Whirlpool designed a "smart" washing machine, but nobody is buying it!
Apparently, following the trend of the Internet of Things, the smart washing machine can be connected by Wi-Fi and be accessible from an iPhone app. One can start or monitor the washing machine by sending signals across the internet, and the device can sms or email the user when the wash is complete. It costs only USD1699, but hardly anybody at this point in time is wanting to buy one.
Who needs to control or monitor one's washing across the net? One still needs to be physically present to load or unload the wash. Or have another person attend to the task on one's behalf. Besides being trendy, how useful is it to have such a device?
Will it win an Ig-Nobel prize the way the way the software that detects a cat walking over a keyboard did?
Maybe it is not that silly. But it does beg the question. Are we inventing things to follow a trend, without really solving useful problems? Has ICT gone crazy, solving problems that nobody needs solved? Do we really need data everywhere, and data mining to follow trends? Are we doing anything really practical, or has effort gone into marketing useless gadgets?
Do we really need smart watches, electronic tablets and computer-spectacles?
Or are these instruments actually useful?
I remember once not needing a smartphone, but I now realise the benefit of having one. I am happy with 3G, but understand the trend is going towards 4G. We used cameras and phones as different devices in a previous era; I am not sure that combining the two devices is actually a good thing, but see that this is where the world has become.
What do you think? Do consumers buy dumb things because it is fashionable to? Or are we really more astute?
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