Awesome Idea of the Day

Neat idea except that an infrared camera will only measure the surface temperature, so like so many of us who have eaten a poorly microwaved frozen burrito will tell you it is possible to have the outside hot enough to sear the flesh from the roof of your mouth only to have an icy center. And lets be honest, you make the burrito mistake what once, maybe twice? Then you realize that with your wattage of microwave the exact time and way to make the perfect burrito, or hot pocket, or chicken pot pie, etc. Also how would that infrared camera work with something that steams up? Would the camera get blinded?

My parents microwave does something similar with steam, you push a button and it keeps "cooking" until it detects steam at which point it turns off.

And while I absolutely hate to be saying this... I think the blue tooth connectivity is probably a better alternative than an actual screen on the microwave itself, since a screen would probably increase the cost quite a bit, I mean a cheap small microwave costs like $40 which is probably the core target audience of the "I eat lots of frozen burrito" market. Even expensive microwaves usually don't cost more than $200.

I do like that he's not asking for a kickstarter or money in general too, just to let him know that you would consider one if reasonably priced.
 
Was pretty interesting video until Steve Job's head pooped up on the video. Pass..
 
chibe said:
Was pretty interesting video until Steve Job's head pooped up on the video. Pass..
Click to expand...

My thoughts..

Did anyone think about what he said. He got the patent. So, even signing for a company to make it, he would be a millionaire over and over by selling the patent, or use of the patent technology.

Good for him, but it is nothing but a money grab.
 
dceremuga said:
Good for him, but it is nothing but a money grab.
Click to expand...

Do you understand how Capitalism works? People create businesses and commercial products to make money. Customers buy those products (sometimes) because they receive benefits from using the products (sometimes). Why is it wrong for this guy to be looking for money if he has a worthwhile product to sell? Are you trying to tell us that anyone who wants to make money is corrupt? Do you have a job? Do you do your job for free?
 
dceremuga said:
Good for him, but it is nothing but a money grab.
Click to expand...
And this is bad how? He has an idea, he thinks this idea is good, all he's asking is for you to sign a petition if you also think this idea is good. Is he looking to make money off it? I'd say absolutely, otherwise why would he get a patent? They're expensive, and if you had some altruistic angle you'd make just one product and sell it there by locking out anyone else from getting a patent on that technology.
 
I would totally buy one of those. That is the best invention I've seen in a long time. This one is so close to my heart because I practically live off my microwave at work and here at home. :D
 
sfsuphysics said:
Neat idea except that an infrared camera will only measure the surface temperature, so like so many of us who have eaten a poorly microwaved frozen burrito will tell you it is possible to have the outside hot enough to sear the flesh from the roof of your mouth only to have an icy center. And lets be honest, you make the burrito mistake what once, maybe twice? Then you realize that with your wattage of microwave the exact time and way to make the perfect burrito, or hot pocket, or chicken pot pie, etc. Also how would that infrared camera work with something that steams up? Would the camera get blinded?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that only be true if the surface material was decoupled/insulated from the inner material? I bet that if you pointed a FLIR camera at a cooking burrito and set the min/max temp display to only 10 degrees, say 140 to 150 degrees, that you'd easily be able to see if it's done or not. The cold innards will sink heat away from the surface. Yeah, it may only be a tenth of a degree difference, but the camera would easily be able to pick it up.

BP
 
+1000 to what sfsuphysics said. IR cameras only show the surface temperature of items (movie reference: this is why Arnold is able to hide from the Predator :p). This might be perfectly fine for thin items like pizza or bacon, but we've all eaten that thick item (like a burrito) that is super hot on the outside but cold on the inside. Curious that the guy would pick a burrito as an example to use in his video, when that particular type of item would be the most challenging. When a frozen burrito is hot on the outside and showing up as pure white in the camera obviously doesn't mean the inside is hot too.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Neat idea except that an infrared camera will only measure the surface temperature, so like so many of us who have eaten a poorly microwaved frozen burrito will tell you it is possible to have the outside hot enough to sear the flesh from the roof of your mouth only to have an icy center. And lets be honest, you make the burrito mistake what once, maybe twice? Then you realize that with your wattage of microwave the exact time and way to make the perfect burrito, or hot pocket, or chicken pot pie, etc.
Click to expand...

I agree with you. You learn the power settings and time required for most items. Cold lasagna is the worst to try reheating. :)

What I'd prefer is to have a microwave that is QUIET! At least I can stop the beep every time a button is pushed on the one I have now.
 
MR._PUNKINHEAD said:
I agree with you. You learn the power settings and time required for most items. Cold lasagna is the worst to try reheating. :)
Click to expand...

Ahh yes, cold lasagne is a perfect example. Each layer of pasta acts as an insulating layer, like a burrito.

There is a reason that when you take the temperature of food, you're supposed to stick the thermometer sensor into the MIDDLE of the food, not the outside layer where an IR camera would be reading. This IR camera concept is a neat idea but once you start thinking about it, you realize it wouldn't really work well with the specific types of food that are the most problematic to heat up thoroughly.
 
