microwave

LG Microwave Toaster Combo: Misunderstood monster or chef's dream?

Combination appliances always freak me out. I can't help but imagine someday everything will be fused into one gigantic (I suppose I should say ginormous) monstrosity that can cook, clean, and even eat all of our meals for us. Little did we know that when manufactures first started putting seemingly innocuous little clocks into their devices that we were paving the way for our eventual robot overlords.

Appliance paranoia aside, this particular device does seem like a mostly good idea. The microwave has long been heralded as the go-to cooking device for heating up food in a flash, but … Read more

Microwaves and pizza, together at last?

Ever since the microwave was introduced, humans have tried to improve upon it. We were promised quick and easy cooking with excellent results. Well, we got the quick and easy part, but deliciousness has certainly lagged behind. As such, a multitude of devices and contraptions has paraded through the microwaves of the world trying to help bring truth to the term microwaveable. All of those revolving trays and browning plates have some new competition as Advanced Composite Materials introduces the Silar Microwave Grill and Flatstone.

According to the manufacturer: "Silar's new microwave-conduction cooking allows food to cook both … Read more

A 'personal' microwave--never share again

In our day, most dorm rooms got by with makeshift "kitchens" that consisted of a hot plate and maybe a toaster oven. But that was back in the days when space was at a premium because the stereo--and stacks of vinyl LPs--took up half the room.

Now we have "personal" microwave ovens to do the job, some of them barely bigger than a breadbox. The "iWavecube," for example, will heat up frozen pizzas like the best of 'em while occupying under a cubic foot of space and weighing just 12 pounds.

It may not … Read more

Combo TV-microwave to feed addiction

Talk about evolution. A decade ago the iconic appliance of digital age was the Internet toaster; now say hello to the microwave TV.

Thankfully, no one seems to be viewing this latest invention as the ultimate device in technological convergence--quite the opposite, actually. But that hasn't stopped Holland Electro Wave TV from debuting its Frankenstein creation at the IFA trade show in Berlin. The concept is rather silly, if you ask us: The "Wave," according to Gizmag, is basically a microwave oven with an LCD built into the door.

Not only does it cost about $680, which … Read more

Portable microwave for the road

Office food thieves, beware. Your illicit supply is about to run dry.

That's because co-workers no longer need to keep their food in the communal fridge for microwaving at lunchtime. Instead, they can just keep it at their desk and microwave it inside the lunchbox itself. The "WaveBox," combined with its "CoolWave" liner, is an all-in-one food receptacle and cooking appliance. The latter keeps the contents fresh until you're ready to eat, when you can then flip a switch and microwave your grub right inside the WaveBox, according to Popgadget.

Billed as the "… Read more

The latest in kitchen multitasking, Dutch-style

A few months ago, when I came across that gadget that prepares eggs, toast, and coffee for you, I rashly and wrongfully asserted that such "breakfast multitasking" was endemic to Japan. That was an erroneous assertion on my part: the Dutch are doing it too, except that this gadget really isn't specific to breakfast. Holland Electric has a fun little product designed by Marcel Wanders. Called the Wave TV, it combines a microwave with a 15" TV and DVD player. We've seen kitchen TVs before, but until this point they've been largely confined to … Read more

Microwaves not pigment-challenged

The way manufacturers are splattering color all over home appliances, you'd think they'd seen Pleasantville one too many times. We've seen transformations in everything from stoves and refrigerators to washing machines and even personal safes.

So we're curious why it's taken so long for them to get around to that staple of every house, apartment, condo and dorm room: the microwave. But Whirlpool is trying to make up for lost time with its "Max" ovens, which Popgadget says are available in black, silver, baby blue and raspberry red. They also sport a non-traditional … Read more

What's cooking? Not you

You know how punching in a cook time on a microwave is just too much work? Not only do you have to unwrap your pre-packaged meal, but you have to put it on a plate, and on top of that, you have shut the door. By then, anyone would be exhausted.

Samsung's response: "Dude. We know." Or something like that. But the company is selling the Smart Oven, a combination conventional oven and microwave that reads the bar code on a package of food and knows how long to nuke it.

While this may be a boon … Read more

The microwave as a lethal weapon

Microwave ovens have been used to heat corn dogs melt toys. Now, two inventors want to employ them to liquidate an enemy in battle.

In an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, two inventors say they have come up with a way to get the magnetrons, the device inside microwave ovens that turns electrical energy into microwaves, to essentially synchronize.

Right now, the largest magnetrons can crank out about 1 megawatt. That's a lot of power, but the device is expensive and delicate. By getting off-the-shelf magnetrons to lock into the same frequency and phase, you … Read more