Hello, and welcome to No Effort November! A series of videos for the month of November where no effort is made. Today’s video is about a microwave oven. Have you ever felt like innovation in microwave
oven technology has simply stagnated over the last twenty years? Even in the age of the smartphone, about the most interesting things we’ve seen come to the designer microwave oven space are Alexa integration so that Amazon can collect yet more data about consumer habits and these weird slim ones that are kinda popular for some reason. I mean, sure it’s way less practical but
think of the style! But for the most part your standard microwave
oven isn’t all that different from the standard microwave oven of twenty or even thirty years
ago. Almost universally they contain a small microcontroller
hooked up to a basic keypad and display for a user interface, and why not make that a
clock while you’re at it because you never know who might not have enough clocks in their kitchen. The microcontroller then controls, in a micro
fashion, the functiona of the magnetron and its associated circuitry, the turntable or moving waveguide (some microwaves have one of those), and of course the little lightbulb. All based upon the user’s inputs, of course. When it’s done bombarding your foodstuffs
with radiation it will then beep at you, typically loudly enough to wake a sleeping person, thus honing the skill of stopping the microwave with one second left in hangry teens the world over. But why be so basic? Sure, many microwaves have sensors, most commonly
designed to detect steam, which help automate some cooking functions. Seriously if you haven’t discovered the
sensor reheat function on your microwave - you’re missing out. But in most cases, that sensor can’t help
with too many things. After all, different foods heat differently,
and without some sort of database to reference information on how different foods cook in the microwave and the ability to tell the microwave exactly what it is that you’re cooking, well the sensor can only be so useful. Wait a minute, though. That sounds ridiculously easy to implement in 2020. Heck, that was easy enough to implement in
1997! So Sharp did. This is the Sharp Carousel Multiple Choice. The best microwave oven ever made. Yep, here I go again talking about kitchen
appliance design that peaked decades ago. But in this we have yet more proof! Toasters peaked in the 1940’s, microwaves,
though, in the 90’s. Sure, the design isn’t as timeless as the
impeccable Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster, but boy did they pack a lot of features into
this white sheet metal box. For a start, the user interface is radically
different from microwaves both contemporary to its time and now. Why settle for simple seven segment or, maybe,
alphanumeric displays when you could have DOT MATRIX? Its large display combines with buttons on
its side and below to provide an intuitive menu system for its various functions. And did the designers have fun with that display? You bet! Just look what happens when you plug it in. Delightful. When in use, the time-remaining display takes
the form of a giant animated hourglass, because why not? And my personal favorite, the popcorn setting
actually shows an animation of popping corn. What’s not to love? Ah, the nineties. You truly were the teal, pink, and purple
best. Anyway, aside from the sheer novelty of a
dot-matrix display with a mature menu system in a microwave from the mid-nineties, there’s
a lot of smarts included, too. Now, to be fair, lots of microwaves have *some*
ability to cook or reheat things automatically. There’s often a chart inside the door which
shows you different settings for each category, and you may very well have a few dedicated
buttons for certain things. But this takes it to the next level. There are dozens of options for things you
can cook with this, from potatoes (white or sweet), to bacon, to squash (winter or summer), eggs all these ways (with instructions, as well), and even artichokes! And they all work excellently. See, it’s not particularly difficult to
program automation into a microwave oven with just a single humidity sensor for feedback. Let’s use popcorn as an example. After all, microwave popcorn is so important
it almost always gets its own button, even here. When you use the popcorn button, much to the
chagrin of many bags of popcorn, the microwave starts out by simply running its fans for
a set period of time. The magnetron isn’t powered thus cooking
isn’t occurring, and it uses this period to clear out any moisture near the sensor and establish a baseline reading. After this step, it switches on the magnetron
and watches the sensor. [clunk and 60hz buzz as magnetron powers on] [pitch of fans falls as the magnetron pulls voltage down] A bag of microwave popcorn typically stays
sealed for a while as it starts to pop, so the sensor won’t see a change, but eventually the pressure builds and the bag’s seal bursts.
