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A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

theverge.com

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Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#51

Post by anamexis »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #9
pickledish wrote: post #3

His whole channel (called Technology Connections) is probably my favorite one on YouTube, can’t recommend it enough! My favorites are his series on refrigeration and heat pumps, for example this one: https://youtube.com/watch?v=7J52mDjZzto Edit: to clarify, this article is based on an old Technology Connections video, and the creator of that video has lots more!

Technology Connections is hands down one of my favorite Youtube channels. Another guy worth mentioning that tickles the brain cells in a similar way is Isaac Arthur: a guy that breaks down science fiction into science fact, and explores what we could actually do someday in the future, and pokes fun at the stuff that will probably never happen but has become familiar tropes anyways. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ…

Thanks, I wasn't aware of those two!

Riffing on those, I can also recommend DIY Perks. He makes pretty stunning electronics projects. https://www.youtube.com/c/DIYPerks

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#52

Post by jollybean »

gnicholas wrote: post #32
jollybean wrote: post #7

There is definitely a market for the resurgence of some of high quality old-timey products, especially those with some novelty. Sunbeam should literally do a Kickstarter to get the marketing going.

It would probably be easier for a new company to decide to do this than an existing company with bureaucratic cruft. And it's not like Sunbeam has any critical IP rights here, since the design is from many decades ago. My grandparents gave me one of these and I used it for a decade or so before it stopped working. I considered trying to fix it, but with little kids on the horizon, I was concerned about the safety iss…

Yes, some ops are cruft, in which case new company could buy old company brand.

The other problem is distribution.

These things are about channel power, which is >50% of the story on both sides: manufacturing, distribution, sales, etc..

'The Product' is actually less important than the system in place that makes all of this work, at least at scale.

Ideally, this would be a subdivision of a 'well run company' with operational resources and distribution power.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#53

Post by jollybean »

johnohara wrote: post #20
jollybean wrote: post #7

There is definitely a market for the resurgence of some of high quality old-timey products, especially those with some novelty. Sunbeam should literally do a Kickstarter to get the marketing going.

Sunbeam is currently owned by Newell Brands (Carl Icahn) whose other brands include Coleman, Parker Pen, Calphalon, and First Alert. They certainly don't need the money to kickstart a campaign, but it would be interesting to know if Kickstarter would entertain the idea of a subsidiary of Newell Brands running a marketing campaign on its platform. Are there other large corporate brands that you know of that have launc…

Yes, I mean Kickstarter as a marketing tool to tap into to an engaged and authentic starter market.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#54

Post by crooked-v »

balaji1 wrote: post #47

This toaster was expensive when it launched, but could be considered worth the money since it would last for a long time and it seems to have a good resale price even today. On the other hand, today it is hard to buy simple things of good quality on Amazon - example 100% cotton or 100% woolen clothes. And it would be harder in a physical superstore like Target or Walmart.

You might appreciate the BuyItForLife subreddit. The ad hoc nature can make it hard to find stuff, but the posts are generally all direct testimonial by people who have had a given item for an extended period of time.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#55

Post by malleefowl »

deskamess wrote: post #50
malleefowl wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just used the form at timstoasters.com/order and said I was looking to buy instead of restore. I agree it could be easier to find!

Thanks for the info. How was pricing? I assume it has be on the high side given the restoration.

Mine was $360 with shipping. Obviously very high compared to a new toaster, but I wouldn’t have wanted to do the wiring myself, so worth it for me.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#56

Post by johnohara »

jsnell wrote: post #34
johnohara wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sunbeam is currently owned by Newell Brands (Carl Icahn) whose other brands include Coleman, Parker Pen, Calphalon, and First Alert. They certainly don't need the money to kickstart a campaign, but it would be interesting to know if Kickstarter would entertain the idea of a subsidiary of Newell Brands running a marketing campaign on its platform. Are there other large corporate brands that you know of that have launc…

Yes. At least for boardgames, sub-brands of billion dollar companies regularly run Kickstarters. Why would KS have any problem with that?

Not sure.

But I've always had the impression Kickstarter was about small business entrepreneurs/solopreneurs unable or unwilling to raise capital through traditional means.

Per the KS Mission Statement, "It’s where creators share new visions for creative work with the communities that will come together to fund them."

It just seems unusual to me that a multi-billion dollar global corporation would decide after 60+ years to go back to building high-quality versions of their products, perhaps considering it to be a "new vision for creative work," not really need a community to come together to fund it, and not have KS pause to think about whether it fits with their mission.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#57

Post by notriddle »

andrewxdiamond wrote: post #38
foundart wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure but I imagine it has resulted in a lot of exposure for Technology Connections.

The person doing the work gets “exposure” while the copy/pasters get free ad revenue? Doesn’t sound like a fair shake to me

Technology Connections has a Patreon, mentioned at the end of every video.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#58

Post by dredmorbius »

pengaru wrote: post #14
jollybean wrote: post #7

There is definitely a market for the resurgence of some of high quality old-timey products, especially those with some novelty. Sunbeam should literally do a Kickstarter to get the marketing going.

> Sunbeam should literally do a Kickstarter to get the marketing going. Sunbeam products are now Chinesium trash, the brand was sold off long ago. At my last startup we learned this the hard way after buying a Sunbeam set of knives in a butcher block for the office kitchen. Every single knife was dull and serrated identically, despite presenting in the Amazon ad as a comprehensive set of knives.

You can thank Chainsaw Al for that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chainsaw_Al

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/obituaries/al-dunlap-dead...

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#59

Post by cuddlybacon »

Since everyone is mentioning Technology Connections (he deserves it, great channel), I want to bring up this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiS27feX8o0

To me, this really shows the sad direction smart appliances have gone in. I would love to see that smart appliances would have continued to evolve in this direction. I don't like the current state of smart appliances, but going back to the absolute basic seems like an over-reaction to me.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#60

Post by belval »

systemvoltage wrote: post #39
pxeger1 wrote: post #23

Shitty blogspam article that just copies the original video by Technology Connections

IMO The Verge, MKBHD, LTT, Snazzy Labs, etc are entertainment platforms, not tech reviewers. Often lacking conviction, criticism, strong opinions, technical know-how and ability to do the hardwork for objective comparisons. They spend more time polishing the video, studio neatness and thumbnails than informing the public. They're optimized for viewership and revenue.

I understand your point but I think it's a bit of an unfair take. If you want good depth in your reviews there are a lot of smaller tech youtubers that do deeper analysis, but the issue is that most people simply won't watch a 45 minutes review of the Intel i7-12700k that actually goes in depth. On top of that financially they are incentivized to make ~15 minutes videos because the 45 minutes one cost a lot more to make and brings in a similar amount.

> They spend more time polishing the video, studio neatness and thumbnails than informing the public.

To be clear I completely agree with you, but I think it's mostly because the public (or a majority of the public) simply don't care about being informed.

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