Can it be?  Is this a sign of the apocalypse?

It seems that almost everything on the television now pertains to cooking.  This evening, after coming home from a very long (but productive!) day at work, I turned on the boob tube and saw something I could not believe – a combination oven and refrigerator.

Yes, a combination oven and refrigerator.  I know, right?

You see, the apparatus is designed so that you can prep a meal and place it in the….errr…froven? refrovenator?  Anyway, this thing that will keep the prepped meal nice and cool until the time you set it to become an oven and start baking the meal.  As if that was not enough to make someone pass out, it can be controlled remotely via cellphone where you can dial in to your frigoven and operate it that way.

What is next??

It seems that the high-tech integration in the kitchen is a nice sight.  But what about the supermarket?

Well, the supermarket chain Super Stop and Shop now provides a “shopping buddy” which is a portable laptop computer that its shoppers can use as they participate in their grocery shopping.  This little computer about the size of a frozen dinner box comes complete with a scanner and the user can scan items placed into their cart.  It keeps a running total, alerts to any sales, and confirms the price of the item.  In the end, all the user has to do is pay and their trip to the grocery store is done.

But wait, there’s more!

The shopping buddy can also be used to find those items that are difficult to locate in the grocery store.  You can type in the item requested and the internal GPS system will show a layout of the store indicating where you are and where the item in need is located.

Additionally, the user can e-mail recipes to their personal computer as well as use the shopping buddy as a messaging device between the user and specialty locations like the deli or the meat market.  The specific specialty location will then message the shopping buddy user that a request or order has been filled.

Amazing!