Computer Chronicles (PBS) - 2000-11-18

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, Whisper AI)

[0:26] This week on the Computer Chronicles, cooking with your computer.

[0:29] We'll show you how to avoid the lines at the supermarket and do your grocery shopping online.

[0:34] We'll look at some great software for the chef that makes cookbooks seem old-fashioned.

[0:38] We'll show you a website that makes it easy for you to prepare healthy meals with nutritious ingredients.

[0:44] And we'll give you a glimpse into the kitchen of the future, intelligent appliances.

[0:49] Plus, my pick of the week, a new PDA you can wear on your wrist.

[0:53] It's all coming up next on the Computer Chronicles.

[0:57] The Computer Chronicles is brought to you by rondiamond.com, the oldies site on the Internet.

[1:04] Music and memories from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, not just another jukebox.

[1:10] Additional support comes from the law offices of Ivan Hoffman, lawyering with integrity.

[1:15] From Internet law, copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property law.

[1:21] And by TechWeb, for up-to-the-minute technology news.

[1:26] Music and memories from the Computer Chronicles.

[1:33] Hi, and welcome to the Computer Chronicles.

[1:35] I'm Stuart Shiffey.

[1:36] Well, cooking shows seem to be popular on TV these days, so we thought we'd do a cooking show today

[1:41] and tell you about the ways you can actually use your computer in the kitchen.

[1:45] You know, it almost became a joke in the mid-80s when computer companies claimed that people would buy a PC

[1:50] so they could store their recipes.

[1:52] No one ever did that.

[1:53] But as computers become less expensive and move into every room of the home,

[1:57] the PC has really now become a very useful tool for the chef.

[2:00] One way you can use your computer is to log on to the net and go shopping for your groceries online.

[2:05] Here to show us how to do that is Amy Nobile of WebVan.

[2:09] So, no more lines in the supermarket, dealing with all those obnoxious people.

[2:12] I can do it on the web.

[2:14] Well, it's exciting because now people everywhere can kind of log on to WebVan.com

[2:18] and go shopping down the virtual aisles.

[2:21] All right, let's show people how to do this because, you know, people are nervous.

[2:23] You know, grocery shopping is a very tactile, personal kind of experience.

[2:27] So, where do we start? This is your home page?

[2:29] This is our home page.

[2:30] And this really gives a preview of all the different virtual sort of categories that we have.

[2:34] So, these are the sections of the supermarket, if you will.

[2:37] Exactly.

[2:37] Everything from fruit to wines to post-it notes.

[2:41] All right, so how do I begin the process?

[2:43] I mean, can I sort of walk through the aisles of my cart like I would in a real supermarket?

[2:46] You sure can.

[2:47] You can go ahead and walk through the aisles.

[2:49] And let's say you choose some produce.

[2:51] So, we're in the produce section right now?

[2:53] And you choose lettuce.

[2:55] So, what our site, WebVan, is going to do is sort of take you through all the different categories of lettuce.

[3:00] So, you can really see them.

[3:02] You can click on to make the photos larger.

[3:04] All right, so we have the price there.

[3:05] And we have the different kinds.

[3:07] Do I assume you have all of this there, that if I order it, you're going to have it?

[3:10] We will have it, unless it says otherwise.

[3:12] Oh, okay.

[3:14] Now, suppose I don't know where stuff is in the store.

[3:17] I say, hey, I'm looking for something in particular.

[3:19] Sure.

[3:19] And I don't want to go cruising through all the aisles.

[3:21] Sure.

[3:22] I'm searching for some jam, for instance.

[3:24] Absolutely.

[3:25] A lot of our customers like to search via this function, where you just sort of put in what you're looking for,

[3:32] press the button, and it comes right up.

[3:34] You got the pictures a little bottle, because that's how I buy it.

[3:36] I recognize what the jar looks like.

[3:38] Absolutely.

[3:39] So, here you looked for jelly, and here a whole selection popped up.

[3:42] We looked for strawberry, and here you go.

[3:45] So, like in any other online shopping thing, I just click, fill up my shopping cart, et cetera?

[3:50] Absolutely.

[3:50] All right, so just go through that process, just so we see what that looks like.

[3:53] Sure.

[3:53] Absolutely.

[3:54] You can go up and down the virtual aisles and sort of put the different items in your shopping cart.

[3:59] And at any time, you can kind of go back and see what's in your cart and take a look,

[4:03] make sure everything looks right.

[4:05] It gives you a subtotal at any given time, and then you can take a look at the payment once you're done.

[4:13] Okay, so I know what's going on.

[4:14] Now, what about the delivery situation?

[4:15] How do I know when I'm going to get this stuff?

