Oregon Scientific has world's first wireless speakerphone mp3 player radio alarm
By Paul Miller 
posted Dec 30th 2005 9:40AM
posted Dec 30th 2005 9:40AM
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What, no iPod dock? With that white/grey color scheme and circle action everywhere, it seems like it'd be a natural feature to add. Chumps, they won't get my dollars.
Gotta admit, it's pretty much the perfect thing to have on the bedside table. Now, if only it made espresso!
It's intriguing, but why make the font for the time display microscopically small? My bat-blind night eyes need a big font! (Maybe it's adjustable. And there'd better be a light for it.)
Also, I could do without the speakerphone. My bedside phone is just about exactly where I DON'T need a speakerphone. (Being that someone else sleeps in my bed too.)
This might work better as a kitchen appliance in my world.
How about a wireless networked coffee pot -- no kiding!
http://www.woot.com/Blog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryId=579
Hey, waddyaknow, a coffeemaker with lots of useless smarts! It’s like the home version of that barista at your neighborhood brew joint with dyed dreadlocks and four undergraduate degrees.
Beyond’s stylish chew & spew coffee maker serves up the hot beanwater you need, whenever you need it. It does a great job grinding up them beans and is approximately one bajillion times easier to clean up than other brands’ comparable machines. (Beyond calls it “Smart Mill and Brew,” which is awkward, but probably not as awkward as a trademark lawsuit, so whatever.) We’re crazy about how easy it is to clean. We dig its huge, blue “nightlight” screen. We love the way it grinds up the javabeans like nobody’s business. It’s attractive. It’s reliable. That’s all you want in a coffeemaker, right?
Right, and that’s why you’ll never get a job designing coffeemakers. Because those positions go to the kind of freely-associative weirdos who would equip this already-perfect mudchugger with a wireless — and useless — “Connected Appliance” networking gimmick. Fabulous! Now if only someone would put tank treads on our cheeseburgers, or a fold-out corkscrew on the Bible!
Who cares if you can’t take advantage of its “smart” features? If you wanted needless cleverness with your coffee, you’d start going to poetry slams. Ignore this glorified waterboiler’s superfluous bells and whistles and just guzzle its delicious excretions.
Warranty: 1 year
Features:
* Contemporary stainless steel and black styling
* 10-cup capacity
* LCD with bright blue backlight
* Built in ‘Grind and Brew’ feature
* Beyond Connected Appliance communication via the SANI Wireless Network Interface
* Features a simple point-and-click web interface
* Program recovery feature in case of power outage
* Time of day and week set automatically
If only it were a *DAB* wireless speakerphone mp3 player radio alarm.... [wistful]
Also, this gadget begs the question: how does exactly Oregon Scientific actually make money?
Being the technology and gadget centric cat I am, I have never owned, nor have any of my friends, an OS product.
I would also take notice if any of the world's non-techie folk bought any of their products. Again, I've yet to see it.
My theory (admitedly withough taking the time to actually look at their financials) is that they just continue to get over on funding sources to provide the money to continually turn out this kind of product that no one buys....