In an Era of ‘Smart’ Things, Sometimes Dumb Stuff Is Better

Re:In an Era of ‘Smart’ Things, Sometimes Dumb Stuff Is Better by pdkl95 on Sunday February 25, 2018 @01:06AM (#16457408)

> First microwave had a rotary control

Reminds me of the old "ha-ha-only-serious" joke about how a computer scientist would design a toaster:

http://www.fiction.net/tidbits/computer/computer_cs_toaster....

Unfortunately some people interpreted it as a plan for the future.

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Re:In an Era of ‘Smart’ Things, Sometimes Dumb Stuff Is Better by maxerickson on Sunday February 25, 2018 @08:51AM (#16458931)

Most toasters have a thermostat or photocell instead of a timer, so even the simple design is an example of complicators gloves.

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Re:In an Era of ‘Smart’ Things, Sometimes Dumb Stuff Is Better by dTal on Tuesday February 27, 2018 @09:59AM (#16473832)

A simple timer is under complicated - if you cook two slices in immediate successionm, the second slice will be burned as the coils will still be hot. As I understand it, a good quality toaster will have at minimum both a thermal switch (like a bimetallic switch) and a timer, which only starts when the toaster is hot.

I don't see how a simple thermostat with no timer can do the job by itself.

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