Japanese Firms Create Home (Appliance) Network

JOstrow writes "The Japanese companies Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Sharp, and Sanyo are teaming up to create a standard for home appliances communicating over a network. Usage examples cited are ovens that download recipes and heating systems that can be adjusted remotely with a cell phone. The first products adhering to the standard, called iReady, are expected to be available by next year. The iReady adapter will be ready for use '...not only with commercialized Bluetooth and low powered wireless appliances but also wireless LAN and future transmission media.'"

cant wait

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't wait until my oven prints out emails.

iReady?

[R33MSpec]

So, when you walk into a department story are you meant to ask if the appliance is 'iReady ready?"

E, I, O, U... Technology progression.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, I understand the i-thing now. It shows the generation of neat, but possibly mostly useless or very successfull new personal technology.

e-mail, emac, ecommernce, etc etc... for 1990's technology.

imac, iRiver, iTones, iReady etc for 2000's technology.

So next we have

oMac, oMan, oRobit, oBeowolf/playstation3/cluster etc etc... for 2010,

then

uMac, uBrain, uBenevolentRobotMasters, uMars,
for 2020's technology.

The only question I have is what about "y" and sometimes even "w"?????

iWife

[Lord_Dweomer]

"The first products adhering to the standard, called iReady, are expected to be available by next year."

Anybody know when they'll be releasing the iWife module?

Those Crazy Japanese...

[wedg]

"Honey, the toaster's been hacked again." *sound of sirens in the background, getting louder* ... Can anyone else think of some appliances that could potentially be broken into and cause damage to someone's home? Hell, no system is perfectly secure. There's always a way in, and always someone willing to find it. So what if some happy-go-lucky hacker finds his way on to the net.appliances with a modified >appliance-of-choice and a laptop? Suddenly your oven's on while you're away being a Salaryman and the little ninjas leave their homework on deadly types of blowfish on the oven, and poof, someone's house goes up. Or an apartment complex.

But maybe I'm just pessimistic.

Imagine the possibilities...

[rohan_leader]

BEFORE:

RIAA or similar: You are hereby charged for downloading copyrighted content from this internet account.

YOU: No no! The Virus did it!

AFTER:

RIAA or similar: You are hereby charged for downloading copyrighted content from this internet account.

YOU: No no! The Oven did it!

RIAA: Did you realize that the recipe for those cinnamon rolls was copyrighted?

YOU: WTF! You can copyright a cinnamon roll recipe?

etc etc etc.. ad infinitum.

(and other possible encounters... too)

WLAN

[rf0]

Great instead of war driving there will be war cooking

Rus

Oh, I can hardly wait!

[some old guy]

Let's see now, my garbage disposal locks up, causing a buffer overflow in my toilet. Meanwhile, my Smart Car fails to map my driveway and crashes.

Welcome to the brave new world.

I can see it now...

[Bishop, Martin]

"Hacker burns down womans house with cell phone" "Malicious user ruins families turkey" "Woman not amused by recipe for 'Cooked lart'" "Top 10 ways to keep your refrigerator from BSODing"

argh

[burntoutjoy]

What a bloody awful name.

STOP WITH THE i PREFIX, PEOPLE. IT'S NOT BIG OR CLEVER.

Apple should have excusive rights to the i prefix so they can use it tastefully.

Imagine the phone calls to customer service...

[El Camino SS]

Serivice Rep: "Hello, this is customer service."

Guy: "Yeah, I uh, think my microwave is broken."

Service Rep: "Yes sir. See it right here. It's broken."

Guy: "What do I do to fix it?"

Service Rep: "Buy a new one."

Guy: "I just bought this a month ago."

Service Rep: "Actually it was thirty eight days sir, according to this, and on September 25th you put something metal in there, and that is your problem that caused the failure according to the info it sent. The machine locked itself up automatically for "safety" purposes, it's a child lock feature, you know, litigation and all these days, oh, and it really is broken. If you would have read the manual like it told you to, which is under menu 72-d on you microwave's display, you would have noticed that you just voided the warranty, and your unconditional, money back guarantee just expired eight days ago... (Like a chipper jerk) anything else I can do for you?"

Guy: "Uh, I, uh..."

Service Rep: "Thank you for calling our service line." (Click)