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Go make the internet again, and this time do it right!

It wasn't his idea to put a refrigerator on the 'net.

For hot water we've got one of these. They have temperature control that you "dial in" via a remote control pad. We've only got one in the kitchen but you can install more than one per unit.

Personally I want home appliances that simply *work*. I don't really care how fast the internet is on my fridge, if it stops cooling my food within 5 years I'd be very dissapointed. We went through several dishwashers before getting a Bosch which is fairly featureless, but is very reliable.

In terms of the television diary-like-system mentioned in the summary, it's probably usefull for a house-husband, but it's been my experience that women simply don't have trouble with this sort of thing. Not meaning to be sexist, but women handle the multitasking nature of housework *much* better than men. If they're not they're either in the statistical minority, or too stressed by career responsibilites etc.

*sigh* Maybe I'm just too traditional for "modern life"...I'll crawl back to my hippy commune now.

What is this constant desire to add more fluff, more crap, more ways for things to go wrong, onto items? If I want a picture of something, I'll use a camera. That's what it's designed for. If I want to get back to a place, I'll use a map. That's what it's designed for.

Every new gadget that gets added to something is one more point of failure. You know why slr cameras of 20 and 30 years ago are still around and working? Because they were designed with one function: to take pictures. They didn't tell you the time, remind you of your appointment or give you directions.

If you can't find your way around using a map, having a GPS system in your car, now with new and flashy pictures!, isn't going to help.

The majority in new IP address growth comes from all the future gadgets, your house, the washing machine, fridge,

Ah yes, the fabled "Internet Devices". When will the companies realise that I have no need to control my washing machine from the other side of the world, or from work, for that matter. I survived this long without the useless feature, I think I'll manage. For nearly a decade I've heard about IP-enabled white goods, in that time I've seen precisely one device, an IP fridge. And it still can't ring up Tesco's & place your order.

No, seriously:

http://www.lginternetfamily.co.uk/fridge.asp

I could only find a UK link for it, but it seems like it might serve what you want, although I'm not sure about watching TV...

- Built-in TV tuner for watching TV broadcasts
- Built-in MP3 player for downloading music
- Internet Radio for listening to radio stations
- Built-in video camera for taking still photos
- Built-in CCD camera

I suspect some of the products that result may well be really, really stupid. Like the $17000 internet fridge which has apparently not sold very well, IIRC only a handful have been sold in Australia at this point...

(insert obligatory "that must be every Aussie with internet access/power" joke here)

Still, as you point out, there are some very cool applications for this stuff. I just don't expect Big Business to create them!

Yep. Pretty soon it looks like it could happen.

You can get these at Best Buy now even.

This may be closer to real than you think.

Among other silly concepts at this site, we have the internet microwave oven
or
Another internet-controlled microwave and health monitoring toilet.
or
The "other" Echelon, who are into "Internet Control of Restaurant Management"

This is of course what the Internet fridge requires, a way of tracking what is inside it, and maybe even what is inside the kitchen cupboards. And then add products that have fallen below desired stock levels to your next online grocery order, and maybe even order them.
And the tag should be encoded with expiry date of the product...
...you get the idea.