LG smart appliances will run your home

KOREAN ELECTRONICS FIRM LG is at CES showing off its range of smart home appliance systems, which offer among other things food management.

In fact food management is just one applications area for the appliances, which LG added can also offer smart grid, diagnosis, access, and adapt features. None of which we knew we needed in our kitchens and living rooms. But when has a lack of need ever stopped a hardware firm before, though?

"For LG, 'smart' means offering the ultimate benefits of empowerment and convenience to our consumers. With our innovative Thinq Technology, consumers will be more empowered when doing household tasks thanks to more efficient, controllable, and ecofriendly appliance options," said Young-ha Lee, president and CEO of the LG Electronics Home Appliance Company.

"This isn't a gradual evolution - LG Think technology essentially transforms how consumers take care of their home, and makes it easier and smarter than ever before."

At the heart of this technical nagging is the Smart Grid, which uses an electricity meter-like display to let you know how much energy you are using. LG said that this information could let users delay any energy-hungry actions until more economically viable times, such as the middle of the night.

For example, the firm said that it can give "Consumers the choice of using 'Recommend Time', which does the washing at the nearest, most cost-effective time or immediately if there are no off-peak electricity options available anytime soon."

Anyone that has seen the film Demon Seed and is already concerned that this has gone too far might take some consolation from the fact that users will still be able to manually select the washing time of their choosing.

However, we suspect that anyone who rushes to first adopt systems like this doesn't trifle with 'the washing' anyway.

The all-encompassing system could also have some appeal for time and motion students who will appreciate the fact that it can count and display the frequency with which the fridge door is opened. LG added that this could give users even more information about ways to save money in their home. We assume this advice will be 'open your fridge door less often', but cannot be sure at this time.

Increasing its nanny-like tendencies are device displays that show daily, weekly or monthly performance reports. LG said that daily electricity totals could be accessed - or rather, Smart Accessed - over a smartphone or tablet PC for comparison, which is sure to help while away any tedious business meetings and add to any bill obsessions.

This obsessive completest behaviour runs through the releases, and LG goes so far as to suggest that people might want to change the temperature of their fridge while at the gym, which is just daft. Increasing the ridiculousness, LG also announced the Hom Bot vacuum cleaner, which can clean floors, feed pets, and - thanks to its name - make schoolboys giggle.

Perhaps the most fun element of the appliances is Smart Diagnosis that, in return for a few button presses, will let the machine sing out what ails it to a technician. LG said that this will save maintenance time. However, it might also lead to man-machine conversations and poor renditions of "Don't go breaking my heart". µ