Steven Leckart

BBQ Tip: Try an Infrared BBQ & Talking Thermometer

To celebrate 4th of July, I dropped by Wired to play with the Solaire Anywhere Portable Grill and Oregon Scientific's Wireless Talking BBQ Thermometer.

Steven Leckart

O Beautiful For Spacious Bag, For Amber Waves of Beer

Timbuk2's Dolores Cooler messenger sack can hold a 12-pack of canned PBR*. The lining is insulated. One of the straps features a red pop top. All you need now is a designated cyclist.

*Person who comes up w/the best addendum, wins.**

**The prize: respect and admiration from your peers.

Rob Beschizza

A toilet made of poo

LOOWATT: Toilet Made From Poo Transforms Excrement into Energy
by Mike Chino [Inhabitat]

Joel Johnson

EZGrill, a single-use portable charcoal grill

There's not much to an EZGrill, the single-use aluminum pan filled with charcoal. It's impossible not to look at the thing and think "I could make that myself in about ten minutes." And maybe you can.

But can you fill it with 100% natural charcoal?* EZGrill has—enough to grill for an hour-and-a-half. Tear off the top, light a match on the starter paper, and let the coals flame down for about 15 minutes and you should be good to go.

Perhaps it's wasteful—warding people away from "unsanitary grills at the park" puts my teeth on edge, as there's no more lovely sanitizer than fire—but I can think of a few scenarios where a five-dollar little grill could be very handy. (I mentioned it was only five bucks, right?) Camping at the beach, for instance, or anywhere where fire pits are not welcome or provided. Quick outdoor cookouts at the end of a backpacking session. Or even just on the back porch for people who don't want to bother with buying a grill.

It should even be possible to recycle the grill when it's done by washing out the ashes. They're already using recycled aluminum, too.

If you want one now, you'll have to find a Winn-Dixie. If you don't know what that is (it's a southern grocery chain), then you'll just have to wait, because there's no online ordering.

This post is part of a theme day: BBG on Camping.

* How "natural" is hard to say, and it's certainly not lump or chunk charcoal, but the manufacturer does at least note that they don't use sulfur, borax, or contaminated clay—a welcome touch, even if it will make recreating the nuance of street food a challenge that can only be solved with an infusion of carbon monoxide and Clorox.

Steven Leckart

Review: Platypus CleanStream Gravity Filter

"Oh man, you just turned our campsite into an ER!"

The CleanStream is a gravity filtration system that resembles an IV bag. Consisting of two Platypus bladders, two hoses, and one 0.2-micron-thick hollow fiber filter (w/a cartridge that's good for ~1500L), this $90 system can handle bacteria, protozoa, viruses and particulate &mdash i.e. the gunky yellow stuff that came out of the spigot at our campsite (see below).

The CleanStream is straightforward to use. After attaching the hoses to either end of the filter, you fill the "dirty" bag from your stream, spigot or other source (avoid shallow, still puddles!), and hang up the dirty bag, leaving the "clean" bag on the ground or somewhere below the dirty one. Instantly, gravity pulls the H2O down through the filter and into the "clean" bag. There's also a clip on the hose that lets you pause the filtering if, say, you need only a smaller quantity of water in one minute vs. three.

I will admit the spigot where we were camped was unlikely to have any contaminants, bacteria, etc. However, there's something about drinking yellow water that doesn't sit too well with me. Thus, we double-filtered our water, which dramatically reduced the yellow:

[Note: to avoid mixing up the bags during use, write "dirty" or "X" on the dirty bag with a Sharpie.]

Gravity filters aren't new, but this was my first time trying one out*. Reason being the $90 price tag makes it somewhat of a luxury item, imho. When I backpacked Hawaii for 2 months in college all I used were $7 for iodine tablets. I drank from streams and waterfalls and never got sick, but the taste wasn't terrific and using tablets required way too much time: drop in tablets, wait 30 minutes, and then another 30 minutes if you also use the taste-neutralizing tablets (which I did not).

