6 ms·

How to Sell a Kettle

26 points by bazzmt 2mo ago

avipars 2mo ago
Non paywalled link https://archive.md/VmVco https://archive.md/VmVco
cjs_ac 2mo ago
I think Dualit targets about half of these market positions.
rco8786 2mo ago
> Populist. If scalding hot water and the risk of a burn do not scare you, buy the Boiler. A kettle for real patriots. Not suitable for herbal teas and other woke beverages. Used by veterans, among others. Made in this country, except for some essential components. Almost too on the nose
- hammock 2mo ago
  I guess you have not seen: https://shop.fieldethos.com/products/the-everything-mug https://shop.fieldethos.com/products/the-everything-mug It’s impressive, in a certain way
  - benj111 2mo ago
    1. The 'fe' looks wrong on a copper mug. 2. It's hand wash only. I want a mug that tough enough for the dish washer grrr. 3. Wouldn't your drink go cold really quickly, and or the handle get uncomfortably hot?
    - hammock 2mo ago
      It’s two pounds of solid copper. Convenience is not one of its selling points
senko 2mo ago
> The Ketgpt takes the kettle into the agentic era. At the front door and fancy a cup of tea? Just woken up and desperate for your first coffee? Get out your phone, fire up the Ketgpt app, enter your login details and tell your kettle to start boiling. That’s not all. You can ask your kettle how the boiling process is going in text or voice mode, and it will reply. It will even send a notification to your phone when the boiling process is complete. You set the task. The Ketgpt will take it from there, entirely autonomously. (Token costs not included.) I have seen funded AI startups that made less sense.
- stronglikedan 2mo ago
  Th archive link isn't loading for me (work firewall), and I don't have access to the paywalled version, but are they suggesting that I must log in to the app every single time I want a cuppa? Cuz if so, that's a non-starter right off the bat! (And if so, I hope it's the satire that it sounds like.)
  - jzebedee 2mo ago
    The whole article is satire, parodying the overwrought ad copy designed to sell a simple appliance (electric kettle) to different marketing segments.
IAmGraydon 2mo ago
Oh cool - a bunch of generic marketing copy written by an AI and presented as an article. It's concerning that something this low quality has made it to the front page.
- senko 2mo ago
  It's hilarious. The Economist often has satire columns, mostly related to office or biz absurdities.
lardosaurusrex 2mo ago
Brands stopped mattering when companies started buying the exact same XPTLKO kettles you see on aliexpress and amazon and just slapped their own name on it; complete with app. Just look at air conditioners or microwaves; there's like two companies that do them and yet there's another 500 of them that insist that theirs is "the one" even though they're identical and even use the same app under another name. How to sell a kettle? How about you write an article about how to /make/ a kettle first.
codeulike 2mo ago
Incidentally I was reading the other day that in Europe kettles are much faster than USA ones (due to 240v domestic mains as opposed to 120v) and theres a small subculture of USA electricians fitting 240v supplies into their kitchen and then importing European kettles.
- lardosaurusrex 2mo ago
  It's not even difficult; the power comes to our houses in NA and Japan and some other places /as/ 240v and ws just drop it down. Your stove/oven and (many but not all) dryers and heatpumps/central air systems likely are using them as we speak. I've always been more than a little confused as to why we don't utilise this more and I know the answer but... I'd really like some instant hot water, y'know? i mean i could... i technically own a house now but the two electricians i've spoken to thus far vehemently insisted it was impossible and then proceeded to get crabby at me when i provided evidence to the contrary and kept saying "ok but who wants that???" as if i had offended them and their ancestors. Cultural. The reason is cultural and it's ridiculous. At this point I'm going to just do it myself and get someone to drop by and give my insurance company a thumbs up to assure them I'm not about to burn down the house I guess.
- bryanlarsen 2mo ago
  A lot of American kitchens have 20A sockets in them so you'd think that there'd be a market for kettles with 20A plugs that'd boil 33% faster than your standard 1500W kettle, but nobody will sell me one.
fuzzfactor 2mo ago
Step right up, get it while you can, it's one of a kind, beat the rush there's only two to a customer!

