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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Smart Home

Fridge Eye is a Cheap Connected Camera to Smarten Up Your Fridge or Cupboard

While we cover smart appliances extensively here on The Spoon, we’re pretty hesitant about getting a smart fridge. They are pretty expensive, and since they are basically connected computers that also keep your food cold, there’s a greater chance that they will become obsolete. My “dumb” fridge may not have many bells and whistles, but a software upgrade will never brick it.

With its Fridge Eye, Munich-based brezzl.GmbH is looking to bring at least one feature of modern smart fridges to the one you already have — a connected camera. The Fridge Eye can be attached to the inside of a fridge, freezer or cupboard, and it takes a photo of whatever’s inside every time the door is closed. That image is beamed over WiFi to an app the Fridge Eye app on your mobile phone, so when you’re out grocery shopping, you know what you already have and don’t waste money or food with redundant purchases.

The camera battery is rechargeable, and brezzl. says that it is working on image recognition and recipe suggestion based on what you have in future releases.

Brezzl. is currently in the midst of a Fridge Eye crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, where it hopes to raise $25,000 to bring its product to market. Interested backers can get a Fridge Eye for $79. The apps are already available for download on iOS, iPadOS and Android and have shopping list creation and sharing features.

Fridge Eye comes at the same time that Smarter has announced its FridgeCam PLUS, launched in partnership with AEG/Electrolux. As we wrote last month, this upgraded FridgeCam features:

“…wider and higher-resolution image, as well as SmarterAssist, so it can recognize items in your fridge. The accompanying app, which is new, gives users an inventory of their fridge, an expiration date tracker, shopping lists and automated links for item re-stocking through Tesco and Amazon Fresh in the UK.”

Smarter didn’t release pricing information for the new Fridge Cam PLUS, but the previous version sells for £149.99.

As with any crowdfunded hardware campaign — buyer beware. History has shown that making hardware is hard and many products don’t make it to market (just ask the backers of Rite Press). But if you are looking for a smart fridge solution without spending thousands of dollars on a whole new appliance, getting a connected camera may not be a dumb idea.

Beko Unveils New Fridge Tech That Supposedly Makes Your Produce Healthier

Electronics brand and appliance maker Beko claims it has found a way to keep fruits and vegetables fresher and their nutrients intact when you store them in the fridge. The company today unveiled its HarvestFresh three-color technology at IFA 2019, Europe’s largest consumer electronics show.

Developed to go into Beko fridges, the technology recreates the 24-hour sun cycle in your refrigerator using combinations of blue, red, and green lights to mimic natural sunlight as well as “times of darkness,” according to a press release. The company says that doing so preserves Vitamin A and C levels in the produce, making them more nutritious when it comes time for eating: “By utilizing the power of varying light combination, fruits and vegetables are exposed to a natural way of preserving the vitamin, encouraging a healthier diet.”

A few details about the technology remain unclear, including whether consumers can program the light “recipe” themselves and if the light combo can adjust (with or without the consumer’s help) based on the types of produce in the fridge. According to the Beko press release, product testing and certification company Intertek tested the HarvestFresh tech in a lab on tomatoes and green peppers over a seven-day period. With such a limited timeframe and sampling of produce, it’s hard to say how effective this technology would be if used around the clock for months on end on a wide range of household produce.

Still, the idea of using light combinations to preserve and optimize produce — which is also a core element of vertical farming — is worth watching for the role it could potentially play not just in maintaining more nutrients in produce but also in preserving food for longer and in doing so cutting back on food waste in the home.

HarvestFresh technology will be available in select Beko fridges in 2020.

Wireless Power Consortium Announces Ki Standard for Cordless Kitchen Power

The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) today announced that its wireless power standard for kitchen appliances will be called Ki (pronounced “key”).

Wireless power in the kitchen would deliver just that, the ability to run appliances like coffee makers and toasters without the use of cords. With the Ki system, power transmitters are hidden under countertops and up to 2.2kW of electricity is delivered when Ki-compatible devices are placed on top of them.

