Then again, the repair man could use the system to test the fridge and see what the fault is, for example you lodge a call stating that the fridge is broken, he asks what's wrong with it, "you say" its not working :)... He then interrogates the fridge to find that the condenser is faulty and knows exactly what part to bring with him to repair the unit onsite. Same goes for the stove, It will tell him if the reason the element is not going is the switch, the element or the fuse before he leaves the service dept. Saves having to wait another week for him to return with the CORRECT part. As for hacking, Hmmm heaps of possibilities :) Similar to one of the attacks launched against one of the search engines all appliances could be told to turn off at a specific time, then all turn on at the same time, the power plant would have a hard time trying to deal with the sudden instant draw on the grid. Regards Andrew -----Original Message----- From: Sean Breheny To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2000 4:38 PM Subject: Re: Internet Toaster [OT] >Yes, that makes sense. However, in the ad, they show a repairman just >showing up at the door, unannounced, stating that their fridge sent him. >The homeowners aren't even aware that it is broken. I realize that some of >this is for dramatic effect, but the idea of it alerting you and the idea >of alerting the company are two totally different ideas. > >Also, I'm not sure how much value it would be to know that your fridge just >failed while you are 1000 miles away. Who is going to let the repairman in >to fix it? I suppose you could call a neighbor whom you had previously >entrusted with a key, but this is getting a bit far-fetched! > >Sean > >At 03:27 PM 2/16/00 +1300, you wrote: >>> such a hardship for the fridge just to have a warning light and for me to >>> make the call? >> >>What would be good is if the fridge alerted _you_ to the problem. If you are >>away for several days you might see that its not working and be able to get >>it repaired before all the beer got warm and cold pizza went yuck. >> >| >| Sean Breheny >| Amateur Radio Callsign: KA3YXM >| Electrical Engineering Student >\--------------=---------------- >Save lives, please look at http://www.all.org >Personal page: http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/shb7 >mailto:shb7@cornell.edu ICQ #: 3329174