Backbytes: Samsung scrapes the bottom of the barrel with internet-connected fridge
Samsung will 'cement the refrigerator's position as the centre of the kitchen'... Oh dear
The increasingly dire Consumer Electronics Show (CES) comes round in January as regular as digital clockwork, and features more than its fair share of desperate electronics companies trying to catch people's attention for their rubbish wares. But in recent years, the show has gone from bad to worse.
An indicator of exactly how bad CES has become is provided by Samsung, whose "flagship" CES launch is its useless internet-connected refrigerator - complete with an equally useless touchscreen - which, the company claims in its execrable marketing and press material, will "cement the refrigerator's position as the centre of the kitchen".
"Samsung has strongly reinvigorated the home appliance space with fresh thinking and functionality that have taken appliances from a ‘need' to a ‘want'," burbled Samsung home appliance marketing head honcho John Herrington.
Taking another sip of the Kool-Aid, he added: "With the new and innovative Family Hub Refrigerator, we are transforming the communal kitchen experience for consumers in ways that will redefine how they view and use their refrigerator."
Not it won't. But that didn't stop the company from suggesting that it had invented "an entirely new category in refrigeration", with such features as cameras inside that will enable people to check the contents of their fridge remotely from their smartphones - Gosh! Wow! How useful!
The device, in some respects, is a Trojan fridge for the Tizen operating system. Presumably it's also programmed to whisk all of your kitchen secrets back to the company's HQ at "Samsung Town" in Seoul, just like that Samsung smart TV in the living room does with your conversations. Well, who wants to share all that lovely data from the heart of their homes with Apple, Google or Microsoft, eh?
In the past, CES has been the place where genuinely exciting electronics has been showcased first - such as the CD player in 1981 or high-definition radio in 2004. Or, the year after that, you could have chortled over Microsoft's Bill Gates blue-screening during his demo of Windows Media Center.
Indeed, Samsung was the company that, back in 2004 showed off a 102-inch flat-screen television. We're still waiting for that particular product to break below the key £200 barrier before we upgrade the old 21-inch Ferguson, and our dumb fridge is perfectly happy in the corner of the kitchen, thank you very much.