The Ikan is a new way to shop for groceries, it says. You can read about it at the site. I would include some text on it here to promote it, but all the text is trapped in Flash. 😦
While it seems like a neat idea, I actually think it has the potential to be a great idea. I was thinking of this when I read about the listeria outbreak this week. What would be good if I could have something like the ikan and have it scan the food in my fridge (or tell it where I purchased the food). The ikan could then check and tell me whether I should be concerned about it or not.
In fact, it could take it even further. If my grocery bill had good marking on it, I could give it to the ikan when I got home. Then it could do things like periodically remind me about food in my fridge that has gone off, or even advise me of specials that might be occurring.
More and more appliances are morphing into agents and robots. Like the roomba, the ikan might be the beginning of the next wave of things in our home.
Smart People I Know 