A self-professed food geek has developed a sleek kitchen gadget that makes high-end sous vide cooking accessible in your own home. Sous vide is a cooking technique where food is kept in a water bath that is held at a consistent, low temperature. As explained in the video below, the sous vide method can’t overcook food in the water, allowing consistent results each time you make something. It is partially similar to cooking with a crock pot, in that you can plan a meal ahead and leave food cooking for hours at a time. Seattle-based Scott Heimendinger and Lukas Svec created the Sansaire immersion circulator, which heats and holds water at a very precise temperature, circulating the water to even out hot and cold spots. The consistent results give you evenly-cooked food, as show in the image below (sous vide on left, versus traditionally-cooked on right). Sous vide is a technique we’ve seen in restaurants, but Heimendinger told Mashable it makes sense in the home environment “because it removes you from the role of human thermostat.” In an oven, the temperature is higher so you can overcook food. With sous vide, the water bath is set at or slightly above the intended temperature you want the food to reach. Heimendinger said he cooks a medium-rare steak via sous vide at about 52 degrees Celsius. Afterwards, he uses a blow torch to quickly sear the steak. Heimendinger, also founder of the blog SeattleFoodGeek.com, said he first discovered this technique when he went out to dinner and had a side salad with a sous-vide-cooked egg on top. “The texture was so incredible,” he told Mashable. “It was so perfectly cooked. The yolk: it was thick but still runny, and the white was like pudding … There was something totally special and different about it, and I had to know how it came to be so.” Along with cofounder Svec, Heimendinger wants to take their Sansaire gadget into full-scale production by raising funds on Kickstater. Their project hit its $100,000 goal in about 13 hours, when it first launched in early August. With 13 days still left to go in the Kickstarter campaign, backers had already pledged more than $516,000, as of Friday afternoon. The Sansaire costs $199, much lower than the pro $1,200 circulators Heimendinger says he traditionally saw on the market. This summer, competitor Nomiku also raised more than a half-million dollars on Kickstarter for its immersion circulator. The Nomiku device currently costs $359. A Food Geek Heimendinger (pictured above, left) said he has always had some interest in food, noting that both his parents were good cooks and used to have a lot of dinner parties. “When I got to college, I got more interested in cooking on my own, mostly because the food on campus was pretty terrible,” he said. Heimendinger studied information systems at Carnegie Mellon University and has worked for IBM and Microsoft. He’s now involved with Modernist Cuisine, a Seattle-area research lab that merges the art […]
MakerBot CEO Jenny LawtonJenny Lawton took a somewhat circuitous route to the helm of 3D printing leader MakerBot. Before joining the company as “Head of People” in 2011, Lawton spent ten years in retail, running her own bookstore in Greenwich, Connecticut. And though physical book selling might appear the polar opposite of 3D printing, which takes digital ideas and makes them physical, Lawton told me she learned a lot in the “down and dirty” retail business. “Retail is tough, tough work,” said Lawton and her bookstore taught her valuable lessons about small business, inventory management and the critical nature of customer relations. Lawton was able to layer that knowledge on top of a rather rich and impressive background in startups and technology. The 51 year old Quantico, Virginia, native studied applied math at Union College before going to work at the MIT in the late 1980s. In 1991, Lawton (along with Christopher Caldwell) launched the Web consulting firm Net Daemon Associates and rode the Internet wave (they created Monster.com) and subsequent bubble right up to the 1999 burst when Lawton sold the company to Interliant. After that, Lawton spent a couple of years in venture capital. Then 9/11 happened. It was, for Lawton, a pivotal experience. She been living what she called a “a go-go” lifestyle. After the terrorists attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, Lawton took stock and thought, “Hey, there’s a different way to do this.” Her love of reading led her to buy the bookstore and build it into a community based service. “I can’t tell you how cool it is to turn a kid onto reading.” A different passion Now, however, Lawton is turned on by the sound of 3D printers and whenever she gets to bring kids into her home to show them any of her five 3D printers in action. She’s also excited about the future of MakerBot, even if the short term does not include new 3D printing hardware. “I am happy to say that we’re not going to be launching new hardware products at CES,” said Lawton sounding gleeful. She told me that MakerBot introduced five new products at CES 2014, including a giant $7,000 3D printer capable of printing 10 objects at once. All that hardware leaves MakerBot with lots of work to do on many fronts, including solidifying the ecosystem and polishing the projects that are still just rolling out to customers (the mini started shipping in May.) “We really feel like they need time in the market. Next year is not the year of hardware: Focus on ecosystem and material space,” said Lawton. In other words, MakerBot’s new smart extruder will likely take the company well beyond printing with tradition 3D printing materials like the biodegradable PLC. Growing up A little more than a year ago, MakerBot was acquired by another 3D printing company, Stratasys. Little has changed since then, with the notable exception of the company leadership. Over the summer, MakerBot Co-Founder and CEO Bre Pettis […]
