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Smart Hotel Rooms in New York City
hc1379 writes "Back in the 90's, Mark Weiser a Xerox PARC scientist envisioned future computing will weave themselves into the background of our everyday life. People will use computing as natural as they use writing instruments. He called it ubiquitous computing (aka pervasive computing). UbiComp was a good research idea, but did not really find its way into the commercial market, at least not in the life time of Mark Weiser, who died in 1999.
One of Harry's blog reports that the Mandarin Oriental in Manhattan has smart hotel rooms that can keep track of guests' preferences and change the room conditions automatically (e.g., adjusting room temperature and lighting conditions based on the guest's preference, and alerting maids when the minibar is running low on soda)."
My toaster has a dial on the front, that adjusts from "lighter" to "darker". It's actually very easy to use, and I don't have to log in before toasting my bagel. It's really pretty well "simplified" already. How much simpler do you propose to make it?
This kind of stuff makes me a little uneasy. On a practical level, the more complicated something is, the more ways it can mess up. Think about how often you have to fix your computer versus your refrigerator.
It also makes me think about how we can use products and gadgets to define ourselves. Your room will "match your lifestyle," it says. How much thought do we really need to perfecting our environments and making everything around us customized for our tastes? Everything from the color of your iPod to the way you drink your coffee is supposed to express your personality, and the world is supposed to be exactly the way you like it.
I mean, this is neat in theory, but you're going to pay a lot for the service, I'm sure. (I don't know which rooms have it, but the first reservations their site showed me were between $600 and $700 a night.) The question is, are you paying for the convenience, or how important it makes you feel?
it seems this type of technology is better suited for homes.
the vast majority of people are not repeat visitors to the same hotel...
Look on the bright side: at least it wasn't goatse!
Let me know when the toaster is smart enough to know how I want the toast this time instead of how I had it last time.
Turning a dial is lot simpler than trying to outwit some appliance that thinks it knows what I want.
Simple example of technology gone awry: Your phone: You are talking on the phone and someone else calls. It interrupts your conversation with beeping. You interrupt the person you are talking to in order to look at caller ID to see who is talking. You click over to tell them you are talking on the phone and will call them back. End result - ball's in your court. My phone: Automated response system known as busy signal. Ball is firmly in caller's court.
I would have thought that every big hotel in the world would have tagged everything by now. Security dude radios main desk " We'eve got Mrs Jenkins from 337 mooving into lobby with 2 towels and a lamp in her bag."...
"Persistance is Fertile" - Me. I can quote myself if I want to.
Your "smart" toaster sounds like something that Microsoft would come up with. I'd rather have the talking one from Red Dwarf.
"refuse to toast until you set it up"? Why not just fall back to the traditional manual control? If I want "smart" mode, I'll push a button for it.
As for remembering the setting I used last time, that's no good unless it also knows that I'm toasting the same kind of bread as last time. It doesn't allow for the possibility that I might want my toast darker than I did yesterday. Do I have to create a new account for that? Can I even can do that, given that it's using biometrics?
If you're adding electronics to a toaster, give it something that improves the fundamental process. Measure the change in surface reflectivity to detect done-ness, instead of just a time or temperature control. Control humidity by turning on a small fan. Apply different amounts of heat to the top and bottom surfaces of a bagel. Detect when the crumb tray is about to catch on fire and shut off the power. Etc.
Mark was a friend and is missed. One of his favorite books on the subject was P.K. Dick's Ubiq. Hence the name of the site. Check it out. -- gnet