Microwave-toaster combo shows cellphones a thing or two about convergence
It is a microwave. Press a button, and a flap opens to reveal a concealed toaster. Shriek with glee and clap your hands, it's a convergence device that sounds like it might actually been worth the trouble of converging!
Appliances have an advantage over high-tech gadgets, see, in that the technology behind them is generally a settled matter. The performance characteristics of toasters do not follow Moore's law, or anything like it. On the other hand, the other traditional flaw of convergence remains true: sooner or later, one of the components will break, spoiling the experience of the whole thing.
LG's LTM9000 is also a bit of a lightweight: only 900 watts in the oven and 800 watts for the toaster. At $140, it's not outrageously expensive, but much moreso than just buying a toaster and a microwave.
Product Page [via Oh Gizmo and Core77]
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Carlin's Law of Commerce:
"If you stick two things together that have never been stuck together before, some schmuck will buy it."
I got one of these for
There's an old saw that the only good combo is the clock radio, but this does make sense, takes up less space and works great.
We had one of these in the office I used to work at. The funny thing was that the toaster did not have the familiar red hot coils. Instead, it blasted your bread/bagel with blow-dryer hot air. It still toasted, I guess, but it really dried out whatever you were toasting.
The low wattage of each is because a standard US AC outlet is rated by code for 15 amps max. (So 800w+900w / 120v = 14.2 amp)
Interesting.
Sixteen or seventeen years ago we bought a combination microwave/convection oven. It served us well as we had no place to put a regular oven at the time, and it was our only oven for about 14 years. Defrost to broil with a touch of a button! Alas, we gave it away.
We still had a toaster though, a Sunbeam Model T-20 from the early 50s. It was automatic -- you just kind of shook the toast and it went down, then it came up gently instead of popping. It was possibly the best two-slice toaster ever.... wait, why am I randomly getting nostalgic about my old toaster?
Because toasters rule!