Kmart shoppers go wild over $79 'perfect' winter must-have item: 'Best purchase ever'
The Kmart Flame Effect Fireplace Heater, $79, is currently being snapped up because it not only provides lovely spatial warmth, but also has a stylish vintage aesthetic.
The heating unit looks like a classic miniature fireplace, and even features a realistic LED log flame inside it that mimics a roaring flame.
These design elements are in stark to most freestanding plug-in heaters, which tend to be unsightly, boxy and rudimentary in appearance.
Unsurprisingly, the imitation fireplace heater is currently sold out online. Many Kmart stores also list that they have low or no stock of the popular item.
The delightfully designed heater is already a winner with Kmart shoppers, and has earnt a 4.6 stars rating on the mass retailer's website.
'Perfect for creating the cutest atmosphere for chilly evenings,' read one review.
'Warms the room quickly and looks good,' confirmed another.
The log flame effect, which is adjustable in brightness via a dial control, was also highlighted in many of the reviews.
Happy customers were particularly taken with the way the fire effect could be used 'without the heater' to create a softly lit atmosphere.
'Fantastic warm flame effect makes the room cosy,' said one reviewer.
The freestanding heater has two power heat settings: 900W or 1800W, as well as a thermostat control for each mode.
The electrical item also has a number of safety features including overheat protection, a tip over switch and a safety thermal cut-off device.
A recent video showing a Brisbane woman installing the Kmart fireplace heater in her cabin has been viewed over 134,000 times.
Artist Phoebe Hofsteede recently demonstrated how the 'faux fire place heater' added 'such cute ambiance' to her artist cabin retreat.
In the video, the photographer unboxed and assembled the Kmart buy before setting it up in the corner of a room.
The 33-second video, which has received thousands of likes, showcased how effortlessly the heating unit fit into her eclectic space.
Among the thousands of comments were messages taking delight with how the heater looked inside Phoebe's cabin.
'What a cozycore vibe,' read one reply.
'Aesthetically pleasing,' added another.
'I love the burning flame, just looks like it's a fire place,' wrote a third.
Several commenters also chimed in that they had the same one, praising it as 'such a good little heater'.
'This is the best purchase ever and I love her in my little villa,' read one reply.
But amid a cost of living crisis, many commenters expressed concern about the heating device chewing through power and hiking up electricity bills.
'We used to have this and I loved it, my husband got rid of it, apparently our electric bill went up.'
'I want one so bad but I'm worried about the electricity bill,' added another.
Heaters aren't the only Kmart device shoppers are investing in to stay warm this winter.
The recently launched Kmart Heated Foot Warmer, $27 has also won over shoppers.
The unusual buy has been dubbed an 'instant win' on chilly mornings and as a sneaky addition under office desks.
Sold in a sleek grey, the cosy slip-on device find has adjustable heat settings (three) and gently warms the feet, aiding with both relaxation and circulation.
It also has a long USB cord for ease of use, overheat protection and is USB powered so it can be used almost anywhere.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
'Brits blitz the first Test'
Australia may have lost the first Test at Suncorp Stadium but economically the Lions had a big positive impact in Brisbane, according to Code Sports."The Lions turned Suncorp into their own crimson castle with a robust performance but all the action was at the nearby Paddington Hotel where bar takings were three times as much as the first State of Origin match, proving again there's nothing quite as thirsty as a Lions fan on tour."
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Face age and ID checks? Using the internet in Australia is about to fundamentally change
As the old adage goes, 'On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog'. But in Australia it might soon be the case that everything from search engines and social media sites, to app stores and AI chatbots will have to know your age. The Albanese government trumpeted the passage of its legislation banning under 16s from social media – which will come into effect in December – but new industry codes developed by the tech sector and eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant under the Online Safety Act will probably have much larger ramifications for how Australians access the internet. Measures to be deployed by online services could include looking at your account history, or using facial age assurance and bank card checks. Identity checks using IDs such as drivers licences to keep children under 16 off social media will also apply to logged-in accounts for search engines from December, under an industry code that came into force at the end of June. The code will require search engines to have age assurance measures for all accounts, and where an account holder is determined to be aged under 18, the search engine would be required to switch on safe search features to filter out content such as pornography from search results. Six more draft codes being considered by the eSafety commissioner would bring similar age assurance measures to a wide range of services Australians use every day, including app stores, AI chatbots and messaging apps. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Any service that hosts or facilitates access to content such as pornography, self-harm material, simulated gaming, or very violent material unsuitable for children will need to ensure children are not able to access that content. In her National Press Club speech last month, Inman Grant flagged that the codes were needed to keep children safe at every level of the online world. 'It's critical to ensure the layered safety approach which also places responsibility and accountability at critical chokepoints in the tech stack, including the app stores and at the device level, the physical gateways to the internet where kids sign-up and first declare their ages,' she said. The eSafety commissioner announced the intention of the codes during the development process and when they were submitted, but recent media reporting has drawn renewed attention to these aspects of the codes. Some people will welcome the changes. News this week that Elon Musk's AI Grok now includes a pornographic chat while still being labelled suitable for ages 12+ on the Apple app store prompted child safety groups to call for Apple to review the app's rating and implement child protection measures in the app store. Apple and Google are already developing age checks at the device level that can also be used by apps to check the age of their users. Founder of tech analysis company PivotNine, Justin Warren, says the codes would 'implement sweeping changes to the regulation of communication between people in Australia'. 'It looks like a massive over-reaction after years of policy inaction to curtail the power of a handful of large foreign technology companies,' he says. 'That it hands even more power and control over Australians' online lives to those same foreign tech companies is darkly hilarious.' One of the industry bodies that worked with the eSafety commissioner to develop the codes, Digi, rejected the notion they would reduce anonymity online, and said the codes targeted specific platforms hosting or providing access to specific kinds of content. 