Oven, refrigerator -- meet the Internet

MILAN, Italy (October 1, 1998 09:08 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) --
High-tech companies are betting that in the near future, you will need an oven
with Internet access. And a refrigerator smart enough to keep track of what's
inside, store recipes and make your grocery list.

In Italy, Merloni Elettrodomestici announced a new product line Wednesday that
includes appliances that can do everything from preventing blackouts to
surfing the Net. The "intelligent oven" even has remote-control cooking
programs and will soon have built-in Internet access for recipes.

Under the brand name Ariston Digital, Merloni has also developed washing
machines, refrigerators, dishwashers and cooking appliances that can
communicate with each other -- and the outside world.

Merloni, Europe's fourth-largest home appliance producer, plans to unveil the
new product line at the Smau information and telecommunications show in Milan
in October and start selling it in the second half of 1999.

The company spent five years and about $18 million to develop the new line,
but says the futuristic appliances will only be a little bit more expensive
than more conventional items.

Meanwhile, a Japanese company has developed what it calls the "Internet
refrigerator." With a speedy Pentium II microprocessor and huge hard drive, it
packs more computing power than most home PCs, and has separate compartments
for fruit and vegetables.

The refrigerator -- unveiled Wednesday at the opening of the PC World Expo in
Makuhari, east of Tokyo -- is controlled with a touch panel monitor in the
door or verbally through a built-in microphone.

The company that developed the refrigerator, V-Sync, recommends using it as
the command center of a wired home by hooking it up to similarly equipped
household appliances such as telephones, air conditioners and televisions.

More than 600 computer-related companies are displaying products at the annual
computer expo in Japan, which runs through Saturday.

Copyright 1998 Nando.net
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press

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