Gizmodo: rice cooker

Zojirushi Appliances Text You to Keep Grandma From Burning Down the House

matt buchanan — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:47:40 EST

You know, if your grandma is old and senile enough that you need a twice-daily email letting you know when she last used which appliances and for how long, it might be time to stick her in a home. But Zojirushi has developed a new system that does just that, so you have the peace of mind she hasn't burned down the house you stand to inherit by leaving the toaster on for too long. 'Cause if you really cared, you'd just call. [Trends in Japan]

Wired: Rice Cookers Reviewed, Asians Everywhere Surprised

Brian Lam — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 18:35:20 EST

Chris Null of Yahoo! Tech and Mark McClusky, one of my old mentors at Wired, did a side by side shootout of Rice Cookers. They actually went and dethroned what I always considered the king of the long grain, short grain, and everything in between: The Zojirushi, known to me as the Hattori Hanzo in its class. Apparently its ability to start cooking at a set time, or its ability to make rice to different degrees of hardness, were meaningless after it prepped rice inconsistently between batches.

The winner? A Sanyo that doesn't even beep when its done. The Zojirushi was even topped by a Cuisinart. Just goes to show ya: even if you eat 100 pounds of rice a year, you can still learn something new about how to cook it. Asians everywhere, I suspect, will share my surprise. But a fair fight is a fair fight, and I assure you that those two know how to test gadgets. –Brian Lam

Go With the Grain [Wired]

Microwave Rice Cooker

Jason Chen — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:35:06 EDT

College students and lonely singles who enjoy rice, but don't want to make a whole bunch can use this Micro Rice Cooker from Japan to make rice for one. The rice washing is still necessary, but this allows you to use the microwave instead of a rice cooker, and comes in a small bowl—perfect for one.

This takes 15 minutes to heat up in the microwave and out comes a bowl of rice. We suppose you could just use a regular rice cooker and put in a tiny bit of rice for the same results, but this seems more gadgety. Available now for $44. – Jason Chen

Micro Rice Cooker [Compact Impact via Popgadget]