Serious Eats
Heinz Introduces World's Smallest Microwave, and It's USB-Powered
In England, Heinz has unveiled the world's smallest microwave—and it plugs into a USB port so you can nuke some grub at the desk or on the go. Called the Beanzawave, it's obviously a ploy to increase brand awareness for Heinz baked beans, but you could also warm some coffee, tea, or maybe a meatball or two.
Don't get your wallet out yet, though. The 7.4-by-6.2-by-5.9-inch device is still in prototype stage, and who knows if it'll ever see the inside of stores.
Apart from its size, the key breakthrough is the use of a combination of mobile phone radio frequencies to create the heat to cook both on the outside and within in under a minute....
"It is possible to heat a pie, a burger, a cup of soup or tea in quick time," said [Beanzawave designer Gordon Andrews].
Andrews created the whimsical appliance after Heinz approached him looking for a device that could heat its Snap Pots line of single-serve bean containers. [via Josh Friedland]