[4:17] Well, Webvan.com offers a half-hour delivery window of your choice.

[4:22] How far ahead?

[4:23] Basically, if you order real early in the morning, you might have a shot at getting the order that day,

[4:27] but more than likely it'll be for the next day.

[4:29] So, I've got to plan ahead a little bit.

[4:30] So, what you want to do is...

[4:31] So, I go ahead and say, here's when I want it?

[4:33] Absolutely.

[4:34] Schedule your delivery.

[4:35] Just take a look.

[4:36] You guys are better than the cable companies.

[4:39] You just take a look and pick that half-hour window of your choice.

[4:43] Okay.

[4:44] Now, do I have to be there when the guy shows up?

[4:47] In most cases, you want to be there.

[4:49] In some cases, if you're not able to be there...

[4:50] Because you're not a fresh stuff that's going to go bad.

[4:52] Exactly.

[4:52] If it's just ambient product that you won't have to be there for, then no problem.

[4:57] Now, what about this whole issue?

[4:59] You know, when you shop for vegetables and fruit, I mean, you want to look at it and feel it.

[5:02] You know, you see these people playing around with the stuff.

[5:04] How do I know I'm getting the kinds of stuff I like when it comes to fresh products?

[5:07] Absolutely.

[5:08] We get asked that a lot.

[5:09] And as a matter of fact, we make a point of working with high-quality local suppliers

[5:14] that actually supply to some of the best restaurants in the area.

[5:17] But can I say I like my bananas green or I like my apples this way or something?

[5:21] You sure can.

[5:21] If you go to the banana section, you'll see there's four or five different choices if you

[5:25] like them green, if you like them right.

[5:27] So we try to give the customer a wide range of choices just like you would find at a shopping

[5:32] market.

[5:33] What about the things you routinely buy every week, right?

[5:35] Every week, you're going to get the milk and the bread and the this.

[5:37] Can you set up like an automated list?

[5:39] Absolutely.

[5:40] The weekly shopping lists are very popular, and that is something that a lot of our folks

[5:45] use.

[5:46] For instance, this is my list, and these are my weekly items.

[5:49] This is sort of the default junk I'm going to get every visit.

[5:51] Absolutely.

[5:52] So you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time.

[5:54] Gotcha.

[5:54] One of our customers has a 10-year-old girl who likes to, every week, put her own little

[5:58] list together of all kinds of fun things.

[6:00] So you can go ahead and make as many lists as well.

[6:02] Now, suppose I have a question.

[6:04] I'm not sure.

[6:04] I can't find something.

[6:06] Normally, I'd call over a clerk and say, hey, where's this?

[6:08] Or what do you think?

[6:08] What do I do then?

[6:09] Absolutely.

[6:10] WebBand's customer service offers a couple of different ways to ask questions.

[6:14] One, you can actually click on and chat live with a customer service.

[6:19] Real-time, real person.

[6:19] Real-time, real person, which is really exciting.

[6:21] And then the other way is to call our 800 line, and you can get that customer service professional.

[6:26] What happens?

[6:27] I mean, a lot of shopping is impulse buys.

[6:28] You didn't know you wanted it, but you're walking down the aisle and you see it.

[6:31] Is it the opportunity to just sort of stumble across things here?

[6:33] Absolutely.

[6:34] A lot of our customers like to just take their time and go through each aisle.

[6:38] For instance, we're always adding things.

[6:40] So, stamps might be there, or Calphalon, or a lot of different sort of pet products.

[6:46] All that stuff is right by the cash register.

[6:48] You didn't really want to buy.

[6:49] Yeah.

[6:50] How about the cost?

[6:51] Is it comparable to walking into the Safeway or whatever?

[6:54] The cost of shopping at webvan.com is going to be at or below the cost of a supermarket.

[6:59] It doesn't cost any premium.

[7:00] No.

[7:00] No tipping is allowed.

[7:02] And actually, for orders of $50 and less, there's a $4.95 charge.

[7:06] But all other orders are free.

[7:08] I'll try it.

[7:08] Thank you very much.

[7:09] Great.

[7:10] All right.

[7:10] Having bought the food, now it's time to make the meal.

[7:13] And while cookbooks are pretty good, in fact, using recipe software is a lot better.

[7:17] Here to show us a program called MasterCook 5.0, in fact, a couple of cooking programs,

[7:22] is Kelly Stammer of Sierra.

[7:23] Hi, Kelly.

[7:24] Hi.

[7:24] All right.

[7:25] So, let's say I've gone shopping, and now I've got to go make the meal.

[7:28] Some people are coming for dinner tonight.

[7:29] Great.

[7:30] And I don't know too much about this.

