Silly Technology

I can't find an online source for the article, but the Sacramento Bee had an article today on new technology for the kitchen. Silly stuff. There is now a frying pan with internet connections that talks to you with a SIRI voice and tells you how to pan fry a piece of salmon.

One (non-silly) piece of technology for the kitchen that I've been considering is storing all my recipes on a computer tablet. I currently use index cards, and a lot of them have gotten damaged and food-stained over the years.

-Paul W.

At the software engineering facility I worked at many years ago, they once installed a talking vending machine. It lost its voice after about 15 minutes--about the time it took the engineers in the cubicles nearby to locate the appropriate screwdrivers.

-Paul W.

At the software engineering facility I worked at many years ago, they once installed a talking vending machine. It lost its voice after about 15 minutes--about the time it took the engineers in the cubicles nearby to locate the appropriate screwdrivers.

-Paul W.

The recipes on a laptop make sense.

Just like as sad as it is to see the empty storefronts which once housed independent record shops, I buy 99% of my music on iTunes. The only exception to the trend seems to be fetish-object purchases (special edition vinyl and the like).

It just seems like everything is being designed to replace all human thought, skill, memory, and randomness. Not really a good thing, imho.

I tend to use Epicurious a lot for recipes as starting points for my cooking. I find it very handy to have a tablet computer in the kitchen to use while cooking. Yeah, the touch screen can get a little messy, but it works well.

There is now a frying pan with internet connections that talks to you with a SIRI voice and tells you how to pan fry a piece of salmon.

This reminds me of Talkie Toaster in the British Sci-Fi sitcom "Red Dwarf".

-Paul W.

Re disabling the voice on the talking vending machine - the Woolworths line of supermarkets introduced self-service checkouts over the past handful of years. I only shop at Woolies occasionally - poor range of choice, plus B-grade fruit and veg - but early this year I noticed the talking checkout machines had changed their vocabulary. No longer do they try to hurry you along with exhortations to pay up if you've finished shopping, should you pause in your task for some reason. No longer do they chivvy you along to place the item in the bagging area if you're slow to do so. No longer do they ask whether you're using your own bag, and urge you to get your bags into the bagging area. No doubt customer surveys had told the decision makers at Woolworths that people were annoyed by being ordered about by a machine, particularly by a machine that thought you ought to do the job faster than you wanted to. I know I was.

[Jenise]

At the software engineering facility I worked at many years ago, they once installed a talking vending machine. It lost its voice after about 15 minutes--about the time it took the engineers in the cubicles nearby to locate the appropriate screwdrivers.

-Paul W.

Hilarious!

But yeah, Brian, I've heard about that pan. And I saw a testimonial for it by some guy who claimed that in just one month, it taught him to cook! Preposterous, of course, but trying to be positive, I would concede that if it gives someone the confidence to start cooking at home instead of living on fast or prepared food, well, it's a good thing.