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Hello, and welcome to No Effort November!

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A series of videos for the month of November where no effort is made.

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Today’s video is about a microwave oven.

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Have you ever felt like innovation in microwave
oven technology

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has simply stagnated over the last twenty years?

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Even in the age of the smartphone,

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about the most interesting things we’ve seen come to the designer microwave oven space

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are Alexa integration so that Amazon can collect yet more data about consumer habits

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and these weird slim ones that are kinda popular for some reason.

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I mean, sure it’s way less practical but
think of the style!

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But for the most part your standard microwave
oven isn’t all that different from the

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standard microwave oven of twenty or even thirty years
ago.

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Almost universally they contain a small microcontroller
hooked up to a basic keypad and display

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for a user interface, and why not make that a
clock while you’re at it

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because you never know who might not have enough clocks in their kitchen.

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The microcontroller then controls, in a micro
fashion, the functiona of the magnetron

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and its associated circuitry,

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the turntable or moving waveguide (some microwaves have one of those),

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and of course the little lightbulb. All based upon the user’s inputs, of course.

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When it’s done bombarding your foodstuffs
with radiation

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it will then beep at you, typically loudly enough to wake a sleeping person,

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thus honing the skill of stopping the microwave with one second left

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in hangry teens the world over.

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But why be so basic?

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Sure, many microwaves have sensors, most commonly
designed to detect steam,

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which help automate some cooking functions.

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Seriously if you haven’t discovered the
sensor reheat function on your microwave - you’re missing out.

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But in most cases, that sensor can’t help
with too many things.

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After all, different foods heat differently,
and without some sort of database to reference information

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on how different foods cook in the microwave and the ability to tell the microwave exactly what it is that you’re cooking,

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well the sensor can only be so useful.

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Wait a minute, though.

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That sounds ridiculously easy to implement in 2020.

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Heck, that was easy enough to implement in
1997!

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So Sharp did.

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This is the Sharp Carousel Multiple Choice.

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The best microwave oven ever made.

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Yep, here I go again talking about kitchen
appliance design that peaked decades ago.

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But in this we have yet more proof!

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Toasters peaked in the 1940’s, microwaves,
though, in the 90’s.

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Sure, the design isn’t as timeless as the
impeccable Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster,

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but boy did they pack a lot of features into
this white sheet metal box.

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For a start, the user interface is radically
different from microwaves both contemporary to its time and now.

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Why settle for simple seven segment or, maybe,
alphanumeric displays when you could have

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DOT MATRIX?

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Its large display combines with buttons on
its side and below to provide an intuitive

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menu system for its various functions.

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And did the designers have fun with that display?

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You bet!

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Just look what happens when you plug it in.

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Delightful.

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When in use, the time-remaining display takes
the form of a giant animated hourglass,

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because why not?

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And my personal favorite, the popcorn setting
actually shows an animation of popping corn.

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What’s not to love?

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Ah, the nineties.

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You truly were the teal, pink, and purple
best.

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Anyway, aside from the sheer novelty of a
dot-matrix display with a mature menu system

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in a microwave from the mid-nineties, there’s
a lot of smarts included, too.

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Now, to be fair, lots of microwaves have *some*
ability to cook or reheat things automatically.

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There’s often a chart inside the door which
shows you different settings for each category,

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and you may very well have a few dedicated
buttons for certain things.

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But this takes it to the next level.

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There are dozens of options for things you
can cook with this, from potatoes

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(white or sweet),

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to bacon, to squash (winter or summer),

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eggs all these ways (with instructions, as well),

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and even artichokes!

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And they all work excellently.

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See, it’s not particularly difficult to
program automation into a microwave oven

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with just a single humidity sensor for feedback.

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Let’s use popcorn as an example.

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After all, microwave popcorn is so important
it almost always gets its own button, even here.

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When you use the popcorn button, much to the
chagrin of many bags of popcorn,

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the microwave starts out by simply running its fans for
a set period of time.

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The magnetron isn’t powered thus cooking
isn’t occurring, and it uses this period to clear out any moisture

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near the sensor and establish a baseline reading.

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After this step, it switches on the magnetron
and watches the sensor.

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[clunk and 60hz buzz as magnetron powers on]

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[pitch of fans falls as the magnetron pulls voltage down]

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A bag of microwave popcorn typically stays
sealed for a while as it starts to pop,

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so the sensor won’t see a change,

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but eventually the pressure builds and the bag’s seal bursts. 
[low poof sound]

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A cloud of steam exits the bag which the sensor
will pick up right away.

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Now here comes the fun part.

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The microwave can use a lookup table to estimate
the remaining cooking time based upon how long it took for the bag to burst.

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A smaller bag of popcorn will start popping
faster and thus the steam sensor will read steam sooner,

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and a larger bag of popcorn
will take more time to pop so it takes longer to see the steam.

