3 On Your Side: Smart Appliances
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Imagine a kitchen where your refrigerator suggests recipes, or a vacuum that doubles as home security. It sounds like something straight out of "The Jetsons," but gadgets like these could soon be installed in a house near you.
Molly Gold is an organizing ace, but there are times when even Molly gets a little crazed.
"My days start at 5:45, and they generally don't end until 10:30 or 11 at night. I have children in high school, middle school, and elementary school," Gold says.
Gold might benefit from some high-tech help--starting with a Wi-Fi enabled refrigerator. One model, by Samsung, has an 8-inch LCD touch screen and is loaded with apps.
"It can actually give you your calendar, your weather report, the latest news. It can play music, and you can even leave little notes, or send a tweet," explains Molly Wood of CNET.com.
You can also download recipes on it from Epicurious.
"Also, in the future, Wi-Fi connected ovens could integrate with recipe databases, so you could get cooking information for specific things," Wood says.
And why not clean up the crumbs with the latest and greatest robotic vacuum? Cameras on the top and bottom of LG's Hom-Bot map out and remember your home's floor plan. Wood also says that in the future, "If you connect to it over Wi-Fi with your Smartphone, you could actually see a live stream from the cameras."
Right now, you can see stains disappear with Whirpool's Vantage Washer and Dryer, featuring a USB port. Wood says, "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 kinds of fabrics."
And that's good news for Gold, who says, "I easily do 20 loads of laundry a week, so I think that that technology is brilliant!"
Of course, these products don't come cheap. The washer/dryer retails for $2,000, and the Samsung refrigerator costs close to $3,500.
For links to the products mentioned in this report, click below:
