- StoryCorps and sauce maker Prego partnered on family recording device
- No AI or screens, just capture dinner conversations
- Only available for a limited time
Prego, a company famous for making ketchup 🤌, and StoryCorps, a nonprofit that is essentially the world’s best listener, have teamed up to help families remember what dinnertime was like before the smartphone.
Called The Connection Keeper, it’s a disc-shaped audio recording device that’s about the size of the lid of a Prego sauce jar and should fit perfectly in the middle of any table.
There’s no screen or operating system, just a pair of spatial audio microphones, capable of recording CD-quality audio, backed by an ARM Cortex-M7 CPU. Record to a built-in 16GB microSD card for up to 8 hours, if your dinners last that long.
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It only records when you press a button, starting almost instantly, but the idea isn’t to simply capture, say, an unfortunate discussion at the table. Instead. StoryCorps provides a set of cards with The Connection Keeper to help kick off your meeting with a helpful, insightful, and impactful speech. The cards and Connection Keeper are part of a limited-edition $20 bundle that includes (naturally) a jar of Prego sauce and a box of spaghetti.
StoryCorps is something of an expert on this. They have been recording stories of ordinary people for 20 years. I’ve heard many of them on NPR, but they are also collected in the US Library of Congress.
In fact, those using the device can choose to upload and store their dinner chats in a special part of StoryCorps so they can be retrieved and listened to at any time, and even allow StoryCorps to upload them to the Library of Congress so everyone can listen to them.
While some studies have found families sitting quietly (or staring at their devices), a more recent survey found that the 2020 COVID pandemic forced people back to the table and the discussions it generates.
Obviously, not every dinner is worth saving, but imagine one last meal with your great-great-grandmother, who tells of her time in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II. Or maybe Grandpa’s harrowing stories about the Vietnam War.
The device includes a USB port, which you can use to initiate a high-speed transfer to your PC. To keep things simple, the drive automatically switches from the recording device to the high-speed transfer hard drive as soon as you plug in the USB cable.
In case you were wondering, there is no AI. The system does not understand or transcribe the conversation. It’s more like dropping a tape recorder in the middle of the table.
Just remember to say “prego” or “please” before recording any of your dinner guests.
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