Kitchen computer smells like a turkey

THE New York Times runs a brief piece on something called the SmartShopper, a gadget that lets you keep stock of the stuff you need to replenish your household wares. However, it would appear that if you buy this thing you've already got a lemon, a turkey and a melon.

For a long time, people have been talking about a small PC that you could use to automate shopping. There was even a concept fridge that would detect what you were running out of and tell the interweb without manual intervention. There was discussion as to whether supermarkets would give out free devices to buy customer loyalty. So far, most of us have stuck with visiting the shop or using online services such as the superb Tesco.com, although for geographical reasons, a lot of folks miss out on the latter option.

Basically, the SmartShopper is a voice-to-text translator. Tell it you need paper towels and it adds the item to a monochrome screen in text, assuming the Nuance-based technology works in practice.

Now, you're thinking, you add the rest of the items say ‘buy' and it orders over the web, right? Nope, when you're all set with your shopping list, you print it out and take it with you. So it's a shopping list creator for $150. Great, that's just what we needed.

There's a hilarious selection of anonymous quotes on the website:

"Take my microwave oven but don't take my SmartShopper."

"The SmartShopper saved me 15 minutes in the store because of the categorized list."

"Our family uses the SmartShopper more than any other appliance in our kitchen."

What, more than your fridge? Your cooker? We'd love to hear from anybody who has used one of these things. µ