Toys R (’nt) Us
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007Awhile ago, PC Magazine waxed poetic about the glories of the wired home. Hey, I’m all for wi-fi so I can be online throughout the house. And I need my TiVo. But don’t touch my kitchen.
I love electronic toys — podcasts on my iPod, music from my smart phone, games on my pda — even little Roomba to clean my house. But few of these come without frustrations. Like when I couldn’t get into iTunes to download “Wait, Wait don’t Tell Me,” before a business trip. Or when my smartphone stopped giving me e-mail when my mom was in the hospital. The last straw was when my Palm stopped making a bluetooth connection with my cell phone after the hours I spent configuring e-mail and Internet access. (Only little Roomba performs his little heart out, all the time.)
So I began thinking. As we harness technology in the kitchen, how are we going to connect to access all the services promised and how are we going to maintain the technology? What does a service contract look like for an Internet-enabled refrigerator? [more…]