[7:31] I've got your software.

[7:32] Let's go through that process.

[7:34] What do I do first?

[7:35] I say I want to prepare a meal.

[7:37] I have to decide what meal I want to make.

[7:38] What do you want to make it with?

[7:39] Okay.

[7:40] What are my choices, by the way?

[7:41] I mean, what resources are in here?

[7:43] How do I know who's giving me the information on these recipes?

[7:45] This version is called MasterCook Food and Wine from Sierra Home.

[7:48] It has 1,000 recipes from the editors at Food and Wine Magazine.

[7:51] Okay.

[7:52] Plus, also some wine suggestions for those of us who need a little help.

[7:55] So, all these other boxes are different collections of recipes?

[7:57] Is that the idea?

[7:58] Whether you're looking for a Betty Crocker recipes or a Cooking Light magazine.

[8:01] All right.

[8:02] So, let's say I've got some people coming tonight.

[8:04] I know they like Indian food, so I'd like to prepare a curry, but I don't have a clue as

[8:07] to where to begin.

[8:08] So, what do I do?

[8:09] Well, you can go through and browse through the cookbook collections if you'd like, or else there's

[8:13] also a search function.

[8:15] Here's a beef curry.

[8:16] Okay.

[8:17] It looks pretty good.

[8:18] So, I just click on it, and there are the ingredients I need.

[8:21] There are the ingredients.

[8:21] Here are the instructions.

[8:22] The bottom of the instructions.

[8:23] It looks pretty simple from that.

[8:24] Yeah, it's pretty simple.

[8:25] Over here is their wine recommendation.

[8:27] They recommend a California Syrah, so that's what we have over here.

[8:30] Okay.

[8:31] So, that would be, now a couple of questions.

[8:33] Suppose this says for six people.

[8:35] I only have four people coming over for dinner.

[8:37] Now, can I recalculate the stuff?

[8:39] Yes, MasterCook makes it very easy.

[8:41] You just click a button and say, I want six people.

[8:43] So, four people.

[8:44] It says six.

[8:44] I want four.

[8:45] You want four?

[8:46] Yeah, can we do that?

[8:46] You can say four.

[8:48] There you go.

[8:49] Four people.

[8:49] Okay, change all the ingredients for you.

[8:50] Yes, absolutely.

[8:51] Now, suppose I happen to know I've pulled down a recipe from some website for a curry, which

[8:55] I happen to like, and I want to bring that into your system so it'll do the same stuff.

[8:59] Can I do that?

[8:59] Yes, a lot of people are taking recipes off the web these days.

[9:02] It's very popular.

[9:03] So, here we would just highlight the recipe and go into MasterCook's Import Assistance.

[9:07] So, you're just going to copy and paste it into there?

[9:09] Copy and paste.

[9:10] It's very, very simple.

[9:13] Paste it in.

[9:15] And it sort of puts it into your little spreadsheet format there.

[9:19] There it goes.

[9:20] Now, I need to know, let's say I really haven't bought the stuff yet from WebVans.

[9:23] Say I'm just going to old-fashioned go to the supermarket and buy the stuff.

[9:26] Will it generate a shopping list for me?

[9:27] Of course.

[9:29] Here, we would just go in and say we need to add it to our shopping list.

[9:33] Oh, we're still working on the chowder recipe here.

[9:36] Okay, the one I imported.

[9:37] Yes.

[9:37] Then you go into your chowder.

[9:40] Here's your shopping list.

[9:41] Okay, that's the stuff I ought to go out and buy right now.

[9:44] And it also reminds you which recipe you selected for each one.

[9:47] Let's go back to the wine for a second.

[9:48] And if you were very nice to bring the wine, it recommended there.

[9:51] Actually, we'll have to try this later.

[9:53] Suppose I want to know more about the wine.

[9:55] Like, my guests are going to ask me, where did you get the wine, blah, blah, blah.

[9:57] Can I get background information?

[9:58] Yes, absolutely.

[9:59] Of course, the food and wine editors make this very easy for us.

[10:02] We can go in here and look at any region, any type of wine.

[10:06] Here, we're looking at the California wine region.

[10:08] It can tell you which wines are popular there and what to expect from each of those.

[10:13] Now, for the novice, I don't know a lot of this stuff.

[10:16] So, suppose I wanted to make a shrimp curry.

[10:19] Now, I don't know how you, like, rip apart the shrimp and devein it and all that stuff.

[10:22] Is there online helps for me here?

[10:24] Master Cook includes lots of tips, and you can link them directly into your recipe.

[10:28] So, here's a tip for deveining shrimp if you wanted to make shrimp curry instead of beef.

