Brands outside of the mobile realm are pushing to attract buyers with technology that speaks directly to smartphone junkies. We have to wonder, though, if our obsession with being connected not only is creating a generation of techno-dependent drones but if integrating touchscreen technology into our daily life won’t the whole cache seem obsolete.
Social media journalists and tech writers hopped all over the video of the new Samsung RF4289 Wi-Fi refrigerator. It’s a Jetsons-like product custom-made for all sorts of oohing and aahing by bloggers and marketers. The wonder fridge, which apparently also keeps your food cold, has Wi-Fi and a touchscreen display. Think of it as iFridge. Cooks with time to kill can check their Twitter on the icebox. Pandora is also one of the apps on the product, meaning chefs can create their own cooking playlists. An Epicurious recipe search, a memo pad, a Google calendar and WeatherBug weather service are a few of the apps the refrigerator comes standard with.
While Samsung isn’t the first to serve up a social media- and Internet-ready refrigerator, it does look like the most advanced wonder fridge on the market today. On the surface, the Samsung isn’t really too different from the old televisions in the kitchen that our grandmothers used to have blaring while they cooked pot roasts. The difference here is that like our smartphones, these appliances want to be touched and heard and want to talk to you. Streaming ads on Twitter and Pandora can be seen by refrigerator users while they make magic in the kitchen. We guess this will be received as good news, but it would be nice to have an area in our houses that don’t tweet or chat to us or demand our attention.
Nevertheless, this is the future of branding and online marketing. There are no longer limits to where our Internet marketing can be seen. So set another place at the table, because in the near future Twitter, Facebook and all of our friends will also be coming to dinner.
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