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All you need is the time between magnetron
switch-on and steam detection

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to have a solid idea of how much longer it needs to finish
popping.

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And this works so well that you can throw
nearly any bag of popcorn of any size in this microwave

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and it will always completely pop
and never burn.

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No guesswork needed.

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Many microwave ovens have popcorn buttons
which are, to put it nicely, bullshirt.

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If your microwave wants you to tell it how
big the bag of popcorn is,

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well then it’s probably not using a sensor for anything and
instead got the lazy treatment

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of pre-programmed times based on the inputted weight.

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This is precisely why you are told not to
use the popcorn button,

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however microwaves do still exist with proper sensor-cooking
for popcorn.

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Samsung models seem to do it fairly well,
at least in my limited sample size of two.

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But anyway, you can apply this logic to virtually
any food item you can imagine.

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All it takes is some experimentation, categorization,
and creation of lookup tables.

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Do this for each kind of food you want to
make a one-touch option and you’ll have true automatic cooking.

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And again, it’s not like no microwaves on
sale today can do some forms of auto-cooking,

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but I don’t know of any mainstream models
that are as versatile as this one,

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let alone as easy to use.

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Each auto-setting is one touch, and if there
are any special instructions

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they’re right there waiting for you.

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And lest you think this is just dressed-up
pre-programmed timers, it’s not.

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I didn’t just happen upon this microwave,
this belonged to my grandparents who bought it new.

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And my grandmother used its automatic functions extensively,
and they never failed.

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Her favorite use was a potato.

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Throw in a raw potato - any potato - and it’ll
come out perfectly cooked.

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Every time.

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Oh, and it’s not just cooking until it sees
steam like for popcorn.

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Depending on the item it cooks, it can cycle
the magnetron at different power levels

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to achieve the best results it can.

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I’m sure there are some settings in here
which don’t work too well, but

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they’re few and far between.

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Truly I don’t know why this isn’t just,
like, standard fare in microwaves these days.

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This tech surely ain’t new.

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Not at all.

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Of course, there are some nifty Internet of Things ideas
floating around

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like a steamer/toaster oven which can scan the barcode of a food item,

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consult a cloud-based database on how to cook it,

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and then cook it for you.

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It looks like this is bleeding into the microwave
space, too, but for outrageous prices.

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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.

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This microwave proves it without a doubt.

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And of course, it won’t be bricked in three
years when the startup behind it inevitably folds.

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Ah but we’re not done with the things this
just does better.

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You haven’t heard it yet.

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Pressing buttons doesn’t just give you a basic beep for feedback, oh no.

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You get this:

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[soft, decaying tones with button presses; 
a double higher-tone when stop/clear is pressed.

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Sophistication.

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Pressing start brings you this:

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[quick ascending arpeggio]

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And best of all, when it’s done?

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♫ a delightful melody ♫

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Now, for those of you who hate fun, you can revert to a more basic beep in the settings menu.

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Or even turn off sound altogether.

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But yeah, you think your new washing machine
is trailblazing with its little "I’m finished" melody?

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Nuh uh, Sharp was way ahead on that one.

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And because someone at Sharp thought 
“why not?”

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there’s entire recipes inside this microwave for you to try.

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Many are accompanied with an illustration,
and of course a fun little melody.

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♫ doot de doo doo bedoo ♫

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My personal favorite recipe is the 
Kid’s Cooking recipe for Blue Jigglies.

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Gonna make some delicious Blue Jigglies.

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Very kid-friendly.

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Really that’s really a recipe for euphemisms if
I ever saw one.

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Don’t google that.

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It’s even got ratatouille in here, how fancy!

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Seriously, though, this is pretty neat.

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They’re designed to be followed step-by-step,
and at each step it will run the microwave

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for either a predetermined period of time or even use the sensor.

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Now this is absolutely gimmicky, but there
is a definite flair of “smart appliance” that, honestly,

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seems a lot smarter than many of the so-called 
smart appliances you can buy today.

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I mean, like I said, look at microwaves for
sale in a home improvement store.

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None of them are as advanced as this one.

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As far as I’m concerned, the only true innovation
in microwaves between when this was made and today

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is Panasonic’s use of an inverter to
drive the magnetron at lower power levels,

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rather than just cycle it on and off at varying
duty cycles like most including this one do.

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But that’s a pretty niche benefit all things
considered.

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Now, if you’re wondering why I have my grandma’s
old microwave, well let me tell ya.

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Really, it’s all down to that little ditty it does.

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I have fond memories of visiting Grandma and
Grandpa for Christmas or Thanksgiving

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and hearing this microwave announce its doneness
in the most pleasant and fun way.

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When they moved to a new home with an over-the-stove
microwave situation,

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well I called dibs.

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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.

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So for now it’s a spare, but I still absolutely marvel
at how advanced this thing is.

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I do have a few quibbles, though.

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Like, for instance, the number pad.