[10:32] Okay.

[10:32] So, there's a whole little video clip.

[10:34] It's a whole little video showing you exactly how to do it.

[10:36] Pull away the shell by grasping near the legs and roll it back around the shrimp.

[10:41] Now, while I've got you, I've got to ask you another one.

[10:43] Carving the turkey, you know, carving a chicken.

[10:45] Suppose I want to do chicken curry.

[10:47] Do you have advice on that?

[10:48] It's a mystery to a lot of people.

[10:49] Yes, same thing.

[10:50] You would go in and into any recipe, you can pull up the tips.

[10:55] Okay.

[10:56] So, there's a carving chicken.

[10:57] There's one for carving chicken.

[10:58] That's going to show the whole horrible process of how you...

[11:01] There's 1,200 tips included in this.

[11:03] So, you pretty much can find...

[11:04] Let's watch this for a second.

[11:04] To carve a roasted chicken, first, we move the trussing.

[11:11] Let's stop before it's gory.

[11:12] Okay.

[11:14] Another feature you have in here, I think, which would be very useful,

[11:17] you don't have time to go shopping.

[11:18] All of a sudden, you know, hey, you've got to make dinner for somebody in a couple hours.

[11:21] What do I have in the house and what cool could I make with that?

[11:23] Do you have a solution to that problem?

[11:26] We do.

[11:26] We actually have a what can I make button in the pantry section

[11:29] for every bachelor who doesn't want to go to the grocery store or anyone else.

[11:33] It doesn't have a lot of time.

[11:35] You can actually hit the what can...

[11:36] What can you make with beer and hot dogs?

[11:38] There you go.

[11:39] Not a lot.

[11:40] Beer and hot dogs.

[11:42] And then you can select the cookbooks you want it to look through.

[11:45] All right.

[11:45] So, it'll go into the cookbook and find a recipe that'll work with what I currently have?

[11:49] Yes.

[11:49] It'll search through those and tell you what you can make with the ingredients that you already have.

[11:52] Uh-huh.

[11:53] Now, what does it cost for this kind of software?

[11:55] Food and wine, Master Cook Food and Wine, retails for $49.

[11:58] Uh-huh.

[11:59] And different variations are anywhere down to $20 or less.

[12:03] Yeah.

[12:03] And is this really for cooking for dummies or is it for the expert chef?

[12:07] It's for anyone.

[12:08] I can use it.

[12:09] I'm pretty much a cooking for dummy.

[12:11] But also, the culinary institutions use this a lot.

[12:14] Really?

[12:14] Yes.

[12:14] All right.

[12:14] Thank you so much, Kelly.

[12:15] Thank you.

[12:15] All right.

[12:16] Coming up next, we'll get some nutrition advice online and make sure we're preferring a healthy meal.

[12:20] So don't go away.

[12:21] We'll be right back.

[12:35] Everyone is health conscious these days.

[12:37] So when it comes to eating and preparing a meal, we want to avoid the bad stuff, eat plenty of the good stuff.

[12:43] How do you do that?

[12:44] Log on to the net, of course.

[12:45] Here to show us a very good nutrition site is Timmy Gustafson, co-founder of CyberDiet.com.

[12:51] Hi, Timmy.

[12:51] Yeah.

[12:52] All right.

[12:52] Here's your site up here.

[12:53] And we've been working on a meal throughout the course of the show.

[12:55] And I'm ready for dessert right now.

[12:57] So I want to plan a dessert for my guests.

[12:58] Right.

[12:58] But I don't want them to yell at me that I've given them some unhealthy, fat-full kind of thing.

[13:02] How would I use your site to plan a healthy dessert?

[13:04] Well, this is what we're all about, helping our visitors learn to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

[13:09] So if we go to the dessert index.

[13:11] Okay.

[13:12] So say, show me healthy desserts.

[13:14] Right.

[13:15] All right.

[13:15] So I have all those choices, huh?

[13:16] You have all of these choices.

[13:17] Well, I'm smelling these delicious chocolate chip cookies you brought here.

[13:20] So let's go to chocolate chip cookies and see what would happen if I serve my guests chocolate chip cookies.

[13:25] All right.

[13:25] So here it gives you the prep time, the ingredients, method, and everything else.

[13:29] Okay.

[13:29] So there's the nutrition information.

[13:30] The nutrition information and the carbohydrate and exchanges.

[13:33] All right.

[13:33] Now let's go backwards a bit so I have some context.

[13:35] Let's say I'm personally planning my own diet and I want to limit myself to 2,000 calories a day.

[13:41] And I want to see what I should be eating in terms of dessert and everything else.

[13:44] Could I set that up inside?

[13:46] Absolutely.

