Industrial designer Sung Bae Chang has finally given us mortals the ability to do that which was once considered a bona-fide miracle. Using the "Scan Toaster," anyone with a PC and a USB cable can burn the likeness of the Blessed Virgin Mary (or any image or text that you wish) onto a slice of bread. The toaster utilizes a network of toasting "modules" -- hot wires that rotate within a 30 degree radius -- that burn the image or text you have selected onto the delicious slice of your choice. The peripheral is a finalist in a design competition run by the appliance manufacturer Electrolux, so as-of-yet there aren't any plans to manufacture it on a mass scale. We're guessing that Mr. Sun Bae Chang probably wants to keep the awesome power of the Scan Toaster for himself anyway.
posted Sep 12th 2008 9:03AM
Great !
Now you can burn crop circle designs into your morning toast.
Wonder if they can combine your morning paper with the toast, so you can eat and read at the same time ?
You cant have your toast and read it too.
Bah! Let them read cake!
I think i actually smelt it burning.
Burn an image of the Virgin Mary and sell it for like 60,000 dollars. Dolla Dolla Billz, yo.
lol!
euros, dude. euros.
i thought the only people crazy enough to buy miracle shit lived in texas
Ahh.. Electrolux! I used to dim all the lights in the house to pretend no one was home everytime your door to door salespeople were in town.
Only Purchasing if USB and can be controlled remotely.
So there IS a situation in which you would buy this?
Controlled remotely. Wouldn't that be like the "open" button on the DVD remote? IF it's plugged into your computer (I didn't hit the read), you're right there anyway b/c let's face it, a toaster is not something you should operate remotely.
How long before someone Goatse's my toast?
that gives a hole new meaning to a "one-eyed jack"
Oops, I didn't even need this scanner to do that. D:
Why did you have to use the word hole while replaying to a goatse related comment? WHY?
Someone should tell them that while it's good for vacuum cleaners to suck....
No more expensive printer ink!
just expensive bread
In for 3!
You guys are all to negative, just think of the benefits of this toaster?
- save a fortune on Valentine's day gifts by giving burning a love heart on his/her toast.
- Instead of poison pen letters, how about poisoned toast loaves?
- Instead of toasting bread, make a killing by toasting tattoos on kids.
I'm out now.
Or maybe instead of making a killing by toasting tattoos on kids, make killings by toasting kids with tattoos.
Ah McGee what a brilliant idea!
I don't know why,,, but I'm hungry...
I WANT ONE OF THOSE !!!!!!!
Hey, you could print a dollar bill on the bread. Talk about making some more dough!
Why is it the first thing I thought of is to burn an image of a vagina? I might need help.
Also... great for CIA, NSA, etc. Burn secret documents... then destroy the evidence! Prefferably with butter.
Yes you do need help and a lot of it. I volunteer. Vagina toast for everyone!
Wow, that's the best thing since sliced bread
Not only could you use one for love toast on Valentines day, but other holidays, you could eat Santa for Christmas^^.
And tattooing kids thats a great idea, mmm burnt flesh.
on the more normal side, hotels/caterers could use it for conference's and such, putting logos for breakfast meetings and such.
If I where evil, I'd lay that on the forehead of my enemies while they sleep, and slowly toast a nice big PWND into their face. Damn, that'd be evil.
Blasphemy! How dare you desecrate the holy Cheezuz Sam'ich?
Finally.. a USB toaster... about time
Imagine putting things inside of that besides toast. I can see it now. ~Dream scene~ Mommy, thanks for the usb toaster for christmas, i can wait to make 'i love you' toast for you! **5mins later** Heheh. GI joe, meet the Cobra meltmaster 5000. BURN!!!! **10mins later** Mam im sorry, your son, he didnt make it. When the carpet lit on fire, he couldnt escape.
Ah, the possibilites!
(Dont try that at home! ha!)
...
You wouldn't need this fancy toaster to melt action figures...
This really is toasterrrific.
The only thing it's lacking is a means to convert RSS newsfeeds to toaster-text. That way I can read my news as I eat lunch.
We'll need high-def bread now. The grains in bread are too spread out to read small text clearly as is.
If this thing is completely USB powered, as the photo suggests, I see my laptop having a bit of a challenge handling the current needed to fire up a mess o' resistive heaters in a toaster.
