toaster

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

America seems to run on Starbucks. If the world's supply of coffee beans were destroyed, we would be faced by listless zombies struggling to pull themselves out of bed everyday. However, if you're part of the population that doesn't need their daily jolt of caffeine, the latest product from Breville might catch your eye.

In what would seem like something out of sheer science fiction to the tea-drinking community, Breville has combined an electronic tea kettle with an electronically controlled toaster to create a mutant of the breakfast world. With sheer convenience in mind, it features a … Read more

Special report: Are we getting iPhones soon? http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9886460-1.html

Taser party! http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19353066

Ford Fiesta! It’s back! http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9887525-1.html

You cook, Readybot cleans http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9887236-1.html

Robo-lawnmower goes hybrid http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9887567-1.html

Rotating Sphere Lounger http://dvice.com/archives/2008/03/claustrophobia.php

Toy for children who want to grow up to work at the TSA http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/ toy_for_children_who_want_to_grow_up_to_work_at_the_tsa_9059.asp

A propos (of) nothing (Oh, my god edition) Squeezebox Duet http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-media-receivers/ logitech-squeezebox-duet/4505-6739_7-32815168.html… Read more

They say a watched pot never boils, but with the Kenwood Response kettle you won't be able to look away. That's because the sides of the kettle are constantly changing color, from a cool blue to a hot red, as the water inside heats up. Aside from the rainbow lighting effect, the Response kettle also features a switch on the side that lets you heat water to exactly 176 degrees--the perfect temp for brewing green tea. The kettle will then hold the water at that temperature so you can always top off your cup or brew a second … Read more

Forget about phones and MP3 players--the next designer gadget is the toaster. And leading the way to branded nirvana are, of all things, sportscar dynasties.

Porsche joined the fray with a brushed-aluminum model that looks good enough for the track, and now Bugatti has gotten into the act with an appliance of its own. True to its exacting nature, Bugatti has included "six browning-control options" for its "Volo" toaster, Gadgetizer says, with especially wide slots to accommodate different sizes of baked goods. But it's the red Italian flair that drew us to it, of course.… Read more

I like toasters. I really do. And I like it when they're creative. I've spent some time this week researching Instructables tutorials for how to hack my own toaster in order to make it a pirate toaster that brands my toast with a skull and crossbones. (Stay tuned on that one.)

But this is too much. I'm not terrified of Hello Kitty or anything, but I think the cat should stay the heck off my toast. Even if it's only $19.99, I do not have any use for a Hello Kitty toaster. Like all other … Read more

Back in February, when I fell head-over-heels for the German pirate toaster, I had absolutely no idea that "art toasters" would become such a phenomenon. Yesterday, GeekSugar wrote about Your Name On Toast, which is a gimmicky little service that will customize toast for you at a ridiculous fee--but I guess it is for charity. Nevertheless, it was certainly more accessible than the hacked toast printer. So I suppose it was a step in the right direction.

But now, to beat the pirate metaphor into the ground, I think I see the "x" marking the buried … Read more

To those who stepped in late: I'm on a quest for a pirate toaster. I'm looking for something like the skull-and-crossbones appliance sold in Germany that will allow me to brand a thoroughly awesome Jolly Roger into my morning toast. But at this point, it doesn't look like I can locate one here in the States. When we last left the Quest, readers, I had just learned about the Pop Art toaster sold at Target, which is a good try, but there are no pirates involved. I have no use for a toaster that can brand snowflakes … Read more