Daysago – for tracking how long a jar has been open

October When something makes the pages of i4u, Kitchen Contraptions, Gizmodo and Shiny Shiny in the same fortnight, it’s obviously got something going for it – and it has. It’s a small timer which keeps track of how long a jar has been open so you know when to throw it in the trash without having to stick your nose into an olfactory minefield. DaysAgo counters have a simple LCD display and can attach with either a magnet or suction cup and although it’s a ripper device, we can’t help but feel that at US$12, it’s a bit exey to be used in a large household – doing a rough count of open jars in our household, we’d need US$250 worth of daysagos.

The Eureka! moment for the Daysago came in the summer of 2005, when Debbie Stephens Stauffer and Kathleen Whitehurst were working on ideas for a new business venture. During a break, Debbie asked Kathleen to feed her younger son. Kathleen opened the fridge and saw several half-full baby food jars. She also saw a warning on the labels that the food should not be kept more than 3 days after opening. “So how do you know how long they’ve been open?” she asked. Busy young mom Debbie replied: “Oh, I wish I knew – you can’t believe how much food we have to throw away because we can’t keep track.”

Both instantly knew that if they could solve this problem, they’d have a product that would be valuable to people all over the world. So they pulled together a team of family, friends and experts…and that led to the creation of the DaysAgo, a digital day counter that attaches to food containers and other things that need smart tracking.