Gizmodo: ceramics

Self-Stirring Cup of Tea Puts My Left Hand Out of a Job

AddyDugdale — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:42:00 EDT

In GizmodoWorld, no one loves a cuppa quite like I do—although the amount of times I go to the kettle each day is giving me RSI. Anyways, two French guys have designed a cup of tea that stirs itself. Simple in its design, all you need do for it to work is channel your inner Cognac-drinker, swilling the liquid around the cup until the sugar has disolved. More info, including a How-To cartoon is after the jump.

The cup, called Ceramic For Mix, has a protruding base that bulges out—imagine a boa constrictor after an all-you-can-eat sheep buffet—and a ceramic ball that goes in the bottom. Pour in the PG Tips, add the milk, spoon in the sugar (if that is how you take your tea) and then swill the cup. Gravity ensures the ceramic ball doesn't bop you on the nose when you drink, apparently.

One of the designers, Florian Dussopt is expecting to sell his invention to cafes and bars, eliminating the need for a spoon (unless your sugar comes in a bowl, in which case you'll have to use your hands to shovel the sugar into your cup.) Should this be seen as spoonicide? "The aim is not to kill the spoon but to suggest an alternative for a special occasion," he says. So that's alright, then. [Daily Mail]

Talking Floor Helps Your Diet, Calls You Lazy Fatso

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 11:45:31 EST

Diet Floor is a "smart" talking ceramic floor that will talk to you whenever you spend too much time on top of it at the wrong times. In other words: you go to the kitchen in between meals, stop in front of the the refrigerator to see what you can nib on and it will shout something like "Watch out for those extra pounds!" or "Beware of the cold pizza monster!" or something like that. And it gets even better when you install them in an office environment.

Then, the tile will turn from diet helper to employee abuser: if you spend too much time in front of the water cooler or the coffee machine, it will say phrases like "You should be working now," at which time you would probably grab a stapler and start hitting it.

These infernal Diet Floor tiles, created by Spanish ceramics company Tau Cerámica and the inventor Pep Torres, have weight sensors and a CPU that controls different parameters. They can even detect individual people and record their activity in front of the fridge, as well as personalizing it to shout different messages according to the person on top. It's like an episode of Futurama, but not funny at all. [TAU Ceramic - In Spanish]

Ceramic TV is more High Art than High Definition

Addy Dugdale — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 04:03:44 EDT

This is Chinese artist Ma Jun's telly, which I've been test-driving at Gizmodo Towers. There was a remote, but it got smashed after my man and I had fisticuffs about what we were going to watch last night (he wanted The Bridges of Madison County, I wanted Seed of Chucky.) and he threw a wobbly and stormed out of the house.

Luckily I'd hidden the keys to the ceramic car, otherwise I guess we'd be sweeping him off the freeway by now.

– Ad Dugdale

Ma Jun's ceramic TVs and Boomboxes [Neatorama]

EEStor Ceramic Battery: Internal Combustion Replacement?

Charlie White — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 13:09:56 EDT

Seasoned scientists at EEStore say they've created a battery made of glass- and aluminum-coated ceramics that could allow electric motors to completely replace the internal combustion engine. The inventors, erstwhile Xerox PARC and IBMmers, boast about the car's efficiency, saying it'll be so cheap it'll be as if gas costs 45 cents per gallon, will drive 500 miles on nine bucks' worth of electricity, and needs just five minutes to completely recharge. Plus, the company's CEO says, "a four-passenger sedan will drive like a Ferrari." Tall claims, EEStore.

Meanwhile, Feel Good Cars, those Canadian electric carmeisters whose ZENN electric car is pictured above, vow to make this technology roadworthy by 2008. Oil companies, get out your checkbooks, but you'd better have some phat cash 'cause these EEStore guys are well-financed. – Charlie White

Never-Ending Potency: Battery Replacement Could Charge Electric-Car Industry [Jalopnik]