Reinvent the Refrigerator. Since its debut in the 1940s, it hasn't changed much in design. Put a bunch of food in a large cooled box and hope you remember to eat its contents before it rots. There has been some lame attempts by slapping a LCD panel on the front with an RFID scanner, but you still have to remember where you store the food. I think automation and inventory management via mobile device is key. There is a lively discussion on quora right now, but I'd like to also invite people to poke holes and/or add value to my idea.
A low-cost alternative is to have a fridge with a glass door. If you have privacy concerns or want to be extra fancy, you can use smart glass, although I would expect that it would raise its price significantly.
Seeing inside the fridge without opening the door is also good for energy conservation.
1Viliam_Bur
A good user interface could solve this, even without the RFID scanner. The touchscreen would display items in refrigerator, sorted by shelves.
Adding a new food: click "new food" icon, select the food from the list, click on the shelf. (You are supposed to do this after you have put the food inside.) Now the panel displays the food on the correct shelf.
7thetimpotter
What if facial recognition technology became food recognition technology? More simple than chipping all food items.
1A1987dM
I can't see how a new fridge is a solution to that problem. If every time you go to the supermarket you buy more food than you'll be able to eat before the next time you go there, eventually you'll have to throw away some food, unless it lasts eternally. The standard solution to that is not going to the supermarket when you're hungry, and it works for me -- actually, if I go to the supermarket when I'm stuffed, it works too much.
I don't remember ever having trouble locating stuff in a fridge.
6thetimpotter
How about repopularizing chest freezers? Inherently much more energy efficient, and freezing can help save food waste.
Reinvent the Refrigerator. Since its debut in the 1940s, it hasn't changed much in design. Put a bunch of food in a large cooled box and hope you remember to eat its contents before it rots. There has been some lame attempts by slapping a LCD panel on the front with an RFID scanner, but you still have to remember where you store the food. I think automation and inventory management via mobile device is key. There is a lively discussion on quora right now, but I'd like to also invite people to poke holes and/or add value to my idea.
Basically it's an automa... (read more)