Whirlpool enhances high-tech fridge

updated 3:05 p.m. ET Jan. 7, 2008

LAS VEGAS - Everyone knows refrigerator magnets are old school, but so are the photo prints they hold up and the radio and TV you hear when you're looking at them.

Several devices appearing this year compatible with Whirlpool Corp.'s centralpark Connection fridge take over those functions: a digital photo frame, an iPod speaker system and a Wi-Fi-equipped touch-screen tablet computer that shows movies and lets users look up recipes online.

The fridge is available at Best Buy and hhgregg for $1,999, Whirlpool said Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Ceiva digital photo frame, available now, costs an extra $249.

Coming later this year are an iPod dock and speakers from Brandmotion, a tempered-glass message center and the Clio Vu Wi-Fi-equipped removable computer, which comes with Cozi, a free organizational software and Web service.

The Quartet Qnote message center, by Acco Brands, sounds like a high-end dry-erase board. It features surface lighting, a digital clock and a sliding storage drawer.

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