A Barcode Driven Kitchen and Grocery List?

Crazy Brian asks: "I have envisioned, for some time now, having a 3Com Audrey with a barcode scanner in my kitchen, where I can scan in items as I put them away, then scan them again as I use them. Barcode information would be stored on my MySQL server, and an inventory would be updated. I could then generate a shopping list, or link it to a database of recipes, to find out what I can have for dinner tonight. The closest thing I have found is the ShopWizard from Symbol, which only runs under Windows. Is there anything out there for Linux? I hope it can use the upcdatabase to find unknown barcodes. Is there any group interest in creating something like this, assuming nothing already exists?" Icepick's Trashbin is a simple application built on this concept, but wouldn't knowing exactly what is in your cabinets and having a ready-made grocery list be a useful feature for any kitchen?

Comments

Already exists

[Glonoinha]

The appliance that automagically keeps track of your groceries, makes lists of what's needed from the store, even goes and gets them from the store while you are at work - already exists.

It's called a wife.

Re:Already exists

[caswelmo]

While initially excited about my purchase of this product, I have been dissapointed with its overall performance. The initial buy-in was a significant investment, but I had figured that the lack of subscription costs for the life of the unit would make it a worthwhile purchase.

Unfortunately, after a short period of appropriate use I found my item started to malfunction. The day after the two-week warranty period ended it started to make an increasingly annoying noise. A high-pitched wail of sorts. The noise seems to repeat until a specific function is performed. At times the noise even exceeds the volume of the television.

In addition the ports on my model are rarely accessible. Even getting the exterior case off is a major achievement. For some reason I have found it easier to plug-in when floral arrangments are visible to the unit. Strange but true.

In summary, while the lack of subscription costs in a nice bonus, I would suggest that consumers purchase their products on a per-need basis. At least, until resources become scarce, at which time I would suggest grabbing hold of the first product you can and praying she doesn't read Slashdot.

Wow, I'm tired...

[Gothic_Walrus]

When I first read the headline, I thought it said "A Barcode Driven Kitten and Grocery List?"

Even if technology were to that point, I don't think Slashdot users should be asked about biological engineering... :)

Re:The Agribusiness Diet

[chrysrobyn]

If I had 15-20 extra minutes to spend every time I go to the store, I'd probably be better off spending it cooking or cleaning the kitchen. If I had a hundred bucks to spend on a bar code printer, I'd probably be better off spending it on better quality food. This whole scenario is a classic example of "goal displacement," the goal of cooking is to provide a healthy diet of tasty food, it's not an inventory management problem or a time management problem. Peoples' diets are getting worse because they're treating cooking like a trip to a gas station, a task that must be taken care of and gotten out of the way.

I'm bad at meal planning. I'm bad at knowing what I've got. I've considered something like what this guy proposes -- basically a program that knows a bunch of healthy recipies and a TiVo like thumbs up / thumbs down for future reference system. Such a system could quickly learn what I like and don't and tell me what minimum foodstuffs to buy to make healthy meals for the next week.

The last time I was left to my own devices, I ate pasta, italian sausage and maranara sauce for 2 weeks straight. I broke the monotony with a single serving of Weight Watchers frozen pizza and then went back to the pasta. I like healthy foods, make no mistake. I just can't pick something out when I have to and will fall back on my favorites.

Automated systems can take all the joy out of life. But they can replace mundane parts of our lives that we don't manage well anyway and manage them better while leaving us time to do the things we want.

MythTV ~= Emacs?

[tommck]

Is it me, or is MythTV becoming the new Emacs? It's like a Swiss Army knife with all the crap being shoehorned into it :)