Technabob » grill

Looftlighter: Flame on Without a Flame on

Lambert Varias — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:49:20 +0000

Instead of fire, or even sparks, the Looftlighter uses hot air – hot as in more than 1000°F – to light things up. The Looftlighter is named after its inventor, Richard Lighter. No wait: his real name is Richard Looft, a (former?) theater director who got tired of having his barbecued chicken taste like lighter fluid. So Looft did what any Swedish theater director in his right mind would do: “He poured coal into a toaster”. No-brainer right? Even a third grader can guess what Looft did next: “he turned the flow around in a vacuum cleaner and discovered that the coal got ready to use in just a few minutes!” I mean come on. I could’ve thought of that.

It’s not the quickest way to start a fire, and when you first fire it up it may seems like it’s not doing anything, but because it doesn’t use lighter fluid you’ll save a lot in the long run. That and your chicken barbecue won’t taste like lighter fluid anymore. Unless you actually put lighter fluid on it.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can order the Looftlighter at ThinkGeek for $80 (USD). I’d buy a low-powered version of this so I can use it for pranks.

[via Chip Chick]

That’s No Death Star – It’s a Modded Grill

Alisha K. — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:13:11 +0000

First it was gold-plated toilet seats, and now we’ve got the most expensive government-produced weapon in the history of anything being used for grilling burgers. It would be a travesty if it wasn’t the coolest customization ever.

This is what happens when two grills become one: weapons and food production. It’s really convenient.

The Death Star grill–also known as the only grill that allows you to yell, “That burger came from the Death Star! That thing’s operational!” at parties–is up for grabs on eBay if you can stomach the massive shipping costs. Right now, bids are running at just over $100, and that’s not yet equal to the cost of shipping. And? The reserve’s not been met, so expect a hefty price tag.

But it’s a Death Star barbecue. Can you fault the guy for demanding an arm with a side of leg?

[Auction via TechEBlog]

Gridus Spreadsheet Barbecue Grid is Cruel and Unrelenting

Lambert Varias — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:40:44 +0000

The specialty of Art Lebedev’s design studio is in stylizing the mundane. But their idea for a grill is just plain cruel. Called Gridus, the barbecue grid copies the look of a spreadsheet, ensuring that the user’s mind will be thoroughly driven insane as the concepts of “vacation”, “relaxation” & “cookouts are fun” are shattered.

Unless of course you love working, or you’re OC and desperate to find a way of positioning the food on a grill systematically. If so, I think you’ll have to make one yourself, because according to the studio’s website, the release date for the Gridus was last April 1. I guess you can beg Art Lebedev and his team to turn this prank into a real product. Or not.

[via CrunchGear]