Word: toaster
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...started when I saw a new toaster from Oster that offered 63 different settings. Called the Perfectionist, this $60 microprocessor-controlled box has separate calibrations for bagels, English muffins and regular bread. It reheats and defrosts. And it charts its progress on a blinking, beeping, digital pie chart you can watch while you wipe the sleep from your eyes...
Surely this must be a joke, I thought. People have been toasting bread for centuries, and they've never needed a computer to get the job done. Like answering machines, microwaves and VCRs before it, even the humble toaster seemed to have become too smart for its own good. To find out for sure, I put to the test four of the fanciest models I could find...
...soon learned that Oster's Perfectionist isn't the only toaster that asks humans to make far too many decisions before their first cup of coffee. Krups' ToastControl Digital, which sells for $70, packs in even more options, including two for saving your favorite settings, like the bookmarks on your Web browser. Two glass-sealed quartz rods replace the usual wire heating elements inside and are supposed to toast your bread faster without drying it out. A built-in digital timer tells you precisely how many seconds are left...
...HAZARDS OF POP-TARTS A New Jersey couple whose home caught fire after a Pop-Tart was left unattended in the toaster is suing Kellogg and Black & Decker for damages...
...Maybe something simple like a toaster oven, or a really classy electric toothbrush, as long as it?s made in America by expensive union labor. The service sector is America?s future - maybe the place to put this is an extravagant dinner for two, or a cheap Yankees season-ticket package. Or maybe support financial services, manufacturing and tech all at once, and blow it all on 50 shares of Lucent. (At least I won?t have to worry about capital-gains taxes for a few years, if ever...