Fridges talk to washing machines at high-tech fair

But the question is: what's the point?

"Well, for example, you could be sitting on your sofa in your living room and you want to turn on your washing machine," said Christian Prause, a developer of the yet-to-be finalised "Hydra" software.

"If your smartphone is equipped with our technology, you can send a message to the washing machine to turn itself on."

"And if for whatever reason it doesn't work, you can ask your fridge to transmit the order to the washing machine," he added.

Prause said vacationers too need not panic if they realise they leave home in haste.

"Imagine you are 200 kilometres (130 miles) away, on holiday, and you realised you have forgotten to close your curtains."

Not to worry. You can send a quick text message to your curtain remote control. If that doesn't work, you can always get your television or your radio to lend a hand.

The fruit of four years of research by 10 different partners, including the German Fraunhofer Institute, the Hydra project is financially supported by the European Union.

Hydra "saves you time, energy and hassle," Prause insisted. With a bit of luck, "such a system could perhaps eventually appear in the shops."

(c) 2010 AFP