Home appliances have become a showcase for automation. Rinse and spin cycles have replaced washing machine wringers.
Toasters pop when the bread browns.
The electric has become electronic. Many appliances now have built-in sensors, and temperature and speed controls that the user can program to perform a sequence of tasks with precision. Better still, some have remote controls. And then there's fuzzy logic. My washing machine gives off a shrill squawk to warn me when the load's become unbalanced.