When things look really bad, it’s worth remembering just how far humans have come. Take coffee, for example: in the 10th century, you’d need to take a trip to Ethiopia just to get the beans, and then do whatever it is you do to make them drinkable. That seemed too much trouble for a caffeine pick-up, so things improved considerably: by the 16th century you could get coffee without even leaving England, and by 1997 Tesco Direct’s arrival meant you didn’t even need to leave the house.
Then last year we really reached the peak of human endeavour: Amazon created the Dash Button meaning that you no longer need to risk carpal tunnel syndrome by typing “coffee” into your search bar. Press a wall-mounted button, and coffee would be delivered to your door the very next day. For anyone who had ever looked at the carefree life of a laboratory rat with envy, it was ideal. It’s either the greatest thing humanity has achieved, or symbolic of our wastefulness. Possibly both.
In any case, they seem to be doing pretty well. While yesterday there were 48 products to choose from ranging from Durex to Play-Doh (two products which seldom occupy the same sentence), Amazon has just added an extra 20 to the ranks. I’ll be honest, I’ve only heard of around half of them, but no doubt they’ll be of use to someone: especially if you really like Mentos.
The list in full:
- Aquarian
- Dad’s Root Beer
- Duracell
- Eukanuba
- Glade
- Heineken
- Hycell
- IAMS
- Joseph Joseph
- Kiwi
- L’Or
- Mentos
- Mr. Muscle
- Perfect Fit
- Perfectil
- Regina
- Scott
- Tassimo
- Wellman
- Wellwoman
As with last time, each button costs £4.99, but you get £4.99 off your first order, so it’s essentially free. Well, free in financial terms, anyway: psychologically, it will make you considerably more Amazon dependent than you were before.
Original publication by Alan Martin: Source article