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What's Next for Your High-Tech Home?
koreth asks: "You have the remote-controlled lighting. Your kitchen has speakers in the ceiling and a control panel to play your MP3s, your bedroom is wired for gigabit Ethernet, and you already record HDTV on your computer and watch it on a front-projection screen. You even have a robot to do your vacuuming. So now what? Is has all the nifty stuff been done already, or are there still some nifty homebrew projects out there? What's next on your list of high-tech home improvements? What have you had to cobble together yourself, because nobody sells it in a package yet? What gizmos and conveniences do you expect your home will have in a year or two?"
"A few years ago, there was a rush of innovation in household high-tech items for early adopter types. Hobbyists tinkered to get their PCs to act as DVD players, put their baby-cams on their private Web sites, and pieced together low-cost audio servers. But that rush seems to have largely evaporated, perhaps a victim of the .com bubble bursting. There are still lots of products coming out, but they're aimed squarely at late adopters who have yet to catch up with the latest stuff -- witness the huge number of PC media convergence products announced in the last six months, all of them with functionality that's been available in some form for years."
What gizmos and conveniences do you expect your home will have in a year or two?"
Broken gizmos. Lots of them. Warrantee expired.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
I don't know about the rest of the /. world, but it's really cold today in the US Northeast, and all I can think about is getting a new super home heating system.
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2B1ASK1
I really want home automation for lights and heating. My wife actually put her foot down and said "I have enough trouble with the VCR and CD player." I let it go, cause she lets me buy gadgets and gizmos.
I will be putting in more motion sensor lights. The ones I have bought in the last five or six years are vary adjustable.
I want wifi from one end of the house to the garage to the my crappy shed/workshop. I love my wifi. I want a cell phone/palm with wifi.
I thought a heat pump would be cool. Maybe the Canadians here can fill me in on what they use for that. I have heard great things as of late.
I can heat my house on wood, and would like to pre-heat the water going to my water heater. That would save on the propane bill. I suppose the wood splitter and buck saw should be added here. Kevlar pants and gloves for chainsawing.
I need broadband, but satellite is way too much cash.
Unfortunately, wives compatible with hi-tech households are quite rare.
What gizmos and conveniences do you expect your home will have in a year or two?
My SO is going to be a year and a half into grad school two years from now. I'll be lucky if I can afford a coffee maker at that point.
I like my women like my coffee... pale and bitter.
Arguably though, early adopters are the only ones with PC-based 'digital convergence' systems. They are based on expensive motherboards and fast, hot chips. As a result they are either noisy, or a lot of money was spent to make them quiet. The market is waiting for a small, quiet, powerful (in relative terms) platform.
The Via Epia boards are almost there but are just a little short of processor horsepower to handle DivX decoding (and other processor intensive operations). The rumours are that there will be a 1.2Ghz Via C3 processor on a new core revision (C5P) out shortly. C3's provide roughly 50% of the horsepower of a similarly clocked P3 in the current core so at 1.2 Ghz (with some potential improvements in the new version core) you are almost at the level where you have a cool, quiet platform with enough horsepower to be a serious media-center PC.
Of course, Via are rumoured to have some very cool stuff on the horizon, included a possible dual-cpu board and a new processor codenamed 'Esther' to be produced in IBM's fab.
Maybe this is what I am waiting for? So perhaps this is the year when digital convergence becomes a reality for the masses?
What with the submitter's sense of beauty, perhaps the rather cynical suggestion of a case-modded real doll isn't out of the question? (smirk)
My high-tech home could use a working hoover, a comfortable sofa, and some cats would be nice. Much more useful than another toy that breaks after six months, and definitely more conducive to a pleasant environment.
I'm trying to get technology away from my life - it's not bringing me joy.
For $3500 - I could buy a DLP Projector or Or I could go to France for a month - get fucking drunk on good wine, eat good food and attempt to have fun with the pretty french girls.
Guess which one I'll be thinking about on my death bed?
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
I saw on WinCE device that would control your stove and other devices in your house and even your computer. I'm sorry but I'll be damned before I let MS anything controll my house in that manner. What happens to me when a virus hits my pc and turns everything on the stove on catching whatever may be on or in it on fire not to mention the danger to my kids if they didnt know the stove had been turned on.
You REALLY need to think that thru. Just sit down and thing about what you say you want. If, after sitting and thinking for an hour or so, you still find nothing wrong with it do the rest of us a favor and never vote again.
My "high-tech" home should include broadband internet as the first, most important thing. Next would be a KVM switch thad did something unusual--it would come with wireless adapters for the PCs that draw their transmitting power from the USB so that I don't have to have a quarter mile of KVM cabling to have all my PCs hooked up to the switch. Third would be a plasma TV in the living room and each of the two bedrooms. A digital satellite system with a builtin DVR would be nice, too. And, hell, while we're at it, a 10-disc DVD changer (for watching all three Matrix movies and the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings movies all in one long session). And forget the concept of the remote controls we have now--instead, I want touchscreen panels embedded in the arms of my couch and chairs, ala Star Trek: The Next Generation. I want a voice recognition system, too, so that I don't have to do everything by hand. And finally, two fiber and two cat5e drops one stud away from each electrical drop, in every room except the bathroom (WiFi for there :) ).
That's MY high-tech home.
In my experience, the majority of people that have all these devices aside from the ludicrously wealthy are also sadly single.
"Well kids, you tried your best, and you failed. The lesson is, never try." -Homer Simpson
OK, if you're into home automation as much as I am then here are some ideas. Please note that not all of them are realistic at this time but technology is always improving.
1) Full climate management on a per-room basis. If it's too hot in a room the system turns up the AC, too cold it opens a radiator valve or turns on the underfloor heating, too bright it closes the blinds/drapes.
2) Intruder detection, link individual room alarms to cameras and record the pictures digitally.
3) Voice control of all functions. Imagine walking into a room and saying 'increase lights by fifty percent and it happens.
4) A home phone system combined with an intercom.
I started my tech career reading Circuit Cellar and that gave me lots of ideas (thanks Steve), if you ever find a collection of the Circuit Cellar books then snap them up because you will be prying mine from my cold dead fingers.
Ed Almos
Budapest, Hungary
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. - Tacitus, 56-120 A.D.
These are poor imitations of the REAL bagless vacuum, the almighty Dyson. The first time I used mine, it pulled up two full bins of filth that my old Hoover had left in the carpet.
It filters out dirt by centrifugal motion in "cyclone" tubes. Unlike all other bagless vacs, there are no filters to replace. It has seals of approval from various allergy associations for its excellence in cleaning dust and other allergens out of the house.
It is easily the most excellent gadget I bought in the past year, and that's saying something, as I am a sucker for electronic crap. Plus it looks very cool and futuristic.
Any Slashdot reader who can afford it need only try it once, and he will be a customer for life.
-ccm
Too much Law; not enough Order.