IBM's Five Predictions for the Future

StonyandCher writes "IBM has released its second annual set of 'Next Five in Five' predictions. The company's crystal ball also revealed that the long-simmering trend toward "smart energy" devices will proliferate wildly. "Dishwashers, air conditioners, house lights, and more will be connected directly to a 'smart' electric grid, making it possible to turn them on and off using your cell phone or any Web browser," a company statement asserts."

Comments

The actual article...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yay for the editors linking to a blog ...that links to IBM's actual site.

IBM Reveals Five Innovations that Will Change Our Lives Over the Next Five Years
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/22683.wss

Last Year's Five in Five

[Darkforge]

Looks like they've got four more years to make these come true:
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/us/five_in_five/010807/index.shtml

• We will be able to access healthcare remotely, from just about anywhere in the world
  
• Real-time speech translation -- once a vision only in science fiction -- will become the norm
  
• There will be a 3-D Internet
  
• Technologies the size of a few atoms will address areas of environment importance
  
• Our mobile phones will come close to reading our minds
  

Re:Powering off automatically

[walt-sjc]

Journalistic garbage is what it is.

This is not about controlling your dishwasher through a web browser. That's fucking stupid and everyone in the industry knows it's stupid. Unfortunately, things are dumbed down for the consumer to understand.

This is about automated energy management. Devices need to talk to each other and with the grid in order to be "smart". This allows energy suppliers and users to be able to manage / balance energy usage. But it's more than just energy usage - it's about devices that cooperate with each other. Your occupancy sensor works with the lighting and heating systems to keep people comfortable. They work with ambient light sensors and window blinds to keep the sun out when it is at a bad angle, or let let it in and power off / dim the overhead lights... You can come up with thousands of examples here...

Echelon in San Jose has been developing this technology for many years, as have others. It's secure and reliable. Hell - remote energy management has been desirable / SOP for at LEAST 15 years, where chain stores remote control heating / lighting from corporate headquarters. It's just that power-line network technology has gotten good and inexpensive enough to move into much smaller devices. No, this isn't X-10 crap, it uses 128 bit device ID's and is a full network protocol. I tossed all my X10 crap years ago as it was WAY too unreliable and devices were poor quality. Unfortunately, the good stuff hasn't really made it down to the consumer level yet.

Re:Powering off automatically

[tylernt]

However, a better solution than monitoring that through the web is to shut the damn valves at the hose connection (you're supposed to do that every time you finish washing clothes, the hoses are prone to failure if left under pressure, but nobody, including me, does that.)

They have hoses with integral valves now. There is a reducer in the washer end to restrict the flow, and a spring loaded valve in the supply side. If there is low flow, the safety valve is open (to allow the washer to operate). If there is high flow (burst hose), the valve closes, stopping the flood. Won't help you with a slow leak but it's still an improvement.

There are also electric models that sit between the washer and the outlet. When it senses a current draw from the washer, it opens the solenoids to allow the water to flow. If the washer is off, the solenoids snap shut. This is safer but of course much more expensive.