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.
this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2026
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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.
I'm 90% sure it's not to actually be used. It's to make people post about it online and have their brand pop up. It's a product that requires no R&D and they can create a nice story of their product connecting families. It's good marketing honestly. It's got people talking about it here at least without even realizing they're sharing an ad.
Is there a HailCorporate comm? Maybe we can start one for Lemmy, just without the crypto-scammer mods this time.
Is it any weirder than the Barilla x Arduino collab?
https://blog.arduino.cc/2022/10/12/barilla-and-arduino-this-is-not-your-grandmas-pasta/
Pretty sure no-one puts the used jar of sauce on the table when they're eating.
huh, weird
they always do in the commercials
Due to not looking carefully enough, I thought it was the actual jar lid. Derp. Turns out it's a separate product. I still can't see anyone using it, though.
nah you're good, the remark was sarcastically pointed at their marketing department
no sane person should touch this shit nugget with a stick
Maybe that's what they think people like?
Art and life are a bit blurry here, what with all the marketing.
And not even good cheap pasta sauce. Store brands are often times much much better for half to almost a quarter of the price.
In my experience store brands are maybe 75% the price of Prego, and comparable quality. It's not high end but it's also not vastly overpriced. Maybe $3-4 a jar vs $2-3 for store brand, or $7-10 for the fancy brands.
I get great value and best choice(?) and they beat the crap out of not only prego but some other higher end pasta sauces as well. Especially great value. I was super surprised by them. And they are like $1.50 vs $4-6 for the various prego and analogs. And I actually think the great value is better than most premiums in the ~$10 range. Carbone might be the one that is hands and fists above all others.
i really dislike Prego: too sweet for me and the flavor is weak
my grocery store has nice canned San Marzano-type tomatoes for about $4 for a big can. Enough to make maybe 2 jars of sauce.
You need to add your own herbs, spices, and simmer a bit but the end result is generally as good as the $10/jar fancy brands. I keep a fancy brand jar in the cupboard in case i don't have time, but i try to simmer my own sauce as often as possible
My go-to herbs are coyote mint, yerba buena (Clinopodium), Mexican oregano (Lippia) and california bay leaf. i will also throw in some toasted garlic and some hard cheese when on hand
yeah it's ketchup.
if I have to buy a sauce because I don't have time to make some, it's newman's own sockarooni.
The cheapest pasta sauce is fine as long as you’re willing to fix it. More garlic, spices, salt, cooking down, or adding water. The solution varies.
I dare you to try great value marinara just as it is straight out the bottle. I may add some garlic to it and maybe some red pepper flakes from a pizza place that didn't get used on the pizza, but the shit is awesome unadulterated.
But you are absolutely right, and I tend to put a little cayenne and fresh ground black pepper in anything I cook.
I can’t, tomatoes make me die :(
But I’m not one to reject a dare so I’ll go borrow a bit from a nei
Please don't. Although it's pretty good, it's not really worth the risk.
You’re right, and I was just joking. Enjoy tomatoes double-hard for me! They used to be my favorite, until they turned on me.
I will eat a whole fresh one right now with some Tony C's
Found the Louisianian
It's ultra weird, although I guess I... could kinda see how someone wants to keep a diary of family dinner conversations?
You can just use your phone to record those of course, but a dedicated device might be easier to use. Since it's not cloud-connected and you transfer off of it manually anyways, fiiiiiiineee I guess? 🤷
I will continue to not buy their sauce
I agree. I don't wanna get prego either.
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.
Yeah I was ready to bring out my pitchfork and light my torch, but this just seems like a weird product by a pasta sauce brand
True, downvote the post until @return2ozma@lemmy.world changes it!
The title here is just the one from the article. Lots of comms insist on that (too much faff to check if this one does since I'm on a phone).
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.
Remember when the VP of Campbell's made fun of poor people? Pepperidge Farms remembers.
Remember when we used to talk to each other at the dinner table? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Wanna bet the CEO pitched this to chatgpt and it said it was a good idea. ?
I actually kind of want one when playing Once Upon A Time. Assuming it has no wireless connectivity in any way
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
Didn't even read the article, huh? Go back to reddit
I did, but go off I guess. It's fucking creepy to put a recording device at the dinner table, regardless of whether it's a 'dumb' recording device or some bullshit slop device.
It's not a wiretap, and it has no connectivity at all. Worth reading the full article.