How About a Fridge that Tweets Live Video?
While only for promotional purposes, LG’s tweeting fridge recalls similar efforts from competitors.
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LG’s Swedish division has created a semi-autonomous Twitter account linked to a camera inside a fridge. According to DigiDay, each time the door is opened, the fridge tweets a message along with a live-streamed video from inside the unit.
Why? Why, why?
The team developed the Twitter-friendly fridge to promote its new door-in-door smart fridge. The account itself is all in Swedish—including the attached videos—but the LG Nordic site was kind enough to translate the messages for our amusement.
The door-in-door structure of this new LG is likely in response to similar designs from the likes of Samsung and Kenmore. Last year, Samsung unveiled the Samsung T9000 four-door fridge, which recently made its way to the U.S. market. Theoretically, such designs improve efficiency and prolong food life, but it’s difficult to say how much.
Interestingly, LG is also not the first manufacturer to build a Twitter-equipped fridge. Samsung’s RF4289HARS was launched nearly two years ago, and includes an LCD screen with a host of available apps, including Twitter and Pandora. Even the camera feature isn't unique. At this year's IFA, Siemens showed off its dual camera fridge, which uses photography to keep owners informed of what's in their fridge at all times.
If you think this is silly, you’re in the same boat as Whirlpool. Earlier this year, in a piece about the future of smart appliances, we asked Warwick Stirling, Whirlpool’s senior director of connectivity and sustainability, about his competition in the smart fridge market, to which he responded:
“We don’t think it makes any sense to take a tablet, which has an innate benefit to being mobile, and glue it to the front of a fridge.”
It’s still pretty cool though.