[low poof sound] A cloud of steam exits the bag which the sensor
will pick up right away. Now here comes the fun part. The microwave can use a lookup table to estimate
the remaining cooking time based upon how long it took for the bag to burst. A smaller bag of popcorn will start popping
faster and thus the steam sensor will read steam sooner, and a larger bag of popcorn
will take more time to pop so it takes longer to see the steam. All you need is the time between magnetron
switch-on and steam detection to have a solid idea of how much longer it needs to finish
popping. And this works so well that you can throw
nearly any bag of popcorn of any size in this microwave and it will always completely pop
and never burn. No guesswork needed. Many microwave ovens have popcorn buttons
which are, to put it nicely, bullshirt. If your microwave wants you to tell it how
big the bag of popcorn is, well then it’s probably not using a sensor for anything and
instead got the lazy treatment of pre-programmed times based on the inputted weight. This is precisely why you are told not to
use the popcorn button, however microwaves do still exist with proper sensor-cooking
for popcorn. Samsung models seem to do it fairly well,
at least in my limited sample size of two. But anyway, you can apply this logic to virtually
any food item you can imagine. All it takes is some experimentation, categorization,
and creation of lookup tables. Do this for each kind of food you want to
make a one-touch option and you’ll have true automatic cooking. And again, it’s not like no microwaves on
sale today can do some forms of auto-cooking, but I don’t know of any mainstream models
that are as versatile as this one, let alone as easy to use. Each auto-setting is one touch, and if there
are any special instructions they’re right there waiting for you. And lest you think this is just dressed-up
pre-programmed timers, it’s not. I didn’t just happen upon this microwave,
this belonged to my grandparents who bought it new. And my grandmother used its automatic functions extensively,
and they never failed. Her favorite use was a potato. Throw in a raw potato - any potato - and it’ll
come out perfectly cooked. Every time. Oh, and it’s not just cooking until it sees
steam like for popcorn. Depending on the item it cooks, it can cycle
the magnetron at different power levels to achieve the best results it can. I’m sure there are some settings in here
which don’t work too well, but they’re few and far between. Truly I don’t know why this isn’t just,
like, standard fare in microwaves these days. This tech surely ain’t new. Not at all. Of course, there are some nifty Internet of Things ideas
floating around like a steamer/toaster oven which can scan the barcode of a food item, consult a cloud-based database on how to cook it, and then cook it for you. It looks like this is bleeding into the microwave
space, too, but for outrageous prices. And, yeah, that’s a neat idea, sure, but there’s
a lot you can do with just a basic sensor and a bit of read-only memory. This microwave proves it without a doubt. And of course, it won’t be bricked in three
years when the startup behind it inevitably folds. Ah but we’re not done with the things this
just does better. You haven’t heard it yet. Pressing buttons doesn’t just give you a basic beep for feedback, oh no. You get this: [soft, decaying tones with button presses;
a double higher-tone when stop/clear is pressed. Sophistication. Pressing start brings you this: [quick ascending arpeggio] And best of all, when it’s done? ♫ a delightful melody ♫ Now, for those of you who hate fun, you can revert to a more basic beep in the settings menu. Or even turn off sound altogether. But yeah, you think your new washing machine
is trailblazing with its little "I’m finished" melody? Nuh uh, Sharp was way ahead on that one. And because someone at Sharp thought
“why not?” there’s entire recipes inside this microwave for you to try. Many are accompanied with an illustration,
and of course a fun little melody. ♫ doot de doo doo bedoo ♫ My personal favorite recipe is the
Kid’s Cooking recipe for Blue Jigglies. Gonna make some delicious Blue Jigglies. Very kid-friendly. Really that’s really a recipe for euphemisms if
I ever saw one. Don’t google that. It’s even got ratatouille in here, how fancy! Seriously, though, this is pretty neat. They’re designed to be followed step-by-step,
and at each step it will run the microwave for either a predetermined period of time or even use the sensor. Now this is absolutely gimmicky, but there
is a definite flair of “smart appliance” that, honestly, seems a lot smarter than many of the so-called
smart appliances you can buy today. I mean, like I said, look at microwaves for
sale in a home improvement store. None of them are as advanced as this one. As far as I’m concerned, the only true innovation
in microwaves between when this was made and today is Panasonic’s use of an inverter to
drive the magnetron at lower power levels, rather than just cycle it on and off at varying
duty cycles like most including this one do. But that’s a pretty niche benefit all things
considered. Now, if you’re wondering why I have my grandma’s
old microwave, well let me tell ya. Really, it’s all down to that little ditty it does. I have fond memories of visiting Grandma and
Grandpa for Christmas or Thanksgiving and hearing this microwave announce its doneness
in the most pleasant and fun way. When they moved to a new home with an over-the-stove
microwave situation, well I called dibs. And truthfully I don’t use this because I’m in the same microwave-over-the-stove situation, and luckily what I have is decent enough. So for now it’s a spare, but I still absolutely marvel
