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Turns out, I like cooking food from scratch... in a microwave
A line of cookware from Anyday enabled me to cook entire meals from scratch in a microwave.
Sharp's first Alexa-ready microwave ovens are optimized for popcorn
Sharp has unveiled its first microwave ovens with Alexa, and they have voice commands fine-tuned for Orville Redenbacher popcorn.
The best microwave
By Michael Sullivan, Tim Heffernan, Ganda Suthivarakom and Jessie Kissinger This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full microwave guide here. After more than 100 hours of research and testing—"baking" potatoes, cooking frozen mac and cheese, popping popcorn, and reheating beverages—we think that the Toshiba EM925A5A-BS is the best microwave for most kitchen counters. It's easy to operate, has a number of express cooking options that heat food quickly and evenly, and even has a mute button so you can cook in silence. The affordable Toshiba EM925A5A-BS microwave is simple to use, with a plainly labeled keypad and intuitive controls. It cooked popcorn, baked potatoes, and frozen mac and cheese perfectly every time, and its mute button—a rare feature that lets you stealthily reheat midnight snacks without waking your housemates. We also appreciated the express cooking option, which immediately starts the microwave with a press of one of the numbered buttons (from 1 to 6 minutes). A dedicated plus-30-seconds button helps further fine-tune cook times. The compact 0.9-cubic-foot Toshiba model is large enough to fit an 11-inch dinner plate or a 9-inch square casserole dish. It's also available in a stainless steel or black stainless steel exterior. The Toshiba EM131A5C-BS is best for anyone seeking out a slightly bigger, more powerful 1,100-watt microwave. It looks very similar to our main pick, the Toshiba EM925A5A-BS, but offers a few more express controls for specific tasks like cooking bacon, defrosting frozen muffins, and making oatmeal. It also has a Soften/Melt button for butter, chocolate, cheese, and marshmallows. However, we found these additional controls less intuitive to operate than what our other picks offer, and we don't think they'll get used often. This Toshiba also boasts a cooking sensor that's supposed to automatically determine when your pizza or potato is hot enough, but it didn't perform any better than the 0.9-cubic-foot Toshiba, which lacks this feature. The 1.2-cubic-foot Toshiba has a larger 12-inch turntable, so it will fit most dinner plates and a 9-inch square casserole dish. Like our main pick, this model is available in a stainless steel or black stainless steel exterior. For those looking to save space and money, we recommend the GE JES1072SHSS. This tiny 0.7-cubic-foot unit is about the size of a small toaster oven, but its turntable is only ¼ inch smaller in diameter than the 0.9-cubic-foot Toshiba microwave. That means it hogs less counter space but can still fit a 10¾-inch dinner plate or 9-inch square casserole dish. Like the small Toshiba, it has a user-friendly interface, express cooking controls from 1 to 6 minutes, and a mute button. It also has express cooking functions for popcorn, beverages, and potatoes, but not for other things like vegetables and pizza (functions our other picks include). At 700 watts, it doesn't heat as quickly as our other picks, but it's the best microwave we've tested in this size category.
Amazon's Alexa-powered microwave is pretty unnecessary
One of the most surprising announcements from today's Amazon event was a microwave oven, of all things. It's part of the AmazonBasics line of products, and you can use it for reheating food, making popcorn or, you know, using it for whatever a normal microwave would do. Except there's one special thing about it -- it works with Alexa. And while that might sound like a cool thing at first, I can't help but think it's really quite unnecessary.
The AmazonBasics Microwave is powered by Alexa
Amazon is continuing its quest to make as many of its own Alexa devices as possible, launching a slew of new gadgets and features at its event in Seattle today. One of the more unusual announcements is the new AmazonBasics microwave, which, predictably, you can control with Alexa.
Amazon might launch eight Alexa devices this fall
Amazon is ready to drop a whole slew of new Alexa devices, CNBC reports. At least eight new devices including a microwave oven, an amplifier, a subwoofer and some sort of in-car gadget are reportedly set to be released before the end of the year. All of the devices will be Alexa-enabled while some will have the virtual assistant built in, according to people familiar with the matter.
South Pole Telescope will study 'noise' from the early universe
Scientists just got a valuable tool in their quest to understand the cosmic microwave background radiation that persists from the earliest days of the universe. The South Pole Telescope recently received an ultra-sensitive camera that will study the cosmic microwave background at an extreme level of detail. Its 16,000 detectors (ten times more than a previous experiment) can spot minuscule changes in temperature when they receive light, helping them pick up the ancient microwave energy that's virtually omnipresent in the universe but difficult to detect with conventional methods.
Embassy 'sonic attacks' may have been microwave blasts
When researchers postulated that the "sonic attacks" on embassies in Cuba (and more recently China) were the fault of malfunctioning surveillance gear, that wasn't the end to concerns about the true cause... if anything, there's more worry than ever. The University of Pennsylvania's Douglas Smith (who led a paper discussing the trauma of embassy victims) said in an interview that microwave blasts are now considered primary candidates. The concussion-like symptoms more closely line up with microwaves and other radio frequency-related illnesses than previous explanations, including straightforward acoustic attack, anxiety or viruses.
GE's Alexa microwave cooks when you scan a barcode (updated)
Want to know just how connected even a relatively ordinary microwave has become? Just ask GE Appliances. The brand has unveiled the Smart Countertop Microwave with Scan-to-Cook, which touts both Alexa voice control compatibility and its namesake scanning feature to speed up your culinary duties. The Alexa support is fairly self explanatory (you can use an Alexa device to add time or stop cooking), but Scan-to-Cook could be particularly helpful if you hate interpreting instructions on food boxes. You just have to scan a barcode on the packaging with a mobile app and it'll choose the appropriate time and power levels. In other words, you shouldn't risk ruining your macaroni the first time you nuke it.
