- StoryCorps and sauce maker Prego team up on family recording device
- No AI or screens, just capture dinner conversations
- Available only for a limited time
Prego, a company famous for making tomato sauce, and StoryCorps, a nonprofit that’s essentially the world’s best listener, have teamed up to help families remember what dinner time was like before the smartphone came along.
Called The Connection Keeper, it’s a puck-shaped audio recording device that’s about the size of a Prego sauce jar lid and should fit nicely 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 processor. It records 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 simply to capture, say, an unfortunate argument at the table. Instead. StoryCorps provides a set of prompt cards with The Connection Keeper to help you kick off your gathering with a helpful, eye-opening, and impactful speech. The cards and Connection Keeper are part of a limited $20 set that includes (naturally) a jar of Prego sauce and a box of spaghetti.
StoryCorps is something of an expert in this area. They have been recording the stories of ordinary people for 20 years. I’ve heard a lot of them on NPR, but they’re also collected at the US Library of Congress.
In fact, those using the device can choose to upload and store their dinnertime chats to a special part of StoryCorps so they can retrieve and listen to them at any time, and even allow StoryCorps to upload them to the Library of Congress so everyone can hear them.
While some studies have shown that families are sitting in silence (or staring at their devices), a more recent survey found that the 2020 COVID pandemic has forced people back to the dinner table and the discussions it sparks.
Obviously, not every dinner is worth saving, but imagine a last meal with your great-great-grandmother, who talks about 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 make things simple, the puck automatically switches from recording device to high-speed transfer hard drive as soon as you plug in the USB cable.
In case you’re wondering, there is no AI. The system does not understand or transcribe the conversation. It’s more like placing a tape recorder in the middle of your table.
Don’t forget to say “prego” or, uh, “please” before checking in any of your guests.
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