If the Samsung Family Hub refrigerator looks like a tablet stuck on the outside of a fridge, the new LG InstaView Signature refrigerator’s right-side door looks like a Microsoft Surface. The smart fridge features LG’s InstaView technology — turning from opaque to transparent — but it also turns into a computer, running Windows 10. The Signature fridge was on display at IFA 2016 in Berlin, and it shows that the connected fridge is sticking around for the foreseeable future.
Last year, we saw the InstaView at IFA. You knock on the door, and suddenly the dark face becomes transparent. The idea is that you can stare into the depths of your fridge without the door hanging open, wasting energy and warming up your perishables. It’s using the same technology for the smart version of the fridge. “It’s a new technology developed by LG. It’s a mirror that can go dark, go transparent, or can have information on top,” Claudio Scuratti of LG’s Italian appliance division tells Digital Trends.
Samsung introduced its Family Hub at CES 2016; it’s got all kinds of apps, from a recipe finder to a couple ways to do grocery shopping to music players. LG clearly wants to follow suit, with plans to include apps like Pandora and calendars. You’ll be able to drag stickers around the screen, attaching expiration dates to your milk, which you can see behind the screen.
LG doesn’t have a ton of details about the apps and widgets it plans to offer, however, but it wants to make it a collaborative process with third-party developers. “In the future we plan to introduce an open system,” says Scuratti.
While he says the side-by-side smart fridge should appear on the European market by the end of next year (and it will likely to come to the U.S. at some point as well), LG doesn’t yet have pricing information. Considering the non-Windows French-door InstaView has a suggested retail price of over $8,000, it will likely be a pretty pricey purchase.
Outdoor security cameras are not always practical if you live in an apartment or rental. Drilling into an exterior wall may be off-limits, while pointing a regular indoor camera through a window can create another problem once reflections start showing up after dark.
Baseus is trying to solve both issues with the new PrimeSentinel W1, a $69.99 security camera designed specifically to monitor the outdoors through glass. It mounts directly to a window without drilling and uses a 4K Starlight sensor with an F1.0 aperture for full-color monitoring during the day and at night.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
Technology evolves every day, transforming how we live and work. Our devices are becoming more than tools we use. They are increasingly capable companions that help streamline day-to-day routines and spark creative ideas. If you have been waiting for the right moment to upgrade your tech setup, the Discover Samsung Shopping Event offers an opportunity to explore what connected, AI-powered living can look like.
With AI progressing so fast, it's only a matter of time before we start getting AI companions like the ones we used to see in movies like R2-D2, Wall-E, or Baymax. Now, Singapore-based OKA Technology has unveiled Mori, a cute little AI companion that looks less like a conventional home robot and more like someone turned the Pokémon Foongus into a table lamp.
Mori isn't meant to clean your house or control your smart home, but to serve as what OKA calls a "Nature Companion." It uses subtle movements, warm lighting, nature-inspired sounds, and small reactions to make its presence around the house feel calming rather than distracting. Mori can sit quietly while you read, sway along to music, welcome you when you enter a room, or encourage you to slow down for a moment without requiring a screen or a conversation.