Staring, baffled and hungry, at the contents of the open refrigerator is one of those things that we all do, even as we yell at our family members to close the freaking door and stop wasting energy. Now technology has come up with a solution to the problem. The Smart Fridge tracks its own contents, then selects a recipe from its internal database that utilizes those contents. The ingredients are highlighted on the screen, as your door has been conveniently transformed into an interface. Your refrigerator then gives you step-by-step voice instructions on how to make the recipe in question.

Whether or not your refrigerator will sound like Stanley Kubrick we do not know. It's also unclear if spending your time inputting all the ingredients in your refrigerator into the appliance — and keeping them up to date every time you go on a late night binge or get back from the store — is a preferable use of your time to just making your own damn sandwich. But, hey, it's progress. If the refrigerators come with a Peter Sellers voice-and-menu option, they're probably worth it, if just for the entertainment value. (Being There, by the way, not Dr. Strangelove.)

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