scale

Measuring-cup scale tells a different story with stainless steel

Stainless steel just belongs in the kitchen. It resonates in a certain way beyond its mere culinary capabilities. Bang it around enough and you can almost hear echoes of meals past. Or when in use, meals to be. It's tough, durable, and reliable, but most importantly it tells a story. Best of all however, is when you get to be part of the story.

Once upon a time, all scales had flat weighing platforms. Then, nothing happened for a very long time. Eventually the measuring-cup scale found its way into existence. These have been around for a few years … Read more

Mood lighting for a kitchen scale

It's not hard to come across a serving of well-lit food. After all, we eat with our eyes first, as they say. Following this line of logic it might make sense to peer a little deeper into the process. No, not the process of food styling, but food prepping instead. If all the world's a stage, all the players need to start eating the props at some point. Best to have the props well lit.

Hidden under the weighing stage of the Mastrad Electric Backlit Scale ($29.99) lurks three LEDs just waiting for the curtain to rise. … Read more

Yahoo's at it again with gaming platform acquisition

Yahoo's at it again.

The online giant has made another acquisition only days after reaching a deal to buy Tumblr. This time around, Yahoo is expanding in the gaming arena with the purchase of PlayerScale.

PlayerScale develops software for cross-plaform gaming that allows publishers and aggregators to quickly scale titles across various platforms. Founded in 2011, the company has over 150 million users worldwide, and it's adding more than 400,000 new users every day.

PlayerScale CEO Jesper Jensen announced the merger Thursday on the company's Web site, saying PlayerScale won't be going anywhere and its … Read more

Practice scales and chords in Piano Scales & Jam Free

The iPad is a perfect device for piano training. It is compact, easy to mount near or at the piano, and contains countless apps for practicing and training with scales or chords. So does Piano Scales & Jam Free provide enough features and an intuitive enough design to be useful for someone learning the piano, or is it yet another simple scale trainer like so many others in the App Store? It falls somewhere in between.

Piano Scales & Jam Free is simple at first glance. When you open the app you can choose to either practice scales as outlined … Read more

The bathroom scale evolved

Go way beyond the typical bathroom scale with the new Withings Smart Body Analyzer. This fitness gadget not only measures your weight, it also calculates the amount of fat you're saddled with, plus keeps tabs on your heart rate.

The Body Analyzer, which goes on sale March 20 for $149.95, even sniffs the air for carbon dioxide levels in an effort to monitor ambient air quality. Another indication of the product's intelligence is that it can sync wirelessly with mobile devices via Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi.

When it's paired with the Withings Health Mate app, … Read more

Access chords, scales, and fifths with the tap of the screen

Every piano player or student knows how frustrating it can be to need a reference and not have it. Any one scale, chord, or a reference chart such as a circle of fifths is immensely useful, both when practicing and when composing. That's why an app like Piano Companion LITE is such a welcome surprise. Offering a comprehensive directory of chords and scales, along with a reverse lookup tool, it is easier and faster than ever to find the perfect note. While installation is relatively painless and the interface is bare-bones (12 large icons in a grid), the layout … Read more

Kitchen scale plays video for no-worry tablet cooking

The rise of the tablet device as a quick go-to kitchen helper has come as no surprise. Having information available at the fingertips is a good way to improve kitchen skills. The only problem with said fingertips is that often they end up coated in whatever happens to travel from the pantry and the refrigerator to the countertop. Baking can be messy business, but despite the danger of a destroyed tablet, the practice continues.

There are plenty of plastic sleeves and other accessories are available to help keep the device from being contaminated by food. So, we grab the expensive … Read more

Measuring cup adds a spoon and a scale

Combining one thing with another is a time-honored kitchen tradition. In fact, it's hard to imagine how any cooking would get done without such an activity. But beyond the food, there lies another realm of alchemy and it can be found on the shelf or in the drawer where all the kitchen gadgets lay in waiting.

Haunting any kitchen worth its salt will be a set of measuring spoons as well as a measuring cup. They may reside in different areas, but that doesn't mean that the utensil drawer and kitchen cupboard haven't been mixing it up. … Read more

Connect to new Withings scale via smartphone or tablet

Connecting to a wireless scale through your computer is so first-quarter 2012. Now, if you're willing to drop $150 on the new Withings Wireless Scale WS-30, all you need is a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone or tablet to do the trick.

Withings, the French technology company best known for its sleek wireless scales for adults and babies alike, just announced its latest offering at IFA 2012 in Berlin and says the WS-30 will be available in Europe in late September (PDF). Its new (and free) Health Companion app, which helps users track not just weight and BMI (body mass index) but … Read more

Transforming scale looks you in the eye

Baking can be a furious endeavor. Throw a cook into a fully stocked kitchen with a set of measuring tools and anything can happen. That doesn't mean everything has to happen, though. Any chef could live without the spills and the messes that inevitably occur from trying to use something that was designed for another purpose. Worse yet is when a commonly used item gets in the way.

Baking scales, like any other piece of kitchen equipment, are only as useful as far as they can be used. Sounds simple enough, but all too often utility is lost due … Read more