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The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

priceonomics.com

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Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#131

Post by qwerta »

Alupis wrote: post #90
DanBC wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope the $150 cable has much better manufacturing and inspection. Obviously that doesn't mean they're worth that much, but still.

You'd be surprised. The $150 hdmi cable is likely manufactured alongside the $5 cables in the same factory, then just sold to different brands (Monster vs. Store-brand). It's fairly common... Samsung makes almost all the parts of the Best Buy store-brand TV's... they're essentially a slightly lower-grade samsung tv with the store-brand slapped on and sold cheaper.

I too often encounter cheap Ethernet cable which only works at 10Mbps because maker saved money on wires.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#132

Post by Dn_Ab »

morley wrote: post #122
tptacek wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't you get the same thing out of a Kold-Draft machine? Isn't that what high-end bars already do? What reputable high-end cocktail bar --- Pegu, Booker & Dax, PDT, Aviary, &c --- uses this stuff?

The article indicates that this is an end-consumer product. If I were an amateur craft cocktail maker, I might consider buying a small amount versus a commercial machine.

-> tptacek This has all the hallmarks of a Veblen Good. Cutting the price of the ices could well backfire if the key attraction is in signalling to all how much you're willing to spend for quality pre-melted water.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#133

Post by rwallace »

hershel wrote: post #55
sharkweek wrote: post #20

While perhaps there is some form of utility here for those more familiar with high end cocktails (I'm more of a dollar beer kind of guy, sometimes I'll splurge on a 22oz), this reminds me a lot of that "wealth badge [1]" or whatever it was - "Yeah, I've got money, I spend $8 on ice cubes" [1] http://www.vocativ.com/money/business/size-quarter-made-meta...

True ,it could be a wealth badge. But how many such badges does a person needs ? is there any additional value to the new ones?

There is value to society in providing additional noncoercive ways to transfer money from rich people who don't need it to non-rich people who do, which is what this company is doing.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#134

Post by trhway »

rayiner wrote: post #45

My wife's cousin is a chef and knows his guy: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2013... . He bartends by day, and sells artisan ice to restaurants by night. It looks pretty and melts slower than regular ice cubes. BTW: If you're in D.C., check out Range (mentioned in the above article; serves artisan ice in drinks).

after day of hard public service our public servants need their artisan ice. $400 space toilet seat starts to look like a bargain.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#135

Post by qwerta »

Groxx wrote: post #77
coldcode wrote: post #19

So now we have aisles full of water in bottles, you can buy air in cans in China, and gourmet ice. I'm waiting for bottles of vacuum, but I am sure they will suck.

Here ya go: http://www.thermos.com/products/vacuum-insulated-14-oz-stain... The price per ounce of vacuum makes cocaine look like water.

Kind of funny. It is impossible to make perfect vacuum (a few particles per cubic inch) down on earth. One has to lunch stuff into space.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#136

Post by waps »

AVTizzle wrote: post #76
coldcode wrote: post #19

So now we have aisles full of water in bottles, you can buy air in cans in China, and gourmet ice. I'm waiting for bottles of vacuum, but I am sure they will suck.

As a resident of Saigon, and having visited China, I can actually attest to the idea that having air cans in some of these smoggy cities is become less of a luxury and more of a necessity every day.

So the answer to pollution is to put clean air in disposable containers ?

I think I see where the problem is here.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#137

Post by akurilin »

nathan_long wrote: post #99

Looks like I'm branding and pricing my services wrong. "For just $50k per hour, you get painstakingly crafted, premium server code. Every character is hand-typed on a perfectly resonant keyboard, entering the world with a pleasing 'plink'..."

Need a technical co-founder?

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#138

Post by GregBuchholz »

seventytwo wrote: post #44
louthy wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an expert, and absolutely willing to be proven incorrect here. But I thought that gold was a better conductor, and that's why they're better for audio cables (less resistance). Surely the fact that gold is a soft metal would be a reason to not use it for reasons of 'extending lives'?

Silver > Copper > Gold > Aluminum for conductivity. Gold is used as plating for anti-corrosion/tarnishing and wear, as the other user pointed out. It can be pressed extremely thin and still act as a good coating, so it's not really all that expensive.

At warm temperatures. Aluminum is a superconductor below 1.2 Kelvin.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#139

Post by freditup »

soperj wrote: post #78
_Adam wrote: post #48

As stupid as this sounds, there is actually a difference between these ice cubes and the standard variety. And that's the appearance. Just look: http://www.glaceice.net/uploads/3/9/6/9/3969825/3969289_orig... Because there's no air bubbles, the ice is perfectly clear. That's not a trivial fact. Humans innately like clear stuff! Just think how unappealing cloudy water is in comparison to clear water. The only exceptio…

I'm pretty sure you can get clear ice cubes by just freezing hot water. Bonus: they actually freeze faster than cold water.

Maybe? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mpemba_effect Apparently the science of water freezing is still not that well understood

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#140

Post by waps »

qq66 wrote: post #120
tomkinstinch wrote: post #88

My guess before reading the article was that the ice cubes were made with heavy water. I'd pay $8 an ice cube that sinks[1]. 1. http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2006-07/ice-capades

I'd hesitate to drink heavy water. Probably won't do much to you, but why find out.

There's 2 (stable) kinds of heavy water : deuterium and tritium. Deuterium is perfectly safe, and it's heavier. Nobody's ever drunk it in even tiny quantities though, so there could be surprises.

Tritium is only arguably stable though, and you definitely should not drink it. It's perfectly safe to swim in it though, just keep it outside your skin.

Drinking deuterium is going to be very expensive though, given the effort necessary to separate it. Poisoning someone with tritium is going to be more expensive than pouring molten platina over them though.

Any preference for the oxygen in the cubes ? O16, O17, or O18 ? O16 would be the "common man" oxygen. All three are safe. None of the other isotopes are stable enough to be produced in significant quantities.

Making heavy ice cubes out of H2O with the O17 is probably the cheapest "nuclear" way to produce heavy ice.

Order here: http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/aldrich/151882

Cheaper than I would have thought.

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