at how advanced this thing is. I do have a few quibbles, though. Like, for instance, the number pad. No. Do not- Do not do thi - You hear me designers? Do not do this. Everything should either be calculator or
phone arrangement, don’t try and break that mold, OK? Seriously, entering a time is annoying. Also, the display itself is rather dim, though
I suppose some of that could be down to age. This was plugged in and lit up for nearly
20 years straight, after all. Also, I think it would have been better to
make the clock more dominating on the screen, rather than just shove it in the corner. Especially because it dims the screen when idle. Not that everybody needs another clock to set, though. Plus it does show you the date, that's kinda nice. And also, to be sure, the design hasn’t aged all that
well in general. Swoopy shapes have gone the way of the dodo - a particularly swoopy bird - and white appliances as a whole are kinda not in at the moment. Plus, of course, it’s yellowing a bit. One of the main reasons I suspect white appliances are kinda over. Stainless steel and black may be cold but
it’ll be nice and cold forever. But anyway, I remain perplexed at why this
design has remained so obscure. I imagine that many people just don’t use
their microwave’s auto functions, as after all many frozen meals will have special preparation
instructions and after enough trial and error you’ll figure stuff out for yourself. But I do wonder if people would be more inclined
to use the automatic functions if they weren’t so cryptic. I mean, consulting a chart inside the door
isn’t the most user-focused design. And like, it’s 2020. Full color LCD panels cost like $2. Why most microwaves are stuck to seven-segment
displays is beyond me. And hey, this microwave proves that it doesn’t
need to be connected to the Internet, OK? Being online does not a smart appliance make. I’d call this smarter than all but the most
absurdly priced microwaves, and heck it still might work better than this Scan-To-Cook technology. If you put the ingenuity in at the time of
manufacture, well you won’t need to worry about updates.
[definitely-not-added-in-post notification sound] Ope, looks like there’s a firmware update
for my light bulbs again, better get on that! ♫ multiplicatively smooth jazz ♫ Hey there, I’ll be exploring some more of this microwave's features
(and also its quirks) more casually on the second channel. There’ll be links in all the places but
for now, le bloops. ...in the age of the smartphone, about the most
interesting thing we’ve seen come to the designer microwave oven space - things. Already! About the most interesting thing we’ve s… things! I forgot the s… again! And they always worked. Her favorite… nah nuh, never failed. Don’t change the words! You wrote the script, you proofread it, why
are you changing the words as you read it? You doofus. Gonna make some delicious blue jigglies. Very fred… fred? Fred kindley. "Hi, I’m Fred Kindley." In seriousness though, this is p… in seriousness
though this... in seriousness though thi.... In seriousness. Why did I write that? Just look at microwaves for sale in a home
improvement store. None of them are as advsvsvvsvsvsvsvs. [clears throat]
well this line’s taking forever. Don’t google that. It evens got. Oh shoot. It’s even got… it evens gots ratatouille! I am beyond mad at myself. Why? Because this microwave oven truly is
Automatic Beyond Belief and
I DIDN'T WRITE THAT IN THE SCRIPT how could I be so careless? I No Effort Novemebered myself.
This microwave has a microcontroller, a dot matrix display, and can even do graphics. I wonder if the ROM could be reflashed to run Doom!
While popping some sweet popcorn, obviously.
This dude tokes
My aunt had a built-in one of these in brushed stainless when they built their house in 1998. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
It's better than mine because mine was free.
I was curious so I looked at the Breville website, they have a few fancy ones with audio controls, soft close door, steam sensing, food presets etc..
Great episode as always, learnt a few bits along the way
I love how in depth you get about something that doesn’t get a second thought from most people. I find all this really interesting - I’ve learned so much random stuff! I came originally for the tape-related stuff (magnetic tape is probably my favorite thing ever and most of my super in depth knowledge also comes from you) but now I’ve learned about traffic lights, car chargers, kitchen appliances, fans, heating, AC and it’s so fun! Top thing I’ve learned is that antique appliances’ crazy engineering > everything else
My over-the-range Samsung microwave does not have fancy popcorn sensing, despite having a popcorn button. I literally walked over to my kitchen in the middle of this video to double-check that. What a disappointment. (Though it does also pull triple-duty as a convection oven and a surprisingly-competent air fryer, so I guess I broke even. I wonder if the humidity sensor Samsung uses isn't oven heat resistant, so they took it out on this model?)
Breville makes a few microwaves that have features similar to this one, but they are, unfortunately, rather expensive for the countertop microwave range. Which is surprising, because if you can throw Alexa into a microwave and sell it for less than $100, surely you could put a cheap ROM chip and dot matrix display into a microwave at the same price point. But I digress.
Does this channel really makes you want to go out and buy random good appliances? It's the reason I bought a chest freezer this year and I love it.
Can you still buy this? And if so, where?
Play-dough??