[13:47] We have a program called the Daily Food Planner.

[13:49] And this is our most frequented page.

[13:51] So up here it gives you a choice of breakfast, lunch, dinner.

[13:54] All right.

[13:54] So we set it for 2,000 calories it says up there.

[13:56] And then we have 300, 400, 500, 600.

[13:59] It's mix and match.

[14:01] Okay.

[14:01] So I'm going to plan a breakfast right now.

[14:03] Okay.

[14:03] And I have to tell you how many calories I want to spend on breakfast.

[14:05] All right.

[14:06] You tell me.

[14:06] What should I do?

[14:07] Well, 500, 300.

[14:08] What do you...

[14:09] Oh, let's say 300.

[14:10] We'll start smaller.

[14:11] Okay.

[14:11] So you start here and then you have the list here of options.

[14:15] So have you seen anything you like?

[14:16] Oh, blueberry waffle.

[14:18] Absolutely.

[14:19] So we'll choose one of those.

[14:19] Only 300 calories.

[14:20] That's a done deal.

[14:21] All right.

[14:21] And you can see that it's...

[14:22] All right.

[14:22] So I spent my calories.

[14:23] I have 1692 left to go.

[14:25] All right.

[14:25] So let's move on to lunch.

[14:27] And how about...

[14:28] What do we want here?

[14:29] From 500 maybe?

[14:30] Okay, sure.

[14:31] I've got plenty to go.

[14:31] 600.

[14:32] What the heck?

[14:32] I've got 1,800 to spend.

[14:34] What the heck?

[14:34] So you refresh the screen and then you scroll down until you find something that looks appealing

[14:38] to you.

[14:39] All right.

[14:50] Let's see.

[14:51] All right.

[14:52] And 600 plus.

[14:54] Absolutely.

[14:56] And these are my choices.

[14:57] These are your choices.

[14:58] Okay.

[14:59] And do you see anything?

[14:59] Well, I've got a lot to spend.

[15:00] So let's get with something with a lot of calories.

[15:02] Okay.

[15:02] Well, 699.

[15:03] Chicken and potato pancakes.

[15:05] That sounds very good.

[15:06] Okay.

[15:06] So I would choose that for my meal.

[15:08] And now you're done.

[15:09] And I still have 700 calories to spend.

[15:11] Right.

[15:11] So how about junk food?

[15:12] You haven't had beverages.

[15:13] You haven't had snacks.

[15:14] Now, how much junk can I afford to eat that day and still stand in my 2,000?

[15:17] Well, we want to make sure you've got a balanced diet here.

[15:20] Oops.

[15:21] Now, I want snacks.

[15:22] Forget the beverages.

[15:23] Yeah, give me snacks.

[15:24] So what type of snack would you like?

[15:26] You've got fruit snacks?

[15:27] Well, let's go sweet snacks.

[15:28] Let's do it, you know.

[15:29] Sweet snacks.

[15:30] There you go.

[15:31] I don't want healthy snacks.

[15:32] There's a reflection on the screen.

[15:33] I'm having heard that.

[15:34] There you go.

[15:34] So what do you want?

[15:36] You've got cookies?

[15:36] Well, keep on going.

[15:37] Keep on going.

[15:39] You've got prunes.

[15:40] How about prunes?

[15:41] Oh, dear.

[15:42] Not my first joke.

[15:43] Raisins.

[15:44] How about cookies?

[15:45] All right, let's do the cookies again.

[15:46] Yeah.

[15:46] Ginger snaps.

[15:47] That looks pretty evil there.

[15:48] So we pick ginger.

[15:49] Let's have three of them.

[15:51] Okay.

[15:51] So I can have three ginger snaps, and I'm still under my diet there.

[15:55] They're still under.

[15:56] But you haven't had anything to drink yet.

[15:58] So let's just say you've finished it.

[16:01] You go here, and it will tell you what you've had for the day.

[16:04] And then as you scroll down, you'll see that you have a comprehensive shopping list

[16:08] at the bottom here that you can just tear off, go to the supermarket.

[16:11] Can I actually plan not just the day, but suppose I want to lose weight.

[16:15] And so I want, you know, a two-week, a one-month plan or something.

[16:18] Yeah, that kind of thing.

[16:19] And you want more structure.

[16:20] Yeah.

[16:20] All right.

[16:20] Let's go to succeed.

[16:22] This is our 12-week meal plans.

[16:24] These are very, you have 16 different options that you can scroll through, and then you can

[16:28] choose calorie range.

[16:30] So I can set the whole diet bit here also.

[16:33] Absolutely.

[16:33] Before we run out of time, one of the things you have in here is really cool, which is

[16:36] the fast food sort of plan, all right?

