webOS and my Fridge

[Lansing2002]

I realize appliances are not how some view the future of webOS, but in this one case - a refrigerator - the possibilities are endless. webOS and my fridge could encompass a number of features that go beyond just stocking a fridge.

webOS Fridge.jpg

Key ingredients to this pairing of webOS and a Refrigerator:

• A next generation Touchpad that docks with your fridge - or is permanently built-in
• Voice activated commands & responses

Potential Uses

• Stock your fridge using voice commands - via the Touchpad. (ie. "add 2 tomatoes, 3 litres of milk" etc.)
• Order from your grocery store / butcher ... etc.
• Cooking instructions (voice)
• Order take-out / pick-up / delivery
• Notification of incoming emails/facebook/twitter (etc.) while cooking
• Respond to emails (voice to text command)
• Charging dock - as part of docking with the fridge
• Video calls - ie. Skype
• Voice calls - in case one prances around the kitchen a la nothing
• Security system (with camera) - see who's at the door ... etc.
• Review upcoming schedule (voice again)

I'm sure there are numerous other opportunities that would allow someone to schedule/review/develop their day (or future) while cooking. And with the Touchpad & phone having two-way synergy, one could shop knowing all the ingredients they need. One could even program their television at this time - or simply undock and work the upcoming (?) LG tv.

The concept blends well with how people spend their time - in the kitchen. Not only cooking & eating, but a place that many will entertain friends and family. The Refrigerator is one of the most used appliances in our household. Stands to reason it can be the focal point to a certain part of our day. And where webOS can help make it easier.


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[OldSkoolVWLover]

I have thought of concepts like this for years now...

[geekpeter]

touch to share the fridge/touchpad and it oozes milk all over your touchpad......

not the best feature but i'd find it damned funny.

[GMMan]

I was thinking about Synergy as is, and find it a bit limited. The current model is allow aggregating and sharing of emails, calendars, contacts, photos, etc. But what about those things that don't fall under one of those categories, like Twitter? I noticed Facebook is one of the services that don't seem to fall straight into one of those categories, but at least it provides some services. I haven't figured out whether Synergy is for aggregating various resources or if it can also be used for web APIs. Which leads to the other thing I was thinking, which is Synergy is broad, and not device-to-device. If you want to do shopping, sure there is TTS, but what about accessing stuff from the other device remotely? I don't see Synergy working as a device-to-device link but more as a network that can be subscribed to by various devices. Ignore me if I'm talking crazy.

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Originally Posted by GMMan

I was thinking about Synergy as is, and find it a bit limited. The current model is allow aggregating and sharing of emails, calendars, contacts, photos, etc. But what about those things that don't fall under one of those categories, like Twitter? I noticed Facebook is one of the services that don't seem to fall straight into one of those categories, but at least it provides some services. I haven't figured out whether Synergy is for aggregating various resources or if it can also be used for web APIs. Which leads to the other thing I was thinking, which is Synergy is broad, and not device-to-device. If you want to do shopping, sure there is TTS, but what about accessing stuff from the other device remotely? I don't see Synergy working as a device-to-device link but more as a network that can be subscribed to by various devices. Ignore me if I'm talking crazy.

Re: twitter and synergy

I think this might have been before you were around, but I believe it was germboy that tweeted a picture with what appeared to be a twitter synergy plugin. Unfortunately, with everything going how it went, it appears further work on synergy plug-ins was halted (which makes sense, from everything I see synergy can't be OS'd, or at least not specific plug-ins).

found the article.
http://www.webosnation.com/twitter-i...coming-synergy

[Garfonso]

Synergy is in open webOS and it still is one of the main features of webOS... what can't be open sourced are some of the "default" plugins, namely google, facebook, and so on, that are not really written by Palm/HP but make heavy use of some deployed javascript libraries form that companies (look in the /usr/palm/service folders of your webOS device and find minified google and facebook libraries there).

This means that open source versions of that synergy connectors have to be rewritten using open apis, so a stop of development of that connectors does not really make sense but is more because of lack in man power...

The bigger issue is with missing documentation for synergy connectors other than contacts and calendar. Also synergy connectors are very webOS specific code, so no developer really cares about them (i.e. they can't be cross plattform)... that's quite an issue, if you ask me.

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Thanks for all the added info!

Hopefully it gets worked out long term.

[xandros9]

and the notifications to replace the water filter is unobtrusive!

[dkirker]

I'm trying to find it... some company or students did a concept of a refrigerator that interacted with a smartphone. You were able to drag reminders and recipes and other things from the phone to the fridge... I cannot remember where I saw it, but it was great!

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Originally Posted by dkirker

I'm trying to find it... some company or students did a concept of a refrigerator that interacted with a smartphone. You were able to drag reminders and recipes and other things from the phone to the fridge... I cannot remember where I saw it, but it was great!

Could always rock one of those friges with the TV in the door and hook up an HTPC to it.


I think I'm just gonna get out the hot glue gun and glue my dev TP to the front of my refer as proof of concept.

[GMMan]

Originally Posted by xandros9

and the notifications to replace the water filter is unobtrusive!

Actually, I am starting to find one particular notification obtrusive. I use EAS on my TouchPad, and whenever it can't sync due to bad internet connection it'll tell me to check my credentials until I reboot or sign in again. And it'll cease synching until I fix it. I don't know when being unable to connect means bad credentials. I would fix it myself, but it's a binary, making it much harder.