But can it collect data about its user and show ads?
A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
71–80 of 238 posts
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#72There 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.
I've thought about this for a while. Imagine a line of "dumb" dishwashers, toasters, ovens, stoves, microwaves, etc., all well-designed and made with sturdy materials. Unfortunately, I think they'd cost 6-10x going rate as modern "smart" appliances, and also the market for them would be restricted to HN commenters.
Buying an old one and restoring it would probably be a better idea.
All my white goods are several decades old and still work well with occasional periodic maintenance. That's the other thing: back then, they were designed to last with maintenance; now, they're designed to be "maintenance-free" until they break completely and in a very cost-prohibitive-to-repair way.
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've thought about this for a while. Imagine a line of "dumb" dishwashers, toasters, ovens, stoves, microwaves, etc., all well-designed and made with sturdy materials. Unfortunately, I think they'd cost 6-10x going rate as modern "smart" appliances, and also the market for them would be restricted to HN commenters.
Washing machines were one of the first applications for microcontrollers. If you have an electric motor that's supposed to speed up, slow down, reverse, spin fast etc., all on a schedule, it's a no-brainer (pun intended). It's usually the pump that fails, but the controller-cards often fail too. Pumps and controller cards are, of course, outrageously expensive. These things are supposed to fail. Back in the day, they…
"Yeah, reliable equipment probably is a bit of a nerdy preoccupation"
Efficient market hypothesis summed up in once sentence
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've thought about this for a while. Imagine a line of "dumb" dishwashers, toasters, ovens, stoves, microwaves, etc., all well-designed and made with sturdy materials. Unfortunately, I think they'd cost 6-10x going rate as modern "smart" appliances, and also the market for them would be restricted to HN commenters.
In washing machine land, Miele and a few others make these. They are indeed very, very expensive. Mind you, adjusted for inflation, so were the old ones; there has never really been an era of cheap top-quality appliances.
But are they cheaper per year of service life?
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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...
That wrap-sheet reads like he should have been in jail for ruining so many peoples lives. White-collar crime pays, but we all knew that already.
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've thought about this for a while. Imagine a line of "dumb" dishwashers, toasters, ovens, stoves, microwaves, etc., all well-designed and made with sturdy materials. Unfortunately, I think they'd cost 6-10x going rate as modern "smart" appliances, and also the market for them would be restricted to HN commenters.
Heck, I'd settle for a mil-spec umbrella. One that you don't have to replace every season!!! But they don't seem to exist AFAICT...
The Weatherman Stick (or Golf) Umbrella looks like it might be BIFL. Its non collapsing, so less moving parts and has an aggressive canopy that claims it can withstand 55mph winds. I have never used it, just going on looks of how its constructed. At $69, I would hope its not a throwaway type.
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 m…
Nobody should torture themselves with 45min of video about a processor.
Most of the useful information is text and images.
Anyone making a video about it should rethink their fucking life.
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#78I can contribute another simple example of a kitchen appliance that didn't necessarily get smarter: the cooking plate! Remember the good old cookers with rotary switches? Those actually had up to seven different stages of heating (see schematic here http://www.herd.josefscholz.de/7Takt/img16.gif)! While the new digital ones are... digital - i.e. they switch the plate on and off repeatedly to produce different amounts of heat, but that depends on the pot/pan/whatever you put on it to store the heat while the plate is off. So a definite step backward if you ask me...
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#79I can contribute another simple example of a kitchen appliance that didn't necessarily get smarter: the cooking plate! Remember the good old cookers with rotary switches? Those actually had up to seven different stages of heating (see schematic here http://www.herd.josefscholz.de/7Takt/img16.gif )! While the new digital ones are... digital - i.e. they switch the plate on and off repeatedly to produce different amount…
Not to mention the digital ones are more prone to failure.
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Holy cow. We have one of these handed down to us. After learning how to calibrate the springs, it runs great. Didn't realize how much wealth it created for us as well.