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We’re one step closer to Aunt Beru’s Star Wars-cool Kitchen

Screen Shot 2015-05-23 at 2.39.22 PMAunt Beru gets even less screen time than Uncle Owen in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but all geeks remember her funky kitchen. Clean, space age appliances that made cool whirring noises and showed quite the contrast to the outside of their home that looked like some dusty ant hills in the desert. Their kitchen looked like IKEA and a geek had a baby.

A couple of Dutch designers, Nils Chudy and Jasmina Grase, are about to bring us a bit closer to that reality – albeit without the blue milk or subsequent destruction by Imperial troops. Chudy and Grase present us with a problem we didn’t realize we had, and give us a super cool solution we want – and we want it now! We are using too much time and energy heating up a kettle of water for our hot tea. These out of the box thinkers came up with a way to pull of induction even in your favorite ceramic or glass mug – by using a metal piston of sorts that does the work for you. Just heat the water you need, not a whole pot full. It’s quicker and doesn’t waste all the energy you could be expending lighting the streets of London. 🙂

This is apparently what happens when you boil an entire kettle of water instead of using Induction - like they do with the MIITO.

This is apparently what happens when you boil an entire kettle of water instead of using Induction – like they do in the MIITO.

Their Kickstarter project, the MIITO, still has a couple of weeks left until the campaign is over – so you can back them now or order later… but it’s clear that they have already exceeded their funding goal by over a quarter of a million dollars as of me typing this out. So far, backers have pledged $402,533 of their $167,383 goal. It has been my experience with Kickstarter that you want to back early – you get one of the first shipments after they’re made and you’re not waiting for them to fulfill other orders before they get to yours.

induction

Geekworthy machined pocket tool of noms

Clever, useful, sexy awesome tool d'art.

Clever, useful, sexy awesome tool d’art.

This is another cool gadget I backed on Kickstarter, the Tool Pen Mini – and it was successfully funded way beyond what the makers had anticipated – $350K raised with a goal of only $15k. They are already taking online orders for their well-thought-out creation.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love well machined, shiny metal (or even matte) objects… with or without a purpose. I’ve had the obsession since childhood and it has never left. I gotta tell you – I feel the love and affirmation of fellow shiny metal object aficionados when I see thousands backing the same item (4,644 backers pledged $350,119). 🙂

This clever tool by Mininch fits in your pocket like a pen, but holds a slew of bits for all sorts of projects. Doing a repair on your Macbook Pro, your iPhone, your Android, or a host of other gadgets with all kinds of non-standard bits? I have worked in the Apple Store Genius Room – and I call tell you, with all the cool tools they have in the back for repair, this is cooler still. Their original Tool Pen holds more stout bits for bigger jobs – their Tool Pen Mini fits in your shirt pocket and tackles those tiny screws found in your glasses, in the aforementioned iPhone and all sorts of wee, tiny electronics that require finesse and precision. Check out the video below and visit their site for more details. They sell lots of bit accessories for their pens – you pull the bit out from the front and pop it in the back – and voila! In Playdough Factory fashion, the next bit is fed into the chamber and ready for work.