Ahhh... sorry.... Mr. Brown but I at my OWN homework.
Does it work with Mac?
Yes it does, but it will not allow you to burn OSX onto any toast unless the bread was purchased from Apple. The good news is, it has already been tested and works fine on the new cake-enabled windows PCs coming out.
"Cake-enabled PC's" So that's what Seinfield was talking about the other day! :-)
Ok, my turn to make a joke.
So, I woke up this morning looking for my car keys, but found an image of my keys toasted on a slice of wheat bread instead. Looked in the garage and my car was gone. There was another slice of bread in its place with an image of my car toasted onto it. Went to the kitchen to call 911, but found toast with my fucking phone imaged onto it. Went to wake my wife up to alert her of the intrusion and thefts, bu found ANOTHER FUCKING PIECE OF TOAST WITH HER FACE ON IT! Ahhhhhh!!!
Done - Thanks for reading. Print this story on your piece of toast.
Despite your low-ranking, I think this would make an excellent viral video. Give up comedy and take up marketing, asap.
Ehh... Low-Ranking. Even if it were, I really don't give a f*ck about my rank. Was it too long for the attention span of most? Marketing... as much as I despite the industry I... nah, forget it.
Err.. you _were_ low-ranked. Now this is just kind of awkward.
Indeed. Umm... So, you from around here?
Here on uh.. business. I think I hear the phone ringing.. do you hear that? Yeah.. I should probably... go.
A few years ago I was shown a toaster that would burn the weather forcast for the day in to your bead! Not a bad idea when you think about it. Although I cannot find any refrences to it, it operated much like the one in the link breed(take the pun if you like) with this electrolux one.
http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ia_myths_toast.htm
Finally, people can no longer complain to me that they "can't see my name on it" when I claim the last piece of toast.
Oooh yeah Remote controlled....lol
This would be a great trade show promo tool - toast your company logo and hand out as a snack. Food always draws a crowd.
Mmmm.... that was good. You don't happen to remember what the phone number was on that toast? No I ate mine to. What was that companys name?
Man, I should not be up this late reading engadget. I could have sworn you said "This would be a great trade show porno tool". Not that it wouldn't (I mean, there's a reason toast with virgins on it is so expensive, right?), but... it's just weird.
Then I did a doubletake, and life was boring again.
Meh. Who wants a pretty but half-toasted piece of bread? Seems rather obvious, but the primary function of a toaster is to toast.
What if we want it to "print" a totally white image of a polar bear in a snowstorm? Is that still "toast"?
I like light toast so if it got the white part just hard enough to spread deliciousness on, then it would be cool.
Two birds with one stone....
Defeating illiteracy and hunger at the click of you mouse.
Hal 9000 on toast! What are you doing Dave? This is highly...buttery....Dave
Yeah Toast (youtube it if the link don't work, from the Bob and Tom show)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoFhNepDTuE
"Got milk?" :)))
Now make one that plays a real guitar.
wrooong thread.
This is what I get for having tons of tabs open.
I know this was a mistake, but toast playing a guitar!? haha!
If you were a spy, who happened to work in a diner or café, you could burn messages into the toast and give it to your allies in sandwich form.
Soooooo much better than the damn iPhone 3g.
Yep. Bread works fine. iPhone just melts and if you let it cool in the toaster you can't get it out without a hammer and chisel.
Those frackin' toasters are getting too smart if you ask me...
perfect gift for the secret agent in your life. they can create a message and the recipient will eat toast instead of paper to destroy it.
I had a teacher in High School that managed to intentionally burn a picture of Jesus on a piece of toast. It ended up selling on Ebay for $5, but when he tried to use the same method to replicate it the image looked like Chuck Norris.
I want to make an RSS Toaster!
LOL dam now want some french toast,
http://electrolux.com/designlab/
VOTE~
"cDonald's theorem: a^2 + b^2 = 1
When this formula is plotted into a computer, we arrive at THIS unusual shape (circle). It's a curious line that curves around itself and seems to meet itself halfway, that science has yet to find a name for! Can YOU think of a name for it? If so, the Royal Institute of Mathematics would like to hear from you. They hold a contest to name this shape every year in Winsleydale, on April the 1st of September. If your name is chosen, you might win your school THIS computerized toast system!"
I thought they were mocking me, but it REALLY DOES EXIST!