Whirlpool are testing a new smart washing machine that you can control using your mobile phone. Part of an innovative combination of home network, mobile phone, PC and other communication technologies, the 'Laundry Time' concept is designed to let you control your washing machine no matter where you are, to ensure your clothes don't just sit in the washing machine all wet and slowly rotting (or is that just me and my laundry habits?!)

A few examples of how Laundry Time will work include:

- You decide to do your laundry while the family is watching TV. After you start the washer (the system will allow you to implement the process remotely), you relax in front of the TV. Thirty minutes later, an alert pops up on your TV screen saying, "Wash Complete," so you put the load in the dryer and put another load in the washer. You get a similar alert on your TV when the dryer is done, so you never forget about your laundry and can fold your clothes before they get wrinkled.

- You settle down to do some Web surfing after a busy day. When you start up your browser, you get an Instant Message alert telling you that the dryer did not start its cycle. You realize that you forgot to press the start button. Laundry Time asks you in the IM whether you would like to start the cycle. With your mouse, you select "yes," which starts the dryer, and you continue Web surfing without interruption.

- While running errands, you get an alert on your cell phone that the dryer is done. You don't want your clothes to sit in the dryer and wrinkle so you use a key on your cell phone to tell the dryer to "fluff" the load for an additional 15 minutes, the time it will take you to finish your errands and return home.

A more realistic scenario

Hmmmm, your washing machine texts you when it's done, demanding you put it on 'fluff'...it instant messages you, again demanding attention...and it pops up annoying messages on the TV, again demanding attention. I can think of a different scenario than the one Whirlpool paints:

- You're watching the World Cup - just as Joe Cole is about to score the best goal of the tournament, your washing machine obliterates the screen with a message pointlessly saying "I've finished now."

- You're browsing the web, with 20 tabs of top-quality content open that you're about to tag in Del.icio.us. Before you do that, though, your washing machine blunders in and interrupts you via IM, demanding you go downstairs to attend to it. This being a research project held in conjunction with Microsoft, your PC promptly blue screens, losing all the amazing information you've just located after hours of searching.

- You're in your workplace, chatting to your mates about the amazing goal Joe Cole scored that you had to watch on replay as you missed it live. Suddenly, your mobile interrupts you. "Was that your girlfriend?" asks one of your mates. "Er no," you reply, "it was my washing machine!"

Is it me, or is a washing machine even more attention-seeking than the neediest of girlfriends just a little over the top, even in this gadget-frenzied age?!

[Source: Mobiledia, Slashphone]