How Much Is The Dolmio Pepper Hacker?

Frustrated parents and neglected mates the world over are probably rejoicing at the recent release of the Dolmio Pepper Hacker, a gadget masquerading as an innocent pepper grinder that could make family dinner or date night way more intimate. When activated, the device blocks TV, WiFi, and cell service in its immediate vicinity so that those gathered around the table have no choice but to (gasp!) interact with each other instead of their iPhones. If this sounds like some super awesome James Bond business to you, you're probably wondering how much the Dolmio Pepper Hacker costs, how it works, what the pitfalls of it are. Will it run you a small fortune? Could you end up blocking your connections permanently? Could you accidentally grind some of the gadget's inner workings onto your girlfriend's plate of spaghetti Bolognese?

The answers are we don't know, no, and no, respectively. We don't know the price of this cool thing yet because it's currently just in early development stages and not yet for sale. Dolmio Pepper Hacker creator Brendan Forster told First We Feast, “At this time, it’s a limited number of prototype devices that we’ve built just to basically experiment to see what happens when you remove tech from the family room." So you're telling me this is just a social experiment and I can't actually have a pepper hacker of my own? If I didn't spent most of my meals eating Chipotle alone on a coffee table while watching Bill Maher, I would consider this news a real blow. Perhaps when Dolmio realizes the major public interest in this product, they will decide to bring these prototypes to market. Until then, here are other ways to achieve the same technology-free effect.

1. Have family meals in your sub-cellar

There's no service down there! Just tell everyone you are preparing for hurricane season and this is a mandatory drill.

2. Eat date-night dinners on a deserted island

If The Bachelor taught me anything it's that dates on deserted islands always end well, and there's no wifi in the middle of the ocean.

3. Ask people to put their phones away

What are we, animals? Not that animals have the opposable thumbs used for rampant texting but, you know what I mean. Is it really that difficult to just institute a "no phones at the table" rule? Someone please remind me to look at this post when I have a couple teenage kids so that I can laugh at my own naiveté.

4. Make a wifi jammer

Wow, I'm impressed that you are even taking this suggestion seriously. OK then, gather a 2.4 GHz cordless phone, a CD-R, a speaker wire, a screwdriver, duct tape, and scissors and watch the above video.

5. Buy a wifi jammer

They appear to cost around $250 to start, and you can buy a separate pepper grinder for $8 if you're in the market. This is probably what you should do.