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No. Do not-

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Do not do thi -

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You hear me designers?

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Do not do this.

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Everything should either be calculator or
phone arrangement, don’t try and break that mold,

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OK?

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Seriously, entering a time is annoying.

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Also, the display itself is rather dim, though
I suppose some of that could be down to age.

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This was plugged in and lit up for nearly
20 years straight, after all.

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Also, I think it would have been better to
make the clock more dominating on the screen,

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rather than just shove it in the corner.

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Especially because it dims the screen when idle.

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Not that everybody needs another clock to set, though.

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Plus it does show you the date, that's kinda nice.

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And also, to be sure, the design hasn’t aged all that
well in general.

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Swoopy shapes have gone the way of the dodo

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- a particularly swoopy bird -

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and white appliances as a whole are kinda not in at the moment.

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Plus, of course, it’s yellowing a bit. One of the main reasons I suspect white appliances are kinda over.

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Stainless steel and black may be cold but
it’ll be nice and cold forever.

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00:11:47,039 --> 00:11:52,170
But anyway, I remain perplexed at why this
design has remained so obscure.

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00:11:52,170 --> 00:11:56,261
I imagine that many people just don’t use
their microwave’s auto functions,

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as after all many frozen meals will have special preparation
instructions and after enough trial and error you’ll figure stuff out for yourself.

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But I do wonder if people would be more inclined
to use the automatic functions if they weren’t so cryptic.

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I mean, consulting a chart inside the door
isn’t the most user-focused design.

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And like, it’s 2020.

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Full color LCD panels cost like $2.

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Why most microwaves are stuck to seven-segment
displays is beyond me.

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And hey, this microwave proves that it doesn’t
need to be connected to the Internet, OK?

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Being online does not a smart appliance make.

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I’d call this smarter than all but the most
absurdly priced microwaves,

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and heck it still might work better than this Scan-To-Cook technology.

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If you put the ingenuity in at the time of
manufacture,

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well you won’t need to worry about updates.
[definitely-not-added-in-post notification sound]

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00:12:49,135 --> 00:12:52,224
Ope, looks like there’s a firmware update
for my light bulbs again,

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better get on that!

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♫ multiplicatively smooth jazz ♫

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00:12:57,447 --> 00:13:01,740
Hey there, I’ll be exploring some more of this microwave's features
(and also its quirks)

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00:13:01,740 --> 00:13:03,864
more casually on the second channel.

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00:13:03,864 --> 00:13:07,911
There’ll be links in all the places but
for now, le bloops.

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00:13:09,014 --> 00:13:14,779
...in the age of the smartphone, about the most
interesting thing we’ve seen come to the designer microwave oven space -

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things. Already!

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About the most interesting thing we’ve s… things!

219
00:13:19,535 --> 00:13:21,182
I forgot the s… again!

220
00:13:21,182 --> 00:13:25,560
And they always worked. Her favorite… nah nuh, never failed.

221
00:13:25,560 --> 00:13:26,960
Don’t change the words!

222
00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:30,826
You wrote the script, you proofread it, why
are you changing the words as you read it?

223
00:13:30,826 --> 00:13:32,174
You doofus.

224
00:13:32,406 --> 00:13:35,006
Gonna make some delicious blue jigglies.

225
00:13:35,006 --> 00:13:36,800
Very fred… fred?

226
00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:37,897
Fred kindley.

227
00:13:38,342 --> 00:13:39,940
"Hi, I’m Fred Kindley."

228
00:13:39,940 --> 00:13:44,549
In seriousness though, this is p… in seriousness
though this... in seriousness though thi....

229
00:13:45,556 --> 00:13:47,002
In seriousness.

230
00:13:47,002 --> 00:13:48,386
Why did I write that?

231
00:13:48,386 --> 00:13:51,665
Just look at microwaves for sale in a home
improvement store.

232
00:13:51,665 --> 00:13:54,588
None of them are as advsvsvvsvsvsvsvs.

233
00:13:55,537 --> 00:13:57,573
[clears throat] 
well this line’s taking forever.

234
00:13:57,573 --> 00:13:58,670
Don’t google that.

235
00:13:58,670 --> 00:13:59,380
It evens got.

236
00:13:59,380 --> 00:14:00,534
Oh shoot.

237
00:14:00,534 --> 00:14:01,544
It’s even got…

238
00:14:01,544 --> 00:14:02,789
it evens gots ratatouille!

239
00:14:04,396 --> 00:14:06,461
I am beyond mad at myself.

240
00:14:06,461 --> 00:14:08,021
Why?

241
00:14:08,021 --> 00:14:13,690
Because this microwave oven truly is 
Automatic Beyond Belief and 
I DIDN'T WRITE THAT IN THE SCRIPT

242
00:14:13,690 --> 00:14:17,306
how could I be so careless?

243
00:14:17,306 --> 00:14:20,092
I No Effort Novemebered myself.