From the WPC press release:

The Ki Cordless Kitchen standard works with any non-metal countertop or table surface, including marble, slate, granite, laminates, wood and many others. Enabled appliances communicate with the transmitter through near-field communication (NFC), a safe, inexpensive and pervasive technology currently used around the world in bankcards, door locks, passports, transport tickets, and more.

For safety, power does not transmit when other objects like keys or phones are placed on top of charging areas. This means that when not in use for powering devices, Ki-enabled countertops can be used for food preparation or eating.

You can see Ki wireless power in action in this Wireless Power Consortium video:

WPC Ki Cordless Kitchen Video

If the name “Ki” looks/sounds familiar, that’s because the WPC had previously developed the Qi wireless standard for charging things like mobile phones. The Qi standard is now part of 4,500 certified products in use today.

The WPC isn’t the only company working on wireless power. Powercast uses radio frequencies to wirelessly charge and power devices over the air.

The WPC said that its Ki-powered cordless kitchen will be on display at its booth at the IFA show in Berlin this week.

If Berlin is too far, you will also be able to see Ki in action next month at the Smart Kitchen Summit.

Cinder Rises From the Ashes, Backers to Get Their Grills Courtesy of Desora

Cinder Grill, the crowdfunded smart countertop cooking device that, errr flamed out last year (read our coverage of the legal saga), appears to be reborn, courtesy of an acquisition by Desora, who announced the news today.

In a pretty rare turn of events, the nearly 1,000 people who backed Cinder on Indiegogo will actually be getting the product they paid for! Most backers of failed hardware project get bupkis, but Desora posted the following on the crowdfunding platform today:

The Cinder Grill and its technologies were acquired and absorbed by Desora. Cinder is now being reintroduced as part of the Desora family of precision grilling and food products, including iKamand, a smart grill controller, ProJoe, Classic III, and Big Joe III, high-caliber grills powered by Desora. All of you who have supported Cinder previously will be receiving your grills as we bring the product to the U.S. market.

The Cinder can also be purchased online now for $429.

Upon hearing the news, we had a few questions, the first of which being, who is Desora? The company hadn’t come across our radar, but it has the aforementioned line of outdoor grill and grill control products including the iKamand smart grill temperature controller, so the Cinder acquisition is on brand for the company. According to Crunchbase, Desora has raised an undisclosed Series A round from Morningside Group, a Shanghai-based “private investment group founded in 1986 by the Chan family of Hong Kong.”

In the press announcement, Desora said it acquired Cinder in November 2018, which is a month after Cinder filed for bankruptcy UPDATE: Following the publication of this article, I learned from Desora’s CEO that his company’s acquisition offer was made before Palate Home actually filed the bankruptcy paperwork.. As we wrote back in October:

Chapter 7 bankruptcy means that Palate Home’s assets will be sold off to pay its creditors. What this means for the future of the technology behind Cinder is unclear. Will the underlying IP be acquired and baked into a different product?

We reached out to Desora to see if we could suss out any further details around the acquisition, the state of manufacturing and the future of the Cinder.

Pyrex Parent Company and Instant Pot to Merge

Corelle Brands announced Monday that it plans to merge with Instant Brands, the decade-old startup best known for turning the Instant Pot into a consumer favorite in the world of cookware. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, although the Wall Street Journal estimates it could be worth $2 billion.

That’s not too surprising, given the popularity of the Instant Pot, a hybrid product that acts as a slow cooker and a pressure cooker in one device. It regularly tops holiday shopping sales lists, and since launching the original product in 2010, the company has released multiple other products and amassed an online fanbase with a jaw-dropping level of enthusiasm for the company’s wares.

As we wrote last year, when including the company in our FoodTech 25 list: The Instant Pot is not the highest-tech gadget around, but its affordability, versatility, and speed have made this new take on the pressure cooker a countertop cooking phenomenon.

Besides making dishes that don’t break when you throw them, Corelle also owns ktichenware brand Pyrex, food-storage product maker Snapware, and Japanese knife manufacturer OLFA, among others. Cornell Capital bought Corelle back in 2017 for an undisclosed sum; once the deal with Instant Pot is finalized, both companies will be owned by Cornell Capital.

