02-01-2005, 11:30 PM
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Swami
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,303
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Beyond Connected Home Kitchen Reviewed
"Salton Incorporated brings Windows CE into the kitchen with the Beyond Connected Home line of appliances. One of the first product lines to truly connect devices with each other and the Internet. Like a computer network, the Beyond Connected Home theory bonds common appliances in your household to help relieve the everyday monotony of making coffee, bread and microwave foods. These appliances connect with a central computer (either the iCEBOX Entertainment Center or the Beyond Home Hub) to receive updated recipes, the exact atomic time, and communicate their current status back to the iCEBOX or Home Hub."
The iCEBOX is a stand-alone Windows CE appliance, containing a DVD/CD player, TV Tuner, FM Radio and video input for monitoring your kids or the front door. Logically enough for a kitchen appliance, a waterproof wireless keyboard and remote control are included. You can network the iCEBOX to the Beyond coffee maker and the Beyond Bread Maker and Beyond microwave. The last two contain barcode scanners that apparently allow you to receive 'complex cooking advice'. (Stop sniggering at the back. ;-)) There's a couple of severe gotchas though. Wifi is a pricy optional extra and talking of price, the iCEBOX alone will set you back US$2,350. So, this is the sort of toy for someone with a lot of dough in every way. The amusing review is well worth a look for glimpse into your future. Wirelessly connected coffee makers; their time will come . :morning:
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02-01-2005, 11:51 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 276
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If it cost US$350 AND had Wifi I'd think about it, but at US$2,350 8O
What are those folks smoke'n ???
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02-02-2005, 12:28 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 75
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I think $500 would be about right WiFi included. $700 if it had a touch screen also. Then I'm very interested.
Program the bread maker through it (automatically download the configurations based on the recipe you use... pretty cool).
Set the coffee to turn on at 6:30am.
Waaaay to expensive.
Did you see the caption on the reviewers web page "For the $2,350 price tag to equip your kitchen with the Beyond system, you could hire a butler and a hooker to do ten times the amount of work."
Ouch, but true.
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02-02-2005, 12:49 AM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,616
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Quote:
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For the $2,350 price tag to equip your kitchen, you could hire a butler and a hooker to do ten times the amount of work.
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What kind of work does this guy do?
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02-02-2005, 01:29 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 99
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the reason devices like this cost so much is simple supply and demand. they have to charge a lot, because hardly anyone will buy it. it seems like a neat toy, and we all like gadgets here, but most of us would never give this a second thought at the prices we think we would.
would any of you REALLY spend 500 if it had wifi and a touch screen? no, you would probably buy another PDA to play with 
now if you had money to burn, you WOULD consider it, and the price it's offered at wouldn't bother you.
at least that's how i look at it. i spend 200 a month on blank dvd's to archive discovery channel, so it's all relative
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02-02-2005, 03:40 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 119
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Do you mean Snickering? Because I find your word offensive.
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02-02-2005, 03:54 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 181
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by ctmagnus
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For the $2,350 price tag to equip your kitchen, you could hire a butler and a hooker to do ten times the amount of work.
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What kind of work does this guy do? |
8O I don't know, but it must have been a typo, maybe he meant cooker, even though that would be bad grammar for cook or chef. Either that, or some very strange thoughts entered his mind...
Maybe the kitchen would be nicer if you could control it with your Pocket PC... :wink:
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02-02-2005, 04:06 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 99
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Cheap old laptop with wireless: $150 on eBay
X-10 controllers: (I dunno how much those go for)
Turn on your coffee maker, bread maker and whatever else automatically without spending 2,350: Priceless!
Obviously this wouldn't work with electronic appliances but do you really need your coffee maker to download more coffee making recipes anyway?
But with the wireless laptop you can download stuff on your own and have it right there in the kitchen...
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02-02-2005, 04:07 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 593
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by allenalb
the reason devices like this cost so much is simple supply and demand. they have to charge a lot, because hardly anyone will buy it. it seems like a neat toy, and we all like gadgets here, but most of us would never give this a second thought at the prices we think we would.
would any of you REALLY spend 500 if it had wifi and a touch screen? no, you would probably buy another PDA to play with
now if you had money to burn, you WOULD consider it, and the price it's offered at wouldn't bother you.
at least that's how i look at it. i spend 200 a month on blank dvd's to archive discovery channel, so it's all relative |
uh...i see what you're trying to get at, but doesn't quite fit the scheme of the economics you're talking about, although it fits some things out there.
Since it's made to connect to a special center/hub, it seems like the price may be high because people with these 'hubs' will want this device for their cherished center/hub. This would create an 'inelastic' supply curve, which would fit within your explaination. This is the same reason Sony can get away with charging a high price for their memory.
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02-02-2005, 05:07 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 717
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come on people. Call in the good old Audrey from 3COM, a couple of x10 plugs and guess what you are under $250. Not to mention the satisfaction of actually building it yourself. Been there, done that, bought a t-shirt and did not make a movie of the week. Audrey is the way to go. Need I say that I have 2 working for me?! These guys are on cheap glue I think.
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