GE might let you hook your dumb fridge up to your smart home

Currently a lot of people - one might even guess most people - are stuck with plain old dumb fridges that can't even connect to their smart home systems.

GE will begin to remedy that with a test program that will see it sending 20,000 Wi-Fi modules to connect customers' existing refrigerators to their Wink smart home networks, reports GigaOM.

Wink, you may know, is a smart home system that lets users dim their GE Link light bulbs and more.

The modules GE plans to send out will let owners of ethernet-equipped fridges built after 2009 connect them to the Wink networks in their homes.

The companies reportedly have some ideas as to what these fridges might then be capable of, including notifying users if the door is ajar or the ice maker is full, keeping track of grocery lists, and telling family members what's OK or not OK to eat in the fridge.

This is only a test program, but it sounds like it could lead to a wider rollout in the future, depending on users' feedback.

Michael Rougeau

Michael Rougeau is a former freelance news writer for TechRadar. Studying at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Northeastern University, Michael has bylines at Kotaku, 1UP, G4, Complex Magazine, Digital Trends, GamesRadar, GameSpot, IFC, Animal New York, @Gamer, Inside the Magic, Comic Book Resources, Zap2It, TabTimes, GameZone, Cheat Code Central, Gameshark, Gameranx, The Industry, Debonair Mag, Kombo, and others.


Micheal also spent time as the Games Editor for Playboy.com, and was the managing editor at GameSpot before becoming an Animal Care Manager for Wags and Walks.