Ok, so it's not a real toaster (I'm pretty sure it won't also help you make breakfast, unless you eat batteries...), but Yanko Design is reporting on a toaster-shaped concept device designed to charge those ubiquitous lithium-ion packs that power everything from cameras to cell phones these days.

Yanko Design
Image: Yankodesign.com

Insert your depleted battery into designer Hyun-A Ko's "Toasty Charger," pull the slide down, and let the battery charge until medium brown fully replenished. A bread-shaped, illuminated icon on the side of the device is color coded, giving you charge status information.

The device is still a concept at this point, and it's not clear how it might handle the different configurations presented by different li-ion packs. But it sure beats the heck out of boring digicam chargers for style and originality.

Via Gizmodo