
Needy robotic toaster sells itself if neglected - Baustin
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/18/addicted-toaster
======
hooande
This is mind expanding. It makes me think of a system of ownership based on
usage and care. Free bike, but if you don't use it or maintain it then it gets
transferred to the next person. Only make toast one day a week? Then you get
the thing on the day that your usage indicates. Tying this to how much the
object is used by peers is a great way to answer the question of "how often
should the bike be cleaned or how often should someone use their toaster?".
The idea leads to less waste and more utility for everyone.

It's not particularly useful to personify machines by giving them emotional
states. The toasters in question aren't "needy", they are efficient. The real
innovation here is giving an object the ability to take action independently.
If I'm not actively toasting then no amount of analytics or notifications are
going to get me to pay more attention to it. Just handle it for me, sell it,
upgrade it, downgrade it, replace it with a juicer. Giving me information
about my usage is creating more work. Taking action for me is doing me a
favor.

This whole thing reminds me of Autonomous Corporations [1]. It's generally
better when things take care of themselves. The Internet of Things combined
with intelligent decision making could lead to societies where people have
more time and get more benefit from everything around them. The first and most
difficult step is to get our things communicating with each other. Then we can
focus on getting them to act on our behalf instead of just sitting unused.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Autonomous_Corporation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Autonomous_Corporation)

~~~
khafra
It won't really take off until a self-driving car can swing by and
automatically transfer them to their new owner.

~~~
ronaldx
An interesting example: I think car ownership would be a good fit for this
model. I certainly don't need a car 24/7, I just need one when I need one.

If a car could arrive for me to drive it at that time and place that I need it
(and depart to another client when I'm done), that could be perfectly
efficient... but curiously this business model doesn't even nearly exist.
There are too many other things going on.

~~~
seanccox
In Istanbul, we call those cars "taxis".

Among my greatest shocks when I recently visited the states, were the
inability to get beer delivered to my home, or easily find a cab just by
walking to an intersection.

~~~
moheeb
Istanbul is a city. The 'states' is a country.

~~~
r00fus
Just to expand on that, Istanbul isn't even a state (though it's a very large
and important city). The USA is a federation of states, with a multifaceted
legal framework and also the biggest single-country economy in the world (EU
is bigger, but isn't as tightly connected or managed).

Would the comparison of Istanbul to New York City be more appropriate?

~~~
thaumasiotes
> Istanbul isn't even a state (though it's a very large and important city).
> The USA is a federation of states

Which has more political pull, New York state or New York City? NYC isn't even
confined within NY; the Chinese system of "cities of a certain level of
significance are their own state-level entities" seems to make much more sense
(to me) than the US model does.

~~~
moheeb
Eventually somebody gets tired of drawing new borders on maps.

------
stan_rogers
I would just like to remind the innovators and disrupters among you that Red
Dwarf was meant to be comedy, a parody of trends in society and technology,
and not a prescription for the future.

~~~
Zikes
That said, if we could invent an "uncrop" feature for photo editing that'd be
pretty nice.

~~~
MasterScrat
You could already do that with Google's "Search by Image"...

[http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/images/searchbyi...](http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/images/searchbyimage.html)

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sdfjkl
I wish all my unused crap would sell itself (and arrange shipping).

2014, in a universe slightly more awesome than ours:

Postman: "Hi, I'm here to collect those old memory modules you left in a box
when upgrading and forgot about."

Me: "Wow, I did. How much did they sell themselves for?"

Postman: "$40 - just bump your phone here to get paid. Have a nice day."

~~~
Pwntastic
Actually I think Amazon supports something similar to this, wherein you ship
them crap to hold on to and then after they receive and inventory it, they can
optionally sell it for you.

Though I'm not sure how the shipping plays into that.

~~~
sdfjkl
Yeah, but you still have to list it, which is work. I actually used a service
like this to sell my book collection before I last moved. You ship them a box
of books and that's it. After 3 months they tell you which ones they sold,
give you 50% of the profit and ask you what to do with the ones that didn't
sell.