At the time, though, the tablets were way more preferable to filtering with a hand-pump. After hiking 12 miles of rocky coastline, the last thing you want to do is expend energy just for a sip of fresh water. If you're car camping (which I was recently), you're likely partial to gear that will make the experience as cush and convenient as possible.

So for $90, you can have potable water in less than 3 minutes, literally, by doing nothing. Or you could spend $7 to have potable water in 30 minutes. Or you can spend somewhere in between on a hand-pump filter and get some added exercise. Your call.

This post is part of a theme day: BBG on Camping.

*It's worth noting there are other systems some packers have been using in conjunction with Platypus bladders, including the Sawyer and Aquamira Frontier Pro. I have no personal experience with either.

Rob Beschizza

Atari Cart Clocks

Can't Afford Em Crafts describes itself as "two people with a passion for finding clever ways to reduce waste creatively." A part of me finds this Atari abuse horrifying, but let's face it: most of their arcade conversions sucked.

Product Page [CantAffordEmCrafts Geeky Gadgets via CrunchGear]

Joel Johnson

Global Street Food exhibit shows the world's snack rigs

At the Vitra Design Museum until the 12th of July, "Global Street Food" is an exhibition of all the carts and boats and strange contraptions used by street vendors around the world. Today and Tomorrow has a image gallery and video preview.

My favorite thing at E3 in Los Angeles has always been the Mexican vendors who linger around the outside of the Staples Center, cooking bacon-wrapped hot dogs that they cook on shopping baskets topped with jerry-rigged griddles made from aluminum sheet pans. I asked the guy once how much it cost him to build one and he told it me it was around $20—cheap enough to just leave if the police came by to chase him off for selling food without a license. [via Kottke]

Steven Leckart

Gallery: Automated Tie Racks Still Exist?!

"It's smooth. It purs like a kitten. It won't wake up the wife when you're coordinating an outfit for work in the morning... So if you or someone you know is looking to embrace push-button living that would make even the Jetsons envious, this little gem of a gadget is for you."

I remember getting my Dad a motorized neck tie rack back in the 1980s. It ran OK for a while, but the motor died or, at the very least, he never bothered to replace the batteries. Probably because he found the thing useless.

20 years later, there are a handful of these contraptions still being sold. I haven't used any of them personally, but if the quality of the videos, websites and images advertising them are any indication, well, I'm not too certain you should rush out to buy one.

After the jump, check out racks capable of holding more than 70 ties!*

*What fashion forward fella has six dozen ties, belts and/or scarves?!

This post is part of a theme day: BBG on Fashion

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Video: A self-balancing "table robot" insinuates itself into your life using booze

With such tiny wheels, this "table robot" from Laksmi-Do looks terribly delicate, but it can still ably hold itself upright and carry up to two kilograms of beverages and snacks. Woe betide the drunkard who forgets to recharge it, though. If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean. [via Engadget]

Rob Beschizza

Pointless nanny state knife about to hit stores

Britain is the unsurprising origin of this ridiculous implement. Inspired by calls to ban kitchen knives entirely, this Home Office-approved item will soon be available from New Point Knives.

If there was a Nobel prize for missing the point, designer John Carnock would doubtless be a strong contender.

First 'anti-stab' knife to go on sale in Britain [Times]

Steven Leckart

Review: Kool Dogz Ice Cake Maker

Gus loves chew toys, carrots, spinach, dog treats, and he's especially fond of ice cubes (or "free treats" as my bro-in-law calls them). Since the pugger enjoys each of these independently, I figured freezing 'em all into one massive block of ice on a sunny Sunday afternoon would pretty much rock the little dude's world.

So did Gus finally figure out what to do with that thing?

Pics, video and details after the jump...

This post is part of a Theme Day: BBG on Dogs.

