Kenmore demonstrated smart appliances
Kenmore showed at CES 2011 its home appliances joined to the wireless network. The idea is similar to LG’s Thinq technology. All appliances sport WiFi adapter and color touchscrens and allow to control them remotely via smartphones (they told about Android). Also there is an integrated energy meters and appliances use its data to decrease energy consumption. Kenmore’s system allows remote diagnostic for appliances and integration with social networks, i. e. Facebook. But unfortunately there no any information about currently used protocol or possibility to support Z-Wave, ZigBee or something else in the future. So, in my mind, LG Thinq looks better then Kenmore’s system.