Official News page 9

GEEK TOY OF THE WEEK: THE INTERNET TOASTER

by Hazed

They are always trying to convince us that there's some benefit to networking our kitchen appliances, so the fridge can order more milk when it detects you've run out or the food processor can download porn or whatever, and now they (whoever "they" are) have come up with another wacky idea: a toaster that downloads news stories and burns them onto your bread.

The Scan Toaster connects to a PC using a USB cable and can download everything from local weather conditions to the news headlines for the morning. Inside the toaster, instead of the fixed wires that usually toast the bread, there's a network of toasting modules that can move by 30 degrees so once you decide what you want on your toast, the modules will align and burn your content onto your breakfast.

Of course, once you spread jam or Marmite or the topping of your choice onto the toast, the news story will be obscured: plus, of course, if you take the time to read your piece of toast before eating it, it's going to be stone cold by the time it gets to your mouth. So it's just as well that this stupid idea is not destined for production. The appliance was the finalist in a design competition run by manufacturer Electrolux.

Now why can't they invent something useful: like a way to keep the toast warm while you spread it and then eat it - that would be really useful!

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