appliances

Network Appliance just announced that it is suing Sun Microsystems for patent infringement related to Sun's ZFS technology. Dave Hitz, co-founder and executive vice president of NetApp, pinged me to notify me of the suit and referenced his blog. I'll be following up with Sun's position on the suit as soon as it becomes clear.

From Dave:

About 18 months ago, Sun's lawyers contacted NetApp with a list of patents they say we infringe, and requested that we pay them lots of money. We responded in two ways. First, we closely examined their list of patents. Second, we identified the patents in our portfolio that we believe Sun infringes.… Read more

So it's not just us after all. For the record, we allergy sufferers aren't the only ones who are fixated on cleaning technologies. Gizmag says a recent survey claims that 60 percent of respondents would buy a self-cleaning garbage can and 59 percent want a stove top that can do the same. Oh, and while they're at it, 47 percent wouldn't mind a dryer that also folded laundry.

We wish the research stopped there. Gizmag goes on to include some other frightening hygiene-related statistics that are enough to make our thrice-shampooed hair stand on end: "… Read more

Google may be known as the Web search advertising company but Google has big plans for offering services to corporations, says Stephen Arnold, author of The Google Legacy and a Google patent scrutinizer.

Arnold figures out possible tech company strategies by analyzing their patents. He's come across several patent applications from Google that he says indicate that they plan to use the Google Search Appliance as much more than just a device that lets employees search for data within the internal network. The Google Search Appliance is a "Trojan Horse" that will soon be able to do … Read more

I like toasters. I really do. And I like it when they're creative. I've spent some time this week researching Instructables tutorials for how to hack my own toaster in order to make it a pirate toaster that brands my toast with a skull and crossbones. (Stay tuned on that one.)

But this is too much. I'm not terrified of Hello Kitty or anything, but I think the cat should stay the heck off my toast. Even if it's only $19.99, I do not have any use for a Hello Kitty toaster. Like all other … Read more

Back in February, when I fell head-over-heels for the German pirate toaster, I had absolutely no idea that "art toasters" would become such a phenomenon. Yesterday, GeekSugar wrote about Your Name On Toast, which is a gimmicky little service that will customize toast for you at a ridiculous fee--but I guess it is for charity. Nevertheless, it was certainly more accessible than the hacked toast printer. So I suppose it was a step in the right direction.

But now, to beat the pirate metaphor into the ground, I think I see the "x" marking the buried … Read more

To those who stepped in late: I'm on a quest for a pirate toaster. I'm looking for something like the skull-and-crossbones appliance sold in Germany that will allow me to brand a thoroughly awesome Jolly Roger into my morning toast. But at this point, it doesn't look like I can locate one here in the States. When we last left the Quest, readers, I had just learned about the Pop Art toaster sold at Target, which is a good try, but there are no pirates involved. I have no use for a toaster that can brand snowflakes … Read more

I guess I'm not a legit wine aficionado, because when I read about this wine chiller by Waring Pro, I was immediately astonished by the fact that this gadget provides 33 different temperature settings for different varieties of red wine, white wine, and champagne. Wow. And here I'd been thinking that the rule was "put it in the fridge if it's not red." I guess I just haven't been getting the full experience--maybe I need one of these. You can get them for $90 at Kohl's.

Considering we like wine so much here … Read more

Pretty much every one of my friends has been subject to hearing one of my many lamentations about why the insanely awesome pirate toaster is only sold in Europe. It's tragic, really, that us statesiders can't experience the joy of morning toast with a skull and crossbones branded into it.

But recent developments show we may be headed in the right direction. An item on Notcot.org has clued me into the fact that you can, in fact, get toasters in the U.S. that will brand your bread with various symbols. They're called the 'Pop Art' … Read more

I should start off with a disclaimer: The title of this post may be biased. I am inclined to perceive just about any dishwasher as a dishwasher of awesomeness, since (like many New Yorkers) I don't have one. Consequently, I see the dishwasher as some sort of magical mystery device. Take that as you will.

But this one, the Fisher & Paykel Double DishDrawer, is still cooler than most, in my opinion. Why? Because it tackles both energy efficiency and space efficiency in one clever design move. Instead of being one big, water-guzzling machine that doesn't always fill … Read more