Tag: Food

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Food and Beverage

iCup and iPlate offers a one-hand solution for juggling plates and cups

Barbecue and beer go together like summer and sunburn. But it’s sometimes tough to juggle both food and beverage while mingling .  A plate in one hand and a drink in the other doesn’t leave much for greeting guests at social gatherings and trying to balance the cup on top of the plate risks spillage.

The iCup and iPlate hope to slide in a solution to the issue of one-handed consumption  The cup attaches into grooves on the bottom of the plate so that it doubles as a handle. The plate also acts as a lid to keep the bugs out of the drink and the cup acts to stabilize the plate. If the food needs utensils, the iFork and iKnife snap into the sides of the plate for easy access. Finally, by helping guests keep their cup close at hand, the system helps address the issue of identifying whose cup belongs to whom. A starter set of four (dispsoable) cups, four plates, and four sets of utensils is only $15, with expected delivery of November 2015. The campaign hopes to raise $10,000 by August 13, 2015,

It would be nice to have a non-disposable option. And, of course, taking full advantage of the plasticware requires getting all the products from one source. Still, the plate and cup combo is an ingenious solution to an age-old problem that looks at the drink-balancing issue from the reverse perspective. It doesn’t make guests look silly even though they’ll probably have to be shown the sliding trick.

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Cell Phone Accessories Food and Beverage Tablet Accessories Travel

Airhook makes airline trays useful when they’re in the upright and locked position

Anyone who flies knows that the tray table is an uncomfortable evil that food and drinks often claim at the expense of tablet-resident entertainment or productivity.

Airhook is a compact, portable solution that works with the existing tray tables but makes them more useful. The simple design features a collapsible hook that gets widged between the tray and the seat into which it folds. The cupholder portion folds down, making a convenient storage place for a drink throughout the duration of the flight – including take-off and landing.  The Airhook also features a docking station for a variety of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, with a bungee cord that helps lock the device in place from the top.

The design is well-executed, and the designers are selling Airhook for $20 each, to raise $15,000 by July 26, 2015, expecting delivery by December 2015. However, frequent travelers may find that the elastic may stretch with continued use, making the device less stable as time goes on.

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Food and Beverage

Bartesian cocktail mixer is a Keurig that swears it doesn’t have a drinking problem

Mixing cocktails can be fun but it can also be time-consuming and expensive if you need to hire a bartender. And at a party, the host can get bogged down making drinks.

Bartesian hopes to solve the cocktail crisis. The idea piggybacks off of the popular single-serve coffee maker by Keurig. If that device is designed to wake one up, this one is here to help one party down. Essentially, the drinker provides the alcohol and the Bartesian uses recyclable pods to mix the drink with aplomb. Right now, Bartesian offers three well-known drinks and three signature drinks that include a margarita, cosmopolitan, and sex on the beach. Each Bartesian costs $299, and the campaign hopes to raise $100,000 by July 26th. The robot bartenders would be delivered by April 2016.

Bartesian’s main challenges will be whether its pod-enclosed drinks live up to freshly made ones as well as trying to develop a wide range of pods for the endless varieties of cocktails. As we learned in the coffee pod wars, only one or two can really survive. Bartesian is not only a far cry from those industrial bartenders promoted on luxury cruises, but comes on the heels of another crowdfunded cocktail maker in Somabar, which is $150 more.

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Food and Beverage

Miito is a mighty quick and energy-efficient way to heat liquids

The standard method used to heat liquids including water has been with a kettle or pot. But that traditional system often leads to a lot of waste of water and other liquids because people tend to heat more than they actually use. The traditional heating method also requires a lot of energy.

Miito is a device designed to solve those issues. It is made up of a small, circular induction base unit that the user places a cup or any other vessel on and a heating rod that then gets placed inside the vessel and quickly brings the water, soup or almost any other liquid to a boil. Miito will cost about $100 when it ships in April 2016. Its makers set a Kickstarter goal of raising $167,383 by June 14.

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Connected Objects Pets

Uknekt lets you give remote pets food, video chat tips

Pets make a great addition to any home, but can be a pain when owners want to travel. There always needs to be someone around to make sure the pets get fed.

Uknekt offers a way for pet owners to not only feed their pets while they’re gone, but also interact with them. The feeder comes equipped with a compartment for food, water, and treats. Controlled by an Android and iOS compatible app, owners can control the flow of sustenance for their pets. Uknekt also has a microphone, speaker, camera, and motion sensor so that footage and sounds from the pets are transmitted to the app. Uknekt also comes equipped with a backup battery and waterproof cable.

Uknekt joins similar products such as the PetPal and Romeow, but is more versatile. Not only does it allow for interaction, but it also serves up food, water, and treats. For their own, backers can donate $259 to the campaign. This product is looking to raise $87,500 on Indiegogo.

