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Comment by waterlesscloud | Hacker News Reader

"It’s a place where your refrigerator could be connected to the Internet, so it could order groceries when they ran low. Your dinner plate could post to a social network what you’re eating. [...] These are just a few of the dreams being chased at Google X, the clandestine lab where Google is tackling a list of 100 shoot-for-the-stars ideas. "

Those are shoot-for-the-stars ideas? I hope those are at the lowest end of the scale. They seem pretty boring to me.

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I've been hearing talk of self-restocking fridges for at least 10 years. It's the ultimate go-to cliche for the "connected devices" hype, that's now called the "internet of things."

It's the modern-day version of the Honeywell H316 Kitchen Computer: http://jdh.oxfordjournals.org/content/23/2/163/F9.large.jpg

apropos: http://valerieaurora.org/kitchen.html

I was thinking more of this: http://www.archive.org/details/Designfo1956

Ironically enough, the refrigerator-ordering-ingredients thing was one of the talking points of Microsoft Home [1] when I worked there eight years ago...

[1] http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/03/microsofts-home-of-the-fu...

I think Google is perfect company to make those future products that have been 5 years away for the last 15 years. Intelligent fridge probably comes to mind first, but there are a lot. Some of those ideas just need clever people to work on it (check), resources for research (check) and ability to produce it in scalable way (check). Maybe we'll finally see an affordable house robot that helps more than disturbs.

have you considered that we don't have an internet fridge because not enough people want it?

Not unless it could order food for the dog, too, while it was at it. Oh, that didn't work out?

My wife would like something that cleans up after the kids (safely, etc). I would like something that turns things off when people leave, but I suppose smart switches would do the job cheaper than a robot. Not as cool, though, especially if it were like an inexpensive little "monkey bot" about 3 feet tall :-)

http://fuckyeahinternetfridge.tumblr.com

I suppose the space elevators would be on the higher end of the scale.

Sometimes high, sometimes low. It's up and down.

Haha, I walked right into that one.

You seem to have cut off the quote right before the shoot-for-the-stars ideas begin:

"... Your robot could go to the office while you stay home in your pajamas. And you could, perhaps, take an elevator to outer space."

a telepresence robot you say? looks like they've been scooped by bell labs: http://www.itnews.com.au/News/278794,bell-labs-builds-telepr... (among MANY others)

Perhaps these latter ideas are simply large/hard problems, not "ideas so strange no one has even ever considered them before".

However, if you were a hush-hush R&D lab investigating some ideas that were so far out there no one has ever heard of them, would you really tell them to the NYT so they can include them in their profile of your lab? I doubt it.

The "Internet connected refrigerator that manages food for you" has been an example of this sort of thinking for at least 10 years, and it's no closer to being something that anyone actually wants.

Except advertisers. Remember, it's still Google.

Seeing Google AdWords on my fridge trying to sell me stuff or alternates to things I am almost out of is going to be an experience.

I was thinking of Google watching the advertising of food products and tracking how much of that results in purchases that end up in your fridge.

Advertisers would give their left arm to be able to close the loop from ad to store to home. I know the "club cards" can kind of do that now, but the stores have no idea what ads you saw before walking in (other than the coupons in your hand).

John Ringo has a book set called the Troy Rising series where multiple characters get implants connected to the network. The description of bill collecting and advertising is hilarious, great for advertisers, and a strong reason not to get said implants.

If Google is willing to subsidize a free refrigerator for me so they can serve ads on it, I will consider it. :-)

I'd expect anything interesting to have been covered by an NDA.

Intelligent refrigerators based on computer vision (and not rfid) is actually a shoot for the stars kind of idea. It would also revolutionize retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.

I agree, I think we underestimate how awesome these technologies could be if brought together into a coherent service.

I would like my kitchen to tell me what I can cook based on what's on hand, and then give me the recipe for it. And say if I decide on a menu for the next week have it auto order what I need from amazon and give me a list of what else I need to buy, and where its on sale. Sign me up.

Those ideas are also pure speculation by the author. The closest she comes to backing any of them up was when she said that the founders like space elevators.

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