It has very little to do with the wireless technology, which is the focus of this blog, but the recent patent filing by LG, called “Home appliance with MP3 player“, was just too good to pass.

The name of the application states the obvious - LG decided to patent some home appliance with MP3 player functionality. And do you know what that appliance is? See here:

Yep. It’s a washing machine! With speakers, special dock and control panel for MP3 player inside.

Now, I know that competition in home appliance market is very intense. And I understand that appliance vendors will try almost anything to differentiate their product.

But a washing machine with an MP3 player?! C’mon, do they actually spend loads of money in their R&D departments to come up with the stuff like this? And do you really need a patent for that?

So what’s next? I think I’m going to patent microwave oven with PDA/cellphone functionality.Or maybe vacuum cleaner/plasma TV device would be a better investment?