A toaster that prints the weather forecast on your breakfast because why not?

At the rate that “smart” devices are being introduced to market, rare are the instances that one is announced which gives reason to pause. 

The “Toasteroid” has achieved this rare feat, popping above the stream of smart product announcements like, well, a hot piece of ready-to-eat toast. 

The device has captured the attention of the masses because it has so perfectly captured the balance between novelty item and pointless device. After a day-and-a-half on crowdfunding site Kickstarter, the Toasteroid is already 60% funded, and appears well on its way to surpassing its goal of $150,000.

But what exactly does the Toasteroid do? In short, it prints messages onto your food — messages like the weather forecast or a reminder to pay the bills. Users can also send direct messages to each other’s Toasteroid machine, or doodle a design that gets printed right on to the piece of bread.
Again, it’s a curious device, but one that is seemingly pointless. Why it will likely be successful with its online funding goals is because the designers were smart in making it simple to set up, and they also included some useful functions.

First, to set it up, one simply downloads the Toasteroid companion mobile app (Android and iOS-capable) and then connects his/her smartphone to the Toasteroid via Bluetooth connection. From there, the device’s messaging capabilities can be controlled via the mobile platform. 

And the user experience is fairly intuitive. The weather app is there, as is a reminder option. Also included is a doodle pad.  

In terms of function, the user can adjust the brownness of the toast based on seven levels — a worthwhile feature for those like the author here, who have a tendency to leave the bread in the machine for just a bit too long.

Should the campaign be successful, Toasteroid is expected to ship out next summer. 

What are your thoughts? Is this a smart device, or a “smart” device?

Check the campaign out on Kickstarter.