all wintertime families, it’s so simple that a pair can actually be made from an old long-sleeve shirt. However, for those who aren’t as handy, one pair can be had for $10 CAD (~$8 USD) for estimated delivery in March. MittGrips is hoping to raise $18,000 CAD (~$14,900 USD) on Kickstarter.

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Automotive

Snow Guard wraps around side mirrors for windshield snow protection

One of the things that makes winter detestable is the fact that the car has to be unburied and scraped when left outside. Snow Guard offers some freedom from all of that hassle. It is touted as being able to protect against snow, ice, frost and freezing rain. It’s made of a duel layer nylon coated material and a wireframe inner structure that creates easy installation, even in windy conditions. The side gloves protect side view mirrors from snow and ice. They also allow for automatic positioning on the windshield.

The quick installation and removal only takes about 30 seconds – way better than the 30 minutes or more that it can take to scrape off the ice from an ice storm. The similar iceScreen uses the same idea, covering a car using magnets, but has the added benefit of a reflective side for summertime. This is something the folks at Snow Guard would do well to consider adding to their own product. This campaign seeks to raise $50,000 by December 17, 2014. Early bird backers get one product for $55 with an expected delivery of April 2015.

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Automotive

IceScreen prevents your windshield from getting into a winter scrape

Winter sucks for many reasons, but a big one is the effect snow and ice have on your car. For those who need to park outside, scraping ice and brushing snow off of the windshield are a daily annoyance. In order to make this part of winter easier, the iceScreen magnetically attaches to your windshield overnight or during a snow storm. It covers the glass so that, when you’re ready, you can just whip it off and not have to scrub at your window. Made from super durable material, the iceScreen also folds up in a small bag that can be easily stored in the glove box. In the summer, just flip it over for sun reflection fun. One iceScreen goes for $20 on Kickstarter with a campaign goal of $20,000. This is one of those products that makes us wonder why no one had thought of it before. What an easy solution to ice hassle! The added perk of the sun reflector is nice too. All in all, a product that anyone who suffers through the four season will want to have.

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Camping Food and Beverage

KruzieCooler makes food faster, cruises on anything

KruzieCoolerCoolers are the bulkiest part of any picnic and most only serve to keep food cool. The KruzieCooler has different uses to make eating outdoors even easier. This product boasts different compartments, a bottle opener, bungee cords for convenient toting and large rubber wheels to take the terrain better. While the KruzieCooler does improve upon the traditional cooler design, it unfortunately lacks the pizzazz of the Coolest which has a USB port, lights, and blender attachment on top of the features it shares with Kruzie. KruzieCooler will cost backers $159 and hopes to raise $120,000 on Kickstarter.

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Home

Hot Cover clears the snow for a wintry dip in the outdoor spa

Hot CoverHot tubs are the perfect remedy for the winter blues. The only problem is that snow and ice on the cover can make those soothing hot dips hard to access. Hot Cover gives backers the chance to get into their tubs with ease. This heated cover uses insulated coils to melt any frosty debris on the tops of hot tubs. All of that heavy snow and ice goes away easily with this battery-operated system. One early Hot Cover costs backers a $199 donation or $299 at a regular price. The Hot Cover needs to raise $20,000 in its 27-day Indiegogo campaign.

Categories
Food and Beverage

Les Glaçons caters to drinkers who like ’em big, square and dense

Les GlaçonsMixologists, or bartenders as they’re commonly known, take their cocktails quite seriously. Achieving the perfect drink doesn’t only have to do with liquid ingredients, but also with good ice. Les Glaçons is an ice making kit from Montreal with separating planes, locks, a liner and insulating sleeve that produces large cubes of ice that are perfectly dense and clear. According to the detailed campaign, this is the best kind of ice for cocktail making. One of these kits costs early birds $160 CAD and birds $200 CAD with an estimated delivery date of October 2014. Glaçons hopes to raise $20,000 CAD on Kickstarter in its 33-day campaign.

Categories
Food and Beverage

Pricey SolarCooler uses light, irony to keep your cold ones cold

The Premise. If there’s anything that can ruin a trip to the beach, it’s a cooler full of warm beverages or or water-logged sandwiches. It’s a scenario that most people have found themselves in at least once or twice, yet it seems unavoidable unless you want to keep running back and forth between the beach and an ice machine. After all, even the best coolers start to lose their cold temperatures after sitting in the sun for a long enough period of time.

The Product. The developers behind the SolarCooler are billing the product as “the world’s first solar-powered refrigerating cooler.” Converting energy from that great gaseous giver of life, the cooler maintains a low temperature throughout the entire day, perfect for keeping drinks and food cold and ready to consume. It even makes its own ice. In addition, the SolarCooler can be used to charge cell phones and other USB-powered devices, making it somewhat of an all-purpose beach workhorse.

The Pitch. The TechCrunch video posted on the SolarCooler’s campaign page does a decent job of explaining what the device is capable of, but it would’ve been nice to have seen a more “produced” video that shows how the device works. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but it makes the SolarCooler team appear a bit less professional than they could. One interesting aspect of the pitch, though, is that the SolarCooler is being touted as a solution to keeping vaccines at the perfect temperature for transport. This makes the product a bit more viable than it would be if it were only used to keep beverages cool.

The Perks. Sunlight may be free, but the SolarCooler is anything but. An “early bird” special price of $950 (delivered in June 2014) may seem exceptionally high as it is, but the cooler will actually be retailing for $1,200. One look at the price is enough to send people running away in a sweat no chilled beverage can aid. But, as the project owners point out, the SolarCooler’s features extend beyond recreation to include the transport of potentially life-saving vaccines. Indeed a $5,000 pledge will allow philanthropists to “adopt” a full vaccine SolarCooler.

The Potential. The price, bulkiness and overall novelty of the SolarCooler makes it less than ideal for those who are looking for a simple solution for keeping drinks cold on a hot day. If there’s any market for this product at all, it could potentially be for vaccine transport. Still, at about 40 times the cost of your average chiller, it’s tough to see demand for the SolarCooler heating up.