[16:38] Oh, yeah.

[16:38] Because we don't all spend time at home eating, you know, making all these healthy meals.

[16:41] We run out to Burger King and McDonald's, et cetera.

[16:43] And I want to say, what's the least bad of those choices?

[16:46] All right.

[16:47] So let's go to the fast food quest.

[16:49] Now we have 35 different restaurants listed here.

[16:51] Okay.

[16:51] So I want to choose between a Burger King and a Carl's Jr., which are right across the

[16:56] street from each other.

[16:57] Which is the best?

[16:57] And you want to choose a hamburger, right?

[16:59] Yeah, I'm going to buy a hamburger, let's say.

[17:00] Choose a hamburger.

[17:01] You scroll down to the bottom here.

[17:02] And what do you want here?

[17:03] Do you want it sorted by restaurant, by calories?

[17:05] What are you trying to watch?

[17:06] Oh, I don't know.

[17:07] Calories?

[17:07] Let's start with calories, I guess.

[17:08] Okay, let's go.

[17:09] Calories.

[17:10] And you hit results.

[17:10] Which hamburger has the fewest calories?

[17:12] All right.

[17:14] And it's doing all the calculations here.

[17:15] And the page loads, and you have...

[17:17] So Burger King would have been 320 for my hamburger, and Carl's would have been 330.

[17:20] Right.

[17:21] It's from the lowest to the highest.

[17:22] Yeah.

[17:22] So if you had...

[17:23] So basic hamburger, I'm better off than this.

[17:25] 320, 15 grams of fat, et cetera.

[17:27] So go down to the lowest.

[17:28] Let's look at the really bad cases.

[17:29] Well, the really bad one would be...

[17:31] The double whopper.

[17:32] Double whopper, 1,010 calories.

[17:34] That's going to kill my whole thing for the day.

[17:36] And that's without French fries.

[17:37] Last question, real quick, Timmy.

[17:38] You've got a Palm 7 here.

[17:39] I can access information on a Palm 7?

[17:41] You can.

[17:42] Absolutely.

[17:42] We have eight of our applications on the Palm 7, including the fast food question.

[17:45] So even out there at the restaurant, I just sort of tapping it down.

[17:47] That's great.

[17:48] Tapping in and deciding what's the best choice.

[17:50] That's great.

[17:50] Cyberdiet.com.

[17:52] Thank you so much.

[17:52] Thank you.

[17:53] Well, you've probably seen that TV commercial where the refrigerator repairman shows up to

[17:57] fix the fridge even though no one has called him yet.

[17:59] Well, we are entering this era of intelligent kitchen appliances.

[18:03] Here to show us some of the high-tech options for the kitchen of the future is Vince Vasquez

[18:07] of Sun Microsystems.

[18:08] Hi, Vince.

[18:09] Hello.

[18:09] All right.

[18:10] You've got a couple cool gadgets here.

[18:12] Let's start out.

[18:13] What is this thing we're looking at?

[18:14] This is what we call a web pad.

[18:16] It's a wireless device.

[18:17] Very different than a PC.

[18:19] See, we can pick it up.

[18:21] You look at today, we deliver services into the home via PC.

[18:24] Very complicated.

[18:25] My mother doesn't know how to work with PC.

[18:27] Right.

[18:28] So this is non-PC based?

[18:29] Non-PC based.

[18:30] It's actually running Linux, but it could be running a number of different operations.

[18:32] All right, now you're running Linux.

[18:33] So let's explain sort of the whole system here.

[18:35] You have a little home network set up?

[18:37] Is that the idea?

[18:37] We do have a home network.

[18:38] A Linux space network?

[18:39] Yes.

[18:39] We have a home gateway.

[18:41] This is from a box from Cisco.

[18:43] Okay.

[18:43] It's going to allow us to bring connectivity from the outside, say over DSL or cable, into

[18:49] our networks in the home.

[18:50] And inside the home, I'm networked using what?

[18:52] We have a number of options there.

[18:54] We could be doing power lines.

[18:55] Okay.

[18:55] So you have regular plugs.

[18:56] Got you.

[18:57] It could be doing wireless.

[18:58] In fact, this is wireless here.

[18:59] All right.

[18:59] Now, how would I use this?

[19:00] Could this be like on my refrigerator door or just sitting on the kitchen counter?

[19:04] Absolutely.

[19:04] In fact, Whirlpool, this is a Whirlpool product, shows it as going right into the refrigerator

[19:09] door, although you don't need to.

[19:10] So this would be the sort of web fridge we've heard about of the future.

[19:13] Yes.

[19:14] But because it's wireless, you can take it off of the refrigerator.

