I'm not so sure. Something about the design leaves an aftertaste of the 90s, though the nubby grips make me want to chuck the appliance across the room—while still hot—in a dangerous, impromptu kitchen football game full of as many burns as it is crumbs.

So what do you think readers? Do you like the Bodum Bistro? Generally, I only don logos that large when they read "Tommy Hilfiger." $80. [Sur La Table via the kitchn]

The $36 Porta-Pizza Oven is a toaster oven/pizza cooker that plugs into your car's 12V cigarette lighter. Despite top and bottom cooking elements providing high and low heat settings, we can't help but maintain a little skepticism. Even in their promo shot, the pizza is spilling out of the oven (presumably onto your car's leather seats...oh...you didn't get the upgrade? That's OK, we're sure your car is very nice. No really, we all know those luxury packages are a rip. And there's a recession on. Right, you're right—tell the valet that when he snickers at your interior. But if it makes you feel any better, he's probably laughing at the fact that you just downed a large Tombstone that you cooked on the way to the restaurant. Yeah, most people consider that a weird habit.). [Stupididiotic via technabob]

Indeed, 2009 represents 100 years since Frank Shailor and General Electric came up with the D12 in 1909. It may look like a major fire and burn hazard, but this device was the world's first commercially successful toaster and it paved the way for the Pop-Tart you had this morning. That's right—without Frank Shailor's invention, nerds would surely starve. [Daily Express via Fark / Image via Jitterbuzz]

The marriage of a Daewoo VHS deck and a Swan Elegance single-slot toaster, the only way it could be better is if it burned little tape spools into the toast. DVDs could work too, you know, if the toaster were completely self-loathing. [Instructables via Hack-a-Day]

Apparently this design would allow the user to adjust the angle and force in order to precisely hit the plate from a distance. Sure, you would probably waste an entire loaf of bread before you got it right (unless you subscribe to the five second rule), but mixing medieval weaponry and slices of golden brown wheat is always a winner in my book. Besides, we already know that toast can be hurled through the air at a tremendous velocity.[Ivo Vos via Gizmodo UK]

Resembling a VCR turned on its side, the Jacob Jensen one-slot toaster features LED-backlit buttons that will bring a blue home theater glow to your counter top while serving as a countdown timer during toasting. Plus you get 9 toasting settings, user memory functions and "automatic bread centration," a prospect so well-phrased that we had to plagiarize it from the Appliancist.

Priced just under $100, I don't know art, but I know a toaster that looks like a VCR when I see one (which, by no surprise, is my very definition of art). [EZStyle via Appliancist]

The "Toasting Charger" concept by Hyun-A Ko is designed to charge your batteries like a toaster cooks bread to a golden brown. Just slide in a lithium ion battery, push down the handle and wait for it to pop up fully charged. There is even a color coded light on the side to keep you informed on the battery's progress. I love the idea—but, alas, it is only a concept at the moment. [Yanko]

Here's hoping for a bright future filled with game consoles that double as food preparation devices. [stupidfingers via Ubergizmo]

[Yanko Design]

Using the power generated by a high-pressure CO2 gas system and mechanical ram, Yauner managed to get his toast to pop up about seven feet into the air—which was enough to set the record. However, that figure was restricted by the height of his ceiling, so he will try and re-set the record tomorrow with an attempt conducted outdoors (although I doubt that it will reach heights like those portrayed in the image above). Why build a toaster that pops that high, you ask? According to Yauner, "Everyone loves it when a toaster has a good pop to it, so I thought this was the logical next step, to create a new space in the market." Indeed, you haven't had a good piece of toast until it has picked up a bit of grime from the floor and the ceiling. [Freddie Yauner via Core77)

That's not to say it's common, perhaps because however cool or useful it is, it's decidedly more dangerous than other two standard toaster types. It would beat hell out of the Black & Decker my wife and I got for a wedding gift, but then so would a lighter held perpendicular to a piece of bread at 6 inches. There is a crumb tray that you can slide out, but that still doesn't prevent jackasses from trying to fry a burger on its grill—surely that's one of the many reasons this format is not favored. That and the fact that the heat dissipation must be crazy, and right up in your face. Still, somehow, I want one.

You know we've written about toasters, toasters and more toasters, but tell me, have you ever heard of a flat toaster? [Fagor via Appliancist PLUS Toaster Pics; Web Marketings; Nomura; Zannell]