Instant Brands will keep its Ottawa, Canada headquarters. Meanwhile, Robert Wang, who invented the Instant Pot with $350,000 of his own money, will become the CIO of the combined business.

The deal will give Instant Pot access to new markets, particularly on the international front. From Corelle’s perspective, it’s a chance to refurbish a century-old brand and pair it with an Internet age startup that’s, according to Corelle CEO Ken Wilkes, “fundamentally changing how consumers think about cooking.” Indeed, the almost 2 million users in Instant Pot’s public Facebook group are constantly slinging new recipes at one another, along with cooking tips and problem-solving advice. I’m not so sure a Pyrex Facebook group will pop up anytime soon, but association with that kind of internet-centric kitchen activity will no doubt get Corelle’s family tree a more solid place in today’s connected kitchen.

Ray Ozzie’s New Company Could Make Connecting Kitchen Appliances Much Easier

People in food tech may not be familiar with Ray Ozzie by name. The former CTO of Microsoft, and creator of Lotus Notes, Ozzie’s work is definitely on the more tech-y side of technology. But kitchen appliance and hardware makers could soon become well acquainted with Mr. Ozzie, given that his new startup wants to make wirelessly connecting, well, anything, to the internet much easier.

Axios has the scoop on Ozzie’s new venture, dubbed Blues Wireless, and while details are scarce, the basics seem to be that Blues will use cellular networks instead of WiFi to wirelessly connect devices to the Internet. This cellular module will allow hardware to have its connection set at the factory, instead of making consumers go through the process at home. There are some other details about encryption and using Notecard, and you should check out Axios for the full story.

While things have definitely gotten better when it comes to connecting gadgets to your network, the experience can vary widely depending on the manufacturer. If Blues Wireless can economically make a kitchen appliance connect right out of the box, that will mean customers can see more functionality and use out of it right away. This, in turn can help spur growth in the connected kitchen space.

Blues Wireless isn’t the only company looking to make the process of connecting devices to the Internet easier. None other than Amazon launched it’s WiFi Simple Setup last year to take the pain out of setting up connected gadgets by letting Alexa share your home network credentials with compatible devices. Additionally, earlier this month, Amazon purchased WiFi router company, Eero, which became popular in part because it makes setting up devices easier.

Right now, Blues Wireless is small, being funded by Ozzie himself, and is currently in trials with AT&T. There’s no timeline on when any of the technology will actually reach the market, but people in food tech should at least being taking note of this news (and Ozzie’s name) right now.

How to Have a Hydroponic Farm in a Closet-Sized Apartment

I’ve long wanted to grow my own produce, even if it’s just lettuce. But since I live in a third-floor walkup the size of a Macy’s fitting room (and that includes the fire escape), outdoor gardening is out of the question.

At one point vertical farming as a solution would have been an outlandish solution, but it’s a growing industry, and more than one company now offers setups that the average person can fit into their home and operate without any assistance from an agriculture expert. Armed with that encouragement, I’ve been shopping for an indoor farm that will a) fit into my tiny apartment and b) compensate for the fact that I’m such a bad gardener that I once killed a cactus.

Here’s what I found:

CityCrop
CityCrop‘s farm has automated much of the science behind plant care, so that a user just buys the device and downloads an app, drops seeds into the farm’s base, then lets the system do the rest. Via notifications to the app, the software will tell you how to adjust the temperature so it’s ideal for your crops and when to water, and will even give plant care tips based on snapshots of your plants.

The farm is also small, which means it easily fits into tiny living spaces. Predictably, leafy greens are the most common crops, though the UK-based company also says you can grow things like edible flowers and strawberries. If the point is access to fresh greens even when you’re a city dweller with no time to grow, this makes sense as a solution — though it doesn’t come cheap. CityCrop is shipping in Q1 of 2019, for £999 (about $1300 USD) excluding shipping and VAT fees. As with any product that has yet to ship, proceed with a grain of caution as there’s no guarantee as to when it’ll actually hit the market.

Ponix Systems
Ponix promises on its website that “you neither need a balcony nor water to grow your vertical farm at home.” The company’s hydroponic farm, named Herbert, is a wall-like slab with shelves mounted to it where the plants grow accompanied by overhead LEDs.

