Lazy, coddled, narcissistic. Over-sensitive. Smartphone-obsessed. Popular media has relished branding millennials (the generation born roughly between the ’80s and the early aughts) in such broad and scathing terms, a practice easily rejected as clickbait — that is, unless you attended the Consumer Electronics Show last week. That’s where I watched a Whirlpool representative call her mother using her kitchen.
“Hi Mom, I forgot your spaghetti sauce recipe!” went the scripted dialogue. The mom character spoke as a digital apparition, emanating from the backsplash of the demonstration stove, next to a timer for the pretend-boiling gluten-free spaghetti. She got to oregano on her list of ingredients before I lost interest.
by Janelle Zara
From smart appliances to wearables to dancing robots, the perennially hyperactive launchpad for high-tech sundries that took place in Las Vegas last week featured gadgets of every imaginable genre, all incestuously linked through the ever-expanding “Internet of Things.” Based on the gimmicks that unfolded there, one thing was clear: The vast array of major manufacturers and fledgling startups had been reading the news. In addition to being soft, millennials now make up 25 percent of the population and reportedly $200 billion in annual buying power, with an estimated $1.3 trillion in current consumer spending.
“Millennials are a big target,” Whirlpool principal engineer Wyndham Gary told me in the brand’s sprawling booth. (His engineering career began in the early ’80s, making it millennial-aged.) “They’re just starting to buy [home appliances], and they’re going to be looking for things that connect and that work with their phones.” The latest advances in technology enabled the brand’s smartest washer/dryer system to date to do just that. The new Duet system syncs with the Nest app to actively communicate with the utility company, a function that tells the machines not to run during peak-cost energy periods. Because they know where you are, they can set themselves to quiet mode as to not disturb you while you’re home. Most conveniently of all, Duet also features preset buttons marked “Towels,” so you never actually have to learn the care instructions that accompany various fabrics. It’s great news, especially since it can’t call your mom… yet.
The lazy luxury of presets was similarly applied in the kitchen of the near future: German manufacturer Bosch’s new Series 8 oven (sadly only available to German and Austrian 20-somethings at the moment) comes with presets for “Pizza,” “Frozen Products,” and more, calibrated to infinitesimally precise moisture and temperature settings for perfect results. Who needs to learn how to cook anymore? Your new kitchen is going to make you feel like a natural-born Julia Child. And you can skip the silver spoon when Panasonic’s “A Better Life, A Better World” booth features an induction stove that stirs the contents of your saucepan itself, freeing your hands to update Vine. That is literally what is happening in the Dwell snapshot below.
Once I’d had my fill of kitchen appliances, I headed towards the booth for Fuel3D’s Scanify, this year’s CES Best of Innovation honoree in the 3D printing category. The distinction is a bit of a misnomer; Scanify isn’t a 3D printer but a high definition “scanner that does exceptionally well at capturing things that are organic — people’s faces, stone, clay,” VP of marketing Steven Kersen told me. Scanify then exports the data to files that are compatible with CAD programs and 3D printers for a variety of applications: Orthopedic manufacturers can build custom shoes, archaeologists can scan ancient terra cotta specimens, video game programmers can more easily and realistically replicate the intricate surfaces of tree bark. As for the layperson? “People like to take scans of their family and print ‘Mini-Me’s and little trinkets.” Doesn’t that seem a little narcissistic? I asked. “Well, it’s just selfies,” he said. So I took one.
by Janelle Zara
But life, of course, isn’t just selfies and idiot-proofing: Millenials are particularly delicate creatures, as evidenced by myriad offerings in the home air quality and temperature monitoring department. Eve, EcoBee, WallyHome, and more promote the micro-management of your indoor environment according to your exact specifications of comfort, with the upshot of never having to put on a cardigan ever again. NetAtmo (with its sleek Philippe Starck-designed sensors) even sends your phone a little alert when it rains, eliminating your need to ever look out the window.
Oh, and how about that Millennial predilection to be sex-obsessed? The OhMiBod vibrator can now be operated via smartwatch.
via OhMiBod
Now, I wonder: Do manufacturers make these products because millennials expect everything to be easy, or do millennials expect everything to be easy because manufacturers, like our parents, have created and nurtured that instinct throughout our entire lives? When you see infants trying to swipe through ordinary objects as though they were touchscreens, consider the obstacles they’ll face as they navigate the inexorable path to augmented adulthood. (As a counterpoint to that argument, the Girl Scout who approached me selling cookies via iPad seemed very bright and business-savvy.)
After seeing a wide range of new inventions, some of which were actually genuinely cool, more energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, and even practical, I finally made my way out of the gadget-strewn maze of self-indulgence and the bright lights of Vegas. Back in L.A., a show recap arrived in my inbox with the subject line “CES 2015: Innovation at the Speed of Awesome!” Maturity, on the other hand, doesn’t come quite as quickly.
via CNET