The Jawbone Up debuted last year with big ambitions: A bracelet-like device that you’d wear all the time, tracking how much you move and how well you sleep. Paired with an app, the Up helps you recognize patterns in your habits, empowering you to improve your health. One problem: It wasn’t built to withstand the punishment of being a wearable device. Unlike a cellphone that resides in your pocket or a bag, the Up wraps around your wrist, exposed to the world just as much as your skin is. Many users found it quickly malfunctioned, and Jawbone recalled the Up and issued refunds. After nearly a year of revamping and beta testing, Jawbone is releasing Up 2.0. Although it looks exactly the same on the outside, the internals have been thoroughly changed, built to a new strength that goes way beyond industry standards, the company says. For instance, Jawbone exposed the Up to various chemicals and solvents, tested it, then exposed it again and again. There were also many drop tests. In total, 2.9 million hours of testing went into the second version of the product, the company says. Now the new Up is here, selling for $129.99, or $30 more than the original (those extra man-hours don’t pay for themselves). It comes in three sizes and eight different colors. You can get one, starting today, at Jawbone’s website, the Apple Store, Best Buy and AT&T stores. We’ll have a review after we’ve had a chance to check it out for a few days. What do you think of the Up? And what would convince you to use it? Share your impressions in the comments. Image courtesy of Jawbone Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/11/13/jawbone-up-new/
Amazon is set to make an announcement this morning at an event in Santa Monica, and Mashable is live on the scene. Photos of both an updated Kindle Fire and a new Kindle Touch with “Paperwhite” display have leaked out over the past few weeks, suggesting that both devices may see an update at Thursday’s event. The Kindle Fire was announced on September 28, 2011. The 7-inch tablet made a splash in the tablet world, primarily for its $199 price tag. In December 2011 customers purchased more than 1 million Kindles each week, allowing Amazon to sell 4.7 million of the e-readers during the 4th quarter. UPDATE: Amazon Unveils Kindle ‘Paperwhite’ | Amazon Drops Price of New Kindle Fire to $159 | Amazon Announces Bigger, Bolder, Kindle Fire HD So, will we see a new Kindle? The first Amazon phone? Something entirely different? Keep your browser pointed here for the events as they happen — starting at 10:30 a.m. PT — with commentary from the Mashable crew. And feel free to jump into the discussion anytime with comments (though not all of them will be published). Amazon Unveils New Products in California 1. Amazon event stage 2. Amazon event stage 3. Amazon event stage 4. Amazon event stage 5. Amazon event stage 6. Amazon event stage 7. Amazon event stage 8. Amazon event stage 9. Amazon event stage 10. Amazon event stage 11. Amazon event stage 12. Amazon event stage 13. Amazon event stage 14. Amazon event stage 15. Amazon event stage 16. Amazon event stage 17. Amazon event stage 18. Amazon event stage Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/09/06/live-from-amazons-california-event/
The manically paced new music video for Will.i.am and Britney Spears‘s “Scream and Shout” throws in cameos from several gadgets, including an iPhone, an i-limb ultra prosthetic hand and the new Beats Pill speaker. A snippet of the video premiered Wednesday during The X Factor, followed by its full-length release online. It’s no surprise that a Beats by Dre product got some play in the video, as “Scream and Shout” is the song used in the brand’s most-recent commercial, which stars will.i.am and a slew of other celebrities. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/11/29/will-i-am-britney-spears-scream-and-shout-gadgets/
Image: Mashable, Christina Ascani With a new software update, Google Glass users will now be able to see notifications just by moving their eyes. Usually, when a Glass user receives an alert, the device will sound a chime, but the screen won’t show what the alert is unless the user either nods or taps the touchpad. With the new update, all a Glass wearer has to do is glance at the virtual screen. Image: Google In a Google+ post, Google said the feature was experimental. There’s no question it makes seeing alerts even more convenient than before, although it may end up making them too convenient — Glass has already been criticized for its potential to distract. Making alerts “glanceable” adds a layer of social acceptability, however. If the wearer were, say, in a business meeting or in church, tapping his or her headset or nodding might be distracting to the people around them, whereas a quick glance would probably go virtually unnoticed. Glass owners can enable the feature via a “Notification glance” card in the device’s settings. Like other experimental features, such as “Wink for picture,” the new glanceable notifications may not make it into the final product for the general public, which will reportedly be available this year. A beta version of Glass is currently available to the public. Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/06/04/google-glass-glanceable-notifications/
