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Smart Hotel Rooms in New York City

Posted by samzenpus on from the it-knows-I-like-to-sleep-in-a-bed dept.

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)."

4 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Computers are great by gkuz · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Instead of just making a toaster, why not make a toaster that learns how different people like their toast?

    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?

  2. The world revolves around you by Nerdposeur · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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?

  3. Re:Computers are great by xs650 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  4. Philip K. Dick - Ubiq by gnetwerker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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