Transforming Coffee Maker

OXO just introduced a new coffee maker called The Barista Brain. Here’s the report from Sprudge:

One innovation we’re kind of geeking out about is the brewer’s hot water chamber. CNET reports the component is removable and can be used as a pourable hot water kettle. IT’S A BREWER KETTLE COMBO, Y’ALL!

Gotta get my hands on one of these. In other news, I’m thinking about renaming the #TIDNTKIL section of this site to something more apt like Coffee Stuff1.

  1. This would actually be funnier if I posted just half the stuff that I want to post for this section.

Tool of Tread

I got married a few years back and one of the few responsibilities I had with the wedding1 was to pick out and purchase a gift for each of my seven groomsmen. I’ve gotten a few great groomsman gifts myself, so I felt a little bit of pressure to come up with something that was some combination of practical and sentimental. I settled for pure practical and purchased a Leatherman multi-tool for each of them. I gave it to them unceremoniously as we waited outside the wedding venue getting dressed in our cars while the ladies finished up their photo shoot.

Now there’s something even more amazing coming on the market from the same genius that gave us the original Leatherman, the Leatherman Tread – a multi-tool bracelet. There’s even a version that incorporates a Swiss-made watch. Move over, poor Citizen, because you’re about to find yourself forever banished to the nightstand by not one, but two new wrist accessories.


  1. I probably should have taken on a few more responsibilities.
Tesla Model S

Model in My Dreams

I’m not really a car guy, but I’ve recently become obsessed with Tesla’s Model S. It all started a few months ago with my first in-the-wild sighting. It was sitting in front of me at a traffic light and I just couldn’t stop staring. I love the back, face and profile. I’ve never had the privilege of sitting inside one, but the pictures make it look pretty all right. Throw in the all-electric engine with options for no-compromise performance and you’ve got quite a package … at quite a price. Oh well, a man can dream, can’t he?

Photo Credit: Maurizio Pesce via Flickr

Slingshot

It’s unfortunate (mostly for Polaris) the manner in which I came to know about the Polaris Slingshot, being that it was a story about another regulatory hurdle Polaris faces in getting the three-wheeled rig on the road. Nonetheless, I am glad I now know that such a thing exists to improve upon the already revolutionary three-wheeler segment.

Or am I?

Truth be told, I have no idea what fun can be derived from either of these seemingly amorphous transporter pods, though in no way do I wish to begrudge the creative individual who can. It is for purely time and financial frugality reasons that I nominate the Polaris Slingshot for this week’s installment of #TIDNTKIL.

Brogamats

I can’t say I know yoga well – my only consistent run-in with the popular exercise “state of mind” was the weekly dose I got during my two stints with P90X (Yoga X). I’ll let the experts and talking heads debate the authenticity of that form of yoga. Regardless, I had a love/hate relationship with that particular day of the P90X regimen. I actually enjoyed the yoga workouts after the fact, but anticipation for yoga day reached levels of dread beyond compare. It didn’t help that it took half a day to finish it.

This is going somewhere, I promise.

Fast forward to the present (I’m at least 3 years removed from my last dalliance with P90X) and I came across a series of yoga bags designed specifically for the male yoga enthusiast – Brogamats. Brogamats are yoga bags designed to dial up the manliness by appearing to be something else like a quiver for arrows, a ninja sword or a log (presumably that you felled with your own bare hands). I’m not even kidding.

So, for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with money, Brogamats are this week’s #TIDNTKIL.

The Band

Perhaps bouyed by what I wanted out of it, I have to admit the Apple Watch wasn’t quite what I expected. I was in the camp that guessed/hoped/wanted Apple’s wearable to be more fitness band than watch. Even with the flood of smart watches hitting the market in the last year or so, I figured all of the signs were pointing toward something different from Apple — Nike dropping their Fuelband hardware, the limitations of battery technology, and the relative commercial disappointment of the existing wearables. But Apple pressed on with their vision, concentrating their wearable strategy on fashion rather than utility (though I expect there will still be plenty of utility … eventually) while simultaneously hewing to the popular convention of why such a device exists. Or, maybe not.