To use Herbert, you place seeds into the pods, which then fit into the shelves. Add water every one to two weeks, and fertilizer every three to four weeks. The system does the rest of the work in terms of helping you maintain healthy plants, adjust light settings, and perform other maintenance tasks. Herbert can grow up to 15 plants at a time.

Because it lives on a wall-mounted panel, Herbert definitely takes up the least amount of space of any farm on this list. Right now it’s selling for €490.00 (~$553 USD) not including shipping. From a cost-point and a space perspective, I’d say Herbert is probably most appropriate for a dressing-room-sized apartment.

SproutsIO
Smart Kitchen Summit alum SproutsIO has a smart microgarden lets you grow up about 36 servings of leafy greens in the span of one month, and on your coffee table. The actual “farm” is basically a smart device in a potted plant, and at a mere 12 inches wide, is a self-contained farm that would fit on your coffee table with no problems.

The microgarden uses a proprietary combination of wavelength-tuned LEDs, sensors (for light, temperature, etc.), and an onboard camera, and connects to your smartphone via the SproutsIO app. The base of the device, meanwhile, can includes and electronic mister, to circulate water, and can expand as plant roots get larger. And it’s dishwasher safe.

The product is expected to ship in Q3 of 2019, for $799. As of right now, SproutsIO is for U.S. orders only.

Ava Byte
Ava Byte also uses a combination of hardware, software, AI, sensors, and a smartphone app to bring intelligent gardening to your tabletop. One thing about this grow system that’s different from others is that Ava Technologies developed lights that adapt to different types of plants, rather than the standard “on/off” timer used with most systems. A time-lapse camera lets you monitor plant growth remotely, and Ava claims its plants can grow three times faster than those farmed with traditional methods.

Ava Technologies, who raised a $2.6 million seed round last year, is another SKS alumni, and you can see company Valerie Song pitch the product in this video to get a good idea of how it works. Byte is by far the cheapest on this list, at $299. Throw in an extra $99 for a year’s worth of seeds.

Opcom
Opcom’s farm is a little bit bigger but will still fit in larger houses. The five-foot GrowWall2 grows up to 80 plants at once, which means you could supply the family with fresh greens every day and still have enough to moonlight as a farmer’s market retailer if you wanted. Opcom also makes a smaller GrowFrame, which fits on a wall. Its smallest, most affordable offering is the GrowBox.

GrowBox is a tabletop, automated hydroponic system that manages its own lighting and water circulation. Each GrowBox is shipped with seeds, and the device itself is super portable, despite its 50-plant capacity. It’s $599, though Opcom sells a ton of different products, and there are even smaller, cheaper options. But if you’re looking to get familiar with vertical farming or just want better greens in your life, this is a good route to travel.

As of this writing, I’m leaning towards Ponix Systems’ Herbert as the best option for indoor farming in a tiny space, as it only requires a wall, not floor or table space. However, this is not an exhaustive list of at-home vertical farms, so if there are others that merit mention, drop ’em in the comments. And stay tuned for further adventures in urban farming.

Moar Data! Amazon Buys Smart WiFi Company Eero

Amazon announced today it is acquiring home mesh networking and WiFi router company Eero. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Eero is popular thanks to its smart mesh routers, which make setting up and connecting devices to your WiFi easy. But Amazon isn’t just buying Eero because of its sales. By owning Eero, Amazon will also get more data at the network level as to how consumers are using their internet-connected devices. Is your Roku gobbling up most of your data usage? Why don’t you check out an Amazon Prime Video free trial! And as my former colleague, Stacey Higginbotham of the Internet of Things Podcast pointed out, the opposite is true as well. Amazon can see which devices are inefficient, then build its own, ideally better, solutions.

The Eero system creates a mesh network by deploying small hardware beacons around your home. Kinda like how you can put multiple Echos throughout your house. The goal of Alexa has always been to replicate the ubiquitous “computer” from Star Trek–an invisible presence that responds to your vocal commands. Seems like adding Alexa functionality to the beacons is probably in the cards to work towards that ubiquity.

