By
Henriett Kuti
Leah Spafford
Just when you thought
advertising had permeated
every square inch of you life, advertising does you another favor and
makes its way into the kitchen. And wow! What a favor. Apparently, LE
Electric's new refrigerator will do your online shopping by voice command.
So, for those who aren't into the whole "Squeeze the Charmin" aspect of
shopping, here's a product for you! Carrie Koldbaum has introduced a product
for busy people who don't have time to shop. The E-Fridge. Sound spooky?
Well, here are the facts:
E-zine: So what is the E-Fridge?
C.K.: The E-Fridge is more than just a kitchen appliance. It was created to make life a little easier for those people on the go.
E-zine: People on the go?
C.K.: Professionals, single parent families, and anyone who is too pressed for time to shop and prepare dinner. Technically, it is a fridge that does all the things a fridge is supposed to do but more! It has a computer screen on the front. This screen is connected to a small memory chip built right into the fridge itself, and it is connected to the Internet.
E-zine: Why would anyone want his or her fridge connected to the Internet?
C.K.: Well, this connection allows you to recite your grocery list and have the store of your choice receive your request and deliver your goods the same day!
E-zine: Recite your grocery list?
C.K.: Yes well there isn't a keyboard so the fridge is voice activated. It understands 98% of the human language! Also we have built into it a voice recognizer, in case the young children in the house decide that they want 20 boxes of Oreo Cookies. It will not send the list until someone in a position of authority confirms it. You can even restrict access from the members of the house who decide they want to cheat on their diets and order a box of doughnuts!
E-zine: How can this be affordable?
C.K.: The consumer will not be affected at all because there is a huge conglomerate of food advertisers that are absorbing the extra cost. When the system is not in use, there will be subtle product suggestions changing every thirty seconds.
E-zine: Won't this busy an already popular room in the home?
C.K.: No, the images will be still images. It will kind of be like having the television on without the sound.
E-zine: I'm not sold!
C.K.: I haven't even touched on the best feature. If you don't feel like cooking, you can just tell the fridge and it will bring up a number of options for take out food, including the menus. There will be a direct connection to the restaurant and prompt delivery service. There is also a notepad so you can leave notes for your family from the home or by the phone.
E-zine: How will this help a person on the go?
C.K.: The fridge has the ability to receive and interpret voice-mail so you can call your fridge and either leave instructions for your family or order something before you even get there. Another great option is you can tell your fridge what supplies you have and it will give you suggested recipes! This is another area that advertisers are interested in because if you tell your fridge that you have certain items, it can suggest products from the advertiser recipe selection and automatically order them for the following day at your command. For example, tell your fridge you have hamburger, and onion, fresh garlic. Your fridge will suggest ordering some Hunts tomato sauce and some Catelli pasta. Then you can call home and leave instructions for whoever is there to put the water on and start frying the beef. By the time you get home, dinner is practically on the table!
E-zine: So it does everything but package the left-overs.
C.K.: No, it doesn't package them but you can leave an itemized list of leftovers and it will tell you when they are a little to left-over so you don't end up with food walking out on its own!
I'd be willing to put up
with it if it gets my kids to cook dinner...PERIOD! *
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