George Santayana once said that “Those who are unaware of history are destined to repeat it.” Here at The Gadget Helpline we don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing, and we’ve been searching through the gadget archives to bring you the best and the worst of the gadgets that never quite made it to the main event.
Our first foray into patent purgatory is the ‘Internet Refrigerator’. This frivolous kitchen companion may have stumbled and dragged itself into a limited production run, but with a dial up modem being this cool character’s only way to get online it’s no wonder why this particular gadget is likely to be left out in the cold. That’s not to say that it doesn’t have some good features, with the ability to play music, watch films and view photos it seems that somebody somewhere actually put some though it to this idea.
However, if this product were to be sent out into the world for the masses to purchase, it would need a serious overhaul to make it a must have gadget. We think that with a wireless connection as well as an Android-based touchscreen interface that provides quick access to social networking sites, cookery websites and online streaming services such as spotify and BBC iplayer, this bad boy could actually become common place within kitchen renovations.
The only final stumbling block is the RRP, which was previously listed as $15,000 for the model that LG had planned… we may just Velcro an iPad to our fridge for the moment and save a wedge.
Though LG may have failed with its first Internet Refrigerator, Samsung persued the idea and unveiled one of their own earlier this year at the CES electronics show in Las Vegas. With a catchy model of RF4289, the fridge has inbuilt WiFi for connecting to the internet, and features an 8-inch touchscreen on one of the doors to enable users access to Twitter, Pandora Radio, weather updates and even recipe downloads from Epicurious. That fridge is now available in Canada for a cool $3500.
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