The Eero purchase also makes sense when you think about the press conference Amazon held back in November, where it launched “Frustration Free Setup.” Part of that mission was WiFi Simple Setup. As The Verge wrote then:

Now, compatible devices will be able to access the Wi-Fi credentials stored on your Amazon products so that they can automatically connect to the internet within seconds of being plugged in.

Connecting Alexa-powered devices to your Eero-powered network could now be even more vertically integrated, not to mention making Amazon-brand appliances like the Alexa microwave easier to install. If Amazon builds more connected appliances (fridges, dishwashers, countertop ovens, etc.), it could make installation that much easier and even direct Eero owners towards buying them (Amazon noticed you don’t have a fridge connected to the internet, you should totally buy this Amazon-brand one). This of course, would create more lock-in for Amazon’s Alexa ecosystem (good for Amazon, bad for consumers).

Of course, maybe your Amazon house will come with Eero already built in as well.

But the acquisition just happened today, and these are just the standard hot takes and speculation. However, as my other former colleague, Janko Roettgers of Variety pointed out on Twitter:

It’s old hat at this point to say this, but we are handing over not just more, but deeper data about our behaviors to big companies in the name of convenience. Most of us seem fine with that, so don’t expect these types of acquisitions from the big tech companies to stop.

Single? Samsung Launches Matchmaking Service Based Off What’s In Your Fridge

You know how they say that the best way to a man’s (or woman’s) heart is through their stomach? Well, Samsung is hoping that it’s actually through your fridge.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the technology giant is launching an online dating service called… wait for it… Refrigerdating. Users can upload a photo of their fridge (presumably after throwing away their moldy leftovers and Single Girl margarita mix) for free to the Refrigerdating website. After adding a short bio and a way to get in touch (phone number (!!!), email, etc), they’ll be given a string of other fridge shots and can either select “Not to My Taste” or “Let’s Get Cooking.” Matches will appear on the site and either party can reach out to connect to the human owner of the appliance that caught their eye. And who said romance is dead?

The app is meant to work in tandem with the Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator, which is outfitted with an Amazon Dash Button-enabled touchscreen on the door and an interior camera meant to let you track your fridge’s contents (and their expiration dates) from anywhere. But never fear: even those with plain old regular ‘fridges can still find love through Refrigerdating. As of now, there’s no mobile version of the app; it’s only accessible through a web browser.

According to CNET, the idea for Refrigerdating originated in Sweden, where there are apparently lots of single people and sexy fridges. Currently, the vast majority of users are in the Nordic region, but anyone in the world can try out the app. The release is clearly timed for Valentine’s Day, but there’s no word from Samsung on how long the service will last.

For Samsung, there’s an obvious payoff: getting a literal glimpse into your fridge, collecting data on what you’re buying and how you’re storing. From a romantic perspective, though, the idea may seem laughable at first (the cheesy name doesn’t help). But the more I thought about it, the more I decided there may actually be something to choosing your potential mate based on what they eat every day. After all, food is a huge part of life and can give good insight into individual values, lifestyle, and tastes — literally and figuratively.

If you know that someone likes organic yogurt, grass-fed beef, and natural wine, you’ll have a very different picture than if you know they subsist off of Gatorade and single-serve microwaveable meals. Of course, that’s assuming that no one tries to Refrigerdate catfish by hiding their Kraft singles behind their artisanal cheddar, the equivalent of posting a photo on a dating app of yourself ten years prior (when you still had hair).

In the end, selecting someone based off of the contents of their fridge makes just about as much sense as selecting based off of a few photos and a one-sentence bio. So if you’re hungry for love this Valentine’s season, maybe it’s worth putting yourself — and your fridge — out there.

Google’s Not-So-Secret Weapon in the Virtual Assistant Wars: Photos

If the kitchen is the heart of the home, then Google, not Amazon has the upper hand when it comes to building the smart kitchen assistant of choice. The secret weapon of the Google Home Hub isn’t a smarter AI, or better sound quality (it’s definitely not that), it’s pictures.

To understand why pictures are so important to winning in the smart assistant space, think of the iconic Kodak pitch scene in Mad Men. In it, Don Draper explains that the 1960s slide projector didn’t have a “wheel” as the executives described it, but rather a nostalgic carousel.

