back to article Aga cooks up phone-controlled 'iOven'

Aga, oven maker by appointment to the rural chattering classes, has turned up the heat of technology on famously basic ranges to create the iTotal Control Oven, a stove equipped with a cellular modem to allow chefs to command their cooker remotely. The iTotal Control Oven not only connects to the web, but its built-in Sim, …

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  1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

    Puzzled...

    I thought the point about Aga was that it stays *always* on?

    1. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

      Re: Puzzled...

      Always on, never used.

      Okay, that's not entirely true, but an AGA really is the Leica of cookers - people who know what they're doing can do amazing things with them, but the majority of purchasers just want to give the impression of skill without the tedious business of acquiring it.

      I imagine that the iPad integration is aimed at this latter, larger, demographic. The crossover would be large.

    2. Owain 1
      Flame

      Re: Puzzled...

      Always on? Indeed. Ours is. It comes complete with absolutely no user controls what so ever. You want a particular temperature? You use the oven that's already at that temperature. Cooks great pizzas on the floor of the roasting oven. Bake a cake in the baking oven at the same time, while simmering your vegetables in the simmering oven at the same time, and warming your plates in the warming oven at the same time. If you want you can also be ironing clothes by leaving them on the top of the simmering plate lid (at the same time). However I think this is for one of those new-fangled lectrickery stoves. Best kept in the city I think.

      Hang on, I think I can smell burning. I'll be back in a moment...

  2. theModge

    As you say RURAL chattering classes

    I see a flaw right there: where in the country side do you get signal? Spent last week hiking, including staying in b&b's with aga's but no signal....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: As you say RURAL chattering classes

      I'll amended:

      "oven maker by appointment to the rural chattering classes"

      "oven maker by appointment to Poncy Londoners that move to the country then complain about horses on the roads, the smell of cow shit and how they can't get their favourite provincial olives from the local corner shop"

      There Fixed.

      1. Chris Miller
        Thumb Up

        You forgot

        Move in next to the church and immediately lodge a formal complaint about the noise from the bells.

  3. Lockwood

    Confused

    I always put ovens in the category of "Things you don't go outside when they're running"

    1. Tom Wood

      Re: Confused

      Lots of ovens (maybe only electric ones) have time switches, the expectation being you put your tea in the oven and time it to come on at the appropriate moment for it to be perfectly cooked at the time you get home.

      Unless you put something inappropriate in the oven it's perfectly safe.

  4. dogged
    FAIL

    Rural? Orange SIM? Indoors?

    No, that doesn't work.

  5. Irongut

    What a great way to burn your house down!

    1. David Ward 1

      or what a great way to keep informed that your house is burning down!

  6. KJB
    Paris Hilton

    Easily amused?

    I actually chuckled at Stove Jobs

    1. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

      Re: Easily amused?

      Me too. Best subhead this month.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Easily amused?

      But something around "Tim Cook" was surely a missed opportunity.

  7. Kubla Cant
    Thumb Down

    Most people install their cooker in the kitchen.

    Unsurprisingly, the iAga fanbois (fangurlz?) have decided to have it in the music room. That piano's going to be a delight to play on with a few months of cooking grease on the keys.

    1. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

      Again, "cooking?"

      What on earth are you talking about?? We order in.

  8. DrXym

    An app in search of a point

    People set timers on their ovens usually to take something out, or to put something in, or to start something after so many minutes. I really don't see a huge benefit from putting an app to do this since you will be standing by the oven anyway.

    I suppose if someone absolutely wanted to start warming the oven 30 minutes before they got home or some other fairly tenuous scenario then it might be of use. Given how hideously energy inefficient AGAs are, perhaps this is more relevant than it would be for conventional ovens. It still seems like a pretty pointless gimmick though.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    Techies and geeks

    Anyone technically minded and so inclined should be able to network up their AGA.

    Think I'm joking? Our has an external gravity fed oil pump. Simply modify the pump with a few components from RS (motor etc), control said device via RS232 and bingo, you have one networked AGA.

    NB: If you burn your house down doing this I am not responsible.

