Melitta "Smart Mill & Brew" system makes your coffee and forecasts weather
Salton have introduced the Melitta “Smart Mill & Brew” coffee maker that, apart from doing what all coffee machines are supposed to do (make coffee), will also forecast the weather for you.
No, it doesn’t have a barometer hiding next to the percolator; it’s a little more hi-tech that that. Courtesy of Microsoft’s Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT), this machine can get real-time weather information from MSN Direct.
Now, I’ll be honest, when it comes to coffee makers, the quality of the coffee is of paramount importance, so it’s good to see that this will let you grind your own beans, as well as making copious amounts of coffee from them.
But as this is a blog about technology, here’s the weather forecasting bit…
MSN Direct is a wide-area wireless datacast network that utilises an unused portion of the FM radio spectrum to constantly stream data to 125 cities in the US and Canada. The service is subscription free, too, so all you’ll be paying for is the coffee beans.
It features the current date and time, animated weather icons for the day’s weather and 3-day forecast, scrolling weather information text, and other useful meteorological data that you may be able to read after your first cup of coffee.
The drawback for us here in the UK is that the forecasting service currently only works in North America. I’ve not heard if there are plans to extend to other countries or not.
Looks like we’ll have to rely on other household objects (mirrors or clocks perhaps) to provide our weather-forecasting needs (or just use the radio). I like the idea, though.
It retails in the US for around $200.
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