Unitasker Wednesday: The IceBlok
All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!
One of the reasons I hate refreshing cold beverages in the summer heat is the “shocking splash of wayward ice cubes.” Thankfully, the IceBlok set puts an end to such shocking, horrible events. Made from space-age material (I’m assuming), the IceBlok will keep terrifying ice from falling into your face. From the product description:
Simply add ice to glass, slide IceBlok in, and sip beverage; IceBlok stays in place to keep ice out of your face.
Stop using straws that do the exact same thing, and get yourself an IceBlok!
Thanks to reader jsn for bringing this unitasker to our attention.
41 comments posted
Posted by Jason - 04/29/2009
Here’s a good one:
http://planesheets.com/plane_sheets
Posted by Beverly - 04/29/2009
Yes, but with a straw, you don’t get the look of a spiderweb at the top of your glass. Yum.
Posted by Mary - 04/29/2009
That is funny.
Posted by Becky - 04/29/2009
Because this is poking fun at something I just had to comment with 2 things:
a) These could double as halloween decorations! No more unitasking! They look like spiderwebs for sure.
b) Aren’t straws unitaskers themselves? Granted they are smaller than the spiderweb-thingys, but still…
Posted by Loren - 04/29/2009
To be honest usually I can see how MAYBE someone, somewhere would use the Wednesday Unitasker. But really? Who could possibly use this?
Posted by Sunny Paris - 04/29/2009
Loren,
I’ll bite. Um, when toddlers have moved beyond sippy cops but have issues with the difficult ice…
You know what? Nevermind. Useless…
Posted by mhb - 04/29/2009
@Becky – straws can have lots of craft and household uses, so I don’t think I’d consider them quite unitaskers…
My first thought for these things was: I wonder what freaky chemicals this would leech into my iced tea? Yummers!
Posted by TheGreenCat - 04/29/2009
Okay, I’d never use this but I can understand it. As someone with teeth that are VERY sensitive to cold, I hate having cold ice cubes hit my teeth. I usually solve this problem by not using ice at all but I can understand how someone who enjoys cold beverages but not the pain of ice on their teeth might want to use one of these.
Posted by Lily - 04/29/2009
Is it wrong that I like this idea???
Posted by Diane - 04/29/2009
I can’t believe this! My favorite part of drinking a refreshing summertime beverage is when it’s almost empty, I tip the glass ALL the way up to get the last few precious drops of lemonade, give the bottom a light tap, and have all the ice stuck at the bottom come crashing up my nostrils.
Who doesn’t love that?
Posted by FupDuckTV - 04/29/2009
My luck I’d choke on the IceBlok…
Posted by Mark Houston Recovery - 04/29/2009
Ha! Now, there is a clever idea! lol
Posted by Hayden Tompkins - 04/29/2009
I hate ice. With a passion. I would actually get this!
Posted by Chris Gee - 04/29/2009
One of these would have saved a new white shirt a couple of years ago… I guess I have a drinking problem.
Posted by Kyle - 04/29/2009
Seems perfect if you like the feeling of cold beverage going through your teeth (which I do) but don’t want the ice hitting you toward the end. It’s not a huge problem, but I could see these being useful.
Posted by Cheesemeister - 04/29/2009
Rad! Space age ice catchers! If they invented a giant one of these they could put it in front of the Earth to catch wayward asteroids.
Posted by Peter (a different one) - 04/29/2009
@Lily – Yes. It is wrong. Very, very wrong.
Posted by Katie - 04/29/2009
I’m assuming these are reusable where straws are not. This is more eco friendly. Of course just dealing with it would be the most ECOnomical and eco friendly approach.
Posted by Theresa - 04/29/2009
I like this idea. Less straws would be better for the environment. I agree with the other comments – it looks too much like a spiderweb. Less like a spiderweb – I’d consider it. Some ideas just make sense to some people!
Posted by TDC - 04/29/2009
In the UK we have a show called “Dragon’s Den” where inventors and would be entrepreuners go on and pitch their idea to a selection of successful business men and women who will invest in any viable idea. I would love to see what they would have made of this or more likely how quickly they would have told the inventor that they were wasting their time.
Posted by Brickerhaus - 04/29/2009
Wow this solves another problem. Wow. I am getting some these. Ok I congratulate people for coming up with things like this and being an entrepreneur. They saw a need for a product and made it. But people have been drinking out of glasses for a very long time. If you don’t want ice in the face go to Walmart and buy a kid sippy cup for a couple of bucks. You get the same result.
Posted by Michael Clark - 04/29/2009
This may not be a unitasker. From the photo, it looks like you can also use these as coasters. Tada!
Posted by knitwych - 04/29/2009
Too funny! I do like the Halloween decoration suggestion. My first thought when I saw the photo was “Hey, spider webs!”
