Tesco have given a sneak preview of their latest project at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles.  In conjunction with media agency Conchango, Tesco are looking to build a digital application which acts as the proverbial fridge door.  The main purpose of the tool from Tesco’s perspective is for the placing or grocery orders via an Internet connection as and when food is used up in the fridge but the tool will also act as notice board, family calender, email inbox, social networking tool and recipe book.

The system will include a shopping cart tool which populates as items are marked as used as well as the functionality to find recipes and order the ingredients at the touch of a button.  You will also be able to plan a weeks worth of meals using the diary planner tool and order all the food you will need to produce it at the end.

It is a very ambitious project for Tesco but the benefits of getting it right are obvious.  Through tying people in to the tool through purchase they are essentially guaranteeing their grocery orders for the period it is in use.

This project fascinates me as it is a real insight into how the Internet could (and should) be used in years to come.  i have speculated in the past about the use of digital TV to make purchases direct from the television and this is a similar revelation.

The future of the Internet could well involve taking it away from the confines of the PC and integrating it fully in our everyday lives through mobile, TV and innovative systems such as the one Tesco are looking to produce.  by definition the Inetenet is “The wide collection of connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols” and bears no connection with the means used to interact with it.  Hats off to Tesco for foreseeing what the future might hold and trying tor preempt it, it si this sort of innovation which will push the Internet and its usages forward.