Cell phone activates oven
 

Ever have that sinking feeling that you left a major appliance running when you left the house? Well you might not be paranoid: It may actually be on... though not of your own doing.

Andrei Melnikov found that out the hard way: Something activated his oven, causing it to turn itself on and melt a plastic meat thermometer which had been left inside.

How did this happen? Melnikov and his Brooklyn apartment building's skeptical super eventually figured it out through trial and error: The tenant's ringing cell phone somehow turned on his nearby Maytag oven when it rang. If you're skeptical, check out the video of this in action at the New York Times website and see for yourself.

Calling the situation "highly unusual," Maytag (and other experts) blame the problem on electromagnetic interference -- basically the same thing that happens when your cell phone gets too close to your speakers and it starts making that beep-beep-beeping noise. In this case, the interference didn't make a sound but rather caused the oven to turn on.

And this may not be an isolated incident: The Times suggests that preliminary experiments have confirmed that different brands of cell phones can activate multiple models of Maytag ovens. And, as the story notes, the oven "prefers high" and activates the broiler when it turns on -- which means anything inside the thing is going to get totally fried. On the other hand, tests with a General Electric oven failed to generate the same response.

Takeaways? It's hard to be a Luddite these days, but mysterious situations like this are likely to become more and more common as advanced electronics find their way into an increasing number of products. There's no special reason why an oven or a toaster needs to have a computer brain so advanced, but microprocessors have become so cheap it's probably easier to include one in an oven than it is to include an old-fashioned, analog temperature control system... and it's probably more accurate, too.

The bottom line: Always keep an eye out for oddball effects like this. If you see something strange happening with the electronics in your kitchen -- or any other room in the house -- consider how close your cell phone is when the antics occur, and try a little home-grown experimentation for yourself. Hey, maybe you'll make the news.
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/147548

Re: Cell phone activates oven
 

I see no reason why a stove requires advanced electronics.

Re: Cell phone activates oven
 

And another reason to never leave anything meltable in your oven. Guy was lucky it didn't burn down his apartment complex.

Re: Cell phone activates oven
 

A buddy of mine went whole hog and fully automated everything he could in his house. Every light, heater, appliance can be remotely controlled. Every door and window have sensors, CO and fire detectors are wired into his system as well.


Everything worked great until a neighbourhood kid hacked into the web-connected laptop controller in his basement Ever see the movie Demon Seed?

Re: Cell phone activates oven
 

No, what happened: 1. to your friend, 2. in the movie?

Re: Cell phone activates oven
 

1: He finally clued in to what was happening and pulled the plug. After a long session, I managed to clean out the laptop and install some corp level security. He's still using it.

2: It was a girl. Wiki has a pretty fair synopsis, but I won't spoil it for you. Really, rent the flick without reading it. You'll be glad you did.

Re: Cell phone activates oven
 

Sounds like a horror flick, & if so, I won't watch it. THanks though!

Good for rescuing your friend!

Re: Cell phone activates oven
 

It's not a horror flick, in the modern sense. More like a Hitchcock type intellectual horror, or something along the lines of the original Body Snatchers or Andromeda Strain.


And for the record ... he paid for the work I did. But then, the kid hacking him did too, next time he tried to get in. You'd be amazed at the damage you can do with a few lines of uploaded code into an unprotected system. Downloading an executable called "Bank account numbers" from a hacked system is just asking for trouble, doncha think?:)