The new iPad mini was released Friday, and Jimmy Kimmel doesn’t seem very enthusiastic about it. In a parody iPad mini commercial that aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live Thursday, first came the iPod. Then a thinner iPod. Then an iPod you can touch. Then lots of other iPods — ones that allow you to shuffle your songs, ones you can talk on, a gigantic one you can’t talk on. And today, Apple released a slightly bigger iPod that you can’t talk on. Which, according to the video, pretty much means we’re all suckers. iPad Mini at the Apple 5th Ave Store The flagship Buyers started lining up to buy Apple’s long-anticipated iPad Mini at the flagship store the day before it went on sale. All-weather Apple fans Undaunted by the long lines and the cold, hundreds waited all night for the Apple store to open at 10am. One of the first A proud owner shows off his new purchase. The out-of-towners Hundreds of foreigners stood in line for the latest iPad. Only the wifi version is on sale for now. Camping out Unlike the iPhone 5, which gathered week-long lines, no one waited for days to buy the iPad Mini. But lines still snaked around the blocks surrounding the Apple store. Survival of the fittest Possibly the first person in line for the iPad Mini — Luis Lorenzo, who was first in line yesterday, was nowhere to be found. ipad7 Reporters from various countries visited the flagship store to ask buyers about their thoughts about the iPad Mini. The queue At the 5th Avenue Apple store, lines stretched for at least three blocks to buy the new iPad Mini or fourth-generation iPad. Out with the old Apple employees enthusiastically high-fived buyers as they filtered into the store to buy their new iPads. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/11/02/parody-ipad-mini-ad/
Most people tend to be disgusted by bugs, but some robot researchers are inspired by them. Scientists at Harvard have spent the past five years building robot bugs that can move with the same dexterity and speed as real-life insects. The goal, according to Harvard Microbiotics Lab, is to “create high-performance aerial and ambulatory microrobots,” which can perform tasks such as “search and rescue operations, assisted agriculture, environmental monitoring, and exploration of hazardous environments.” The researchers have designed robobugs that can move as fast as 37 centimeters — the equivalent of more than eight times its body length — per second. One of the bugs is about as small as a penny; another bug is a bit larger and has a built-in battery supply so it can scurry around for longer periods of time. It seems that Harvard has gone bug-crazy. Earlier this year, scientists at the university unveiled a bug-sized flying robots with a 3-centimeter wingspan — and yes, the wings look just like the wings on a bug. Image courtesy of YouTube, MicrobioticsLab Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/06/23/robot-bugs/
Image: Christina Ascani/Mashable Samsung‘s Gear S smartwatch, initially unveiled in August, will be available in the U.S. “this fall,” the company announced on Wednesday. In a short press release, Samsung added that the watch will be available through AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless — and that’s pretty much all the info we’ve got. There was no word on pricing, but Samsung says more info about the Gear S will come “soon.” The Gear S sports a 2-inch SuperAMOLED screen, 3G connectivity, and it doesn’t require a Samsung smartphone nearby to operate. On Tuesday, Samsung also announced the pricing and availability for its Galaxy Note Edge, Gear S and Gear VR in Australia. They’re all going down under in November, while the Note 4 is coming in October. The price for the Gear S is $A499 or approximately $443. Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/09/24/samsung-gear-s-u-s-this-fall/
Nike has developed a special set of glasses that enhance an athlete’s physical reaction time and visual performance. Backed by Duke University research, the SPARQ Sensory Performance system assesses users’ needs and develops a training program to “fine tune” their sensory skills. The method uses a “Sensory Station” to evaluate 10 sport-relevant visual and sensory performance skills. Using data from this assessment and a comparison of their performance against others in the same sport, athletes are given a series of recommended training programs using Nike’s SPARQ Vapor Strobe Eyewear. These glasses use a strobe-like effect to block the wearer’s vision for short periods of time. While training using these classes, the user’s brain learns to anticipate what’s coming when vision is blocked, resulting in improved reaction time, visual acuity and sense of timing. The glasses are fully integrated into customized training programs and have variable strobe speeds. The system is already in use at professional and collegiate athletic programs, with a global rollout of the system is expected soon. In addition to physical performance improvements, a Duke University study found that athletes who had used the SPARQ system had “heightened” visual short-term memory retention. Those who had used it were able to better remember letters quickly flashed on a screen. While it may not help you cram for a final, it seems that this system could have applications beyond sports. It’s another example of the future of performance training being increasingly defined by the use of innovative technology over increased strength and endurance training. This article originally published at PSFK here Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/30/nike-strobe-light-glasses/
