The Toast Messenger by Sasha Tseng is only a design concept (sadly), but how awesome would it be to write a message on the surface of the box, then have that message magically toasted onto the bread inside? This could be the next Twitter! (thanks, chip!)

Back in the early 90s, a product called the Video Toaster was introduced that allowed folks to do high-quality video editing and special effects with inexpensive Amiga home computers. Almost 20 years later, an industrious fellow named Lemonie gives us instructions on how to convert an old VCR into a Video Toaster that actually toasts bread (minus the video editing, and with the addition of the extreme danger of fire or electrocution). You can learn how on Instructibles.com.

Thomas Twaites is a designer who has decided to build his own electric toaster, from scratch. Now, I don’t mean that he went out and bought a plastic box and some wire and cut some holes and plugged it in. He is making his toaster FROM SCRATCH. That means he has to extract copper (for wires) and iron (for the springs and grill) from raw ore. And he has to process crude oil to make plastic. Below is a picture showing how he used a microwave to attempt to smelt iron (he was able to produce a coin-sized amount, not quite enough for a toaster. The project is ongoing.) The Toaster Project, via We Make Money Not Art

An enterprising young gentleman from Pittsburgh named Hans Scharler has connected his toaster to Twitter. Now you can get realtime updates of its toasting endeavors on its Twitter page. Hans connected his toaster to an ioBridge module, which allows it to send realitime email updates to its Twitter account whenever toasting starts or stops. He blogs about the project on his site, and has posted a slideshow on Instructables.

The brilliant Garfield Minus Garfield features classic Garfield cartoons that have been edited to remove the feline protagonist. The results are fascinating and wonderful, as you can see in the panel below.

Artist Joe Alterio has a project called Robots and Monsters, wherein he will create an illustrated robot or monster based on the three words you provide him. He then donates his $50 fee to the EFF (“like ACLU with computers”), and you get to keep the picture. Here’s one of my favorites: “Cute, bulldog, toast”. You can view the whole menagerie on Flickr.

What do you get when you shoehorn a classic Nintendo NES video game console into a toaster? The Nintoaster! Insert the game cartridges like bread. The lever acts as the on/off switch. Orange LEDs cause the insides to glow like heating elements. Mmmm, nintoasty.

This toaster concept by Sung Bae Chang is able to download images and documents from the internet and print them on your toast. Just give it the RSS feed to Dr. Toast’s Amazing World of Toast for a perfectly meta techno-breakfast!

Did you know there is an official Guinness world record for “Highest Popping Toaster”? Well, meet the new record holder – the CO2 gas powered “Moaster“. An account of the successful record-breaking attempt can be found at Digital Lifestyles. And while the folks at Guinness recorded the trajectory at just 8.5 feet, the video shows that it actually appears to go several stories higher than that.

Here’s one for all the sci-fi geeks out there – a toaster that sears the image of a Cylon into your toast! What a great way to start the day! Courtesy of the Sci Fi Channel.