CES: Windows Coffee Maker?

Somewhere, Joe DiMaggio is rolling over in his grave.

For those of you too young to remember, Joe D was the face of Mr. Coffee; when I was a kid, there was no Starbucks, no tall soy latte, no "lifestyle" associated with coffee. You made it at home, and were looked at funny if you were too rich or too foolhardy to do so.

Coffee came pre-ground in a big can, and you used one of Joltin' Joe's coffee makers to brew it. You just did.

Now, coffee and everything surrounding coffee has evolved. The old coffee ecosystem was a can of coffee, a Mr. Coffee, paper filters, an old mug, and maybe some cream & sugar and a wooden stir. Today, it's obviously a whole different world. And, yesterday, the coffee ecosystem got a little weirder.

That's right--the networked coffee maker.

I'm actually a huge fan of the capabilities Microsoft and their partners are bringing to bear here, and it's certainly generating enough discussion to get folks writing about it. (Guilty)

Don't focus on the coffee maker. Focus on the serious, useful, real-world applications like digital photo frame synchronization over the network. That's awesome, and it's coming soon.

Precious few of you likely remember the SNMP toaster, so we'll save that discussion for another time. Good stuff here from Microsoft...I look forward to being able to buy some of these devices embedded with smarts--but I think I'll take a pass on the coffee maker. I might be a Cubs fan, but I'd feel weird slighting Joe D.