Drinking

The beer drinking experience is already fairly interactive. You open bottles, clink them against your friends' bottles, and dress them up in little cozies to keep them cold. Apparently, all that wasn't enough for Heineken, which unveiled a prototype of its new Heineken Ignite bottle last week at Milan Design Week.

The bottles incorporate LEDs, micro-sensors, and wireless networking. The technology can detect when the bottle is just sitting there, when a person is drinking, and when it's used for cheering. Various actions are set to trigger the light effects, or it can be remotely activated to flash in time with music.… Read more

When I pour a beer, I'm always aiming to minimize the mound of foam on top. Apparently, there are people who covet that foam, who can't get enough. Those are the same people who can't wait to buy the $40 Sonic Hour, a new gadget that ramps up the foam factor at the push of a button.

Sonic Hour appears to be the work of the same people who created the Professional Beer Foam Making Mug. They've just gone a little more high-tech this time. While the mug used a little hammer to physically excite the beer bubbles, Sonic Hour uses the power of ultrasonic oscillation.… Read more

Apparently, there are times when brewing an entire pot of coffee is not desired. Perhaps this occurs while running late or just trying to get out of the house. (Certainly there can be no other sane reason why just one cup will satisfy.) In any event, for those rare times when just a cup will do, one countertop coffeemaker is ready to provide. In less than 60 seconds, thankfully.

The Capresso a la Carte Cup-to-Carafe Coffee & Tea Maker ($179.95) not only understands that time is of the essence when waiting for coffee, but that a nice cup of … Read more

Spring has sprung. We can now officially start to look forward to the coming warm weather months. The cool breeze on a warm summer day is still a ways away, but the effect can be recreated now. How? With 7-minute milkshakes and smoothies, of course.

The Zoku Slush and Shake Maker ($19.95) comes in an assortment of bright, cheerful colors. Whether one chooses red, green, orange, or purple to brighten their day, the result is the same: chilled drinks in as little as 7 minutes. The gadget consists of an inner core that is kept in the freezer (for … Read more

There is a lot of good stuff that can be found in the freezer: ice cream, frozen pizza, ice. Beer, however, is not one of these items. Now, of course, there is nothing stopping anybody from placing a warm beer in the chiller to cool it down quickly and easily; nothing, that is, except for bad memories. Sooner or later, a bottle of beer put into the freezer gets forgotten about. The resulting beer explosion not only results in a ruined beer, but also in beer-coated ice cream, pizza, and ice. While beer flavored ice cream may not necessarily be … Read more

Bars can be crowded, noisy places that do little to release tension after a long work week. That's not to say these qualities are particularly undesirable; sometimes the frenetic, wild activity is exactly what is desired.

But not always. That's why we have beer fridges and kegorators for the home. In fact, the home bar has achieved such a level that we have motorized cocktail shakers and mixed drink makers that require no more than a spin of a dial.

However, as well stocked and outfitted as a home bar may be, there is one thing it most definitely does not usually come with: a steering wheel.… Read more

Coffee in the morning is no small matter. Decisions get made while sipping the caffeinated brew, decisions that shape the day. Like an architect, we construct plans, piece by piece, layer by layer, until a form emerges. Of course, that usually doesn't involve the actual coffee cup. But then again, who is to say it cannot?

The ThinkGeek Build-On Brick Mug ($19.99) is a coffee mug designed to appeal to designers of all ages. The interactive mug invites users to fiddle with it, stacking popular parts onto their own creations. Exactly what those popular parts might be is, of course, of utmost importance; the last thing anybody wants to do is wrestle with their morning beverage.

Rest assured, the mug is compatible with Lego, PixelBlocks, Mega Bloks, Kre-O, or K'Nex Bricks. The mug itself doesn't come with any bricks; it's strictly BYOB.… Read more

The refrigerator door has long been a source for inspiration. On the inside, condiments line up and stand guard over the contents on the shelves. Pressed into action, they are ready at a moment's notice to be squeezed, squirted, and spread all over any meal any time of the day. But it is more than Sriracha and mayo that the fridge door has to offer. On the outside, there's a whole other world to explore. Now, with carbonated water.

The Samsung RF31FMESBSR 36" Four-Door Refrigerator with SodaStream dispenser takes tricked-out refrigerators to a bubbly, new level. Hiding … Read more

The Epiphany One Puck may well be the world's most awesome coaster. It may also be the most useful. The One Puck doesn't just protect your coffee table from drink sweat, it also charges up your smartphone.

You don't have to plug the Puck into an outlet. It uses a small Stirling engine to provide the power. The device has two sides, one red and one blue. Place a hot drink on the red side, or a cold drink on the blue side.

Stirling engines have been around since the 1800s. They work by turning heat disparities into energy. Epiphany Labs has built a working prototype of its One Puck, though the company is still vague on just how long it takes for the device to charge up a phone. There are a lot of variables at play, including how hot or cold the source is.… Read more