I snapped this pic for my friend John O, connoisseur of weird photos. And he goes and gets on Failblog with it! What gives!
Anyway, help him out if you have a moment and vote for it before it disappears into the ether. Because totally misrepresented not-so-cutting-edge technology deserves its place in the limelight just like everything else. And because I just gave a talk today on the power of social media and bookmarking and blogs!
note: you may have to scroll down a bit to find the pic - apparently I can't link directly to it, only to the page. But I'll try to update this link if it gets too far off. Thanks!
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I agree this is a good FAIL for failblog, however, it really isn't a fail. The kettle itself is cordless. It rests on a base that has a cord. You can remove the kettle from the base, once it has boiled (or before, if you want). That makes it a lot easier to pour the hot water.
Anyway, I voted and it looks like it's doing well, congrats!
Well, yes, obviously - I have a kettle of the type you describe. The difference is that with mine, you can easily see at a glance that it's a kettle ON a base. In this photo, it's not so clear at first glance - all you see is the giant black cord!
You'd think they'd take the photo from a different angle, so the "cord" on the "cordless kettle" was not so huge, black, and obvious. (It's a package design FAIL.) Of course if they did that, maybe people would freak out when they opened it and there was a cord on the base? You really can't win with the American consumer. . .
Yeah, more of a package design FAIL. They could have simply taken a picture with the kettle suspended above the base by a couple inches or so, and at an angle, so that it's obvious. That way it would show the connector between the base and the kettle, too!
Of course then, like you say, the American consumer would probably conclude that it's a LEVITATING KETTLE! And then someone would get hit in the eye by the spout, and then come the lawsuits... and the wailing and gnashing of teeth...
I'm always interested in requests to vote for people because of social capital (as opposed to the value created by the work itself). I recently heard a podcast on emergence where one of the contributors, Stephen Johnson, talked about this very phenomena. That ranking algorithms (such as google or digg) expressing the popularity of a site or a youtube movie or a FAIL are "gamed" by people promoting one piece of media over another for personal motives.
This is nothing new, of course, as anyone in advertising can attest to. What strikes me is that not only has the availability of media emerged in a striking fashion through the internet, but the promotion of that media seems to have followed suit almost immediately. This isn't apparent just in movies or web sites, which have a financial motivation, but even in such seeming inconsequential memes like the failblog.
I am glad people spoke up for the kettle; it's one of the finest inventions EVAR for tea addicts. And I hadn't seen Fail before, so thanks because I was not wasting enough time on the Net.
I also like the art and the science but would I say anything about them? no, because blog readers are no damn good, some of us... Thanks for your diligence and good eye.
Well, the reason I want people to vote is if John has a resounding success with MY photo, which he did not even ask if he could use, then I can hold it over his head for years. So it's pure selfishness. :)
Laura, I actually must admit I have two cordless electric kettles and two teapots - one set for home and one for work. Mmmm, tea. I also got one for my mom, who has mobility issues, and can't always get to the stove in time to take a boiling kettle off.
My boyfriend just pointed out that if we really want to talk "cordless kettles," the traditional stovetop kettle is unambiguously cordless. Yet no one calls it such. ;)
Thanks Laura J! I appreciate the encouragement ;)