Not sure if you could still get to the wifi connection if you didn’t pay for the monthy fee. The Zojirushi company makes some nice home hardware, I know I’d like to own one of their automated rice cookers but the hot pot with wifi is a tad over kill. Might be good in an office if your too lazy to turn around and check the water level if you want tea (remember offices in Japan can be pretty small)
The Zojirushi Corporation has developed the first Internet-Enabled Hot Pot. The i-Pot monitors its usage statistics and sends them off wirelessly (802.11x, presumably), allowing other parties to monitor your tea-drinking habits with bated breath. The marketed application for the i-Pot rests largely with the elderly—if your obaasan misses her regular tea break, the i-Pot can send a message to someone so they can check up on her. As the product page says, “The electric pot becomes the barometer of vigor.” Available for roughly $50 in Japan, with a one month trial option available.
I would very much like to own one of these machines. Pretty much anything you can cut out with a knife, copeing saw, or scissors you can zap out with this. Wood, plastic, metal, evern rubber! Desgn it on your computer, load the hopper and in a while you get cut parts. Custom gears, your own puzzles, stand up photos, rubber stamps… Too cool! All for about $10,000. (Humm… Can I get a small business loan?) What do you know, they have an office in Scottsdale, maybe I can get a tour of their plant. That would be sooo cool! Now that would me a great blog entry. Lots of photos, interviews, the works! Hey, if anyone has used one of these leave a comment, I’d like to get a real world opinion of one of these in action. Can you actualy etch a drill bit?