Technology Tuesday: A New Fridge That Will Text You Back. Wait…What?
At its CES keynote on Monday morning, LG announced the ability to keep tabs on your home appliances via text message. You can literally text your dryer “what are you doing?” and it will answer you “thinking about you. lol ; )” OK, it will probably answer “spin cycle.” But that’s cool too.
The company plans to enliven the nation’s kitchens using LG HomeChat, an app that allows you to communicate with any LG product in your home—your washer/dryer, vacuum, oven, fridge—and control its behavior from the palm of your hand. That’s not necessarily a new concept (Whirlpool’s appliances can do that). But the companies “natural language processing technology” via SMS messaging is definitely novel. It simplifies your communication with inanimate objects, so you can avoid jargon like “natural language processing technology” and give it directions and get a status update in your own parlance.
Say you realized you put something in the dryer that you shouldn’t have. You can turn it off without having to navigate a string of commands. Just text it to turn off, and it will, presumably. Or, check what’s in your fridge while you’re at the grocery store, so you don’t accidentally buy four extra bushels of kale.
And, unlike your lousy roommate or significant other, the appliance should text back immediately. The service should come into effect within the next few months, as LG’s newest smart appliances are released.