Category Archives: Packaging

The Keurig of Tortillas

Flatev
Our busy day-to-day oftentimes demands quick food and beverage solutions that offer convenience without sacrificing quality, as demonstrated by pod-based products. Currently, this space is primarily comprised of coffee and tea, however a number of companies are working on new ways to bring the fast, single-serve model to other food items.

Introducing Flatev, a Keurig-like machine that bakes dough pods into warm, fresh tortillas in less than a minute. Like a Keurig, it enables anyone hosting a group to use a “carousel” feature to make several tortillas at one time. And the Flatev is both compact and fast, making it great for food trucks, too. Made with just stoneground corn flour and water, the dough is loaded with fibers, minerals and vitamins as well as non-GMO and gluten-free, appealing to pretty much everyone.

What Sparks Our Fire: A new, quick and easy way to make food on the go

What tortilla-based dishes would you use a Flatev for?

Sleep Tight

casper

Buying a new mattress? While it may not be something that you have to take care of regularly, it sure is a hassle when the time does come. Retailers carry a large amount of slightly different mattress, which you can go and sit on for about 10 minutes at a time to try and then you pick one that you will sleep on for a few years. Not to mention the difficulty of getting it delivered and brought into your house or apartment to the bedroom.

Casper is a new startup based in New York City that sells just one mattress in five different sizes. What makes Casper special is the convenience factors that they easily provide. First off your mattress comes with in five days anywhere in the US – and same day delivery in New York City – packaged up the size of a mini fridge. And once you set that bed up, you have up to 100 days to try out the mattress, and if you’re not satisfied you can send it back for a full refund.

The reviews of the product also point out that the bed is exceptionally comfortable – which is highlighted by the fact that Casper did over $1 Million in sales in just their first month.

What Sparks our Fire: Innovators making turning a rigorous process into something hassle-free

What other industries need someone to step up and make it hassle-free?

Modular Update

Project-Ara-Colors

One of my favorite topics is the possibility of a modular cellphone. The idea that you don’t have to change out your entire device when a part malfunctions or needs to be upgraded appeals to anyone whose phone is increasingly outdated by rapidly advancing technology. The standout favorite in this new genre of devices is Google’s Project Ara, about which the company revealed new details this week.

At a conference for prospective developers, project head Paul Eremenko stated the smartphones should be set to ship in the first weeks of 2015. The Android OS will be updated to support the modular components. The first phone released will be a generic gray, to encourage the user to personalize and get creative with their devices. They will be able to create a custom look with the Ara Configurator, which allows customization of individual modules. This means users can import photos, which the Configurator will use to create a color palate for the blocks, or they can create customized 3D-printed textures. All of these are designed to be easily removed to allow for re-customization.

What Sparks Our Fire: The next generation of smartphones means a little less money spent on the next best thing.

Would you upgrade to an Ara?

 

iFitness

So you may have to wait on that iWatch for a while.

Apple seems to be focusing the efforts of its’ wearables on the fertile health and wellness markets. Over the past few years, Apple has hired health and wellness experts, and currently is seeking fitness app and hardware developers. In conjunction with reports that the new iPhone will support biometric readings, the next iteration of Apple products seem to be headed in a healthy direction. For instance, a design for a headphones embedded with biometric sensors was recently patented, and are able to track heart rate and body temperature.

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Therefore, it only stands to reason that Apple is going to keep the iPhone as the center of it’s mobile universe and create gadgets and accessories that enhance and specialize the existing functions of the phone.

What Sparks Our Fire:  No one needs a Google Glass yet, but everyone needs to enhance their iPhone. This may be the smartest strategy in the mobile gadget game.

What kind of fitness apps or tools would you like to see from Apple?

How Shapely

PentagonOranges1_2

Just let that sink in for a minute. That’s a real, edible Penta-orange. It’s an “iyokan,” also known as a “Japanese Summer Orange”, which are mandarins crossbred with oranges from the Ehime prefecture. The interesting shape is a result of the oranges being grown in pentagon-shaped boxes, so the country that brought you canned bread and robotic girlfriends won’t have messed with the genetics of your weirdly-shaped fruit.

PentagonOranges2_0

As of right now, there are only 300 of these odd little fruits available, but there are plans to make many more. These have the possibility to inspire entirely new dishes and creations based around geometric shapes and it’s possible that other fruits and vegetables may see themselves in new shapes in the near future.

What Sparks Our Fire: Low-tech ways of messing with food are somehow a little more fun than genetic pentagons.

How would you eat this penta-orange?