The number of ‘endless’ object keychains is almost getting too long to list every time a new one comes out, but fans of the endless chocolate bar, beer can and shipping envelope will no doubt want to make room on their keychains for this latest creation. As its name not-so subtly implies, the Endless Banana Peel lets you enjoy the satisfaction of peeling open a ripe banana again and again and again, without the risk of overdosing on potassium. There’s probably a reason you can get it from Stupid.com though for $8.99, but I can’t quite place my finger on it.
Like the engineering students behind yesterday’s AutoFrost Cake Decorator, Japanese researchers at Keio University’s Yasuaki Kakehi Laboratory have come to realize there’s far more important research to undertake than say cloning sheep. Instead, they’re improving candy using augmented reality. Their TagCandy system uses an actual sucker attached to a fairly hefty sensor/speaker device. When it detects the candy has touched your tongue, the vibration speaker kicks in and is able to recreate various physical effects in your mouth like drinking a fizzy carbonated drink, biting into a crisp apple, or even fireworks. And when your teeth touch the candy, you’ll even hear sounds thanks to the effects of bone conduction.
Their ultimate goal is to develop a system where a neutral flavored sucker could end up tasting like anything you’d want it to, with people even developing and sharing their own flavors online.
The world already has enough electric cars at this point, so I’m happy to see a group of engineering students from the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering tackling another important issue- cake decorating. Their AutoFrost machine, created for their Principles of Engineering class, is a 3-axis cake decorator designed to replicate a design created in a custom graphical UI onto a cake using an Arduino-controlled frosting plunger. A second Arduino unit controls the bed the cake sits on, moving it along its X and Y axis, allowing the custom designs to be drawn out.
I doubt the students have any intentions of taking the AutoFrost any farther, but if one of them manages to improve the machine so it does all the baking and prep work as well, they’re guaranteed at least one sale here. Actually make that two, I could always use a second in the bedroom.
With more and more of our time being spent in front of a display of one form or another, it’s about time that someone set their design expertise on upgrading the lowly, but oh so necessary, TV tray. And üutensil, makers of the Autonomous Saucier we brought you early last year, have done just that with their Picnicc tray.
Keeping with their policy of randomly doubling letters in pre-existing words, üutensil’s Picnicc features a cut-out cup holder at the top, contoured indents for keeping side dishes and plates in place, and a hidden magnet underneath designed to keep cutlery from sliding off onto the floor. And it’s done in a way that makes the Picnicc look very 21st century and modern. So when using it you’ll feel more like a futuristic space traveler than someone who was too lazy to clean off their dining table. Coming soon!
A rice cooker is a must-have kitchen appliance since it makes cooking rice dead-easy and almost impossible to screw up. And while there are recipes for cooking lots of different dishes in them, SANYO is the first to create a rice cooker that’s also able to bake up a fresh loaf of bread, without the need for pre-ground rice flour. Making rice bread with a traditional bread maker has always been easy as long as you had the rice flour, but the GOPAN is the first bread maker/rice cooker that features a special spinning mechanism that can grind regular uncooked rice into flour, as well as mix and knead the dough during the baking process.
And even though it comes with a fairly hefty price tag of ¥50,000, which is over $600, the demand for the GOPAN has been so great in Japan that SANYO has had to stop taking orders until April of next year in order to catch up with production. So not surprisingly they also plan to introduce the GOPAN to other international markets sometime in 2011 as well.
Unless you come from a family of photographers these Photoshop icon salt & pepper shakers are probably a wasted sight gag. But if they really existed I imagine the one place you’d definitely find them would be in the Adobe headquarter’s cafeteria, adding monochromatic noise seasoning to every dish.
There are plenty of recipe or restaurant finding apps for smartphone-toting foodies, but iGrill is one of the first that can actually help when it comes to cooking. The free app connects to a Bluetooth-equipped temperature probe base station and allows you to monitor the temperature of something on the grill from up to 200 feet away.
The probe also works as a standalone temperature monitor, complete with an easy to clean touch interface, but the real fun comes when you use it in conjunction with the iPhone or iPad app. Not only does it let you monitor the temperature from afar, but it also provides intelligent cooking time estimates based on what type of meat you’re cooking, and how big the carcass is. The iGrill is available now for $99.99, with additional probes, which can be used simultaneously, costing $19.99 each.
Can’t say I’ve ever thought about using the favored weapon of feudal Japan to pick my teeth, but I guess if it’s good enough to eviscerate one’s enemies, it has to be good enough to dislodge an annoying popcorn husk. But since the art of samurai sword making is almost dead, you’ll have to settle for these novelty toothpick holders instead.
The scabbard can store up to 3 toothpicks (3?! wow!) which can be inserted into the handle making it easier to dislodge a piece of meat, or procure a chunk of cheese from a platter. Available in a set of 2, which includes white and black handles, the swords are made from Cyprus wood and can be found at the Japan Trend Shop for $84. And even at that price you have to provide your own toothpicks.
Of all the novelty shaped ice cubes made possible by recent innovations in silicone molding technology, I think this miscellaneous collection of ice swords has the most potential. You can use the mold by itself to make pure ice swords for dropping in drinks, or use the included plastic hilts which facilitate the act of swizzling. They also make the ice swords far more stable, allowing you to host a medieval sword fighting tournament where the victor claims turkey carving duties while the loser dies… Or does dishes, however you want to set the rules. $14.99 from ThinkGeek.
Related Tags: Food, Novelty, Unusual
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