'Smart Appliances' Aimed At Busy Working Moms
BOSTON (CBS) - A busy working mom, Molly Gold, believes she does a good job staying organized and keeping on top of things.
But even she gets overwhelmed sometimes.
"My days start at 5:45 a.m. and they generally don't end until 10 or 11 at night," she explained.
According to editors at CNET, Molly is just the type of mom manufacturers are targeting now with a series of new 'smart appliances' designed to simplify everyday household tasks.
WBZ-TV's Paula Ebben reports
"They'll be able to save you both time and money," explained CNET editor Molly Wood.
Some of those appliances include a wi-fi enabled refrigerator by Samsung.
It has an 8-inch LCD touch screen and is loaded with apps.
"It can actually give your calendar, your weather report, the latest news. It can play music, and you can even leave little notes," she said.
Cooking appliances will also be more helpful in the near future.
One is designed to send you a text when your food is done.
"Also in the future, wi-fi connected ovens could integrate with recipe databases, so you could get cooking information for specific things," Wood said.
Whirlpool's Vantage washer comes equipped with a USB port.
"That actually lets you connect a USB stick to it if you want to add program information. So, for example, you could program the washer-dryer to deal with certain kinds of stains, or certain kids of fabrics," Wood said.
If saving energy is your goal, GE has just come out with a device called Nucleus.
It plugs into the wall and then communicates with a special "smart meter" which tracks your energy consumption.
"You'll have a little application that runs on either your computer or your smart phone, and it really helps you do a little bit of an audit in terms of what you use," Wood said.
