{"id":31,"date":"2003-05-03T04:17:36","date_gmt":"2003-05-03T04:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/2003\/05\/03\/030300fridge\/"},"modified":"2023-08-13T18:27:18","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T18:27:18","slug":"030300fridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/2003\/05\/03\/030300fridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiber to the Fridge&#13;\n&#13;\n&#13;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"text-align:center\"><b><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/images\/80_Viodi_Vector_Logo_KS.jpg\" width=\"338\" height=\"96\" align=\"left\"\/><\/b><\/p>\n<p>                                 Quick              Jump Menu to this Month&#8217;s Articles             iTVcc              &#8211; We&#8217;ve only just begun             Smaller              really is Beautiful             Fiber              to the Fridge             Inertia              &#8211; It just keeps me hanging on             Cool              MPEG tools you never knew you needed             Call              for materials from Telcos involved with FRED                                        <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"right\" style=\"text-align:right\"><b>March, 2003<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"text-align:center\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"text-align:center\"><b><b style=\"mso-bidi-font-weight:normal\"><a name=\"conf\"\/>Fiber            to the Fridge<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"text-align:center\">by            <a href=\"mailto:ken.pyle@viodi.com\">Ken Pyle<\/a><\/p>\n<p>       \u00a0                   <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyText\">If Silicon            Valley is the Mecca of the technology crowd, then Fry\u2019s is certainly            the shrine that all techies have to visit at least once. Fry\u2019s            has the electronic gadgets of today and tomorrow. So, I guess I shouldn\u2019t            have been too surprised to see an <strong>Internet-enabled refrigerator            <\/strong>the other day. This is somewhat ironic, as the Fry\u2019s            family had earlier made their mark in the grocery business. <\/p>\n<p>It has been said about Fry\u2019s that you can get chips (potato)            and chips (integrated circuits) all in the same store. This new refrigerator            is a clear marriage of all the things for which Fry\u2019s is famous.            And, Telcos\u2019 may scoff at this seemingly frivolous, 21st century            icebox, but it could point to new interactive television applications            we can\u2019t even dream of today. More importantly, it probably points            to even <strong>greater bandwidth demands<\/strong> that will be placed            on tomorrow\u2019s local loop. <\/p>\n<p>At first glance, one would wonder why someone would want to pay over            <strong>$6,000<\/strong> for a refrigerator that is about the same size            and provides the same fundamental functions as the standard two-door            model that can be purchased at any appliance store. On closer examination,            one sees that this is really interactive appliance that, by the way,            keeps food cold. Some of its features include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A touch-screen, LCD screen that is comparable in size to a lap-top<\/li>\n<li> A built-in camera, microphone and speakers<\/li>\n<li> Audio and Video inputs<\/li>\n<li> Ethernet connection<\/li>\n<li> USB Connections<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The software to go along with the above hardware is incredible. It            seems to do all of the things that any internet-connected PC would do,            as it has Internet Explorer for web browsing. Additionally, it has a            touch-screen key board that can be used to leave notes for family members,            update inventory, etc. Speaking of inventory, it apparently has sensors            in the various compartments, such that it depicts the contents of the            refrigerator on its <strong>LCD screen<\/strong> (gee, no more searching            through the freezer for that quart of ice cream that your spouse ate            without telling you).<\/p>\n<p>And the software will enable applications that will probably make this            or its descendents common place in tomorrow\u2019s kitchen. Some of            these cool applications could include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Recipe downloads\u2013 imagine a video of your favorite chef explaining              the nuances of a gourmet meal <\/li>\n<li>Targeted on-line coupons \u2013 just what people want; a refrigerator              that not only talks, but is trying to sell them something. Seriously,              this could be something that coupon clippers, like my wife, could              really love. <\/li>\n<li>Use the built-in camera to ask family members what they want for              dinner (or, identify late-night fridge raiders).<\/li>\n<li> On-line orders from the refrigerator directly to the grocery store              \u2013 groceries ready, no checkout necessary.<\/li>\n<li>Fridges in corporations \u2013 how about an online message board              to notify employees that their food is spoilded.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The common theme, and this is where <strong>Telcos<\/strong> need to            take this appliance seriously, is that all these applications could            potentially drive <strong>greater network bandwidth requirements<\/strong>.            The Ethernet connection points to the ever increasing home networks.            Now, I am not saying that people are going to sit around the refrigerator            surfing the net or watching television programs, but if the content            is targeted and, probably short-form, it may draw <strong>eyeballs<\/strong>.          <\/p>\n<p>I really haven\u2019t done this refrigerator justice, so <a href=\"javascript:\" onclick=\"MM_openBrWindow('http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/redirect\/lgfridge.htm','','toolbar=yes,location=yes,status=yes,menubar=yes,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,width=640,height=480')\">click            here<\/a> to get more information on this 21st century appliance. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyText\" style=\"margin-left:81.0pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/030300\/030300inertia.htm\">Next            Article <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyText\" style=\"margin-left:81.0pt\"><a href=\"#top\">Back to            Top<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyText\" style=\"margin-left:81.0pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/030300\/030300overview.htm\">Back            to Main Page <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyText\" style=\"margin-left:81.0pt\">Copyright 2003 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/viodi\/\">Viodi,            LLC<\/a>. All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n<p>       \u00a0       <\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/proceedings\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/logos\/proceedings.gif\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" border=\"0\"\/><\/a><br \/>           <a href=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/proceedings\/\">iTVcc Proceedings<\/a><br align=\"center\"\/>           <a href=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/proceedings\/\">Click Here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                           \u00a0       \u00a0       \u00a0                  \u00a0       \u00a0       \u00a0       \u00a0          <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Quick Jump Menu to this Month&#8217;s Articles iTVcc &#8211; We&#8217;ve only just begun Smaller really is Beautiful Fiber to the Fridge Inertia &#8211; It just keeps me hanging on Cool MPEG tools you never knew you needed Call for materials from Telcos involved with FRED March, 2003 \u00a0 Fiber to the Fridge by Ken Pyle [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":702,"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions\/702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}