The digital revolution continues to rapidly change the book publishing industry, but there was no shortage of books at the BEA Tradeshow that UG buyer Josh and I went to at the Javitz Center yesterday.
The most interesting exhibit that we saw was a display for the Wheel Questions outdoor community art project.
Check out some of the questions and answers people have asked and put forth on the Wheel Questions blog.
What would you ask?
1) Product Name: Grab and Dry Terry Dishtowel Gloves
2) Background Research: The day I was tall enough to reach the kitchen sink, my mother made it my responsibility to wash and dry the dishes. Occasionally, I could use a crisp dollar bill to bribe my little sister to dry, but usually it was a one-woman job and one that I loathed. Fast-forward 10 years and even though I now reside with my boyfriend instead of my mother, I’m still the dish girl. Fun (not so much for me) fact — I’ve actually never lived in a house or apartment with a dishwasher.
3) Hypothesis: I’m making a bet that these dish towel gloves will max out after drying 10 items (a mixture of glasses, plates and bowls).
4) Experiment: While preparing for a house guest to arrive last Monday, I had to quickly get rid of the heap of dishes sitting around my kitchen. Now, unlike most people, I only have a countertop as wide as a cutting board and therefore have create a designated “dish drying area” by placing a towel over the stovetop. It’s a little lumpy, but it does the job. However, it takes a couple of hours for the dishes to dry and I only had 30 minutes. Behold the bright orange dish drying gloves! This time I used the lure of extra Modern Warfare II playing time to bribe my boyfriend to wash so that I could try out the newly acquired cleaning helpers.
5) Results: At first, I was in love. With my little mittens, I could actually keep up with his washing speed! The dishes weren’t as dry as if I had used a towel, but it was good enough for me. Yet, soon enough I realized that while I was removing water, I was actually adding tiny bit of orange material to every dish.
The gloves lasted until about 10-12 items before they became soaking wet. I tossed them over the sink and in a couple of hours they were dry and ready for more action.
Conclusion: 1) For optimum results, take the time to wash the gloves before using them. When I used them the second time to dry a sink full of dishes, the pilling was significantly less frequent. 2) Bribery is always the best policy. 3) While the grab and dry gloves are cute (in a blindingly bright, hunting glove kind of way) and pretty fun to wear, nothing beats a dishwasher.
For all you city-dwellers who love to compost but hate for your space to smell like a cross between a locker room and a dumpster, Compost Cab is for you!
Compost Cab provides a standardized bin equipped with a sturdy, compostable bag liner and then once a week, the little recycle-cab-that-could will come and pick up your smelly scraps. Plus, for every 50 lbs. of organics you put in, you get an lb. of fresh and fertile compost back. All for a measly $8 a week! Now that’s a fare that I can live with.
Wanna see where the cab is gonna stop (it’s currently only in the DC area)? Check out the Compost Cab website for complete details!
P.S. Don’t forget that tomorrow, May 26, is the last day to submit your genius idea for the world’s coolest composter in the Quirky/UncommonGoods Compostapalooza challenge! Go to Quirky and share your idea today!
Last summer we sent an email about kitchen tools and, as a side note, included some incredibly tasty pie recipes from UG team members. After reading the email, I shared my “hillbilly caramel pie” process (it just doesn’t deserve to be called a recipe) with the creative team. It’s safe to say they were baffled, slightly disgusted and very intrigued.
In the past year, the legend of the “pie” was mentioned now and again, but it wasn’t until Tuesday that I decided to blow some minds by purchasing some cans of condensed milk – the key (and almost the only) ingredient in this delicious dessert. World — it’s time to share my culinary secret with you. And I beg of you, do not look up the calorie count.
Open your eyes Iron Man – you’re on camera!
It’s official. Tony Stark loves UncommonGoods! Ok, that might be a bit of a stretch, but imagine my excitement when I saw Iron Man himself chugging chlorophyll from one of the water bottles we sell!
While everyone else was entranced by Scarlett Johansson’s slinky performance or mesmerized by the creature that is Mickey Rourke, I was giddy the whole movie that I saw one of our products up on the big screen!
Yeeeea, I should probably get out more:)
Happy bike to work day!
Today, people all across the country from Missouri to Rhode Island, New York to California, Maryland, Texas, Oregon, Arizona and so many more are trading in their cars for a ten-speed commute.
Stay safe, everyone, and enjoy your ride!
We’d love to hear if you biked to work! How was your commute? How long did it take? Do you think you will keep biking to work?
These days, I spend most of my time at a desk, pecking away at my keyboard, talking on the phone, and sitting in meetings. But twice a day, I get to be free, riding through the streets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side and the industrial corridors of Brooklyn. And, to boot, when I commute, I save time – it’s actually quicker than the subway.
When I moved to NYC in the ’80s, I biked quite a bit – my favorite ride was out to Fire Island at the crack of dawn, before the beach traffic kicked in. I also liked riding in the city, especially up to Central Park, though a cab hit me once and snapped my bike frame in two. Fortunately, Frank’s, my local bike shop was able to replace the frame and it’s served me well ever since.
In recent years, there’s been a biking revolution in NYC – thanks to the work of the bicycling advocacy group, Transportation Alternatives, and the visionary Transportation Commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan. Bike lanes have cropped up throughout the city, across the Manhattan to Brooklyn bridges and on many streets, making commuting by bike a bit safer.
There’s a lot of debate about “sharing the road.” With a limited amount of public pavement, we need to decide how to allocate this resource between pedestrians, cyclists, cars and buses. The car has been the king for many years, but now people are wondering if we’ve got it right.
So get out this Friday, ride your bike and show your support for cycling – May 21st is National Bike to Work Day!
So this is a little belated…but Happy Bike Week everyone!
For those of you who don’t know, May is national bike month and May 17-21 is Bike-to-Work
Week with Friday, May 21 being the big hurrah – Bike-to-Work Day!
Stay tuned this week for more posts about cycling…until now here are some resources and fun stuff about cycling:
Check out the League of American Bicyclists they have a lot of great news articles and blog posts, as well a tool to help you find bike resources (clubs, leagues, shops, etc.) in your area.
Ride the City is another super useful site that helps you find the best urban biking route, ranging from direct, safe and safer. Available for New York, Chicago, DC Metro, Austin, Louisville, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Toronto.
And now for some fun stuff…
Matt, Al and Meredith battle it on The Today Show in this year’s commuter challenge: bike vs. subway vs. car.
And of course, how to make a smoothie using a human-powered bike blender!
Do you bike to work? Are you going to try biking to work this week? Let us know! And if you have any other cool cycling websites or tips to share, please do so in the comments section. Happy Biking!