Yeah we can judge this. Designers work with this all the time. Deliver a good experience, deliver something of quality despite many, many real world constraints. That’s what design is.
You always have the choice of stripping off the existing controller and slapping on an Arduino with a triac switch for the magnetron, another for the light, possibly throw in a little thermal cam (FLiR One or other relatively low-res relatively affordable sensor) for surface temperature check, bottom-of-the-plate thermal sensor to feel if the dish is warmed through, and even add network connectivity if you please.
The appliances don’t differ that much if we take out the electronics. The switches and valves and pumps are mostly the same, dictated by the principle of operation of the thing. All we need are opensource controllers generic enough for a given class of the appliance, and perhaps modkits or at least howtos for specific types.
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I have been saying this for years: http://www.vidriocafe.com/index.php?page=comics&selection=20120502.png
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It may be marketing gimmickry that results in such shitty interfaces, but the escalation of too many options has been going on my whole life. That Jenn-Air control panel barely phases me. Seriously, you should take a look at our <a href=“http://www.ajmadison.com/ajmadison/images/large/WF56H9100AG_control.jpg"target”=_blank>new washer.
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C’mon, guys, no need to overthink this. Just a serial console with the correct baud rate, data bits, stop bits, and flow control settings printed above it; and we’ll be fine.
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I can back this.
Also, some well-documented protocol to go over the serial line.
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Obligatory.
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perfect… after clicking on that link, Amazon is convinced that I am going to buy a microwave. Every page I load is filled with Microwave suggestions: “Do you want you buy a microwave with that Brake Disc?”
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I’d hate to see what your cakes look like 0_o
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The ‘internet of things’ is a vile slurry of buzzword nonsense, shoddy implementation, and downright sinister vendor intrusion; but I could definitely be interested in appliances with SNMP support.
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Ovens have terrible interfaces? When did kindling, wood, a match, and two tons of thermal mass become terrible.
(Reads article)
Oh, right.
(I just counted the number of buttons on my stove and its… 49)
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Just wait 'til they get pinch gestures working…
“And with this gesture, it releases perfume…”
“How do I disable that?”
“Why would you want to disable that?”
“I’m clumsy and I’m allergic to perfume. I don’t want to accidentally poison myself.”
“It’s a standard feature on all Kyvorg-based ovens, you can’t disable that.”
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Wordx. It took me three fucking weeks of terrifying hell to figure out how to turn off the ‘traffic updates’ (i.e. ‘put the radio onto the nearest station at FULL BLOODY VOLUME every. ten. minutes.’) function off in my car. ‘Der ner ner ner nerrrrrr, Fuck, yeah, Metal! I love driving!’ bZZT CD goes off, then: [size=20pt] TRAFFIC JAMS ON THE A19 APPROACHING THE TYNE TUNNEL!!! [/size] ‘Aaaaaah! (nearly crash into tree) I FUCKING KNOOOOOW THERE ARE IT’S A TOLL ROAD AND IT’S DAYTIME!!’ Fuck you, Panasonic.
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We were in England in '95 when traffic programs were just rolling out in car radios and our rental car had that feature. We too nearly drove the car off the road when it click on SCREAMING at us about a pile up somewhere. We were so freaked out by it we failed to listen to the traffic report and lo, were stuck in traffic for several hours.
Neat feature but why the hell does it need to be so loud!
God knows. It nearly gave my girfriend’s mum a heart attack. She had her hearing aid cranked right up as well.
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I looked at the modern versions of these cookers, the AGA, and at $16k a pop we didn’t expect that it had so many silly buttons and onboard computer or that the warranty was only for 12 months!
+1 for commercial microwaves. They’re about the same size, heat food evenly without a turntable, and are super easy to clean. They also come with food stickers should you ever feel the need to dedicate one button to hotdogs. I use this one at home: http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-Commercial-Microwave-Programmable-NE-1054F/dp/B005GSPVHS
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You dodged a bullet. Agas have been troublesome for a long time- My Gran had a new one in the mid 90s and it was always needing attention. Our Esse that was installed at the same time is still trucking along, with only a few down days for cleaning.
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The one thing that it is really missing is a timer. Also, I have no idea of energy efficient it is. Otherwise, it heats food; which is what I want it to do!
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