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Buying groceries with online refrigerators in our future?

Web-wired fridges may soon order replacement groceries as soon as it detects they are missing

By Doug G. Ware

BARCELONA, Spain, March 5 (UPI) -- If you're among those who don't enjoy trekking to the grocery store a couple times a month, Visa has good news for you.

In the near future, you'll be able to buy everything you need without ever leaving the kitchen -- thanks to web-connected refrigerators that order what they detect is missing inside.

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Jonathan Vaux, an official at Visa, said that's a concept currently being developed. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Spain, Vaux said Internet-capable refrigerators will store various payment methods and can purchase replacement groceries -- perhaps even before you recognize you need them.

Internet-capable refrigerators are already on the market, and Vaux said people will be able to use the fridge to purchase literally anything online -- a prospect that could raise security questions.

"If I'm buying stuff through my fridge, it's probably going to be milk. If I suddenly start to order a MacBook Air from my fridge then your fraud detection systems are probably going to start setting off some alarms," he said in a Business Insider report.

Much like mobile phones and mobile methods of payment that have steadily gained popularity over the last decade, Vaux believe smart refrigerators will someday become second nature. In fact, web-ready refrigerators themselves are not even a new novelty. Some tech experts have been expecting them for years.

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