AmazonBasics Microwave: Accessible for People with Visual Impairments (2019)

Interesting to see this here as the more expensive version of this microwave with convection baking nearly burned down my house on Thanksgiving.<p>It was a hectic morning and we were getting ready, and I had my kid put something into the microwave&#x2F;oven. She put in the metal rack and the food on top. We’d done this dozens of times before.<p>I then used Alexa from another room and said “Alexa, bake at 400° Fahrenheit for twenty minutes”. Later I looked at the logs and Alexa had caught the words “____ at 400° Fahrenheit for twenty minutes” and took this to mean microwave. I’m not sure who specifies temperatures when microwaving, but that’s how it interpreted these very specific instructions. I’d gotten in the habit of being extremely specific because a few times it had tried to microwave when I’d specified bake, and naively thought this specificity would avoid such an issue.<p>Long story short I was having a nice shower when I smelled smoke, I basically got to live out the Disneyworld Carousel of Progress future scene when the oven went crazy. The metal cook pan embedded itself into the glass somehow and it smelled absolutely awful. We had to throw out the entire thing.<p>I actually told this story to an Amazon Alexa lead Engineer at a conference in 2021. He said he’d look into it and the microwave disappeared off the market soon after, so I don’t know maybe it was decided it was too dangerous of a product.

Forgive my ignorance, but isn&#x27;t an old school microwave with knobs and button even more accessible, thanks to tacile feedback? Why do they need to put AI in everything?

&gt; I initially had some difficulty pairing the microwave with my Echo Dot. After several attempts, the app said to press the number 2 button for four seconds, and the display will flash. Since I was not sure which button was number 2, <i>I needed sighted assistance.</i> Another option would have been to FaceTime a friend, or call Be My Eyes or AIRA. Initially, this procedure didn&#x27;t work and the devices wouldn&#x27;t pair. I rebooted my iPhone, changed the microwave’s location, and tried again. This time it worked. I don’t know whether it was rebooting or changing location that allowed the devices to pair.<p>This sounds way less accessible than a normal microwave

This is a fantastic article, I never thought about a lot of this stuff, like describing how a package opens (what to expect first, what this styrofoam is for and what that is for).<p>I wonder how the additional AI aspect will help, being able to upload a photo and ask AI what is in that photo in detail. Something like describe how to get the #2 button in this photo. Or in real time video.<p>Also makes me wonder if FaceTiming AI which actively analysis the video could be a thing…<p>I’m not much for thinking that extra tactile buttons means more accessible. I do think that Alexa would be 100% easier assuming it works fairly well. Which may or may not be true.

Looks like this microwave hasn&#x27;t been sold (as new) on Amazon since May 2022, using CamelCamelCamel to look at the price history of this item (B07894S727), being last sold at $75. However, there are four other Alexa-enabled microwaves currently being sold on Amazon, for $143, $144, $300 and $2197.<p>I wonder how long the Alexa integration will last. I suppose even if the Alexa integration is discontinued in the future, they would still continue to function no worse than regular microwaves.

The toaster oven that I use is Tovala as part of a prepared meal service... and they&#x27;re fairly good.<p>It uses QR codes on a recipe sheet to set up a sequence of events for the toaster oven. That is, if you scan the &quot;chicken and bacon ranch Swiss melt&quot; it will bake at 400°F for 15 minutes, steam at 425°F for 3 minutes, and then broil for 2 minutes.<p>It can also do some groceries from the barcodes on there. I was pleased to find that the corn dogs that I occasionally got had a pre-programed recipe as do the single French bread pizzas.<p>When its all done, the toaster oven beeps and I get a haptic feedback on my iWatch.<p>It does have buttons and display for a regular sighted person too - its not a slave to the app and barcodes.<p>I&#x27;ll note that I don&#x27;t know how the iPhone app fares for accessibility. However, I do know that someone could set up index cards with barcodes (QR or regular) on them and have it either run from its (limited) set of store bought grocery meals or run a recipe sequence associated with that barcode in the app. Those index cards could also have braille on them for instructions and identification.<p>With some assistance and initial setup, it would be possible to that toaster oven to be a fairly accessible device for a set of meals (that can be extended with assistance).

fun-fact:<p>Most microwaves sold in the USA are made by just one company and rebranded like mad: Midea<p>(toasters too)<p>We will never, ever, be able to cut off China no matter how even worse their behavior becomes towards their own people or other countries in the future.

I have one of these. I bought it because my previous microwave died and while I rarely used it I still wanted *something*. The Amazon Basics model was the one that managed to combine the form factor I wanted with a low price. I thought the Alexa integration was funny, but did not play into my decision.<p>The Alexa integration was fun at first but I quickly stopped using it. At most it saves about 10 seconds of effort. But I could totally see how for a less able bodied person it&#x27;d be huge.

While we are talking about improvements to household appliances, my partner had a moment of genius yesterday: Sodastream in the fridge. Since many refrigerators today have a water dispenser, why doesn&#x27;t it include an option for a carbonated water dispenser? You&#x27;d think the manufacturers would love this as they could get recurring revenue same as water filters and air filters in the form of the co2 cartridges.

The blind people I know either favor the old fashioned microwaves with two analog knobs, one to set power and one mechanical timer, or just put a brail dot on the &quot;30 more seconds&quot; button like everyone else on the planet uses anyway 99% of the time. I can&#x27;t imagine relying on a shitty voice assistant for this.

I understand the article is about people with visual impairments, but why doesn&#x27;t even it include a photo of the microwave in question? If you amazon the model number it takes you to another one altogether.<p>Just too funny.