• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, October 6, 2015

Beer is entering the world of connected objects.

Well, at least the home storage and tracking of beer supply, if not yet the actual beer itself.

To go along with its National Football League sponsorship, Bud Light just introduced a connected fridge that tracks and provides real-time information, like the number of Bud Light cans and bottles inside and a countdown timer showing when the optimal temperature for drinking them is reached.

The supply data is shown on a display on the fridge door and also sent via a smartphone app to notify sports fans when game time for their favorite team is approaching.

At the same time, the Bud-E Fridge notifies the owner if their game day supply of Bud Light needs replenishing. The fridge constantly tracks and updates the status of the 78-beer capacity device.

While many consumers have never heard of the term the Internet of Things, they will start to see some of the real-life effects of the technology, the Bud-E Fridge being a good example.

Connected sensor technology can constantly track something, in this case the number of cans or bottles of beer, and automatically provide alerts, currently in the form of smartphone messages.

Even if a game is not imminent, the Bud-E Fridge provides consumer alerts when it’s running low on beer. Along with the alert comes the option of beer delivery, since the app ties in with Saucey, a beer-delivery service.

At the moment, the beer delivery requires a human to essentially tap the app to OK it.

Ultimately, automatic parameters can be set so that tracking sensors, such as those in a refrigerator, automatically link to an ordering system, such as Saucey, and the beer or product is set for delivery at one of the times pre-determined by the consumer.

Taking it a step further, location technology could provide real-time information to a delivery service showing that the consumer is either home or headed that way to better time a delivery.

The fridge costs $299, though only in California at the moment. A short video provides an idea of how the Bud-E Fridge might be used.

Oh, and the Bud-E Fridge comes with an on-door screen display, currently used only to provide messaging related to beer inside.

As more smart devices enter homes, many display screens will come along with them. Those screens typically are set to convey information specifically related to their initial purposes, such as beer information inside the Bud-E Fridge.

Initially.