Technology has made it substantially easier to do a lot of things on the go. You can check e-mail, phone people, listen to music and so on. It was really only a matter of time before “make an espresso” landed itself on the list. For $145, the Handpresso Wild Domepod will let you caffeinate yourself anywhere. Just add some water and ground beans. And, when you’re sipping away, consider that you might be a little too snobby about your coffee. handpresso.ca
At first you may think to yourself: “How can a bag be considered technical?” Well, the Toastabag (under $10) is designed to let you toast sandwiches in your toaster without burning down your house. And they are reusable up to 300 times. That’s not just technology, that’s magic. Delicious, sandwichy magic. toastabags.com
Everyone has an uncle who likes to give them homemade wine. It usually tastes like grapes mixed with gasoline. That’s because most winemaking uncles haven’t invested in a WinePod (US$4,499), an all-in-one wine system that connects to your computer over USB and teaches you the step-by-step process of making wine while you actually make it. It may take some trial and error to perfect your wine recipe, but you can cheat by joining the Crush Club (US$499 per year), which gives you access to small batches of premium grapes year-round. winepod.net
Baskin Robbins makes 31 flavours. None of them include pickles. This gaping omission is covered by the Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker ($20 to $130) because, of course, the only reason you’d want to make your own ice cream is for flavour experimentation. Making the ice cream is as simple as adding ice, rock salt, cream, sugar and your flavour of choice, then shaking the crap out of it. The Play & Freeze comes in Original (one pint of finished ice cream) and Mega (one quart) sizes. icecreamrevolution.com
If you want to carbonate anotherwise bubbleless beverage, there is the tried-and-true technique of adding some club soda. This will work, literally, every single time. If you’re more of a do-it-yourself type, the SodaStream Fountain Jet (US$79.95) will let you carbonate water on your own. SodaStream also sells a bunch of flavours you can add to your fizzy water. From there, it’s really just a hop, skip and jump to runningyour own Ye Olde Soda Shoppe. sodastreamusa.com
