The IDEA, or Industrial Design Excellence Award, winners have been posted, and they are.... well... slightly boring. Some of them, anyway. I guess that's what happens when you award 158 products!
There are some neat designs, however, and the TOPTURN X Self-propelled Compost Turner is one of them, a Gold winner in Business & Industrial Products.
Programmable thermostats do offer the ability to set a range of allowable temperatures, and I'm not sure how the Johnson Controls 9100 Series Environmental Room Control Sensors accomplishes the same thing, but I'm impressed by the simplicity. I just hope it's not over-simplicity. I like to "set it and forget it," not turn a knob periodically. Another Gold winner.
The Mac mini! I can't argue with making the Mac mini a Gold winner in Computer Equipment, though I'm slightly skeptical about the JBL OnStage, a Silver winner in the same category. The BenQ LCD Monitor Crazy Arm "only" scored a Bronze, but a win is still a win, right?
When it comes to Consumer Products, Gold winner Stanley FatMax Hacksaw (hey, wasn't he in that movie...) tempts me to say that hacksaws can be taken no further than this. It's beautiful and apparenly very functional as well. But I know better than to make easily-refuted claims, so I'll save them for iPod shuffle, which is clearly perfect. Well, except that I suppose that it could hold 200GB and be $5.
I suppose the Gold-winning CafeSolo coffee-maker would work well if you poured the coffee right away, but I remember from using a French Press that you shouldn't let the water mingle with the ground for more than four minutes. The CafeSolo unit appears to leave the grounds there — unless I'm missing something. I hope they've resolved that.
I used a very early predecessor of the Silver-winning HP Photosmart 375 Portable Printer and was impressed then. I've recently been even more impressed by HP's latest batch of photo printers. Built-in displays, beautiful prints, what's not to love?
I think that the 3D Mechanical Puzzle might not work so smoothly after it has been thrown against a few walls, but perhaps it does. I love the idea, and after reading this, I want to seek one out to see the execution.
A Self-watering flowerpot? I want several, thanks. Of course, after seeing the design, I think I could make these pretty easily.
Article comments
1 - Aaman
Good report, Philip - some interesting stuff there
2 - Phillip Winn
Thanks, Aaman. I've started checking out the prices on some of these things, and I now realize that most of these award-winners are out of my budget range.
I'm sad.
3 - Tan The Man
The 3D mechanical puzzle looks ordinary. It might be incredibly fun and puzzling, but it looks ugly.
4 - Phillip Winn
I think that the intriguing part is that it moves well in all directions without catching. At least that's what the description sounds like. Rubik's Cube was marvelously designed like that, as was Rubik's Tangle.
If the puzzle actually works as smoothly as it is described, I'll be impressed.
5 - Phillip Winn
I looked up the address for ImageNet, and it turns out they are only a few blocks from my office. I guess I'll have to pretend I'm in the market for a copier, or something.