Generally, I post items to Gadgetry Report either because they are so terribly geeky that they have to be witnessed, or because the device is more than a little daft, and I'm posting with mockery in mind; this time, while the marketing language is over-the-top and very much snicker inducing, the device itself actually has merit. ChefStack is an automatic conveyer-belt equipped pancake making machine. It can, so the Web site says, produce up to 200 97% fat-free freshly made pancakes an hour. It's not even a little bit stupid.

I know. Sometimes I surprise even myself.

The ChefStack uses a special proprietary mix, in a bag fitted with a nozzle. The machine itself is about the size of a conventional microwave oven, and can be set up in self-serve mode. The ChefStack has performed well overseas in Australia, New Zealand, and Asian markets, particularly in convenience stores and airport lounges. I can see the ChefStack working out very well not only in convenience stores, but in the do-it-yourself breakfast bars at hotels, where fresh made-from-scratch pancakes would totally outshine the tired freezer pastry waffles, or the mess of making your own waffle by pouring dripping batter out of an always messy pitcher onto a not-quite-hot-enough waffle iron. And at college and university cafeterias, a machine like the ChefStack would rock.

The Web site is more than a little lacking; were I the corporate masters, I'd at least offer a cool video of the ChefStack in action, followed by another showing the process of attaching the batter bag and starting the cooking process. They miss the boat pretty seriously there.