~~~
pavel_lishin
What are the options for non-sold books?

~~~
sdfjkl
They offered to return them to me or recycle them:
[http://www.goldstonebooks.co.uk/files/rubbish.jpg](http://www.goldstonebooks.co.uk/files/rubbish.jpg)

------
JamesBaxter
Another step closer to Genuine People Personalities

When can I buy an automatic sliding door that finds it a pleasure to open for
me?

 _Doors manufactured by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation are programmed to
love their simple lives; they love nothing more than to open and close for
passing users, and thank them profusely for so emphatically validating their
existence. Most characters in the series grow to loathe the doors,
particularly Marvin (and he was the first to explain about the doors '
"cheerful and sunny dispositions")._

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius_Cybernetics_Corporation#...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius_Cybernetics_Corporation#Doors)

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gutnor
Reminds me of Ubik.

From amazon review:

Ubik (1969) offers such deadpan farce as a moneyless character's attack on the
robot apartment door that demands a five-cent toll:

    
    
        "I'll sue you," the door said as the first screw fell out.
        Joe Chip said, "I've never been sued by a door. But I guess I can live through it."

~~~
deletes
When I first read Ubik I though their economy is unrealistic. How do the
appliances and doors that charge for usage make sense?

It makes an interesting replacement for the warranty in the item contract. Pay
the toll, and the item is kept constantly serviced. The protagonist's attack
on the door also makes sense since it is considered a breach of contract.

~~~
arg01
Could also be a free to play type thing. You get the door for cheap/free, then
there's a service fee for use. Hell I can imagine it with a screen and being
asked to watch an ad before egress. Even better is the poor guy stuck outside
his apartment while having to sit through a horny ladies in your area ad while
the neighbour walks past with her kid in tow.

~~~
deletes
I can think of Kindle as a physical device that comes with ads until you pay
more money. Surely there is potential in this approach for other home
appliances.

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worldsayshi
But it hints towards some idea of lean living. If you don't need an appliance,
if someone else needs it more - why tax your mental capacities with dead
things lying around that you don't need, just have it get rid of itself.

~~~
acomjean
>why tax your mental capacities

I had a vacuum here somewhere..... Where is it?

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zemvpferreira
This is cool as hell. So many of our IoT applications are already stale -yes
yes, big data and consumables reordering, yawn- that it's nice to see
exploratory work in the field.

I'd be happy to buy one and see what happens. I think I've been in line for 6
months or so, actually, since Usman Haque told me about the thing.

------
JoeAltmaier
Red Dwarf had a needy toaster, featured in several episodes. It even saved the
day in one.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRq_SAuQDec](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRq_SAuQDec)

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_petronius
Reminds me a lot of Caleb Larson's 2009 work "A Tool to Deceive and
Slaughter"[1]. Sadly it looks like the project might have stopped completely
by now, since the website for it is down[2].

[1]: [http://caleblarsen.com/a-tool-to-deceive-and-
slaughter/](http://caleblarsen.com/a-tool-to-deceive-and-slaughter/)

[2]:
[http://www.atooltodeceiveandslaughter.com/](http://www.atooltodeceiveandslaughter.com/)

~~~
Gimpson
Yeah, I was really looking forward to watching this over time, but the first
time I thought to see where it was it was already out of circulation. Bummer,
that.

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monk_the_dog
Is "needy" exercise equipment a thing? That could be a cool product. Or,
instead of the bike needing attention, how about the bike feeds/walks/plays
with a cute dog. If you don't use it you have an app of your dog begging you
to exercise.