READ THE REST

Lisa Katayama

Review: A puke stain with the Bissell SpotBot Pet

Sometimes, my dogs puke. This is because they eat everything from grass to flip flops to sheets of paper towel soiled with grease. Twice, Ruby got into a huge bag of dark green iron pills and had to get her stomach pumped. Several weeks ago, Malcolm puked out a grass-and-kibble stew, which I didn't discover until I got home hours later. All of these incidents had left seemingly indelible stains on my carpets and couch. Enter SpotBot Pet, a not-so-little cleaning robot that claims to work any stubborn pet stain &mdash be it puke, pee, or butt juice &mdash out of carpets and upholstery. It has three modes &mdash one for surface stains, one for deeper stains, and a manual mode for use with the attached hose.

The SpotBot Pet has two fluid tanks &mdash one for a cleaner-water mix and another that dirty water gets sucked back into. Below the dirty water tank is a pair of nylon bristle brushes and little vacuum cleaner heads that simultaneously scrub stains out and suck dirt in. Its diameter is 8 inches, so any stain bigger than that might require two treatments. The SpotBot came with a trial size of Bissell's Pet Stain & Odor advanced formula cleaner, which supposedly works for pee, puke, and butt juice. Perfect.

A full cycle of the set-in stain takes about five minutes and is deafeningly loud. It didn't bother me that much, though &mdash after spending days trying to scrub canine vomit out with soap and water and Nature's Miracle, I was beginning to think the couch would just have to sport a puke stain motif forever. I was willing to listen to this Bot do its deed.

Five minutes later: The couch was soaking wet, but the stain? Gone! It was awesome. I tried it on an area of carpet stained with pee, too, and it worked great. At $140, it's a tad pricey and it's heavy and loud, but it works, and it doesn't require any manual labor other than picking the thing up and placing it on top of the stain.

Product Page (Bissell)

This post is part of a Theme Day: BBG on Dogs.

Joel Johnson

Juicer made from an old soda bottle

Scott Amron sells these juicers made from old bottles for a reasonable $6.50, but they look like something you could do yourself with a nice serrated blade. [via Charlie Sorrel]

Joel Johnson

Anecdote as Data: Dimmable CFL light bulbs don't quite work right yet

My house is lit primarily by sunken floodlights. Putting in a bulb that doesn't fill the fixture looks trashy, and the incandescent bulbs burn out quite frequently. I found a GE R40 CFL floodlamp in a local drugstore that could even be dimmed. It was expensive—$20, although Green Electrical Supply them sells for $8 plus shipping—but if it could last for a couple of years, I'd still come out ahead.

I screwed it in and turned up the dimmer switch in my kitchen. The bulb flickered, but ignited. Not bad! I could deal with a little flickering, especially since I rarely ever kept the light at its lower settings.

But then I went to turn it on and off again, there was a pop, and the CFL bulb broke completely. Looks like CFL and dimmers still aren't a great combination.

Rob Beschizza

Twinkling LED placemat

Sylvania's decorative placemat "colors your indoor world" and allows one to "capitalize on the novelty of LED décor and accessories."

$25 for a pack of two.

LED Placemat - Black [Sylvania via Oh Gizmo and Chip Chick]

Joel Johnson

Print your photos on a shower curtain

PhotoShowerCurtain.com will print your photo on shower curtains for $150 - $200, depending on size, using a dye sublimation process that they promise won't fade or crack. You can even machine launder them—or, you know, wash them in the shower.

A nice way to sauce up a bathroom, for sure. I'd suggest using a picture of you naked in the shower. [via Red Ferret]

Lisa Katayama

Review: Wüsthof electric knife sharpener

My kitchen knives have been dull for way too long. I have a sharpening steel, but I find it hard to use. I'm also too lazy to take all five of my kitchen knives to a professional knife sharpener. The Electric Sharpener is German knife company Wüsthof's first automated sharpening device ever &mdash since I have trusted Wüsthof to make good knives for years, I decided to give this machine a try.

There are basically three main features to the Electric Sharpener &mdash the on/off button, the coarse diamond wheel on the left, and the fine diamond wheel on the right. The coarse wheel sands both sides of the blade sharp; the fine wheel gives an already-pretty-sharp blade a good honing.

