It's 2011, and things have come a long way in the last 10 years. There are new internet-enabled devices -- both for general access and for specific tasks -- which you never dreamed of back in 2001 when you took Kynn Bartlett's Accessible Web Design course. You use these in your daily life for a variety of tasks. What is one of the devices you're using, which didn't exist in 2001?
I hate it when I go to the grocery store craving a yummy corned beef dinner with boiled potatoes, carrots and onion and need to figure out what groceries to buy based on what is already in the house. I think I have an onion and bay leafs in stock at home so I only need potatoes, carrots and corned beef. So I buy these supplies, cart them home and start dinner ONLY to find that my onion is old and starting to rot and my bay leaves are used up… OR sometimes I have a dinner in mind but don't know all the ingredients in the recipe much less what and how much I need.
In the year 2011 this would never be a problem because of a handy-dandy device called the Grocery In-Stock Scanner (GISS) Unit.
The GISS would be used in conjunction with government required universal barcode scanning labels for foodstuff. The labels would identify the type of product, packaged date and that products normal shelf life.
The GISS would be a scale/scanner unit that reads the barcode scanning label, registers the product weight and sends this information to the "Web-stock database". The database contains information about what is available in the home pantry and refrigerator, and as previously mentioned, the packaged date, expiration date (if any) and the amount of product. The unit could be set up in your kitchen. The database information is accessible by any browser agent (XML based).
When a person buys groceries or orders them on-line the food will come packaged with a universal barcode label and once at home, the food item would be placed on the GISS unit. The type of food, packaged date, shelf life (derived from the barcode label) and weight would be scanned and sent directly to a Web-stock database. As the food product is used in the home, the person would re-scan the product prior to putting it away (or throwing out the empty container) by simply placing the product (with label) on to the scanner unit. For example, boxed mix would be scanned when first purchased and might weight in originally at 1 lb. As the mix is used it is rescanned so a person would know much is left. Another example, a single onion would be wrapped in plastic with a label. It is weighted and associated with a shelf life. If half of the onion is used, it is rescanned before being placed back into the refrigerator thus changing the weight of the available onion that is left. If the entire onion is used, the empty wrapper with label is placed on the scanner unit and this will void out the onion. No onion is left. An onion does have a shelf-life duration, and from the packaged date it can be determined if the onion is still good to use.
When viewing product information from the Web-stock database, the item weights could be converted to different measurement units such as cups, ounces, tablespoons etc. The Web-stock database is always up to date and the information is available in measurements that make sense with a recipe. Recipes would also be on-line and interact with the Web-stock database. A person could choose the recipe and this would interface with the Web-stock information, bringing back what food items are needed and the amounts to buy.
When a person stops at the grocery store, they can browse their Web-stock database for in-stock items or use the recipe interface. They will know how much of the product is left and if the shelf life has expired.
So imagine my corned beef dinner scenario again. I am at the store and check my Web-stock database using a handheld browser unit. I choose the on-line Corned Beef dinner recipe and it tells me that I need the corned beef, potatoes, and carrots (and what weight units to buy). I see that my Bay Leaves are almost gone and low-and-behold, I have an onion but it the shelf life expired a week ago so I need to buy an onion. Cool, I know what I need, buy the proper groceries, go home, throw away the rotting onion, and cook dinner.
Of course, the program that interfaces with the Web-stock database and recipes would be accessible to all people, via voice, keyboard or mouse commands.