But my hopes are not yet dashed, for there is an unlikely hero waiting in the wings. To my surprise, Microsoft of all companies, released the device of my dreams (almost). The Microsoft Band is Redmond’s take on a fitness tracker, that seemingly takes the under-ambitious do-what-you-can-do-well-and-iterate-later approach that often characterizes Cupertino’s take on such devices. The Microsoft Band is not a bug the crap out of you wrist notifier, but instead that quantifiable-self stenographer in the background, recording your every move (and non-move).

For the past few years, I feel like I’ve been shedding my Microsoft skin, abandoning the 90s dominant Windows platform for the trendy Apple platform. I’m not alone in thinking that there have been a few missteps in Redmond, but in the immortal words of Harry Dunne I say this to you, Microsoft: “Just when I thought you couldn’t possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this… and totally redeem yourself!”

Photo Credit: Microsoft

Pearled Coffee

Though it sounds to me like something I would quite enjoy, bubble tea is the fad food item of the last few years that has yet to cross paths with me. Laziness is partially to blame – it hasn’t caught fire in my neck of the woods and I’m certainly not going to go out of my way to give it a try. Pearled coffee, however, is a completely different story:

Head of roastery (Howey) has a molecular biology background and last week he made this video showing the process of making something we like to call “Pearled Coffee”. It’s was an experiment that turned out to work _and_ taste great. Basically it is coffee pearls, made of 4 times concentrated filter coffee. As the pearls can be served with everything from milk to baileys to tequila we find the potential very interesting.

Very interesting indeed. I can’t imagine something like that will be cheap or easy to get, perhaps heartbreakingly so; thus making it this week’s Thing I Don’t Need to Know I Like.

(via Sprudge)

Lap it Up

For a very special edition of #TIDNTKIL, here’s a thing I don’t need to know my dog likes:

That’s right, a puppuccino: whipped goat’s milk and coconut cream, garnished with crushed liver bits and topped with a fresh gluten-free peanut butter dog biscuit.

I’ll know we’ve really hit rock bottom when Keurig starts making puppoccino K-cups.

I Am Watching

Anyone who knows me could predict that my unblinking eyes will be glued to the screen tomorrow watching Apple’s latest media event, this one shaping up to be one of their biggest in a long long time. Tim Cook’s proclamations of upcoming new product categories have teased us enough and it’s time for Apple to start cashing some of those proverbial checks that his mouth’s been writing. Can you tell I’m excited?

What I’m not excited about however, is my ridiculous penchant for all things Apple and yet another electronic device to distract and hoard my attention. A new iPhone is a foregone conclusion in my cache of technical wares but I’ve been wearing the same watch for almost ten years now – it isn’t exactly something I’ve been itching to replace. If Apple announces an iWatch that fulfills everything I want, well I am in trouble.

Even if it falls short, I am not certain I will have the fortitude to resist. After all, my current watch is almost ten years old! Let’s just hope whatever is announced is less than extraordinary.

Pumpkin Donuts

The Harbingers of Autumn

In my neck of the woods, Labor Day has long marked the end of summer. But now, in the midst of the Great Coffee Comeback, purveyors of some of the nation’s favorite coffee and coffee accouterments now hold the responsibility of signaling the early start to fall. That’s right, there is no more substantial indicator that fall is near than the press releases announcing the return of the Pumpkin Spice latte (or ‘PSL’ as it is commonly referred) and the return of the pumpkin doughnut at Dunkin Donuts.

Ahh, the pumpkin doughnut, that pumpkinny sweet fried dough, glazed confection of autumnal perfection. Though I must confess that I am already familiar and enchanted with its sugary charms, I contend that it still qualifies as something I don’t need to know I like. Doughnuts aren’t a particular weakness of mine; I can easily down two faster than I can blink twice, but barely a bite into a third, I’m dizzy with sugar-induced queasiness. That said, two doughnuts in a blink isn’t exactly the healthiest snack and that’s why pumpkin doughnuts are my #TIDNTKIL nominee for the week.