We'll put a social aspect in there too. If you sign up with a friend, your pet
will start asking for food from your friend if you don't exercise enough (to
your embarrassment).

~~~
hengheng
Every fitness tracker can already do this, or at least could, yet it's not
really taking off. I'm guessing that blame and negative emotion are not the
best ways to sell stuff.

Except maybe if they are physical products. Having a thing or a person that
reminds me of my chores is probably easier on me than a non-local notification
system that makes my whole e-mail experience unpleasant, or social media
experience, or even spoils my whole phone.

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cturner
Michael Marshall Smith's _One of Us_ has an alarm clock that can't get
satisfaction until its owner has recognised the alarm. Also aware and needy
white goods who get involved in the plot at places. Good read, but I recommend
getting to it after a couple of his other books - the twist is better that
way.

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bcoates
I'm just impressed that the designer actually made the product and put it out
on the world.

So many of these design-art products are never actually made, which to me is
ignoring the entire 'craft' side of the profession--the point of design is to
make things actually exist.

------
vijayr
It would be nice if there is a system which monitors politicians who don't do
much (other than raising funds for their campaigns) and automatically sends
their resignation letters, and sends a self driving car to take them to their
home!!

~~~
elwell
But sometimes _not doing much_ is exactly what we need; or it's at least
preferable to some actions (e.g., SOPA).

------
quarterto
Frakkin' toasters.

------
mentos
Barring any enormous shifts in computing power, the future opportunities are
most likely in everyday appliances, the 'internet of things'. I think the Nest
is a great example.

If this is true, will we see refrigerators/vacuums/toasters/etc with
Apple/Google/Amazon logos on them? Imagine a refrigerator that you could check
the inventory of from an app. A toaster that sends you a push notification
when its finished. I'd have to imagine while they're not necessary today, 100
years from now they will be the norm. So whos logo will be on them?

------
ballard
The tangential thought, despite the British humor, is that by embueing devices
with AI, users will have to be respectful of devices. You wouldn't want your
garage opener mad at you after all.

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Zenst
Interesting, but peer preasure from a toaster is perhaps a level of stress
nobody would want. Then the aspect of going on holiday, forget to tell the
toaster (if it even understands that aspect of life) and bam. Return to chaos.

Maybe people who would like this aspect of interaction with products, but for
me the prospect of being ditched by a toaster is just not the type of
motivation I feel needs filling in my life.

------
edward
The article shows a map produced by OpenStreetMap, but with no credit to
OpenStreetMap. This is clearly a copyright violation. They are required to
include the text, "© OpenStreetMap contributors". See
[http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright](http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright)
for more details.

------
qwerta
In my house the toaster would get toasted on firewall.

I am paranoid enough to disconnect regular toaster from plug when not used.
This 'intelligent' toaster would get lobotomy. I do not want some hacker to
burn down my house.

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lcasela
I toast, therefore I am.

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facepalm
There is also a video: [http://vimeo.com/41363473](http://vimeo.com/41363473)

Where can I apply to become a host for a toaster in need?

~~~
Shivetya
I prefer Red Dwarf's
[http://youtu.be/LRq_SAuQDec](http://youtu.be/LRq_SAuQDec)

~~~
facepalm
Brilliant, thanks!

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stcredzero
This could apply to Real Doll styled companion androids, which would also be
"toasters" if styled after characters from BSG.

~~~
angersock
I...just...ew.

When your sex doll breaks up with you you know you have some real growing to
do as a person.

~~~
stcredzero
John...I just don't feel like you respect and value me as a complexly crafted
inanimate object!

(A sexbot wouldn't be an inanimate all the time, but could become one in a
power down mode.)

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jc_dntn
Would you like some toast, Mr. Lister?

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girvo
It certainly gives a new meaning (in this context) to "insecurity". What a
cool project.

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kitd
I foresee a future where appliances rate their owners and publish it amongst
themselves.

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spiritplumber
Does it have an IQ of 6000?

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barrkel
This toaster was in my old workplace, The Trampery, just off Old Street.

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enupten
Maybe, in the future, our homes won't be filled with useless junk :)

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kimonos
Cool! It's a great way to catch readers' attention!

