AGA’s new electric iTotal Control Cooker incorporates three separate independently-operating ovens, assigned to the roasting, baking and simmering of foods. It also has a snazzy touchscreen panel, which can be used to control those ovens. Additionally, there’s a boiling plate and a simmering plate on top. What really makes it special, however, is the fact that it can be controlled from anywhere in the world.
There are three ways in which the iTotal Control can be remotely operated.
The first is by text message. Users simply send a message along the lines of “All ovens on” or “Roasting oven on,” whenever they want the food that they’ve left inside the oven(s) to start cooking. Within 15 to 20 seconds, they will receive a confirmation message from their appliance, such as “Roast Oven On - Activated.”
The second method involves using a dedicated website. After initially registering their cooker on that site, users will subsequently be able to use the onscreen interface, which is similar to the cooker’s own control panel. This can be used to turn all or some of the ovens on or off, in real time.
Finally, an interface similar to that on the website can be accessed via a free iPhone or Android smartphone app.
The cooker receives its remote commands via a separate hard-wired router-like box. That box must be located in an area where it can receive a network signal – a booster aerial is available, if such a location isn’t close to the cooker.
Of course, simply setting a timer in the morning is less work than remembering to do so at an appointed time later in the day, and that can also be done on the iTotal Control – each of the cast-iron ovens can be programmed for one or two cooking cycles per day, seven days a week. The remote functionality is presumably intended more for people with unpredictable schedules, so they can get their supper cooking once they’re ready to leave work for the day.
The convenience and versatility of a three-ovened remote-control cooker does come at a price, however. If you want an iTotal Control of your own, expect to pay at least £10,090 (US$15,628).
It can be seen in use in the video below.
Source: AGA via Springwise
Fridges with interior cameras and network connections so it can email you a note to buy milk, stoves with remote controls that will get mislaid and be annoying to use, are examples of tech usage that defies common sense. Think about misuse opportunities. Angry spouses, ex-wives, boyfriends-girlfirends, clever teenagers pranking the parent units by delaying or accelerating cooking, etc.
Not every possible bright idea is all that bright.