'The codes introduce targeted and proportionate safeguards concerning access to pornography and material rated as unsuitable for minors under 18, such as very violent materials or those advocating or [giving instructions for] suicide, eating disorders or self-harm,' Digi's director of digital policy Dr Jenny Duxbury says. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'These codes introduce safeguards for specific use cases, not a blanket requirement for identity verification across the internet.' Duxbury says companies may use inference measures – such as account history or device usage patterns – to estimate a user's age, which would mean most users may not have to go through an assurance process. 'Some services may choose to adopt inference methods because they can be effective and less intrusive.' However, those that do may be caught by surprise when it comes into effect, says Electronic Frontiers Australia chair John Pane. 'While most Australians seem to be aware about the discussion about social media, the average punter is blissfully unaware about what's happening with search engines, and particularly if they go to seek access to adult content or other content that is captured by one of the safety codes, and then having to authenticate that they're over the age of 18 in order to access that content, the people will not be happy, rightly so.' Companies that don't comply with the codes will face a fine similar to that of the social media ban – up to $49.5m for a breach. Other measures such as eSafety requesting sites be delisted from search results are also an option for non-compliance. Pane says it would be better if the federal government made changes to the privacy act and introduced AI regulation that would require businesses to do risk assessment and ban certain AI activities deemed an unacceptable risk. He says a duty of care for the platforms for all users accessing digital services should be legislated. 'We believe this approach, through the legislature, is far more preferable than using regulatory fiat through a regulatory agency,' he said. Warren is sceptical the age assurance technology will work, highlighting that the search engine code was brought in before the outcome of the age assurance technology trial, due to government this month. 'Eventually, the theory will come into contact with practise.' After recent media reporting about the codes, the eSafety commissioner's office this week defended including age assurance requirements for searches. 'Search engines are one of the main gateways available to children for much of the harmful material they may encounter, so the code for this sector is an opportunity to provide very important safeguards,' the office said.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Minority government the new normal in Tasmania as voters turn away from major parties
Tasmania has just had its second state election in 16 months, the shortest gap between state polls in Australia since Queensland in 1957. For some voters it was their fifth trip to the ballot box in less than two years. The state's Labor opposition bore a heavy burden of explaining why voters were going through this just months after rewarding federal Labor with two extra seats in Tasmania. In terms of its own vote share, state Labor clearly failed on Saturday. It had just 26% of the vote with almost 75% of the ballots counted. The election was called after Labor moved a no-confidence motion in Jeremy Rockliff's Liberal minority government – citing issues with budget management, proposed asset sales and major projects delivery. Yet on the campaign trail, Labor's budget repair proposals were modest and undermined by their support for spending on the much-disliked Macquarie Point stadium project. Labor's anti-asset-sales position was also undercut by their intent to offload the state's share in the proposed Marinus Link Bass Strait connector. Meanwhile, the Liberals switched from would-be privatisers to promising a government-owned insurance company, a concept blasted by experts and insurers but which tapped into small business concerns and distracted the news cycle for days. The overall state vote share result is a swing of about 3% from Labor to the Liberals who recorded 40% of the vote. A record field of 44 independents gained, too, in the absence of the Jacqui Lambie Network. The four most prominent independents (incumbents Kristie Johnston, Craig Garland and David O'Byrne, and anti-salmon-farming campaigner Peter George) polled strongly but almost all of the others flopped. Another failure was the latest reappearance of the Tasmanian Nationals. Their endorsement of candidates who sent two Liberal governments to elections and generally ramshackle campaign should raise questions for the party at the federal level. The Nationals were outpolled by the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, whose campaign was barely visible, but are in serious contention for one seat and in a multi-way battle for another. Tasmania uses the Hare-Clark proportional representation system where candidates compete against others from their own party as well as other parties – with each of the state's five federal electorates electing seven state members in the 35-seat House of Assembly. The system makes majority government difficult, but voters have frequently routed around that by supporting whichever major party looks most likely to win. Usually, minority governments are followed by majorities of the other side, but polling this time never showed either major party close. With declining major party vote shares, non-majority parliaments look like the new normal in this system. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Rockliff's government has gained a seat in Braddon, the north-west and western electorate that at the federal election fell to Labor with a massive swing. It appears to have lost one narrowly in Franklin where George has taken a seat, and is still fighting for possible gains from its starting 14 seats in Bass and Lyons. Dean Winter's opposition seems to have held its 10 seats and is in the mix for a possible gain in Bass through quirks of the Hare-Clark system. Overall, Tasmania is pretty back much where it was. Labor could potentially govern, if willing to do so with support from the Greens and left-wing independents. Such an alliance could have 18 or 19 seats. But Labor could have tried this approach after the 2024 election, or after the no-confidence motion in June, and made no visible attempt to do so. If Labor were to form government after losing votes in an election they are blamed for, and performed badly in, it would look less legitimate than had it done so immediately after last year's election. Rockliff, the premier, has stated his intention to ask the governor to renew his commission. By precedent, he must be granted this, whether or not he can prove he has 18 promised votes on confidence and supply. Of course, it is better to have the appearance of stability, but if he cannot arrange enough support, he can at least go back to the parliament and defy it to vote him out. Then, another no-confidence motion would be needed to install Winter as premier. Labor would come to office with a shallow pool of MPs to draw on, a debt crisis requiring hard decisions that they did not campaign on, and a crossbench hungry to deliver for supporters on issues like native forest logging, salmon farms and the stadium. It's a sticky situation.