Posted by Anna - 04/29/2009
Actually, I hate getting ice in my mouth.
But not enough to spend money on these things.
Posted by Anita - 04/29/2009
@TDC — we have the same show in Canada, and I love it!
Yes, this is pretty pointless for its intended use, but I could see using something of that shape for other things, including decorations (could pose as a snowflake as well as a spider web…), coasters, and other arts and crafts projects.
Posted by Michael - 04/29/2009
I’ll second TheGreenCat’s comments. I too have teeth sensitive to the cold. I usually compensate with a straw, or by getting rid of the ice.
Actually, when out at a restaurant, ordering with no ice is smarter (from a cost perspective) since restaurants load drinks up with ice.
Back to the IceBlok: I’d consider it for two or three dollars but not for nine (discounted from 12).
Posted by Adie - 04/29/2009
I’m actually sort of fond of this idea, for the cold-sensitive teeth reason cited above. Also, I’m a terrible slurper if there’s ice in my drinks and really, straws are unitaskers too. This is one of those things that could easily be clutter in some homes and pretty useful in others. I’m giving this one a “maybe.”
Posted by Karyn - 04/30/2009
Actually, I HATE having the ice hit me in the nose when I tip the glass way back to get the last sips of my tea or whatever, and these look a little cooler than a forty-something adult using a toddler’s sippy cup.
But they also look like the impact of the falling ice would knock them loose–and then I’d have ice AND a plastic web-thingy attacking my nose. Maybe not so cool.
Usually, I just chill my beverages ahead of time and drink them without ice. I’m not keen on watered down beverages in the first place, nor do the little reusable plastic “ice cube” thingies appeal to me. I haz frijarater. I uzez it, k thx.
Posted by RoaringSilence - 04/30/2009
There’s ALWAYS someone with a medical condition who approves of the unitaskers.
That’s not the point of the post, people! It is to make fun of something that’s useless to a majority of the population.
By the way, am I the only one who doubts the effectiveness of the IceBloks? I don’t see how it stays in the glass. Wouldn’t it be funny if the ice came splashing into someone’s face, popping out the IceBlok as well?
False sense of security… dangerous.
Posted by Peter (one of many ; ) - 04/30/2009
I agree with RoaringSilence. I don’t see how the IceBlok actually attaches to the glass. It appears that it simply rests inside the lid of the glass without actually being affixed. I would think that tipping the glass all the way back to get the last drops would mean not only getting a face full of ice but, a face full of IceBlok as well.
We really do not need yet more cheap pieces of plastic made in China to further clog our landfills.
Posted by Cassie J. - 04/30/2009
Those things look exactly like some Spiderman thingies I saw at a house yesterday while I was babysitting. I let the baby teeth on them for awhile!
Posted by Doreen - 04/30/2009
I have my own ice blockers.
They’re called “lips”!
Posted by Amy - 04/30/2009
OMG! Not to sound offensive to anyone, but if you are starting to justify this product than you need this site more than you know…
Posted by Shana - 05/01/2009
@Peter (one of many
: if I hear one more person mention “cheap plastic Chinese crap” or similar, I’m going to scream. Cheap plastic crap comes from everywhere, and with comments like this so common, it wouldn’t surprise me if Chinese talked about how all the stupidity and racism comes from the U.S. You could easily have left out the bit about China and conveyed the same thing.
Posted by Tim Carlson - 05/01/2009
I have several things like this that are, in theory, really great ideas, but when the time comes, I am just never going to go out of my way to grab it and insert it. Many unitaskers are like that, I think.
However, I do hate how the ice cubes that come out of the automatic ice maker in my freezer always seem to have the same radius of curvature as the glass I’m drinking out of. The ice come up and blocks the liquid, which then flows around *both* sides, and both miss my mouth but not my shirt.
Posted by Angela Esnouf - 05/02/2009
I swear I came across these while decluttering a child’s bedroom. But they were part of a Spiderman toy set!
Posted by amy - 05/02/2009
Am I the only one who looks at these and thinks it would be GREAT for keeping cats from dipping their paws in your water glass when you’re out of the room? especially the glass I keep on my nightstand
Posted by erin - 05/04/2009
I found a great unitasker to go with this one…check out Sodastream: http://www.sodastreamusa.com/d.....swoduwQJ9Q. Too bad I don’t drink soda.
Posted by RoaringSilence - 07/19/2009
To amy
>>Am I the only one who looks at these and thinks it would be GREAT for keeping cats from dipping their paws in your water glass when you’re out of the room? especially the glass I keep on my nightstand
– - – - –
Really? Maybe you could also teach your cats not to do that. They do learn things.
And also, I think it’s just as nasty to drink out of a glass where a cat has touched the ice blocker.
Posted by thedailydigi.com » Blog Archive » Unitasker - 09/27/2009
[...] The Ice Blok [...]
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