    1. melt

      Re: Techies and geeks

      Bit more difficult with my mother's. Would need to set up some kind of coal feed auger...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Techies and geeks

        IPhone app to Taser the stoker?

    2. Captain TickTock
      Trollface

      Re: Techies and geeks

      Anyone technically minded wouldn't have an Aga...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Techies and geeks

        I'm not going to down-vote (as you even had the courtesy to use the troll icon :-)

        My problem is I am a techy (and love 'messing with the tech') - we have also just ordered an Aga. If I had a iAga I would be trying to hack into it from the web and all-sorts, just to see what I could do. The concern is that this could be an easy way to burn down an intended victims house. Can you imagine the fun/devastation a hacker could cause - and let's be honest iAga aren't liekly to have the best security on this are they.

        Probably the most stupid idea I have heard for a long time.

        PS. I agree, most 'techie' people wouldn't have an Aga - there again most people full stop don't have an Aga!

      2. M7S

        Re: Techies and geeks

        The device being non-techie is exactly the reason I haven't removed the one in the house I now live in, although it is only on in winter, and not even durith the last one. Whilst it might take 24 hours to come to temperature when first lit, after than even if the power fails it will still work with the gravity oil feed. A sort of continuity plan that covers heating (not the radiators but at least a couple of warm rooms), hot water and cooking.

        Given that the lights may go out on a rolling basis in a few years time, I'm not changing it. Oil may be expensive but at least I can keep a couple of months worth in the tank. With that, a couple of battery lamps and a small radio the family can be quite comfortable.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Gimp

        Re: Techies and geeks

        To be fair, in our case the unit came with the house and I suspect that's the case for most people. Even the second hand cost is horrific and there is no way I would actually buy one.

        But if it's part of the house fixtures and fittings then so be it. Ours has been in here for about 50 years.

  10. Captain TickTock
    Facepalm

    But if I were you...

    ... I wouldn't start from here.

    Like certain rear-engined sports cars, a lot of engineering has gone in to trying to make a bad idea work ;-)

  11. DiskJunky
    Go

    Not just on the iPhone

    It's worth noting that this app is also available on Android devices, not just iPhone. And at least the app is free even if the cooker isn't :-P

  12. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    Pint

    Aga memories

    Our old Solid fule monster kept not only the kitchen warm but the whole house and this was in the days before we got central heating.

    Dad always used to say that the cooking part was an optional extra just to annoy 'she who shall be obeyed'.

    Friday, beer O'Clock time with the Windies 3 wkts down, not a cloud in the sky. Not really a day for slaving over a hot Aga (or a PC for that matter)

  13. ukgnome
    Flame

    This make me angry

    An app to control a cooker FFS

    Whatever next? An app for the iron?

    don't get me wrong, I am all for using technology to create a smart house, but remote oven access is not one of the key features I crave.

    1. Lockwood
      Trollface

      Re: This make me angry

      There's a fondleslab for that.

      Just turn the new iPad on, and run its smooth surface over your clothing.

  14. Fuzz

    Wow

    this looks pointless,

    My oven takes around 5 minutes to heat up, I can't see any reason for wanting to do that remotely.

    1. Kubla Cant

      Re: Wow

      Yeah, but if you had an Aga, your oven would take about 8 hours to heat up, so you might want to switch it on while you're on the way in to work in the morning.

      Or you might want to have it on a timer, like sensible people.

  15. DiskJunky

    Another point

    The app isn't entirely pointless. If you consider the price of the cooker, 10,000+, then the most likely demographic for buying one are the wealthy. With a large number of owners being of the executive type, i.e. the kind of people with busy and somewhat unpredictable schedules, it means that the use case for putting your dinner in the oven and being able to remotely turn it on when you finally know what time you'll be heading home is a valid one.

    Not so useless.

  16. David Pollard
    Flame

    In memoriam?

    Is this a tribute to Honeywell's H316, the first ever 'kitchen computer', offered to the public in 1969 for $10,000?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeywell_316

    Flame for obvious reasons.

  17. TrishaD

    Yes but...

    Where's the green, stove-enamelled iPhobe to go with it?

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