[19:17] Just carry it around.

[19:18] Put it right by the oven and do your cooking.

[19:19] All right.

[19:20] Let's see what we can do with this, Vince.

[19:21] This is appliances.

[19:22] What happens if I touch it?

[19:23] This is a touch pad too, right?

[19:24] So no keyboard.

[19:25] It's touch pad.

[19:26] There is a keyboard available, but we think-

[19:27] But you don't need it.

[19:27] It's a little bit easier just to touch the button.

[19:29] So if I go to appliances, what can I do?

[19:31] In this case, we have a few networked appliances available.

[19:33] We have a dishwasher, a refrigerator, and a coffee maker.

[19:36] So I can actually operate these appliances from this web pad?

[19:38] Absolutely.

[19:39] You could go, for example, to the dishwasher and operate it here.

[19:42] And there's all my controls by remote, huh?

[19:44] And in fact, if the dishwasher was having problems, it could tell you via the web pad that

[19:49] it's having certain problems.

[19:50] It could communicate that to the manufacturer so they can actually do diagnostics.

[19:54] So we're going back.

[19:54] Same idea with the fridge then, if I clicked on fridge there?

[19:57] Well, actually, the refrigerator and the coffee maker as well.

[20:00] So here we could operate the coffee maker.

[20:03] So you have a coffee maker over there.

[20:04] So theoretically, I could set this up, automatically turn on my coffee pot at a certain time, turn

[20:08] it off and do all that stuff.

[20:09] Absolutely.

[20:09] Not only that, you could be talking to an alarm clock.

[20:13] And so when the alarm clock turns on in the morning, it could automatically turn on your

[20:16] coffee maker for you.

[20:17] Now, you have a little scanner over there.

[20:18] Explain what I would do with that.

[20:20] Absolutely.

[20:21] Well, you may want to have a shopping list.

[20:24] Today, if you want to buy things over the web, you type things into a shopping list.

[20:29] It's a little cumbersome.

[20:30] You have to bring a PC up.

[20:32] Something that's very easy to use.

[20:33] So this is for real.

[20:34] If I have stuff at home and I say, hey, I just used up this can, I would just go scan

[20:38] it?

[20:39] You would just simply go connect and it would be in your shopping list.

[20:43] All right.

[20:44] And my cereal, whatever it is, I just find the barcode here.

[20:47] Let's do this again.

[20:47] For example, let's say that you just finished the box of cereal.

[20:52] You're about ready to throw it away.

[20:53] You might scan it.

[20:54] So on the way to the trash can, just scan everything, automatically gets to my shopping

[20:57] list.

[20:58] Absolutely.

[20:58] Press the button to web van, done deal.

[21:00] Nice thing about having an electronic shopping list is it could go automatically to a web van

[21:04] or a streamline.com.

[21:06] Let me ask you a couple of things about all this stuff.

[21:08] It's very cool, obviously.

[21:10] I mean, it seems like it's going to cost a lot of money to sort of get this high-tech

[21:13] kitchen.

[21:15] I mean, is this a product yet or is this a concept?

[21:17] Well, Whirlpool talks about this product being available for Christmas 2000.

[21:20] Really?

[21:21] Yeah.

[21:21] And an interesting idea here is the whole advertising model.

[21:24] If you think about it now, if I have a shopping list, for example, people could offer me coupons

[21:29] directly to the products in my shopping list.

[21:30] And so there's a business motivation to perhaps subsidize these types of products.

[21:34] All right.

[21:34] So let's say on recipes over there.

[21:35] If I click on recipes, I'm logging onto a website to get recipes?

[21:38] This recipe is provided by Food Network.

[21:41] Uh-huh.

[21:41] And so, for example, you may have a service from Food Network to get the recipes.

[21:45] Here we have a recipe of the day.

[21:47] And so you can actually see this particular recipe.

[21:50] You could select items and put them automatically into your shopping list.

[21:54] Uh-huh.

[21:55] If I could get that there.

[21:56] Yeah.

[21:56] And theoretically, I see you have other sort of kind of PDA-ish functions down there.

[22:00] I could run a calendar on this.

[22:01] This is my kitchen appliance home utility workstation.

[22:04] Absolutely.

[22:04] Any type of service you'd want to deliver in the home, such as your calendar.

[22:08] You may have a community with your teachers.

[22:10] Yeah.

[22:11] A number of people.

[22:12] And the network notion, the sort of network kitchen.

[22:15] I mean, how real is that?

[22:16] Is that part of what Whirlpool is going to do, to have the coffee pot in the fridge and

[22:19] the dishwasher really tied together?

