The promise of a smart fridge is tantalizing. Magic apps to suggest dinner options! Family activity syncing! It’s almost like having a kitchen robot. But could the nature of smart appliances reduce their useful lifespan?

Picture the refrigerator at your parent’s house. How old is it — 10, 20, maybe even 30 years old? Now imagine popping over to troubleshoot problems on an OS from 1981. It could be the start of VCR programming all over again.

The problem with having a smart appliance is that the digital component will age more quickly than the physical components that accomplish its primary functions. The smart component needs to be removable and upgradable to ensure a responsible use of resources and affordable pricing.

Smart appliances alone aren’t a bad thing. They have the ability to adjust their energy consumption or, in some cases, their output functions, based on external factors like time of day, temperature, and so on.

The real challenge is that as technology comes to things like our refrigerator, it brings every other computer problem you’ve had along with it. In the near future, appliances may be able to order groceries for you. Which is all good and well until your fridge gets a virus and orders 200 tomatoes and a dozen tubs of ricotta cheese for you.

The fear of the unknown should not limit what we do with our appliances, but we also need to be aware that technology can impose limits at the same time it expands possibilities. Judicious applications are welcome.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 12th, 2011 at 08:18 and is filed under design thinking, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.