Disney Takes Another Stab at the House of the Future

Disney has announced that they are going to take another stab at showing us the "House of the Future". The 5000-square-foot house will appear normal from the outside but will house gadgets like lights and thermostats that automatically adjust when someone enters the room and countertops that can identify food placed on it and suggest recipes. "Millions of Disneyland visitors lined up a half-century ago to catch a glimpse of the future: a home teeming with mind-blowing gadgets such as handsfree phones, wall-sized televisions, plastic chairs, and electric razors and toothbrushes. [...] The $15 million home is a collaboration of The Walt Disney Co., Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., software maker LifeWare and homebuilder Taylor Morrison. Visitors will experience the look of tomorrow by watching Disney actors playing a family of four preparing for a trip to China."

Comments

Don't forget the most important feature!

[morgan_greywolf]

Full support for multiple DRM technologies is built into everything!

Re:Home of the future...

[gstoddart]

So, technology that's been around for decades but not popular in homes, and technology that is a solution looking for a problem (if I've chosen to buy food, bring it home, and set it one the counter [or take it out of the fridge and set it on the counter] chances are I already had a use in mind

Indeed. And, really, at what cost? Surely the current counter tops that most us have at under $10 / running foot aren't going to be something we replace with stuff which is as expensive as Corion or marble at more like $100 / running foot.

Since nobody will ever be able to afford this level of technical indulgence, who the heck do they think will be buying it? Honestly, sometimes I think futurists are engaging in the worst sort of intellectual masturbation -- here's something which is completely impractical, that will never be wide spread or affordable, but let's pretend that in 20 years we'll all be using it.

In the mean time, no flying cars, and the average schmuck still hasn't paid for his TV he bought on credit. Counter tops which suggest recipes will be something that only someone who can hire kitchen staff will be able to afford; in which case, they won't exactly need a suggestion, will they?

The simple reality is, this is never going to be the house of the future, it's purely an intellectual exercise of what you can do with a boat load of someone else's money when you can charge someone admission to look at it. It's about as divorced from reality as you can get.

Cheers