A washing machine that does darks and lights simultaneously? BlackBerry's QNX can do that

QNX Software Systems Limited, a subsidiary of BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB), has unveiled several very diverse applications running on its Neutrino OS at the Embedded World conference in Nuremberg.
This year’s QNX offerings, on display at Booth 534, Hall 4 at the conference, include a double-drum washing machine (you can wash lights and darks separately in a single load!), a modular train control system from MEN Mikro Elektronik, a hardware security module from Cambridge, Ontario’s Worldline that performs high-speed cryptographic secure data transactions, and a traffic light controller from Swarco that optimizes road traffic.
Additionally, QNX unveiled its QNX SDK for Bluetooth Connectivity developer’s kit, which will be available in Q2 2016, providing middleware for medical devices, industrial automation systems, consumer appliances, and other embedded system applications.
The Bluetooth Connectivity SDK offers a dual-mode Bluetooth Smart Ready stack that supports classic Bluetooth connectivity as well as connectivity to Bluetooth Low Energy devices, as well as a set of pre-integrated Bluetooth profiles, including the classic PAN, SPP, HDP, HID, FTP, and OPP profiles, as well as the BAS, FMP, HRP, HOGP, and PXP Low Energy profiles.
For developers working with medical devices such as vital sign monitors or infusion pumps, the SDK includes an IEEE 11073 Personal Health Data stack certified by the Continua Health Alliance.
“From systems that perform remote control of factory equipment to devices that monitor a patient’s pulse, we are seeing increased demand for a solution that can take the headache and risk out of implementing Bluetooth connectivity in embedded systems,” said QNX Senior Director of Product Management Grant Courville. “By offering a Bluetooth stack pre-integrated with the QNX Neutrino OS, we can help customers improve time-to-market, provide an easier path to Bluetooth certification, and offer the convenience of a one-stop solution for Bluetooth and OS support.”
The traffic lights supplied by Swarco Traffic Systems, powered by ACTROS controllers, are designed for safety and optimization of traffic and road infrastructure.
“Optimizing traffic flow in busy urban areas is vitally important to driver safety, the economy, and the environment,” said QNX Senior Vice President John Wall. “We are honored that SWARCO has chosen QNX to address this critical challenge.”
It’s the dual-drum washing machine, though, that truly signals the arrival of the future.
I imagined that even 1,000 years from now, after humans have travelled outside the reaches of our own solar system and have established long-running colonies on the Moon and Mars, that we’d still be separating laundry before loading it into a washing machine.
But here it is. The future today.
As impressive as all this chatter about the Internet of Things has been, I have found the absolute vast majority of it mind-numbingly unimaginative, gimmicky and pointless.
It’s only when something I have truly taken for granted as a forever problem of human civilization, such as being able to wash disparate clothing in a single laundry load, that I feel compelled to cheer for technology.