Home Smart Home

A few years ago whilst at SXSW Music 2012, I posted this pic on Facebook:

…which everyone took to be an ill-timed April Fools’ joke. But in fact, it was a grilling thermometer for the iPhone generation that sends the temperature of cooking meat to your mobile device.

Although, clearly anything is possible in a state where you can have this for breakfast:

All my incredulous friends aside, it now appears that was just the start of a trend. As the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show revealed, smart devices for the home seem to be the next big thing. Take this voice-activated smart grill for example, and this WiFi-enabled range.

Good old text messaging also has its place in this “connected home” of the future. LG HomeChat lets consumers control their dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, and vacuum cleaners using SMS.

Of course, the idea of the high tech kitchen is nothing new. Back at Telecom 99 in Geneva (and yes, that’s 1999), Sun was promoting its vision of Java-enabled appliances that would email you when they needed repairs.

And of course we can’t forget the 1969 Honeywell H316 Kitchen Computers, none of which were ever sold (according to Wikipedia). Possibly because operating it required the user to take a two-week course, although after talking my aunt through installing an anti-virus application on her Windows 8 laptop, I’m not sure things have changed that much.

Of course today you could just use Evernote Food, which is a considerably simpler proposition for managing your recipes.

I can’t say I’m convinced about these smart home devices, but anything that sends a text message has automatically got my attention. Now if I could just send a text message to something like the Thermomix and have a freshly cooked meal waiting for me when I get home, that really would be interesting.

Then we really would be just a few steps away from getting our phones to make a decent cup of tea.