While most of us can probably appreciate the value of being able to ask Alexa to tell us what the capital city of Uzbekistan is, or getting her to read us the newspaper while we lie on the couch, the idea that the process of putting salt on your chicken needs technical assistance just seems ludicrous. And yet, California-based lifestyle company “Herb & Body” swears there is a gap in the salt shaking market, and they’re sweeping in to grab the opportunity.

Herb & Body’s aim as a company is “to make ordinary life more fun, easier and healthier.” To that end, they firmly believe that their new creation – a salt shaker called the Smalt – does all those things by incorporating a Bluetooth-connected speaker and mood lighting to reduce stress, and by means of an app which will monitor your salt intake.

The app will also interface with Amazon’s Alexa, and users will be able to ask “her” to get the salt shaking without any “strenuous twisting or grinding.”

Is it just me, or are people becoming downright lazy? Since when is the process of putting salt on your food “strenuous?” Users will unfortunately still have to physically pick the salt shaker up – but don’t worry, Alexa will take care of the rest! [RELATED: For more things that are just plain nuts visit Twisted.news]

Now, if the Smalt sounds super cool to you and you’re dying to buy one, you might be in for disappointment – at least for now. Though the Smalt has been in the design phase for over two years, and a functional prototype was recently demonstrated at Chicago’s International Home and Housewares Show, it has not yet gone into production.

To ensure their vision finds fulfillment, Smalt’s developers have launched an Indiegogo crowd funding project. The great news is that those who sign up first will benefit from up to a 50 percent discount on the price when the Smalt finally does hit the shelves.

“Whether it is the healthy eating trend or the convenience of meal ingredient services, people love to prepare meals, get together, have fun,” said CEO Bipan Singh. “We want them to further enhance their dining experience with Smalt by using all of its features.”

As the latest in a long line of so-called “smart” devices, Smalt may or may not prove to be a commercial success – only time will tell. And though it’s easy to laugh at all these crazy sounding creations, there is a serious side to the issue, too.

With devices like Amazon’s Echo in our home, can we really say we have any privacy anymore?

The fact is, we are surrounded by electronic devices, and they’re always listening.

The Echo “has to listen to everything–that’s kind of disturbing,” said Ryan O’Leary, vice president of WhiteHat Security’s threat research center. “It doesn’t capture voice until it hears the keyword, but it could. You’re trusting the devices to not do that, but it’s entirely possible.”

What’s the point of having laws in place which prevent the government from listening to people’s conversations in their private homes, if our houses are literally jam-packed with devices that can listen to your every word? Could information from these devices be admissible in a court of law? [RELATED: Is your smart TV spying on you?]

Pretty soon we’ll be living in a world where everything seems easy, but where society in general is under constant surveillance and privacy is a distant memory.

Nonetheless, it’s almost guaranteed that loads of people will think the Smalt is a really cool gift. And it will certainly give people something to talk about at dinner. Just be careful what you say. …

Sources:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com