سـمـاح
11-23-2008, 12:18 PM
Lights and heat automatically turn on as your car approaches. The floor senses the fall of an elderly loved one and calls for help. Many futuristic technologies are available today – and prices are dropping.
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
Someday, we may be getting fashion advice from our mirrors.
Instead of digging through our closets to find the perfect complement for a new shirt, we may hold it up to our bedroom mirror for a computer to scan. Using radio-frequency identification technology, our electronic fashion stylist will then offer suggestions based on what's in our .
"The technology required to do it is pretty much available today," said Jonathan Cluts, director of strategic prototyping at Microsoft. That's not to say that everyone will want it
Our personal preferences and needs will dictate what technology we have to have, what we want and what we'll take a pass on.
First things first: To get most of these home innovations, the places in which we live will be networked, allowing all the computers and electronics inside to communicate. Technology is already on the market that can make this happen
With a digitally networked home, people can manage all their music and movie files on a media server so they can be heard or watched in any connected room. We can also control all our lights, our thermostat and even our window blinds with a touch of a button.
Wired-home technology is getting more affordable for the average homeowner, too.
".
Some of the first home automation systems to hit the market were priced at $35,000 to $45,000, said Tedd Benson, founder of Walpole, N.H. -based Bensonwood Homes. Today, similar systems might cost $2,500, he added.
"there are huge opportunities using the same technology to do useful things, like saving energy or keeping people healthy longer," he added. The goal of home technology, he said, should be to make people smarter — not to make their homes smarter.
Applications that count
Energy-saving home technologies are going beyond the programmable thermostat. Already, there are systems on the market that allow homeowners to adjust heating and cooling settings remotely, using a computer or a cell phone
.
"The real big player right now is energy efficiency," often not the novelty of being able to turn a home's lights on and off from one location, Leonardelli said.
The home can be programmed so that if the security system is disarmed, the system can turn on the lights, he said. On the flip side, if the system is armed — signaling that the homeowner is leaving — the system could be set so that the lights are turned off. With that set up, lights aren't mistakenly left on when people leave the house.
GPS-enabled cell phones may someday signal when we're getting close to home, a sign to turn up the heat or turn on the kitchen light and unlock the door. Or we may monitor energy consumption in a home just as we would in a Prius, Benson said.
In the future, motion sensors may look for patterns of normal activity and report deviations if movement isn't sensed for a certain period of time, he added. And some applications could read the vital signs of a resident, which an offsite nurse can monitor. When a homeowner leaves the house, sensors on their walkers also can monitor those vitals, he said.
With home systems like these, family members may be more comfortable when their elderly loved ones live on their own, Alwan said. Oftentimes, seniors move into a nursing home because their family "is worried about the health and well-being of loved ones, but do not have enough information to give them peace of mind," he said.
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
Someday, we may be getting fashion advice from our mirrors.
Instead of digging through our closets to find the perfect complement for a new shirt, we may hold it up to our bedroom mirror for a computer to scan. Using radio-frequency identification technology, our electronic fashion stylist will then offer suggestions based on what's in our .
"The technology required to do it is pretty much available today," said Jonathan Cluts, director of strategic prototyping at Microsoft. That's not to say that everyone will want it
Our personal preferences and needs will dictate what technology we have to have, what we want and what we'll take a pass on.
First things first: To get most of these home innovations, the places in which we live will be networked, allowing all the computers and electronics inside to communicate. Technology is already on the market that can make this happen
With a digitally networked home, people can manage all their music and movie files on a media server so they can be heard or watched in any connected room. We can also control all our lights, our thermostat and even our window blinds with a touch of a button.
Wired-home technology is getting more affordable for the average homeowner, too.
".
Some of the first home automation systems to hit the market were priced at $35,000 to $45,000, said Tedd Benson, founder of Walpole, N.H. -based Bensonwood Homes. Today, similar systems might cost $2,500, he added.
"there are huge opportunities using the same technology to do useful things, like saving energy or keeping people healthy longer," he added. The goal of home technology, he said, should be to make people smarter — not to make their homes smarter.
Applications that count
Energy-saving home technologies are going beyond the programmable thermostat. Already, there are systems on the market that allow homeowners to adjust heating and cooling settings remotely, using a computer or a cell phone
.
"The real big player right now is energy efficiency," often not the novelty of being able to turn a home's lights on and off from one location, Leonardelli said.
The home can be programmed so that if the security system is disarmed, the system can turn on the lights, he said. On the flip side, if the system is armed — signaling that the homeowner is leaving — the system could be set so that the lights are turned off. With that set up, lights aren't mistakenly left on when people leave the house.
GPS-enabled cell phones may someday signal when we're getting close to home, a sign to turn up the heat or turn on the kitchen light and unlock the door. Or we may monitor energy consumption in a home just as we would in a Prius, Benson said.
In the future, motion sensors may look for patterns of normal activity and report deviations if movement isn't sensed for a certain period of time, he added. And some applications could read the vital signs of a resident, which an offsite nurse can monitor. When a homeowner leaves the house, sensors on their walkers also can monitor those vitals, he said.
With home systems like these, family members may be more comfortable when their elderly loved ones live on their own, Alwan said. Oftentimes, seniors move into a nursing home because their family "is worried about the health and well-being of loved ones, but do not have enough information to give them peace of mind," he said.