Industry Update

• Lifetime Brands buys novelty housewares business
  Lifetime Brands has acquired the business and some assets of Easy Aces, which operates as Fred & Friends. The Rhode Island-based Fred & Friends sells novelty housewares such as kitchen tools, tabletop accessories, party goods and personal accessories. SouthCoastToday.com (New Bedford, Mass.) (tiered subscription model) (1/18)     

• IHA unveils preview of housewares show products
  The International Housewares Association is offering vendors a preview of what they’ll find at the International Home + Housewares Show in March. Product categories on display include cooking, storage, cutlery and tabletop products. HFNMag.com (1/17)     

Trends & Innovations

• Espresso maker aims to bring cafe coffee home
  The Caffe Porcellana Stovetop Espresso Maker is designed to help users create coffee store espresso at home. The device features a separate porcelain pot for serving and an enameled aluminum base. Coolest Gadgets (1/20)     

• Gadgets slice up specific foods
  Retailers offer a variety of slicers designed for specific kinds of fruits and vegetables. The Chef’n StemGem Strawberry Stem Remover, Amco Pepper Prepper and Norpro Mushroom Egg Slicer are among the gadgets featured in this photo essay. The Huffington Post (1/18)     

• The pressure cooker makes a comeback
  Sales of pressure cookers may be experiencing the biggest boom since their debut in '60s and '70s as more chefs embrace the machine's ability to create rich, flavorful stocks and tender meat all in less time than traditional cooking methods. "The greatest upside of the pressure cooker is the intensity of flavor," says Chef John Currence of City Grocery in Oxford, Miss. The Wall Street Journal (1/18)     

Retail News

• Rayware sales on Asian markets post growth
  British supplier Rayware has seen a significant boost of exports of Typhoon woks and chopsticks into Asian markets. Company representatives believe style and brand recognition are helping drive sales in places like China and Singapore. HousewaresLive.net (1/18)     

• Wal-Mart commits to help U.S. manufacturing
  Wal-Mart has announced plans to help onshore the production of appliances as part of the company’s bid to increase U.S. sourcing of the products on store shelves. The company has committed to buy an additional $50 billion in U.S.-produced goods over the next 10 years and help onshore manufacturing of higher-end appliances. ApplianceMagazine.com (1/18)     

Finance & Policy

• Large Chinese cities see home prices increase
  Housing prices increased in 40 of 70 major cities in China last month compared with December 2011, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Comparing month on month, prices rose in 54 cities in December and 35 in November. China Daily (Beijing) (1/19)     

• Analysis: Bond markets have good news for Europe
  Demand for Spanish and Italian government bonds is growing steadily, and that's good news as "positive contagion" sweeps through Europe, according to The Economist. "Confidence in bond markets is being seen as a turning-point in the crisis," the magazine notes. "Yet some of the vital signs may be misleading. One worry is that the connection between weak banks and weak governments may have strengthened again in recent months." The Economist (tiered subscription model) (1/19)     

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by Housewares SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• Slow-cookers get a modern makeover (The Plain Dealer (Cleveland))

• Kyocera grinder handles more than coffee (Coolest Gadgets)

• Various gadgets available to make portion control easy (Glamour)

• Quirky gadget takes food off knives (Gizmodo Australia)

• Manufacturing plant sets record for stand mixer production (American City Business Journals)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

IHA News

• Innovation Theater presents expert perspectives to guide your business
  In addition to the exciting new products that fill three buildings at McCormick Place, the International Home + Housewares Show offers many educational events, all at no charge to attendees. The Innovation Theater, in Room E350 in the Lakeside Center, presents 20 speakers who address timely topics in new product development and launch. Industry insiders share the latest thinking and their expertise in targeted social media, Made in the USA manufacturing, branding, visual merchandising and global consumer trends. The free, 50-minute sessions run from 11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 2 through 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 5. More info.     

• Plan now to attend the industry's premier housewares marketplace
  Profit from the experience and plan to attend the 2013 International Home + Housewares Show, March 2 to 5 at Chicago's McCormick Place. The Show, which opens at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 2, will feature 2,100 companies from around the globe and more than 60,000 attendees. If you haven't registered for your free Show badge, sign up today. The Show's registration website includes easy one-stop shopping for making your hotel reservations and airfare. Register today.     

SmartQuote

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." --Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. president