Enter: Nathan Broadbent, a young software engineer from New Zealand who recently took this matter upon himself. Nathan was inspired by a Reddit post fittingly titled, “Food items should have QR codes that instruct the microwave exactly what to do...”
So, Nathan used a single-board computer called Raspberry Pi to develop a program that interacts with his home microwave, and which can be controlled remotely.
Source:
Some Dude Hacks Microwave, Puts Manufacturers to Shame
Microwave are pretty rudimentary devices, by today's standards: insert food, choose time, maybe power or some program if you feel adventurous, and press start... lots of buttons but not for much.
They can be made smarter, and I guess people would pay a little extra for a smart microwave which would automatically cook the food better and with less input and supervision. This is beyond a luxury feature to show off - it really has value. But as usual - I don't want to sound pessimistic but one has to see thing for what they are - the big companies are sitting on their market and waiting for a smaller company to innovate, so that they can steal their idea, learn from their mistakes, then bully them out of the market.