The +/- Hot Plate wins the award for the day's most literally named gadget. The plate itself is a normal ceramic circle, but it has circuitry printed on it in the form of "silk-screened gold and amorphic metal films". These are hooked up to a DC power supply and the printed circuit acts like a heating element, sloughing off its resisted electricity in the form of heat and warming (or even cooking) any foodstuffs on top, working just like a car-window de-icer element.

The plate was designed by Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow for a competition named "Dining In 2015". Even when not plugged in, the filigreed heating strips make a curiously beautiful pattern. The problem is that, with the DC-in circuitry in a plastic box underneath, this isn't going to be dishwasher safe.

Dining In 2015 [Design Boom via more Design Boom]