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The Internet of Things (IoT) may have a somewhat bad rap on SN, but big companies are forging alliances and appliance manufacturers are in the mix. From GE's May 11 press release:
Canonical is collaborating with some of the world's smartest technology brands, including GE's FirstBuild, Acer, Microsoft and DataArt, to reveal a slew of new and innovative IoT devices; all built on 'Snappy' Ubuntu Core and designed to delight developers and consumers alike.
ChillHub is a refrigerator with two USB ports, Wi-Fi and an open-source iOS-compatible app:
Developed by FirstBuild community members, ChillHub is not only a refrigerator, but an open development platform designed for makers, hackers, tinkerers and developers. FirstBuild community members continue to collaborate on products and features to customize and create new uses for their refrigerators. ChillHub, an 18-cubic-foot top-freezer refrigerator, will retail for $999 and can be ordered through FirstBuild.com. Limited pre-orders will also be available at an early-bird price of $799.
Hopefully no one will keep spam in their fridge. Spotted on ZDNet.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by jmorris on Wednesday May 13 2015, @12:59AM
Somebody explain what the purpose of an Internet connected fridge is? Just clamp a tablet to the front of one if you want to use the surface for a display. Maybe put a sensor in it and use BT if you are really hellbent on knowing what the temp inside is. But this is insane, any tech will be obsolete in one or two years, certainly will stop getting security patches by then, yet the average fridge lasts ten to twenty years. So we are now going to fill the landfills with three year old major appliances because the tech in them is obsolete?
So somebody, anybody, explain what the f*cking point is here.
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Wednesday May 13 2015, @01:21AM
I've often wondered this too. What exactly is the purpose of having appliances on the internet?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Wednesday May 13 2015, @02:34AM
Well, one thing strikes me.
Ever lived around a mooch?
This thing might be programmed to give you a text message when someone opens the door, and maybe append a picture of the culprit.
Now, you will know who got the chicken you were saving for tomorrow's sack lunch.
Did your daughter's boyfriend clean you out again? Now, you have proof(s).
If the refrigerator has cameras, it may also assist you in watching your home when you are away.
Or, it could serve as a wireless hub so you do not have to mount a separate box elsewhere for this purpose. The refrigerator already has a power source to run everything. It might even store a little VOIP handset in the door. Would be handy if a call comes in in the middle of meal preparation. Voice activated hands-free so you do not have to spend the next hour trying to get the smell of fish off of of your phone as well as what your phone was stored in.
Other than that, it may let you know if something is amiss... like one of your kids did not close the door - or maybe the temperature is not right.
You might want a heads up on it before you discover a freezer full of rotting food.
Because nearly every kitchen has a refrigerator, and nearly every refrigerator is connected to electrical power, I can see all sorts of things where the refrigerator can host other kitchen infrastructure. Was there some law that states that a refrigerator can only serve one purpose? It sure is a shame to let all that door space go unused, when it could be covered in an LCD like display that could be instructed to offer custom wallpapers, including things like clocks, thermometers, web pages, who is at the front door, whatever.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday May 13 2015, @03:25AM
If it could bar codes on the way in and out, you could date things and warn of expiration.
Of course there is no bar code on that plate of left over pizza, but maybe they could just do it with images.
Other than that it seems pretty useless.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Wednesday May 13 2015, @04:30AM
If it could bar codes on the way in and out, you could date things and warn of expiration.
That would require you to scan the original package when you take things out and when you put them back in. Who has time for that, and for what purpose? This would also prevent altering the original package; for example, I put an opened bar of cheese into another plastic bag, so that it doesn't dry out. Bar codes do not contain expiration dates, by the way - these are printed in human-readable (barely!) form somewhere else on the package, and sometimes it takes an effort to find that text. To make things worse, expiration dates on many products have little to do with their real expiration, as that depends - for example - on when the package was opened.
Of course there is no bar code on that plate of left over pizza, but maybe they could just do it with images.
Yes. And then you end up with 100+ photos of your pizza. What do you do with them? It's even more work to sort it out - and you already know that you have eaten all your pizza, and none is left. What's the point of fiddling with images?
IMO, these smart appliances are useful only to people with weak memory. Maybe they are of use to very old people, those who do not remember what they have in the refrigerator and who don't want to walk all the way to it to check. Those are edge cases that relate to medical equipment. Perhaps cameras and scanners would be useful to those patients. But the vast majority of population does not need this technology. It's not too hard to remember what you have; and if it is too hard, download an application for your smartphone that either scans the item that you are about to run out of, or simply records your voice message: "Need more vinegar" - if, for some reason, it is too hard for you to type this word in.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by sudo rm -rf on Wednesday May 13 2015, @03:43PM
>Those are edge cases that relate to medical equipment.
I always struggled to find arguments for IoT, but this is the first time an argument really makes sense to me, albeit in a slightly different manner than you perhaps intended: smart fridges make sense in a hospital environment, where expired meds or blood bottles lead to more serious problems than let's say expired milk.
(Score: 2) by TK on Wednesday May 13 2015, @02:10PM
Last month I visited a friend who lives in a fairly modern condo. His fridge beeps if the door is open for too long.
Last year I purchased an industrial-sized fridge for a commercial kitchen. There is a small thermometer display on the outside, and it makes a noise if the internal temperature gets too high or too low.
People have been putting notes and children's drawings on their refrigerator doors from the very second they became a household appliance.
These two problems are already solved. The mooch, not so much. Maybe face-recognition combined with a small electric shock will teach your daughter's boyfriend whose food it is.
The fleas have smaller fleas, upon their backs to bite them, and those fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Tork on Wednesday May 13 2015, @01:22AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday May 13 2015, @03:05AM
MegaCorp loves it because they can now target ads to you. "You're low on milk", "You need more bacon", "You should buy a better brand of beer", There's a special on butter at Safeway'....
Add a video camera and microphone and they will know every thing you do in the kitchen.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday May 13 2015, @08:11AM
Complete with advertising on the fridge door..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2015, @03:42AM
http://www.operatorchan.org/g/src/141247604345.jpg [operatorchan.org]
(Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Wednesday May 13 2015, @01:55PM