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

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

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

MOJAVE DESERT, Calif.--It's hard to imagine a more complete -- and impressive -- collection of aviation facilities and aircraft anywhere on the planet than the one in this vast, arid, wide-open wasteland northeast of Los Angeles.

Thanks to its endless amounts of dry, flat terrain, useless to most people, and the fact that there are only a few ways in -- vital for security -- the Mojave is, and has long been, the beating heart of the aviation world. It's here that Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier. And where Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne ushered in … Read more

Google's popular Nexus 7 tablet has display issues, according to an expert.

First of all, let's be clear: Google seems to have a certifiable hit with the Nexus 7 tablet and reviews have mostly been positive, if not very positive. And there have been no major complaints from review sites about the display.

That said, Raymond Soneira at DisplayMate Technologies says the tablet's display "falls short." Not mincing words, he says in a new blog post that he knew "something was seriously wrong" when he looked at the standard photos that DisplayMate uses … Read more

When considering the bitter rivalries that have emerged in the smartphone industry between Apple and its competitors (Samsung, Google, HTC, Nokia), one needs only to review the patent portfolio of each company to see from where it all stems.

To argue that the patent system is broken is another article for another day, but with Apple receiving the grant from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for document translation, rotation, and scaling, it is safe to assume that the intellectual property battles will only heighten.

Sure, in 2007, just as the iPhone was released, Apple had to teach the … Read more

I was struggling to meet a deadline, procrastinating on a million errands, and avoiding answering 100 e-mails -- in short, I was stressed. Then I saw this, and nothing seemed like a big deal anymore.

What is it? Why, it's everything. It's an interactive display of The Scale of the Universe. Twin 14-year-olds Cary and Micheal Huang built this elegant, mind-blowing rendering of the entire universe. And with their curiosity and gumption, they created the best tool I've ever encountered to "put things in perspective." Kurt Vonnegut would be proud. … Read more

Is it a mixing bowl? Is it a kitchen scale? Yes.

A large, durable mixing bowl is hard to not appreciate. It's perfect for so many things, from scrambling the morning eggs to whipping up batter for a decadent batch of brownies. So useful is the everyday kitchenware that it is hard to imagine asking any more utility from it. But that doesn't mean we can't.

Striving to become more than the sum of its parts, the Beurer Digital Mixing Bowl & Kitchen Scale offers an all-in-one solution to mixing and weighing needs. The overachieving bowl consists … Read more

Kitchen tools are only useful when they can be found.

Counter space is a valuable commodity in any kitchen. Not only does increased area allow for easy navigation during prep work and cooking, but it also makes finding things a whole lot easier. Gadgets and appliances have a tendency to find themselves tucked away in all manner of nooks and crannies as we manipulate them into ever smaller and smaller spaces. And then sometimes, they are hidden in plain view.

The Wolfgang Puck 2.5-pound Automatic Breadmaker with Scale ($179.95) brings together the cooking and the prep work necessary … Read more