Smart salt shaker Smalt plays music and changes color

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in May 2017 and has been updated with the most recent information.

Salt was once such valuable a commodity that we created devices to limit how much our fancy dinner guests could pour on their food: salt shakers. These tiny-holed objects have been around ever since Roman times. But the smart home era has reimagined the salt shaker into a tricked-out light-up bluetooth-connected device called Smalt.

According to the Smalt website, it’s “The first multi-sensory device to make dining experience fun.” By that, the creators mean that Smalt plays music (“From Jazz to Johnny Cash”), has a small band of LEDs that change color (to “Make any moment more memorable”), and dispenses salt (because “Everything tastes better with a little bit of salt”). Of course it also works with Amazon Echo and comes with an app (which lets you “adjust the amount of salt from a pinch to a tablespoon and any amount in between”).

Smalt just launched a $25,000 crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to help bring the product to production. While the expected retail price is $199, there’s currently a “super early bird special” offering one Smalt in white for $99 (it’s already been claimed 39 times.)

Via: New York Magazine