Mad Men - The Carousel (Higher Quality)

While it was far less dramatic (and fewer cigarettes were smoked), my wife recently explained that she had formed an “emotional connection” with the Google Home Hub, Google’s smart display. This immediately caught my attention because she was more frustrated than anything by Amazon’s Echo Show, but she genuinely loves Google Home Hub. That’s because it is a kind of time machine. Google Home Hub can access the thousands of pictures stored in my Google Photos account. Any time she’s in the kitchen, she sees a picture of our son’s fifth birthday party, or the moment he lost a tooth, or a vacation picture, and it makes her happy.

Google Home Hub is her (and my) carousel, and this type of emotional connection will only get stronger as we get older and the photos from today resurface years from now. We actually demoted our Echo Show to the living room even though we listen to a ton of music and the sound quality of the Home Hub is way worse. Being able to see our photos was more important than the fidelity of Steely Dan’s Aja.

Alexa cannot access my photos and I have no plans to store them on Amazon. I’m pretty deep in the Google Photo ecosystem and I’m not alone. As of May 2017, Google Photos had 500 million users. They make it so easy to upload from your phone that it’s hard to envision a scenario where I switch to Amazon Photos just so I could see them on an Echo Show.

But this isn’t just about warm and fuzzy feelings. There is big money at stake.

As my colleague Mike Wolf has written, kitchen screens are going to be a big deal. The combination of voice control and visuals allow you to quickly find out information, plan your day, access video entertainment, and even help guide you while you cook.

On a very base level, there are billions of dollars at stake from the device sales alone. Strategy Analytics reports that more than 12 million homes will own a smart display by the end of this year, and that number will jump to 100 million homes by 2023. Whoever can grab more marketshare, obviously, makes more direct sales money.

Then of course there is the additional revenue generating opportunity from photo storage. I’ve paid Google two bucks a month for four years for that privledge, and don’t see a time when I’ll stop (hopefully they won’t kill it).

And because we live in the times we do, dominant smart assistants also get access to all that data we generate by asking it questions, controlling our smart devices and playing us songs and videos. That data, in turn, helps perpetuate whomever’s dominance. Right now, Alexa is king in the smart speaker space, but its lead is slipping as Google gains marketshare.

Whoever dominates in the smart assistant space also helps shape the future of the connected kitchen as appliance makers look to incorporate new technologies that have a proven user base. Google was everywhere at CES last week, and more appliance makers are highlighting Google Home integration. GE Appliances showed off its mega Kitchen Hub 27 inch video touchscreen that mounts above your oven. It runs on Android and the company highlighted its Google Assistant integration. Elsewhere, KitchenAid joined other manufacturers like JBL and Lenovo in launching its own Google-powered smart display.

The smart assistant is the tip of the spear to accessing and controlling more of your future smart home. Though the battle has just begun, in the smart assistant arms race between Google and Amazon, it’s not necessarily the brains of the device that will prove to be the winner, but the one that wins over our hearts.

CES 2019 Video: SeedSheet Launching Sensor for Idiot-Proof Home Gardens

Much as I love the idea of home gardening and picking fresh herbs from my windowsill to sprinkle over a pasta dish, anything I try to grow at home usually ends up dying within a few weeks. I either forget to water my plants, or else they perish due to weeds or lack of sunlight.

Maybe I should give Seedsheet a go. We wrote about this startup, which makes sheets that have pods of seeds embedded in a weed-blocking fabric, back in 2017, just a month after they got half a million bucks from Shark Tank investor Lori Greiner. Basically, it’s an idiot-proof garden.

And soon it will become even more easy to manage: in June, Seedsheet will launch a bluetooth sensor which you can stick in your Seedsheet-covered pot to give real-time data about ambient light, soil moisture, and more.

