Not sure about a toster, but there are benefits to having some household appliances connected to the internet. For example, a washing machine may be able to determine what hour it should operate for maximum energy savings, and ping you when finished. I guess a toaster could be similar; pre-loaded with bread so you could ask it to start toasting before getting up from the sofa.
> Consumers may find it totally cool to design images for toast using a smartphone. Meantime, the resulting data would help food companies understand how people approach breakfast, design new products and market to consumers more effectively.
Not really. Those benefits that are marketed are mostly just enablers for laziness, but not actually solving anything. It caters to the self repeating lie of "saving precious time" but actually harms responsibility and security at scale.
> Consumers may find it totally cool to design images for toast using a smartphone. Meantime, the resulting data would help food companies understand how people approach breakfast, design new products and market to consumers more effectively.
http://blog.rackspace.com/internet-of-things-why-connected-t...