IMPROVEMENT ALWAYS FOLLOWS THE BROKEN WINDOW:

Easy-Bake's lightbulb moment (Erika Niedowski, 9/15/11, Associated Press

This is not the Easy-Bake Oven you remember.

The latest version of the famous toy oven first marketed in 1963 with a carrying handle and a fake stove top is now all curves and purple and snazzy graphics. And - perhaps most shocking of all - it comes with a new instruction: No lightbulb necessary.

Chalk it up as an unintended consequence of the federal government's move to phase out the incandescent lightbulb. The compact fluorescents that are becoming the new standard for household use are so energy efficient that they're useless for baking a brownie - or any of the other miniature treats the Easy-Bake has been cooking up for nearly 50 years.

Initially, news of the death of the 100-watt bulb prompted rumors that the Easy-Bake might meet the same fate. Instead, the toy got its 11th redesign, at the heart of which is a new heating element much like that of a traditional oven. [...]

Hasbro says the product, voluntarily recalled in 2007 because of reports of burns, meets all safety regulations. Nearly a million ovens were recalled after reports of children getting their fingers or hands stuck in its opening and suffering sometimes serious burns; a 5-year-old girl was injured so badly that she had to have part of a finger amputated.

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