One of the best ways to test a knife for sharpness is by cutting a tomato. Tomatoes are squishy, and when cut with a dull knife, they spew seeds and juice all over the cutting board. And every bad incision shows up looking twice as bad in red. This knife hadn't been sharpened for at least a few months, so I used the coarse wheel. Ok, now take a look at the tomato in the picture. The slice on the far right was cut before sharpening. As you can see, there is juice everywhere, and the surface looks really uneven. After sharpening the knife, I took a stab (ha ha) at the rest of the tomato. The difference was simply amazing. The tomato didn't resist or spew juice at all.

The Electric Sharpener is rectangular and compact, so it won't take up too much counter or pantry space. At $200, it's kinda expensive, but think of it this way &mdash taking your knife to a professional sharpener (if you can find one) costs $4 a knife, and if you have 5 knives like me, and you want to maintain the blades by honing them every time you use them and sharpening them once every few weeks, and you're lazy about leaving the house... well, you do the math. It quickly adds up to being worth it, I think.

Wüsthof Electric Sharpener [Williams & Sonoma]

Joel Johnson

A psychologist reviews faucets

Dwell has human-computer interaction expert Don Norman look at the design of faucets:

"There are only two things you care about besides the appearance," he explains. "The amount of water coming out and the temperature." This seemingly simple balance between image and duty is one that Norman understands implicitly. As an engineer his priority is making sure things operate properly, but as a psychologist he argues that there's more to functionality than, well, functioning. "Emotions are really the most important part of life. Things have to work well, but they also should excite you."

Alan Graham

Review: 6 Months with Kwikset Smartscan Biometric Deadbolt

Kwikset's own benefit list (pdf file) for this product includes five main selling points. Let's review them one at a time, shall we?

READ THE REST

Steven Leckart

Get This Guy To Finish His Laser-Cut Gingerbread Bridge

Instructables user rstraugh is building a kick-ass model of the Oberbaum Bridge in Berlin out of gingerbread, using an Epilog Laser. So far, the project looks awesome, but he says he probably won't finish it until next Christmas. :(

Steven Leckart

Review: Two Days w/the Santos Vac Pot [Verdict: Good Sucker]

Bodum's been manufacturing vacuum-style, stovetop coffee brewers like the 32-oz. Santos (at right) for more than 50 years, so I assumed they know what they're doing. My take: pretty much.

Find out why it's vital to read the directions, how I almost broke my Santos, then telepathically alerted the fire dept, and yet somehow still wound up brewing some really delicious coffee, after the jump...

[$80 via Bodum , $69 via Amazon]

READ THE REST

Steven Leckart

Hands-On With A Whippit-Powered Travel Espresso Maker

Currently in production, the MyPressi TWIST has been generating enough buzz to get a trucker from Nashville to Reno (and back). Forget press and blog attention. The $129 portable espresso maker won the best new product award from the Specialty Coffee Association of America (it's sorta like the Oscars for coffee).

The product won't be available until this fall, but there are three prototypes in existence. We recently got to see one up close and personal, taste the fruits of its pressure-driven loins, and chat with the husband and wife team behind one of the most exciting things to happen to coffee since Baileys.

More after the jump...

READ THE REST

Steven Leckart

Review: MSR MugMate Travel Filter [Verdict: Get One]

When citydwellers go camping, we tend to opt for the ol' "Cowboy Cup." Read: pour the ground beans into a cup, add water, let sit and sip. A few grounds in your mouth here and there, but dammit, you feel tough as nails.

You know what? I've decided that's plain ridiculous.

Lightweight backpacking fanatics are some of the best advisers when it comes to useful gear. You may not always walk away with the cheapest solution, but most anything they recommend is usually guaranteed to be practical, packable and well worth toting.

Case in point: MSR's MugMate, a reusable coffee filter that clocks in at just 0.98 oz. You could cart along a standard coffee filter, but this one fits directly in an average cup, and balances perfectly because of those two handles.

Featherweight fanatics urge ditching the top cover to cut down on the added 0.32 oz. On the other hand, true javaseurs say it's vital to let your coffee steep while covered. I leave the decision up to you. Either way, even if you're not camping, the MugMate works great at home or the office for a quick, single, grounds-free cup. The only downside is it requires a very slow, intermittent pour to avoid overfilling and spilling grounds into the cup.

