LG’s latest range of home appliances features a fridge with THINQ technology, which could make it one of the coolest fridges you can buy. The LG fridge includes a LCD screen that tells you what’s inside, what sell-by dates are coming up and can even connect to your phone to tell you what you need to buy when you’re at the shops. And that’s just the beginning for LG’s newest home appliance technology.

Home Economics Meets Home Bionics with LG THINQ

It’s part of the LG brand’s new Smart technology, which will eventually allow users to operate household appliances wirelessly via a home network. From what was on display at this year’s CES 2011 show, it really does look like LG’s Smart technology is pioneering home appliance control.

It’s not just refrigerators that get the THINQ technology work-over, it’s ovens, washer machines & dryers and even a robot vacuum cleaner known as a HOM-BOT. That’s right, through the inclusion of a camera, infra-red sensors and ultrasonic technology, you can now vacuum your home from your Smartphone.

LG THINQ Be The Master Of Your Home

The five main features of the LG THINQ technology  system include

1. Smart Grid
2. Smart Diagnosis
3. Smart Access
4. Smart Adapt
5. Food Management

And it all comes together on a control panel known as a Smart Meter that you can connect to over your home wireless network. The Smart Meter allows you to monitor electricity consumption and cost, direct the robot vacuum cleaner and even identify what foods are running low in the fridge. All you need to do is connect to your home network from your Smartphone or tablet device while you’re out and about.

For example, Smart Diagnosis lets you know when something has gone wrong with a home appliance, instantly directing a technician or a repair-person to the source of the problem. It can even let you know that you left the fridge door opened. Downloading updates and new apps for the technology can be done at a touch of a button via the Smart Adapt function.

LG THINQ: The Future Of Your Home In Your Hands

It looks like LG’s THINQ technology could be on the market as early as this year (2011). So, in the not so distant future you should be able to vacuum your living room, put on a dinner, make ice for your drinks and even wash your clothes for the following day, before you’ve even left the office. Could it be that the clichéd 60s image of the futuristic home you can control from anywhere in the world is actually becoming reality?

Related Sites

• LG THINQ Press Release

The CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is without doubt the event of the year if you’re into gadgets. It’s where techheads go to get the lowdown on what’s hot and what’s not in the world of consumer technology. More than that, it’s the place where you’ll find all the movers and shakers, i.e. what’s going to be big the coming year and beyond. This year’s CES 2011 show took place in Las Vegas at the beginning of January and from the products on display, it was clear what the big three consumer trends are going to be this year: Internet TV, 3D and PC tablets.

Internet TV

Sony was there showing off their Google TV, demonstrating that Internet TV has finally come of age. Certainly, we will be seeing media streaming, iPlayer and all sorts of apps appearing on TVs this year. But it won’t be just on TVs, these new services will be shared across phones, media players and Blu-Ray players. And what will be crucial will be a way of sharing information across all these devices. So it’s just as well that Netgear was there with their latest home Wi-Fi router on display, specially designed to handle all the new technology and devices that we’re connecting to the Internet from our homes.

3D or not 3D? That is the question

While many of us are still considering whether or not to invest in a 3D TV, it came as no surprise to anyone that 3D dominated many of the stands at this year’s exhibition. As well as the latest range of 3D TVs from Toshiba and Sony that don’t require glasses, the big trend this year was in 3D camcorder and still camera launches from all the big names, as well as a 3D mobile phone. The first 3D laptops from Toshiba and Sony even put in an appearance.

Take a Tablet

The final big trend at this year’s CES was Tablet PCs. Around 100 tablet devices were launched at this show alone. Blackberry’s Playbook seemed to be the one that most were eager to queue up to see. With a seven-inch display, a dual core processor, front and rear cameras, as well as a HDMI port, it’s not hard to see why Apple has their work cut out with iPad 2.0.

Lenovo came out tops in terms of innovation with their device that could be transformed from a laptop running Windows into a tablet running Android. Tablet computing might have been born in 2010 with Apple’s iPad, but 2011 is certainly going to be the year it comes of age.

What was increasingly evident at this year’s show was technology is now all about getting access to information wherever you are. As our lives become increasingly linked to technology, more and more electronic manufacturer’s seem to be putting the focus on getting all the devices in our lives talking to one another. And from this year’s show, clearly, 2011 is going to be a very big year for technology in the home.

Buying components for a home entertainment system, or PC, can be confusing at the best of times. With the amount of choice and options in the marketplace, we often look for the latest technology, combined with the best price. However, just as important in your decision-making process, is how your choice will perform a couple of years down the line. In other words, how future proof is your purchase? Can it be upgraded or will it have to be replaced? Are there accessories or add-ons coming in the future that could expand its usability? Or will it be obsolete next month, as the next big thing hits the market?

It’s a bargain now. But what about tomorrow?

One thing that does compromise our efforts to future proof our purchases is our overwhelming need to get a great deal. The problem is that something that seems like a bargain today may turn out to be a complete waste of money a few months down the line when it’s obsolete.

Think about how you’re going to use the technology you buy today a few months down the line and not just what it’s going to do for you the moment you get it out of the packaging. Is buying a component that’s right for your home entertainment system now going to compromise your upgrading options later? For example, if you’re in the market for the latest Blu-ray player now, how do you know it will be compatible with the audio system, or TV, you may want next year?

Plan Ahead.

These are the important considerations to need to make before buying anything. If you are building up a home entertainment system over time, as your budget allows, then you need to sit down at the outset and make a list of what’s best to buy first and your options for add-ons as you go along. That way you won’t regret buying a HD Recorder that wasn’t compatible with a satellite system you installed later on.

More importantly, take interfaces and connections into account. There is no point buying a Blu-ray player that is missing a crucial output to an audio system you may be considering in future. Make sure that, as well as being backwards compatible, your newest devices have the latest input/output formats available. For example, look out for the connectors that are compatible with HDMI 3.1, which will, in the future, offer more features for your equipment.

The Mother of All Mobos.

So, what about PCs? By far, the biggest consideration here is the motherboard and what it will accept in terms of add-ons and accessories. After all, your motherboard is the interface for everything on your PC from the CPU and memory, to your peripherals. A cheap motherboard could cost you dearly in the long run. It should support the latest CPU slot format and PCI Express. 4Gbs of RAM is becoming commonplace, so make sure you have at least two RAM slots and these accept at least 2Gbs each. Again, look at your inputs and outputs. Is every possible combination there for any future add-ons?

The key to future proofing your home technology is to predict what you want it to do for you in the future. Success means planning beyond today’s purchase, always researching your options and keeping up-to-date with new technologies in the pipeline before buying anything and remember to compare prices to find the best deals.

We all covet the latest technology and gadgets from time to time, but once they’re in our possession, we often forget why we wanted them in the first place. Often, instead of making life easier, the latest technology seems to do little more than waste our valuable time.

So here are 25 simple ways technology can make your life better by giving you more time, saving you money, or simply making day-to-day life easier. Read the rest of this entry »