Imagine being able to check your air conditioner from your smartphone, or buying a clothes dryer that saves money for you automatically during critically hot days, or simply getting some helpful customized hints on how best to save energy and money in your house or apartment.

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The spot, which promotes a Fresh Ink card that reads, "I don't think it's a good idea to let the dog watch us, " showed a lusty couple on a vibrating clothes dryer.

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You had a guy shaking a tube it was like watching clothes in a dryer going around, says Dale Pfost, president of Orchid Biocomputers, which is developing even tinier tools to supersede those robotic arms in the Lilly plant.

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He has air conditioning, a car, a microwave, a refrigerator, a stove, and a clothes washer and dryer.

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The scent must be immediately noticeable when removing clothes from the washer, and it must survive the heat of a dryer.

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It was a sort of robotic Ebay auction in which the thermostat in one house, say, bid against the clothes dryer in another for scarce electrons.

FORBES: Magazine Article