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My dumb toaster

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skrause

My dumb toaster
« on: April 02, 2016, 11:46:11 pm »
We had a fancy toaster that had settings that were kind of accurate and I knew with a particular type of bread I could set the level to a 4 and the toast would come out pretty good.  But one side's heating element burned out after a couple years and we decided to go back to a cheap toaster oven for half the price.

Toaster ovens have some advantages but the disadvantage is that on the cheap ones the setting for amount of toasting is a simple spring loaded rotating mechanical timer.  The amount of rotational degrees between 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, is slight and it is hard to get the timer accurate to the right amount of time to toast.

I am now using Alexa to just remind me.  I place the toast in the toaster oven and turn the timer on to some slightly longer setting than I know I will need and say, Alex, set timer for 5 minutes 20 seconds, which I've determined which I've determined works well for the bread I am using.  Very simple thing.  It plays the alarm sound to let me know exactly when to I can pull the toast.  I don't have to keep an eye on the toast to keep it from burning and I can be focusing on cooking the rest of my breakfast on the stove.


mike27oct

Re: My dumb toaster
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2016, 04:04:18 am »
After having an iPhone now for a couple of years, last time I seared tuna on BBQ grill, (always a tricky event) I used the timer for first time to help me.  I asked Siri to set timer for two and a half minutes for first side. When timer went off, I turned tuna, and asked Siri again to set timer for same time.  Did a great job.  BTW, Siri is lots smarter than Alexa, although I credit Alexa for encouraging me to use Siri more than I ever did before getting the Echo.

Now that I have the new Tap, I can use the Tap instead of iPhone; it would be easier to do one-handed, and I would have much better sounding music than the iPhone has.  ;)
« Last Edit: April 03, 2016, 04:10:06 am by mike27oct »

skrause

Re: My dumb toaster
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2016, 09:27:55 pm »
Yes, also in Android I can simply say "Okay Google, set timer for 5 minutes 15 seconds."  But I have to have the Note4 in the kitchen, out of my pocket, the wallet case I use needs to be open, the home button pushed so that it is awake, and also set on a page/screen where I have the google widget running so that I can talk to my phone.  All those things are very minor but ergonomically it is way simpler to be in the kitchen and just say "Alexa, set timer for ...."

mike27oct

Re: My dumb toaster
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2016, 10:35:14 pm »
I didn't suggest YOU use a phone, I just told you what I DID similarly to sear tuna.  Also, said I would use my new Echo Tap next time which is what you do with your Echo.