Since you are a BIG company you could let a device dial an 800 number for the time. Low speed modems don't cost too much. In OEM quantity, I think it could all cost around $10 or less to do. But I don't know your cost bogie. -W -----Original Message----- From: Harold M Hallikainen [mailto:haroldhallikainen@JUNO.COM] Sent: Friday, February 11, 2000 12:54 PM To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: Internet Toaster [OT] On Fri, 11 Feb 2000 13:32:14 -0700 Robert Rolf writes: > > > OTOH if the user hasn't the skill to set the clock on the > coffemaker how will they set the brew time? How about something like the household set-back thermostats that learn your behavior. It wouldn't really need to know the actual time, just set up an arbitrary clock/calendar and remember when they make coffee. Have the thing do the same thing next week. If they don't put any water in it, don't do anything. A real simple solution to the need to set clocks is to put in a battery or capacitor backup. When the AC line is present, it uses the AC line as a timebase and develops a correction factor for its internal timebase. If the clock has an LCD display, it could always be enabled. If it's LED, only enable it when AC is present. This way the user still has to set the time, but only once. Harold FCC Rules Online at http://hallikainen.com/FccRules Lighting control for theatre and television at http://www.dovesystems.com ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.