Lawrence Lile wrote:
>
> Well, my personal hell has finally arrived, they want me to design an
> internet enabled toaster... almost.
>
> I'm asked to incorporate some kind of module that communicates with an
> external time standard (WWV, GPS, atomic time, whatever) that programs the
> clock on appliances  (coffeemakers especially.)  You plug it in, it knows
> what time it is.  Simple.
>
> Not for me.  Anybody heard of these little modules?
> -- Lawrence Lile

Yeah. GPS time/frequency references. Lots of sources.
Costs 10 times what a coffemaker would.

WWVB receivers used to be sold by Radio Shaft. WWVB doesn't
work well in areas of high electrical noise.

You could go with one of the new TCP/IP appliance modules
and have to have a live internet link so that a network
time server could be queried.

The is also broadcast time (PBS VBI) that some of the new VCR's
use. Problem is that it can get the wrong time if you're bringing
the signal in from far away (cable TV).

AFAIK there is nothing cheap enough YET to do what you want.
Bluetooth and a base station broadcasting 'house' time would
probably work though.

To be workable and really cheap you'd need the power company to
broadcast timecode ON the power line so that some really inexpensive
RF receiver could decode it. The real trick with that is getting
the signal past all the transformers in your path from the
power plant. It would be one way to get all those VCR's to stop
flashing "12:00".

OTOH if the user hasn't the skill to set the clock on the
coffemaker how will they set the brew time?