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Cooking

GoSun Grill captures sun’s rays to char your burger even at night

Grilling is one of the preferred ways to cook, especially in the summertime. Most require propane or charcoal to work, however, making them less than convenient at times.

patent-claimedThe GoSun Grill changes all of that with its solar technology. Fold out the reflectors in the sunshine for two hours and enjoy hours of cooking time. The thermal battery stores the solar charge and lets the grill be used at any time, even at night. This grill can roast, boil, steam, or bake anything you want. It doesn’t require any dirty fuel and is completely portable. The grill cooks anything evenly from 360 degrees for delicious, cleanly-made food.

The GoSun Grill certainly changes the game of grilling. Not only does it display awesome potential for cooking, but also demonstrates the power of developing solar technology. For one, backers will need to fork over $399 with delivery in September 2015. GoSun hopes to raise $140,000 with the help of Kickstarter.

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Camping Cooking

GoBQ Grill uses fireproof fabric to tote grill around

Summertime is coming, which means grilling time is coming. There’s nothing like a dinner prepared on a grill. Not only is it delicious, but it also carries the added bonus of cooking outside. Most grills, however, are hefty and can’t easily be moved around.

patent-claimedThe GoBQ Grill is a different kind of grill. Not only does it burn charcoal and produce delicious food (according to its campaign), but it’s also completely portable. The grill itself can easily fold up into a duffel-like bag. Notably, the metal is flexible and the fabric of the bag is completely fireproof. The grill comes complete with a foldable stand so that you’re not stuck cooking on the ground.

The GoBQ Grill takes portable camping grills like Campfire in a Can and ups the ante. With the ultra convenience of portability and foldability, the GoBQ Grill makes camping all the more delicious, easy, and enticing. One will cost backers $120 for delivery in August. This product is looking to raise $30,000 in funding on Indiegogo by May 2.

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Cooking Features

Out There: SteamerWiener cooks hotdogs on a special stick, produces giggles all around

Out There is a feature that highlights weird, wacky or woeful projects.

Hotdogs are one of those foods that are fun and delicious to eat. Not just because they’re made out of mystery meat, but because they’re, well, phallic-shaped.

Now there’s a way to cook hotdogs the way they should be prepared. SteamerWiener looks like a little man with a long, sharp prong protruding from his crotch. To use, stick that hotdog on there and you’ve got yourself one funny sight. It looks like a little metal man cooking his own hotdog on a barbecue! Interestingly enough, this product actually uses a steam engine to rotate the wiener for an even cooking experience.

SteamerWiener is one of those products that would do well in the initiation packet of any fraternity. Beyond that, it’s useful only for cheap giggles from men who still delight in the sight of penises in unusual places. One of the big ones, oh yea, can be had for a donation of $69 (yes, really) for delivery in July 2015. SteamerWiener is looking to raise $60,000 in funding.

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Connected Objects Food and Beverage

Proscan scans food for nutritional content

It’s always best for everybody to know exactly what’s in the food they’re eating -– especially if they’re on a diet or have a serious allergy to foods such as peanuts. Unfortunately, a list of ingredients isn’t always available.

Proscan is a water resistant device that quickly scans any food and displays a list of the calories, energy, carbohydrates, protein, cholesterol and dietary fiber that it contains. The device works by using a load sensor, optical sensor (spectrometer), other advanced sensors and complex algorithms to analyze food and then display its nutritional content on the device’s touch-sensitive display screen or on a Bluetooth-connected iPhone, Apple Watch, Android device, or Windows Phone. In speaker mode, all scan results are read aloud via Proscan’s speakers.

Provided that a $50,000 goal is reached by April 14, Proscan will ship in December in a choice of a Beam (rectangular) model or a round version. The entry price is about $349 for a regular model. Proscan Mini versions will cost about $238, while customized versions with color options and engraved wording will cost about $419. The Indiegogo campaign is slated to end on April 14.

There have been other food scanner campaigns in recent memory. The SCiO is one product that comes to mind, although that product was designed to analyze surrounding environments as well. If Proscan works as easily and seamlessly as it appears to in its Indiegogo campaign video, the product may very well hold some promise. Still, a pocket device like SCiO seems much more practical, especially when dining at a restaurant or traveling, which would seem to be when users would want it most.

Categories
Cooking

Find-A-Scoop seeks missing powder measuring mechanisms

Powdered products can be a great help in the kitchen when cooking, or for those who enjoy their protein and fruit drinks. But digging out a scoop that has sunk to the bottom of a canister makes for an inconvenient mess that can cause some waste.

So Find-A-Scoop was designed to put a stop to having to dig around both small and large containers. The BPA-free, dishwasher safe product has three features: a no-slip finger grip, a slatted power-draining dipper, and an extended reach handle. The mini scoop is ¼” deep, and the full size scoop is 1″ deep.

The product seems like it would be easy enough to use, but a slatted cooking spoon might do the job just as well. Backers interested in healthy-lifestyle items might also like to check out Made, Armadillo Colander,  Go-Shake, Fab, and Rotissa-Fry. This campaign seeks to raise $35,000 by February 11, 2015. For $10, backers get one full and mini size scoop with an expected delivery of October 2015.