[22:20] Well, different manufacturers are going to have products that actually talk to the network.

[22:24] Sunbeam, for example, has the coffee makers that are going to be networked.

[22:27] Whirlpool, a number of people.

[22:29] The home gateways are going to be networked.

[22:31] Uh-huh.

[22:31] So that's why we work with, for example, Sears, where they could roll the truck in and

[22:35] set up whatever you need to be set up.

[22:36] Is there any evidence, I assume you guys have done research, that people actually want

[22:39] this stuff?

[22:40] I mean, they're going to use things like this in the kitchen?

[22:41] Well, I don't know.

[22:42] My best research is my mom.

[22:44] And my mom says she forgets her, she loses the recipes.

[22:48] Yeah.

[22:48] She watches Food Network.

[22:50] She wants to actually see the videotape there at that moment.

[22:52] And so these types of soft services are something that should be very interesting.

[22:56] Yeah.

[22:56] Vince, thank you very much.

[22:57] Thank you very much.

[22:58] Well, that's our look at cooking with your PC or with Linux, as the case may be.

[23:02] I'll be back in just a moment with my pick of the week, a new TDA you can wear on your

[23:06] wrist.

[23:07] Don't go away.

[23:15] Now for my pick of the week.

[23:17] I really love my little Palm device here.

[23:19] And like millions of other Palm users, these gadgets have become a key part of the way I

[23:23] manage my day.

[23:24] But there are times when you quickly need to look up a phone number or check on an appointment,

[23:28] and it's a pain to open up your briefcase, take out the pilot, turn it on, pull out the

[23:32] pen, etc.

[23:33] And there are times when you don't have the pilot with you, but one thing you almost always

[23:37] have with you is your watch.

[23:38] Because of that, for years I've used one of these Timex data link watches as a handy

[23:43] way to carry around key bits of information.

[23:45] But that means keeping a separate contact list and it's not very easy, frankly, to manage

[23:50] and update it.

[23:50] Now, though, Casio has come out with the best version of a data watch called the PCUnite.

[23:56] This is really a PDA on your wrist.

[23:59] The nice thing is it syncs up with Microsoft Outlook or your Palm Pilot or several other

[24:04] PDAs and PIMs.

[24:05] And it uses a standard infrared communications link, so it's very easy to send data to the

[24:11] watch from your PC or your laptop or your Palm Pilot.

[24:14] In fact, these watches can beam to each other, so you can pass business cards just by pointing

[24:19] and sending.

[24:20] The PCUnite has all the standard watch functions, of course, plus the usual PDA functions.

[24:25] It has a calendar or schedule mode, a contact list with room for four separate phone numbers,

[24:31] plus email address.

[24:32] It has a to-do list, and it also has a browser mode that lets you carry around up to 1,500

[24:37] words of text files, kind of like the Palm's memo pad.

[24:40] The easiest way to input data into the watch is just to sync up with your PC through the

[24:45] IR port, but you can enter data directly from the watch if you're really desperate.

[24:50] Setup is not so easy for this watch, but once you have it going, it is a very convenient

[24:54] way to carry around lots of key data right on your wrist.

[24:58] And the good news is it only costs about $100.

[25:00] It's called the PCUnite watch from Casio.

[25:03] It comes bundled with the syncing software and the IR syncing port.

[25:08] That's it for this edition of the Computer Chronicles.

[25:10] Thanks for joining us.

[25:11] If you need any more information about anything you saw, please check out our website.

[25:15] That's it for this week.

[25:16] I hope we'll see you here next time.

[25:21] The Computer Chronicles is brought to you by rondiamond.com, the oldies site on the Internet.

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[25:59] Please specify the show number and the topic.

[26:07] Tonight at 6, Oregon Artbeat watches as Kate Aspen, a Central Oregon artist,

[26:12] revives the ancient art of gourd painting.

[26:14] Then at 6.30, Oregon Field Guide reveals the truth about crows, here on OPB.

[26:19] The

[26:20] as

[26:26] We'll be right back.

[27:20] Monday night at 9, Oregon small towns invite you home to see how things have changed and how they've stayed the same.

[27:27] I was born in a small town, in a year in a small town, I've been dying in a small town of small communities.

[27:43] Celebrate Thanksgiving with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and our special guests, Sandy Patty, John Schneider and Richard Thomas.

[27:51] Also joining us will be the Cincinnati Ballet Company, the May Festival Chorus, the Cincinnati Studio Cloggers and children from the School for the Creative and Performing Arts.

[27:59] It's a family Thanksgiving, our next Cincinnati Pops Holiday Special.

[28:09] Here on OPB Thursday night at 8.

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[28:21] It's coming. OPB is going digital.

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