Would You Like Some Toast?

The humble toaster, used for years by man (and woman), to heat bread based products for that crispy, warm toasty sensation. But what about the toaster of tomorrow?

Microsoft may have nailed this issue late back in 1995 with the release of their “Flying Toaster” screensavers that came bundled with Windows 95. Toasters are going to get smarter as technology progresses and our desire for better products (and better toast), makes us buy up these products and march on with our digital lifestyles.

For years the concept of connecting your fridge-freezer to the network and to the internet in order to display the weather, email alerts, news and manage online shopping lists for you each time you take an item out of the fridge, ready for a replacement item to arrive at your door the next morning. But what about the toaster? Connecting your toaster to the network may seem crazy at first, but surely the concept is the same – it may be able to display weather, email and news alerts, but then it may start to “get smarter”.

An update delivered directly to the device might alter the settings of the machine to toast in a more efficient or reliable way (no more burnt edges for example). But what if the toaster were to search for the latest model and pre-order a new version of itself, replacing itself with a smarter model – say one that is able to detect when there is a problem with the internal heating mechanism and prevent fire. A smart move you might think – resolving the problem before it exists (proactive one might say).

But then you have the possibility of even more new features – wireless networked toaster, intercepting your emails and news alerts before you do, delivering advertising content directly to your breakfast table, tracking your toasting behaviour and suggesting new and more delicious toasted snacks for your enjoyment. Before you know it, you’ve got a toaster that is smarter than you are, with more connections to the outside world (thanks to social networking – toasters will be able to form relationships with one another). The intelligent toaster is coming, it will arrive – but be wary and keep it away from your other kitchen utensils.

As demonstrated by Red Dwarf’s very own “Talkie Toaster”, they will want more and more from us humans! Now who can I interest in some nice hot buttered toast? ...A bagle? ...A crumpet?....etc!