My dumb toaster

[skrause]

We had a fancy toaster that had settings that were kind of accurate and I knew with a particular type of bread I could set the level to a 4 and the toast would come out pretty good.  But one side's heating element burned out after a couple years and we decided to go back to a cheap toaster oven for half the price.

Toaster ovens have some advantages but the disadvantage is that on the cheap ones the setting for amount of toasting is a simple spring loaded rotating mechanical timer.  The amount of rotational degrees between 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, is slight and it is hard to get the timer accurate to the right amount of time to toast.

I am now using Alexa to just remind me.  I place the toast in the toaster oven and turn the timer on to some slightly longer setting than I know I will need and say, Alex, set timer for 5 minutes 20 seconds, which I've determined which I've determined works well for the bread I am using.  Very simple thing.  It plays the alarm sound to let me know exactly when to I can pull the toast.  I don't have to keep an eye on the toast to keep it from burning and I can be focusing on cooking the rest of my breakfast on the stove.

[mike27oct]

After having an iPhone now for a couple of years, last time I seared tuna on BBQ grill, (always a tricky event) I used the timer for first time to help me.  I asked Siri to set timer for two and a half minutes for first side. When timer went off, I turned tuna, and asked Siri again to set timer for same time.  Did a great job.  BTW, Siri is lots smarter than Alexa, although I credit Alexa for encouraging me to use Siri more than I ever did before getting the Echo.

Now that I have the new Tap, I can use the Tap instead of iPhone; it would be easier to do one-handed, and I would have much better sounding music than the iPhone has. 

[skrause]

Yes, also in Android I can simply say "Okay Google, set timer for 5 minutes 15 seconds."  But I have to have the Note4 in the kitchen, out of my pocket, the wallet case I use needs to be open, the home button pushed so that it is awake, and also set on a page/screen where I have the google widget running so that I can talk to my phone.  All those things are very minor but ergonomically it is way simpler to be in the kitchen and just say "Alexa, set timer for ...."

[mike27oct]

I didn't suggest YOU use a phone, I just told you what I DID similarly to sear tuna.  Also, said I would use my new Echo Tap next time which is what you do with your Echo.