I thought at first it’s a pivot to AI like what AllBirds did, but:

Prego says that the screen-free Connection Keeper has no wifi or Bluetooth, doesn’t hook up to the cloud, and doesn’t pack any AI features. The point, in fact, is that it’s supposed to help families disconnect, encouraging everyone to put their phones away during dinner and live in the moment. 

“Everything now is AI, and everyone has their phones on the table,” Elyce Henkin, a managing director of StoryCorps studios and brand partnerships, told Wired. “It interrupts the conversation and the flow. We wanted to get rid of that and go back to the basics and have everyone talking to each other.”

Using the gadget is simple. Just press a button, and the device’s two microphones begin recording, and you press the button again to make it stop. You can upload your recordings to StoryCorps’ website after manually transferring them to your computer using a cable — and if you opt in, share it with the company, which makes physical copies of its recordings and adds them to its collection in the Library of Congress.

So it’s essentially just a $20 audio recorder? Still a weird product from a pasta brand.

Okay, so Campbell's owns a bunch of brands: Campbell's, Prego, Swanson, Pace, Snyder's, and Pepperidge Farms. Campbell's could have used any brand to launch this product, so my biggest question is: why not under the Pepperidge Farms brand? Pepperidge Farms remembers would have been the perfect ad campaign for this launch.

This is kinda nothing?

Prego isn't "pivoting" they're releasing a one-off branded novelty product as a publicity stunt. Also, you worded this as alarmingly as possible when you didn't need to.

Edit: Sorry, the article worded the headline as alarmingly as possible. Didn't mean to shoot the messenger.

I will continue to not buy their sauce

Upvoted because the headline is funny, but it's not true or at least hyperbolic. The third paragraph in the article gives it away:

The device, which resembles the lid of one of Prego’s pasta jars, seems to be more of a one-off doodad than an indicator that Prego is making a serious foray into being a tech company.

Misleading headline. Apparently, it's 100% offline, and if you wanna share your awkward dinner table small talk with the culture archivists at StoryCorps, you can by physically plugging it in and manually uploading it.

This is still weird. But it's a little more wholesome than what I expected.

Wanna bet the CEO pitched this to chatgpt and it said it was a good idea. ?

What-- what is this title? It... It's not I don't believe it. I'm not in denial, I'm just thinking how did it start to get this chaotic. Bet if I went back to my 2016 self and said "in the future our lids will spy on us and AI will replace out jobs" I'd be shocked, probably not even believing myself.

My first and only interaction with Prego. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqrEEocY0fo

I actually kind of want one when playing Once Upon A Time. Assuming it has no wireless connectivity in any way

Why would you not just use a normal fucking voice recorder? Or the fucking phone you have in your pocket? Why this creepy-ass pasta-sauce branded device?

JFC. Add that to the list of brands I'm not fucking buying anymore.

THEY MAKE TOMATO SAUCE. WHY THE FUCK ARE THEY TRYING TO SELL LITERAL WIRETAPS

Prego says that the screen-free Connection Keeper has no wifi or Bluetooth, doesn’t hook up to the cloud, and doesn’t pack any AI features.

Using the gadget is simple. Just press a button, and the device’s two microphones begin recording, and you press the button again to make it stop. You can upload your recordings to StoryCorps’ website after manually transferring them to your computer using a cable — and if you opt in, share it with the company, which makes physical copies of its recordings and adds them to its collection in the Library of Congress.

Title makes it sound a lot worse than it is.

Although without any WiFi or AI I struggle to see what the purpose is even supposed to be. Using my phone would be free-ish and would accomplish all the same goals, although much easier to use. This device itself sounds like it is essentially just a very basic voice recorder.

Basically just a voice recorder with no connection, and you have to get your files through usb and submit them yourself to the pasta sauce site so they can send them to the library of congress for "preservation" or something.

Such a weird concept I can barely imagine someone doing that seriously. As a joke, maybe with your worst Mario impression cut by exaggerated slurping sounds, maybe.

What is the reverse of eating the onion? I thought it was satire the entire article and kept waiting for the piece that made it clear it was a joke to allow for the laugh, I'm at the uncomfortable stage of thinking this is legitimate.

If Allbirds (referenced in the article) is an example of a PE-led company being made to pivot from a product manufacturer to data goldrush bandwagoneering, this has to be the home-baked budget version.

It's so... 1980s electronic tat for kids by comparison. As if the Amazon Alexa inventor and Fisher Price had a baby while they were both unemployed. So bizarre.

I'll pass

c/NotTheOnion