For being one of the most brilliantly simple electronic devices ever to exist, the humble toaster certainly draws a lot of design attention, and this messaging toaster from Sasha Tseng certainly adds in a feature we never knew we wanted -- until now. We're not 100 percent clear on exactly how it works, but using the supplied stylus to doodle on the top lid of the toaster will result in a scorchmark-and-bread rendering of your masterpiece. Not exactly the most covert way of sending messages to your family, perhaps, but since when has practicality been important in toaster concept design?

[Via Shiny Shiny and Giz]

Slicing up ole Xbox consoles or using immensely powerful lasers to heat your morning cup of joe are certainly entertaining ways to make industrial machinery a bit more fun, but the CNC Toast printer ups the ante by providing an over-the-top replacement for those plastic molds we used as youngsters. By hacking a CNC hot-air gun to respond to a "computer-dictated X-Y control system" and affixing it to the carriage of a printer, the evil scientists were able instruct the toasty (ahem) blaster to move around in a user-selected pattern in order to print images and text onto pieces of toast. Cleverly dubbed "digital toast imaging technology," the apparatus was able to affix a number of slightly awkward faces on slices of bread, and even imprint "Hello World" onto one piece in particular. Still, you can't get the full impression of how geektacular this truly is without seeing it in motion, so that's why you should click on through right about now and hit play, cool?

[Via HackedGadgets]

These days it takes a lot to please us in a purely conceptual and wholly impractical toaster design, and while the "Mool Toaster" from Atil Kizilbayir does qualify as a fancy new take on bread browning, it falls on its face -- butter side down, if you will -- when up against toasting gods like the Glide and the ROLLERtoaster. Just like its counterparts, the Mool has a complete disregard for safety, particularly from the exploratory fingers of little children, but it also manages a heating-inefficient design, bigger-than-a-toaster footprint, and a so-so color scheme. You're supposed to load up the removable rack with your bread stuffs, but we're not sure if it even pops out automatically, or if you'll need to risk life and limb to remove the rack. Does Atil seriously expect us to commit our imaginary sliced breads to his actual award winning conceptual toaster? Puhlease.

[Via SCI FI Tech]

Sure, toasters have gotten bigger, more colorful, and more likely to burn down your house since its conception, but unlike refrigerators, dishwashers, and microwaves, this cooking utensil just hasn't gotten much attention over the years. Enter George Watson, a clever design guru with an engineering heart, who has crafted the best thing since sliced toasted bread, the Glide. This primarily white ceramic toast cooker boasts a simplified design, a single-feed toaster, and a V-shaped rack to hold the toast for use on the kitchen table. Twin hot plates heat the bread as the motorized unit pulls it through, and a handy button on the front increases or decreases the speed in which it passes -- you know, to satisfy those who like it warm, and those who like it black. Mr. Watson's invention looks to be part of a design competition, thus we're not exactly sure if GE or Kitchen-Aid has contacted him regarding a deal, but hopefully we'll soon see these things replacing those antiquated versions we're all forced to deal with now.

[Via BoingBoing]

Yeah, you read that title correctly. Stumped by their inability to lock media down on the Mac like they did the PC, TiVo had no choice but to look elsewhere for Mac technical assistance in the development of their long overdue TiVoToGo software for the Macintosh. In comes Sonic, TiVo partner and developers of Roxio Toast. The new software doesn't require TiVo Desktop and is composed of four distinct functions: TiVo Transfer, Video Playback, DVD Burning, and Portable Conversions. TiVo Transfer allows you to pull .TIVO shows to your Mac either on demand, or via schedules. The player decrypts the .TIVO content in real time while Burn allows you burn content to DVD in one of two ways: archive shows for use on Mac (or PC) or burn for use in a set-top box. Take heed, the software does indeed embed a non-visible watermark of your Media Access key into converted video -- same as the PC kiddo. From Toast, clicking "Export" will bring up common profiles for iPod or PSP conversions -- you know, 320x240 and MPEG-4 or H.264 -- with iPod conversions dropped directly into iTunes. Toast 8 Titanium TiVoToGo retails for $100 (upgrade rebates available) and is available now according to Mr. Zatz. However, the link is currently dead... maybe Monday. No worries, you have alternative solutions.

[Via Zatz Not Funny!]

Just when we thought we'd seen it all, ROLLERtoaster comes onto the scene and makes everybody look bad. Sure, it's just a concept for now, but don't say we didn't warn you when this thing takes the world by storm and revolutionizes the entire toast industry forever. Designed by Jaren Goh of Singapore, and winner of the 2006 Red Dot Award, the ROLLERtoaster is pretty self explanatory: stick bread in one side, and watched it get rolled into toast by the compact little unit. We're not so sure how well this is guarded from little probing fingers, or the exact mechanism for rolling the toast through, but do details like that really matter when faced with such exquisite design beauty? We didn't think so.

Sony has unveiled a new line-up of 830 series DVD burners which somehow have the ability to burn 16x media at 18x speeds, or a whole 4.7GB DVD in around 5 minutes. The new burners come in three different enclosures: firstly, the $90 DRU-830A, a internal drive that comes bundled with Nero 7 authoring software; secondly, the $130 DRX-830U, which is an external drive running off USB 2.0; and finally, the $150 DRX-830UL-T, which comes with Toast 6 Lite and a FireWire port to cater to Mac users. Sony has also announced a new external slimline model called the DRX-S50U -- a $130 drive capable of 8x single-layer DVD writing from inside its diminutive 4/5-inch thick enclosure. Mail-in rebates will be available on the 830 series drives, and all but the Mac-compatible DRX-830UL-T will be available in October -- Mac users will have to wait until December to get their burn on.