If any true cowboys give you any guff out on the trail, you're on your own.

Lisa Katayama

Review: Breakfast with the Montano French press

For our special theme day on coffee, I decided to review the Bonjour Montano French press &mdash not because it's new (it came out in 2007), but because it was by far the coolest looking commercially sold French press out there. I was digging the brushed stainless steel leaning-tower-of-Pisa look. It makes eight cups of coffee, which was perfect for when I had a pancake birthday party for my dog Malcolm last weekend. At $70, it's on the high end of the French press market, but think of it as an investment into the overall coolness factor of your kitchen appliance collection.

I tested the Montano with Peet's Arabian Mocha Java, a full-bodied French roast that takes like chocolate. Yum. French presses are great because they don't have filters, which means you get stronger coffee and you end up tasting more of the natural flavors and oils in the coffee bean (in a regular coffee maker, those often get trapped in the filter). The Montano also has a rotating steel screen that separates the grind from the liquid so that the coffee lasts longer in the press. The steel encasing also kept it hot for a good half hour. The only down side is that you can't see the coffee, so if you're one of those gauge-by-color people, it won't work for you.

By the way, here are some tips on making a good French press:
* Make sure your beans are freshly ground and coarser than for drip coffee.
* Let the water sit after boiling for half a minute so you don't scorch the beans.
* 2 Tbsp coffee for every 6oz of water.
* Pour just enough water in to cover the beans first, stir it, and then put the rest of the water in.
* Push the press down halfway and wait three minutes; then push it down all the way.
* Put it in your fave mug and drink it.

The pot of Arabian Mocha Java for Malcolm's pancake party came out great. There was a nice foamy bloom at the top, and the flavors weren't compromised.

Product Page [Bonjour]
Buy at Amazon

Steven Leckart

7 Attention-Getting, No-Frills Coffee Mugs For Work

A unique mug can be a great conversation starter around the office. But if you want to impress your boss and earn the respect of your more straight-laced peers, stay away from big cartoonish heads, skip travel mugs (it hints at addiction), don't settle for color-changing ceramic cups, and give those slogan-y ironic jobs a break*.

Until the PC cup becomes a reality, there are plenty of subtle but cleverly-designed, non-frills but classy mugs to choose from, like this data-heavy one that says, "I always keep things in perspective."

[$12 via Amazon]

More after the jump...

*I rocked a mug adorned with a magical painting of a horse for a couple years, but after a while, it got to be too much.

READ THE REST

Steven Leckart

World's Largest Cup of Coffee

The Guinesss World Record for the largest cup of coffee was set in 2007 by Mauricio Cadavid, whose Colombian brew contained nearly 1,095 gallons (US). His colon-blasting mug (equal to about 16,000 cups) topped the former record of 952.07 gallons, which was set in Vietnam only a few months earlier. Two years later, the record stands unchallenged. Go for it.

[photo via Perpenduum]

Steven Leckart

Videos: HOWTO Make Latte Art

The World Latte Art Championship is in a month. Better get practicing. Here's how to make "The Indian."

More after the jump...

READ THE REST

Steven Leckart

What Happened To The Analog Coffee Grinder?

I use an antique Zassenhaus coffee grinder that's at least 30 years old. A refined, classic piece of tabletop machinery if ever there was one. The grinder resembles the 4.5" x 4.5" x 8" "San José dunkel gebeizt," though the finish is more of a lacquered maple. After seven years, it still works great, with no sign of slowing.

More recently, Z-haus has gotten quite liberal with their design and branding.

Eh, I just don't know.

Joel Johnson

Elephant Bottle Opener

This bottle opener by Georg Jensen is $20 at Urban Outfitters. [via The Laughing Squider via Der Swisser Misser]

Steven Leckart

Chopstick door-stopper hack

Jan Chipchase's discoveries while traveling are always inspiring. This chopstick-as-door-stopper hack he photographed is one I saw frequently in Japan. Wonderfully simple.