26 points by bazzmt 2mo ago

avipars 2mo ago

Non paywalled link https://archive.md/VmVco https://archive.md/VmVco

cjs_ac 2mo ago

I think Dualit targets about half of these market positions.

rco8786 2mo ago

> Populist. If scalding hot water and the risk of a burn do not scare you, buy the Boiler. A kettle for real patriots. Not suitable for herbal teas and other woke beverages. Used by veterans, among others. Made in this country, except for some essential components. Almost too on the nose

hammock 2mo ago
I guess you have not seen: https://shop.fieldethos.com/products/the-everything-mug https://shop.fieldethos.com/products/the-everything-mug It’s impressive, in a certain way
- benj111 2mo ago
  1. The 'fe' looks wrong on a copper mug. 2. It's hand wash only. I want a mug that tough enough for the dish washer grrr. 3. Wouldn't your drink go cold really quickly, and or the handle get uncomfortably hot?
  - hammock 2mo ago
    It’s two pounds of solid copper. Convenience is not one of its selling points

senko 2mo ago

> The Ketgpt takes the kettle into the agentic era. At the front door and fancy a cup of tea? Just woken up and desperate for your first coffee? Get out your phone, fire up the Ketgpt app, enter your login details and tell your kettle to start boiling. That’s not all. You can ask your kettle how the boiling process is going in text or voice mode, and it will reply. It will even send a notification to your phone when the boiling process is complete. You set the task. The Ketgpt will take it from there, entirely autonomously. (Token costs not included.) I have seen funded AI startups that made less sense.

stronglikedan 2mo ago
Th archive link isn't loading for me (work firewall), and I don't have access to the paywalled version, but are they suggesting that I must log in to the app every single time I want a cuppa? Cuz if so, that's a non-starter right off the bat! (And if so, I hope it's the satire that it sounds like.)
- jzebedee 2mo ago
  The whole article is satire, parodying the overwrought ad copy designed to sell a simple appliance (electric kettle) to different marketing segments.

IAmGraydon 2mo ago

Oh cool - a bunch of generic marketing copy written by an AI and presented as an article. It's concerning that something this low quality has made it to the front page.

senko 2mo ago
It's hilarious. The Economist often has satire columns, mostly related to office or biz absurdities.

lardosaurusrex 2mo ago

Brands stopped mattering when companies started buying the exact same XPTLKO kettles you see on aliexpress and amazon and just slapped their own name on it; complete with app. Just look at air conditioners or microwaves; there's like two companies that do them and yet there's another 500 of them that insist that theirs is "the one" even though they're identical and even use the same app under another name. How to sell a kettle? How about you write an article about how to /make/ a kettle first.

codeulike 2mo ago

Incidentally I was reading the other day that in Europe kettles are much faster than USA ones (due to 240v domestic mains as opposed to 120v) and theres a small subculture of USA electricians fitting 240v supplies into their kitchen and then importing European kettles.

lardosaurusrex 2mo ago
It's not even difficult; the power comes to our houses in NA and Japan and some other places /as/ 240v and ws just drop it down. Your stove/oven and (many but not all) dryers and heatpumps/central air systems likely are using them as we speak. I've always been more than a little confused as to why we don't utilise this more and I know the answer but... I'd really like some instant hot water, y'know? i mean i could... i technically own a house now but the two electricians i've spoken to thus far vehemently insisted it was impossible and then proceeded to get crabby at me when i provided evidence to the contrary and kept saying "ok but who wants that???" as if i had offended them and their ancestors. Cultural. The reason is cultural and it's ridiculous. At this point I'm going to just do it myself and get someone to drop by and give my insurance company a thumbs up to assure them I'm not about to burn down the house I guess.
bryanlarsen 2mo ago
A lot of American kitchens have 20A sockets in them so you'd think that there'd be a market for kettles with 20A plugs that'd boil 33% faster than your standard 1500W kettle, but nobody will sell me one.

fuzzfactor 2mo ago

Step right up, get it while you can, it's one of a kind, beat the rush there's only two to a customer!