I one put a hot dog in the microwave for 37 years. This was about 30 years ago when we got our first one, and it had no max time - the digits just kept shuffling over and over. 37 years is a decent guess I would say. I was like, 9 years old so thought "I'll just watch it! Yeah!" and then my mind strayed, as 9 year old minds do.

4 hours later my mother yells down to me while I'm watching TV, "You got something in the microwave?". "No...!? - errr.. OMG YES, MY HOTDOG".

I came back up to a shriveled thin charred black sad looking line. My poor hotdog, it died a horrible burning death instead of being devoured by my stomach acid, like it should have been.
 
velusip said:
He even ended the video with an endorsement advertisement. Working all the angles!
Click to expand...
Exactly, and free advertising to millions now.

I would do the same, but he's not playing it as a here is my idea, sell it to the manufacturers. Slick snake.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Even expensive microwaves usually don't cost more than $200.
Click to expand...

That's because you're not buying over the range microwaves that include a fan, and are a pain to install a replacement (size is standard, but mounting holes aren't), and need to be special ordered. Yeah, it's kind of nice to save a little space, but a $40 microwave in the corner is much easier to deal with.
 
Microwaves don't penetrate food very far... less than 1.5". So, probably a great idea for heating up items less than maybe 2" thick. Things like a large frozen burrito would obviously be a bit trickier.
 
Know how often and how hard I slam the door on my microwave? That LCD would be broken within the first week.

Interesting idea though I guess.
 
MR._PUNKINHEAD said:
I agree with you. You learn the power settings and time required for most items. Cold lasagna is the worst to try reheating. :)

What I'd prefer is to have a microwave that is QUIET! At least I can stop the beep every time a button is pushed on the one I have now.
Click to expand...

I agree, a quiet mode would be fantastic.

For the lasagna, I usually cut it in to 4-6 squares and spread it out on the plate a bit before reheating, You should end up with 6 little lasagna towers. Then reheat it on about 1/2 - 3/4 power depending on your microwave and you should end up with fairly edible warm to the center set of lasagna stacks rather than the outside of crispy noodle with a middle of congealed fridge-temp sauce.
 
Traciatim said:
I agree, a quiet mode would be fantastic.
Click to expand...

My favorite is the...:

Hey...................... Hey!............................Hey!....................................Hey!..................You forgot your food!........................Hey!............................Come eat your food!.................................Hey!

beeps that go on for all eternity.

THE PACKAGE SAYS LET REST FOR FOUR MINUTES ASSHOLE, I HAVN"T FORGOTTEN I"M STARVING.
 
Instead of IR, he could simply replace the camera with a little probe you shove in your food before microwaving.
 
Goatblaster said:
I one put a hot dog in the microwave for 37 years. This was about 30 years ago when we got our first one, and it had no max time - the digits just kept shuffling over and over. 37 years is a decent guess I would say. I was like, 9 years old so thought "I'll just watch it! Yeah!" and then my mind strayed, as 9 year old minds do.

4 hours later my mother yells down to me while I'm watching TV, "You got something in the microwave?". "No...!? - errr.. OMG YES, MY HOTDOG".

I came back up to a shriveled thin charred black sad looking line. My poor hotdog, it died a horrible burning death instead of being devoured by my stomach acid, like it should have been.
Click to expand...

Lol !
 
SRTie4k said:
Instead of IR, he could simply replace the camera with a little probe you shove in your food before microwaving.
Click to expand...

Would need to either not use metal (including in the wires) or otherwise would need to be smooth, no sharpness at all, to prevent arcing. (A little-known fact: You can sometimes put metal in the microwave safely if it's smooth enough.)
 
The IR camera is a good idea, although I wouldn't want the entire front of the microwave replaced with a monitor. Just a small display, and sending the video to your phone is enough.
 
Another great idea lost by me. I thought about this 10 years ago when I tried to figure out how sensor reheat works on microwaves.
 
Kudos to him for looking for the patent top realize no one had patented it.

*kicks his own ass*
 
SRTie4k said:
Instead of IR, he could simply replace the camera with a little probe you shove in your food before microwaving.
Click to expand...

My parent's 1985 Amana Radarange had a probe. It worked well because it's didn't have a turntable. Nowadays all microwaves have turntables so a probe would be difficult to implement. It would have to be wireless to spin with the food.

BTW, we had a thing called a micro-go-round. It was a windup turntable. LOL!

BP
 
dandragonrage said:
Would need to either not use metal (including in the wires) or otherwise would need to be smooth, no sharpness at all, to prevent arcing. (A little-known fact: You can sometimes put metal in the microwave safely if it's smooth enough.)
Click to expand...

some higher end models have temp probes
most people dont use because "putting metal in the microwave is bad"....
and they sit in the junk drawer collecting dust
 
I had no idea the price of IR cameras had gone down enough to make this feasible.
 
Most items that you microwave have instructions on how long (and what % heat) it needs to be cooked for. Not much guesswork involved when a TV dinner says cook on high for 5 min. or you put in a bag of popcorn and hit the popcorn button.

Nice of the guy to dress up for that video. :rolleyes:

chibe said:
Was pretty interesting video until Steve Job's head pooped up on the video. Pass..
Click to expand...
I agree. He could've and should've left the Jobs crap out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top