I did get more egg cups online so I could wash one/use one, and they came up w/ a sturdier egg cup.

and it's nice to throw in a piece of asparagus and a lil cheese.

I freeze cooked bacon in proper portion sizes to throw in as well.

and I use the boiled whole egg part of it a lot too, it will boil 4 eggs at once to the level you like, soft/med/hard.

I've been using it for two years.

Got one for my high school aged neice, too she loved it.

I highly recommend it.

My husband and I got a McMuffin machine as a gift a couple years ago. We loved it too, at first...but after a couple months of only irregular use, all the teflon coating peeled off the egg cup. Bits of it would be left embedded in the egg. Not very appetizing.

I'm sensing a trend in these food gadgets. Both this and the previously reviewed herb garden promise (maybe not explicitly) "food grown/prepared at home with little or no work on your part". We seem, as a society, to have a growing disconnect to learning how to and taking the time to prepare food ourselves.

I understand that not everyone has room for an herb garden, nor time to learn how to poach or steam an egg, but no one is even trying anymore. Instead we just run out to some store and buy some gadget and hope it works.

Take some time and try growing your own herbs, if you've got the option. Try learning how to poach an egg. If you don't know how, find someone in your family or neighborhood that does and ask them to teach you. Have some connection to your food and other people. If that fails, then by all means, go ahead and buy the gadget.

See, when I think about the concept of "the venerable tradition of snark," I think about comments which are witty, piercing, and thoughtfully crafted. I didn't see much of anything I could call "venerable...snark" in SB's original post.

SB, most of your recent comments were, in fact, thoughtful and critically acute responses to the original post, so why not make those posts instead? Your original post didn't demonstrate wit, it didn't invite commentary, it wasn't likely to change anyone's minds, and it certainly wasn't going to change the way that Mr. Manjoo reports technology, which you claim was your goal.

Do Salon posters have the right to present themselves as ill-informed, aggressive people with nothing meaningful to add to the debate? Sure, I guess. But it doesn't follow that we should exercise this "privilege."

Microwaving an egg in an oil-sprayed ramekin (with a spoonful or two of water over the top) works great... but you have to remember to spear the yolk with a fork or something before you nuke it. Otherwise, the steam builds up inside and it will explode, outside the microwave if not while in it... 3rd degree burns are not a fun part of any breakfast muffin experience.

Someone actually expects me to pay good money for a gizmo that makes...a fried egg sandwich?

I've got a gizmo at home that'll do that. It's called a skillet. Works just fine.

Thanks machinist!

You know how they always suggest another item to pair with your purchase, which they present as "Better Together"?

Well, here's what it says on the product page for this one:

Better Together

Buy this item with Back to Basics TEM500PDWH Paula Deen Egg-and-Muffin Toaster today!

Total List Price: $99.98

Buy Together Today: $69.94

1) It's the same product, just a different brand.

2) As usual, their pairing offers no discount. That's the same price you'd pay if you bought them separately (as neither sells at the mythical "List Price").

I don’t have a microwave – I find them to be unnecessary and I don’t like they way they cook food (eggs, for instance, get rubbery). I know lots of people who don't have one. How useful or redundant this product is really depends on how your kitchen is set up.

Regarding serving sizes – I saw a similar product on Amazon that will make 2 sandwiches at the same time. That seems about the point where I’d just as soon get out the pan – but for a very busy couple it might be just right.

In any case – lots of people do seem to like them, and I really had been considering it, so I just ordered one for myself. We’ll see. And whatever happens I’m not the sort to chuck it out if I don’t like the egg feature – I’ll just keep on toasting.

As evidenced by the comments of a couple of other readers, this device is indeed another junk gadget - when used by actual consumers it's likely to break within a year, after which one will presumably buy the new and improved version which is only slightly better made. The key thing to note is that that's how the universe of marketed gadgetry works.

Farhad has a platform, and the intelligence, to go well beyond 'get one' and actually discuss the larger question. I've never been especially fond of CR, I don't think their analyses are as thoughtful as they might be, but they do (sort of) test things for durability. Farhad didn't seem to say anything about that, nor did he test the bacon warming feature, nor did he ask why there isn't a bacon cooking feature. If he's going to try to do Consumer Reports, well OK, but he'll have to test things a little more rigorously. I don't think he should do that, though. I read Machinist for actual intelligent analysis of the tech world. I don't want cotton-candy gadget infomercials!

If he's going to take an often insightful column into the shady realm of journalism-as-infomercial, I think I (and any other readers) have the right/responsibility/privilege/whatever to CALL HIM ON IT. And if I choose to use the venerable linguistic device of snark to do so, that too is my privilege.

If Salon isn't going to censor the poster to 'Since you asked' who regularly advocates Murder, I really doubt they'll censor me for being snarky!