It’s happened to me, it’s happened to my wife, maybe it’s happened to a lot of people. You take the pot off the stove and forget to turn the burner off. Generally, it’s no big deal … there’s nothing to catch fire. But wouldn’t it be safer to have burners that sense, “Hey, yo, there’s nothing on me, for like 2 minutes,” and then they power down. Or at least beep … beep … beep. Probably even smarter would your Overheating Sensing Burner. You know, you leave the lima beans on too long and the water evaporates and they start to smoke and burn while you’re in the other room typing on your blog. Ought to be some threshold temperature at which, the burner thinks, “Hey, yo, this is too damn hot for too long. You gotta be kidding, I’m turning myself down.” Again beep … beep … beep. That’s the idea, the Ain’t Heatin’ Nothing On Too High Too Long Sensin’ Intelli-Burner.

Now, we also need a device that keeps us from relying on thinking appliances too much. Can you really trust that iron to automatically shut off? Or that memory chip (alternative solution) to remember to turn everything off?

Another weight-sensing idea: The Scale Shoe.