We caught up with Seedsheet CEO Cameron MacKugler on the CES floor to talk about what’s next for his company and the home gardening space in general. Give it a watch below:

The Spoon Talks to Seedsheet At CES 2019

Cheers to the Future: Five Cool Beverage Startups at CES’ Eureka Park

Sure, the towering installations, self-driving cars, and elaborate smart home setups at CES are fun to see. But my favorite part of the show is wandering through Eureka Park, the gigantic open room filled with over 1,200 startups all hoping to make a name for themselves. Meandering up and down the aisles of this room is one of the best ways to discover companies that are hidden gems.

Interestingly, some of this year’s coolest startups involved beverages. From coffee alarm clocks to wine sensors, here are five that caught my eye amid the chaos of Eureka Park.

Capsulier
Making your morning espresso with a coffee pod is super convenient, but those plastic pods are a blight on the environment (unless you mail them back to Nespresso), not to mention, expensive. Atom Xquare Limited’s Capsulier device is out to free you from the pod with their countertop machine which lets you make your own custom coffee pods for Nespresso machines. Just put a scoopful ground coffee (or loose-leaf tea) in the top of the device, pop in the reusable stainless steel pod, and pull the lever to pack your own pod. You can use it in your Nespresso machine, then wash it out and then reuse.

There are already refillable Nespresso capsules on the market, but Capsulier promises to precisely measure and pack your coffee so there’s no mess or guestimating. As of now the Capsulier only makes pods that fit into Nespresso machines, so if you use a Keurig you’re out of luck. The device retails for $99 on Atom Xquare Limited’s website, and you can purchase additional pods for $36 each.

 

TeaRado
TeaRado Tech‘s smart, self-heating tea tumbler can brew up to two cups of tea on the go. To make the tea, fill the interior basket with loose leaf tea, pour room temperature water into the tumbler, and set the brew time and water temperature on the TeaRado app. In 12 to 15 minutes, the water will heat up to 170 °F and brew the tea via an automated French Press-like movement. You can either brew by setting the tumbler on a charging pod and plugging it into the wall, or attaching it to a battery pack to brew on the go.

TeaRado’s brewer will retail for $150, and users can also purchase tea through the connected app. TeaRado will launch on Kickstarter on April 15 and is expected to ship in December of this year.

 

Photo: Catherine Lamb

MyOeno Scan
Unless you’re a sommelier, figuring out the composition of wines — and which types you like — can be a daunting challenge. MyOeno Scan has a small device (roughly 4 inches long) which, when inserted into a glass of wine, will display a breakdown of its levels of tannins, acidity, and strength on the MyOeno app. Afterwards, you drink and rate the wine, so the app learns what type you like. Once you’ve established your taste profile, you can search for compatible wines on the MyOeno app and see where they’re available to purchase.

The device retails for €89 ($102 USD) and is available on the MyOeno website and through Amazon. Fun fact: MyOeno can also be used in milk to detect if it contains any water or detergent, a service which the team told me is mostly used in Asia.

 

Photo: Catherine Lamb

Barisieur
Dragging yourself out of bed in the morning is way easier if coffee is near. U.K. startup Barisieur‘s coffee brewer alarm clock brings the cup of joe to you while you’re still in bed. The night before, fill the drawer on the front of the device with ground coffee (or tea), then set your alarm and indicate whether you want your coffee to start brewing before, during, or after your alarm sounds. It takes 2 to 3 minutes for the water to boil, and a few more for the coffee to brew. There’s even a small chilled compartment where you can keep a wee container of milk or half-n-half.

Barisieur retails for $445 (zoinks!), and is available online and in several large department stores in the U.K. and U.S.

 

DrinkShift
No one likes running out of beer. And while keeping track of your bottle count isn’t exactly rocket science, the new smart beer fridge from Tokyo-based DrinkShift manages your stock for you. The fridge’s server monitors your drinking pace and uses an algorithm to figure out when to re-order more brewskies so you never run out. You can customize beer packages to indicate which ones you want, and they’re delivered to your door via a third party retailer.

DrinkShift debuted their fridge this April; it was immediately bought by Panasonic. It’s not on the market yet, and also doesn’t yet have a retail price — but one of the booth workers told me it will first roll out in Japan.

Eureka Park is huge and I am but one person — did I miss any cool, under-the-radar startups? Let us know in the comments or tweet us @TheSpoonTech!