Here’s a fantastic idea for a product: A coffee maker that responds to voice commands…just not a voice command to “make me some freaking coffee!” More »
The Jura F90 is a coffee maker than runs at $2000, largely due to its amazing internet powers, like remotely setting your coffee’s strength (strong enough to kill a horse, plz) and getting diagnostics help without sending the whole unit in for service. But the software has some serious holes like a buffer overflow vulnerability that’ll let hackers take over the PC you use to connect the F90 to the net, not to mention screw up your coffee, turning it into a sludgy cup of caffeinated tar, or worse, a watery, tea-like liquid. There’s no patch yet, but there better be soon. A computer getting hacked is really trivial, but shitty coffee from a $2000 machine is goddamn criminal. [Cnet]
When I want a perfect cup of coffee, a trip to my local Dunkin’ Donuts generally does the trick. But when you attempt to make the perfect cup at home using a precise blend of coffee, cream and sugar, the results can be hit or miss. A new concept called “Coffeetime” hopes to change all that with a system that allows users to choose precise amounts of the three elements at the push of a button. The controls are colour coordinated, so if you want a darker cup of coffee, it is a simple matter of choosing the right shade. I think the colour system is a bit off and the design could use three nozzles instead of one–but the concept has some potential. [Product Design Forums via The Design Blog]
No, it’s not a steampunk chemistry set. That picture is of the United States’ only halogen-powered siphon bar. Imported from Japan after years of negotiations, the US$20,000+ machine is housed at San Francisco’s Blue Bottle Café. Each “pot” consists of two globes. Water vapour evaporates from the bottom globe into the higher globe to meet the grounds. The coffee is then stirred with a bamboo paddle, removed from the heat and siphoned back to the lower globe (minus grounds). It sounds delicious…and totally worth whatever it costs per cup. Hit the NYT for the full mad scientist process in photos. [nyt via bornrich]
I try to stick with coffee joints I know and trust, so I don’t really have to worry about what’s going on behind the bar (I hope), but the gawker in me still likes the idea of a camera trained on the barista’s hands, brashly laying bare their every move for scrutiny. (And it’s not like I have anything else to do while I wait.) This setup is at an Amanti stand at the Melbourne airport, and now I’m very sad that my coffee machine is busted. [BoingBoing]
People love coffee, I get it. But spending $US11,000 on a machine that produces one cup of “heavenly” coffee at a time is just plain stupid. It pours water over a bean people. The device was developed by Clover for cafe owners looking to charge a premium (like $25 apparently) for a regular cup of coffee. The machine works using an extremely fine filter on top of a piston that sinks into the machine. Over time, the piston will rise creating a vacuum that forces water through the grounds. More info and an additional pic after the break.