Whirlpool plugs Alexa and Google Assistant into its appliances
Whirlpool's smart appliances have already had some voice assistant control, but they're about become particularly AI-savvy. The company has unveiled a 2018 lineup where many appliances support both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, letting you control most of your home using the smart speaker (or mobile app) you prefer. You can check the time left on the washing machine, start the dishwasher or change the temperature of your fridge without lifting a finger.
LG's Alexa-powered fridge sends recipes to your oven
Now that LG's Alexa-equipped refrigerator is no longer a novelty, the company is moving on to the next step: appliances that work in harmony. This week at CES, it's introducing a range of smart appliances that thrive on sharing information to help you get things done. The centerpiece is LG's next Alexa-capable fridge, the InstaView ThinQ. While its 29-inch transparent touchscreen, webOS platform and voice control aren't all that new, its integration with your oven is. When you choose a recipe (including those suggested by the fridge, which detects what you have on hand), you can send it to an oven with Alexa support to get spoken cooking instructions. This is ultimately a luxury -- your fridge likely isn't that far from your oven -- but it's good to have your recipes right where you'll use them.
Amazon Alexa now controls your microwave
Alexa's smart home skills aren't just for turning on the lights or locking your door these days -- now, they can help fulfill your culinary ambitions. Amazon has added cooking abilities to its Smart Home Skill framework, letting you control microwaves (and eventually conventional ovens) with your voice. Instead of pressing umpteen buttons, you can simply ask Alexa to "defrost 3lbs of chicken." Suffice it to say this could be helpful if you don't want to start cooking right away, or if you just hate your microwave's interface.
No, Kellyanne, microwaves cannot turn into cameras
Everyone's paranoid about cybersecurity and surveillance these days, and rightly so. Thanks to the increase in connected devices in our homes, there are more and more gadgets that can be hacked to spy on you. But though things like security cameras and smart speakers can be hijacked to eavesdrop on your conversations or watch you, basic laws of physics still apply. Yesterday, President Trump's senior counselor Kellyanne Conway told the Bergen County Record's Mike Kelly that microwave ovens can turn into cameras for surveillance. In case you were wondering, that is pretty much impossible.
US Army's 'Phaser' could fry entire drone swarms in a volley
While the US military has enjoyed several decades of aerial dominance with few enemy fighter planes to shoot down, the emergence of ISIS drones presents a new threat to American ground troops. To combat swarms of these cheap, small dangers, the US Army is testing a new anti-air device that is designed to blow multiple UAVs out of the sky in a single shot. They call it the Phaser.
Lasers and microwaves lead to better quantum computing circuits
If you're going to craft a quantum computer, you need to corral lots of quantum bits (qubits) to perform calculations... and Penn State researchers have found a way to make that happen. They've developed a technique that relies on lasers and microwaves to steer a tightly packed, 3D grid of atoms that serve as qubits. When you want to change the state of these atoms, you hit them with crossed laser beams and then bathe them in uniform microwaves. In a test, scientists had enough control to spell out "PSU" across a three-layer array of 125 atoms.
Adhesive 'patch' monitors blood glucose without needles
Researchers from Cardiff University's School of Engineering have developed a glucose monitor that doesn't require you to prick your finger. It doesn't even need blood after the initial calibration, because it uses microwave to keep track of your glucose levels. The device then sends the data it gathers to an accompanying app. Professor Adrian Porch, one of its creators, told the BBC that its microwave levels are very low and nowhere near what's used for cooking. "Think about a mobile phone," he said, "we're about a thousand times less than that level."
Stanford scientists get a little closer to a medical tricorder
Being able to identify problems with a person's body without subjecting them to invasive procedures is the fantasy of all Star Trek doctors. There's even a prize offering a fortune to anyone who can effectively recreate the tricorder technology out in the real world. Now, Stanford scientists think that they've developed a system that, in time, could be used to spot cancerous tumors from a foot away.
Can microwave-powered shuttles make space travel cheaper?
How much does it take to launch a satellite? According to Rocket Lab's Peter Beck "You pretty much have to write a check for a billion dollars." Beck, along with Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are part of a new wave of inventors looking to make this cheaper by developing low cost or reusable rockets for launches. The folks at Escape Dynamics, however, have a very different idea about how to make trips to space economical for people who aren't multi-millionaires. The company claims that it's successfully tested the engine for a reusable spaceplane that, rather than being stuffed to the gills with expensive fuel, would glide into the stratosphere on a wave of microwave energy.
China has a microwave pain weapon of its own
The US may never have used its microwave pain gun in combat, but that isn't stopping China from exploring the concept of non-lethal force. Local manufacturer Poly has unveiled the WB-1, a millimeter-wave weapon that heats the water under your skin (much like the US' Active Denial System) to deliver intense agony without injury. It currently works at a relatively short range of about 262 feet, but extra power can bump that up to 0.6 miles -- if you know where to shoot, you could cause misery from afar. It's reportedly meant to be used on the high seas, where it could enforce China's territorial claims without the need to capture or destroy wayward vessels.
Could your washer really charge your smartphone from across the room?
Wireless charging is a little bit more convenient than plugging your device in, but was picking up a microUSB lead ever that much of a chore in the first place? White goods and TV supremos Haier believe so, which is why it's signed a development pact with wireless charging outfit Energous. The latter company's WattUp technology promises to deliver power over the same radio bands as a WiFi router and is apparently able to charge a smartphone from distances of up to 15 feet. The idea, at this early stage, is to cram these power transmitters into Haier's refrigerators, washing machines and microwaves, so that you can re-juice your phone while you wait for your dinner and do your laundry.
