TechSmec.com

Boil The Kettle Via Text Message

October 10th, 2005

This gadget is so bizarre and so pointless that it had us checking the calendar to make sure that it wasn’t April 1st. Orange and PG Tips have joined forces (if that doesn’t sound like an unholy alliance then nothing does) to produce a kettle that you can switch on via text message.

The ReadyWhenUR (nice use of txt there guys) actually uses a set of mechanical levers to switch on the power when you text it with the phrase ‘SWITCH ON’.

This strange mechanisation of the process left a lot of technology commentators a little bit flummoxed, until they realised that the whole thing is a Wallace and Gromit tie-in, and as you all know, Wallace would never use an electronic circuit when a set of 10 levers, a rope pulley and a giant boxing glove could do the job just as well. Whether it’s an official tie-in is unclear, but PG Tips and Orange must be pleased with the publicity that their useless gadget is getting.

So let’s be clear. This kettle allows you to remove the heinous step of actually hitting the switch yourself from the water-boiling equation. You still have to fill the kettle, plug it in and make the tea in situ - and pay 10p for the privilege.

If anyone from Orange or PG Tips wants to contact us to explain what this is all about, please feel free.

Entry Filed under: Gadgets