What a simple solution to getting the measure right; The SmartMeasure Cup it is! It’s got an angled display at the handle so that you don’t need to haunch over or crane your neck to see the unit-markings of the cup. A backlit LCD display conveys the precise measurements, eliminating guesswork and eyestrain. Intuitive controls offer easy navigation and you can even work your way thru the pre-set ingredient measures for common recipes. It’s so smart that it can even do unit conversions for you.
The cup slides out of the casing for easy cleaning, however the real good news is that Taylor Kitchenware has picked up this design and we will hopefully see it in stores by Fall.
Designers: Ryan Eder & Chris Daniels of Priority Designs
A ridiculous amount of material and technology for a measuring cup. If your concern is getting it just right, use a cup measure set, or you can get measuring cups with measurement marks put in a viewable place:
http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/catalog/product.jsp?categoryCode=KW&productId=11000
or search for easy read measuring cup.
Check out the OXO line of measuring cups.
http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Angled-Measuring/dp/B0000AYLNR
Why not just make the handle hollow (so water flows in there too) & transparent, put the markings there and your done.
Presumably the cup is also capable of measuring dry foods like flour and sugar. Flour won’t flow into the handle like that.
The cup does unit conversions, which needs electronics. Overall I think most measuring devices will go this way once things get cheap enough. Once MEMS technology gets cheaper and more advanced all kinds of things will be possible.
Being someone who works in a product manufacturing industry, I can see exactly what they did here. They cost reduced this for production. Look at the thickness of the plastic on the bottom of the cup in the original design vs. the actual product. It’s much thinner.
You can also tell by the buttons. The original design had the material flow over the buttons while the actual product has separate buttons that are pushed through button holes.
The LCD is also a dot matrix on the orignal design and a segmented display on the final product.
All of these things are standard simplification techniques that are done on designs to reduce their BOM cost.
I’ve had several Taylor products (mostly cooking thermometers) and they have all broken in a very short time. Their products are made very cheaply and do no perform well. Let’s hope this is a different story.
Does this measure weight or volume? How does it measure it?
Interesting.
I’m not sure if this works at all. If it measures by weight, it won’t work for non-water liquid; if it measures by depths, it won’t be accurate and will vary according to how you position the cup.
Easy, measure by weight and choose what substance you’re measuring on the handle. It can have density presets for flour, sugar, water, etc. I’m almost certain this is how the device works.
when there are no context shots of somebody using it, there is 9 out of 10 times a reason.
In this case, you would realize that putting buttons and the display on the handle will a) make it impossible to read and b) will make you push buttons you don’t wanna push with you sticky/floury hands.
I also second the comment about the waste of material and production for the final outcome.
Beautiful and useless…
I’d be concerned about the machine washability of this, as well as how it would stand up to a microwave. I nuke my measuring cups all the way, and without the enclosed appearance the concept’s buttons had, I’m afraid of what would happen should water get in the handle.
Even the fonts? Typographic snobbery apart, both use Interstate. Maybe the overall design of the production version is a bit more busy, but only because it has twice the capacity (hence twice the markings, hence twice as ‘busy’).
Now, having a graduated scale on the side AND a LCD reading on the handle? If the gizmo had a thermometer AND a scale in there, it would be really useful.
Not good design – adding more to a product does not make it better. It’s ‘Design Wank’ and has made this week’s Design wank posting on 22GL:
http://www.22gl.com/2009/08/06/design-wank-jug
Small name, big ego.
This offers a greater degree of precision and thus allows one to keep fewer measuring cups around. That alone makes it worth it.
I would rather just read the side than read a display. Waste of materials that could be used in developing nations for many advancements like say more hospitals? But no people who want a $15-$50 measuring cup NEEEED it! Theirs doesn’t work as is!
so interesting…
Now, why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? I love this idea. I don’t know why you guys are complaining, I’m sure we’d all love something like this if we could have one.
I want that measuring cup !!! So cool I can use it.
I want one of these cups, or can you order additional insert cups? I use a lot of cups in my formulations of natural ingredients for my products.
Where can I order one of your mixing bowls?
it’s like the joke where a manufacturers wants to copy a toy from another company
“why so many colors?”..lets reduce the color number.
“why so thick plastic wall”..lets reduce it
“and so many buttons”//lets reduce it
At the end…I wonder why it don’t sell good