Networking For Overconvenience

Roland Piquepaille writes "For several decades now, we've read that our homes will become smart and that we'll have many robotic slaves at our service. But it's never really worked. A recent European initiative called TEAHA (short for 'The European Application Home Alliance') wants to give another try, and it has enrolled some big industrial partners to make all our appliances interoperate seamlessly. Imagine a message on your TV telling you it's time to start the laundry! Read more for additional details and illustrations describing the concepts."

Comments

Ideas to make this 'worth while'.

[Aladrin]

I have some ideas that would make this worth while...

Someone mentioned dial-a-temperature showers. Definitely good, but not really 'networked'... and can definitely be done without it.

TV/DVR/Game Console/etc that work -together-. Why does my TV only have 4 inputs, and why doesn't it -know- what's on each one? With a usb-type system, components could be chained together and the TV could simply display a list of all the components that are connected. It could even turn the unit on, if it's off when you switch to it. A game console could automatically pause, if you switch displays to another unit. The PC could automatically password-lock if you switch away. Too many ideas here.

TV is also connected to the house network for monitoring purposes. The burglar alarm says someone is approaching the front door. It shows them on the display. It's mom, so you use the remote to unlock the front door. (Not wireless, so it can't be exploited.)

Home Monitor also notices that you finished cooking, but left the stove on. Or that the stove has been on for 5 minutes, but you haven't set a timer yet, so it warns you in case you forgot about it. (This would save me constantly.) Timer is on the network so that it can warn you that the lasagna's done and get you to stop playing the Game Console long enough to get it out. Or the laundry is done, or... Too many ideas here.

Alarm clocks on a per-person, per-day schedule. It can even track you in case you end up sleeping on the couch that night, and be sure to wake only the right person up.

The remote control is actually part of the network, instead of being attached to a certain device. You can select what device you want to access and the remote's LCD is reconfigured for that.

Kids got the stereo too loud? Turn it down for them. Remotely.

Kids watching TV after bed time? Turn it off for them. Remotely. Or send them a video message telling them how upset you are.

Stuck in the bathroom with no toilet paper? Tell your significant other remotely, voice only. No more shouting.

I'm not done, these are just off the top of my head. They seem like minor annoyances, until you've had the tech to do that. And then they are huge assets to life. But notice that nowhere did I say all of these apps should be on the internet. No, with the ability of hackers to get into ANYTHING, I completely recommend that the internet is not even hooked into this system at all. That should be a completely seperate network. Closed circuit, as it were.