LG will let you chat with your refrigerator

In its opening announcement at tech’s big trade show, South Korea’s LG said it would introduce a chat system to let you communicate with your home appliances like your refrigerator.

To do the chat, LG has partnered with Japan’s Line, the popular mobile messaging client for smartphoness and tablets.

LG made the announcement of LG HomeChat at a press event at the huge 2014 International CES tech trade show in Las Vegas this week. In a video, the chat system looked like an instant messenger client. The actor in the video asked, “Any beer in the fridge?” And the fridge answered.

You can also do things like send text instructions to your vacuum robot and control your home remotely.

The South Korean company also spilled some early news about its Lifeband Touch fitness tracker, a wristband that tracks your physical activity.

And LG showed off its TVs with the WebOS operating system, which was developed by Palm as its entry into the smartphone business before it got acquired by Hewlett-Packard. HP shut down its WebOS business but made the software available for others to use.

LG’s theme is to make things smart and simple for customers. William Cho, CEO of LG’s North American business, said LG gained market share in 2013 in each of its key markets, from refrigerators to smartphones.