Do you remember the Disney movie Smart House? It was about a father, son, and daughter that won a house that was fully automated. The computer system that made the house "smart" was able to prepare meals, set appointments and reminders, and anything you could imagine with just the simple command of a voice. While not to this extreme the market for the "Smart House" concept is becoming larger especially in luxury homes. Since society is so technologically advanced why not use it to manage our daily lives?
The connected home by a loose definition is a house wired to receive and distribute throughout the house a variety of music, video and data signals. It also is equipped to connect to services outside the home. For example, Sonos allows you to play different music in different parts of your home through their system. The connected home is a way to monitor the activity of your home and your personal behavior all through a network of connected devices.
iControl is the company that powers connected home solutions through many leading security and service providers worldwide.CPI and ADT are two of the most common which allow you to monitor the activity of your house through a mobile app. Time Warner has also got in the market with their Intelligent Home system which allows you to arm and disarm your alarm, adjust the temperature and lights, or turn on and off your appliances from anywhere. All of these systems are continually sending data to you to let you know what kind of activity is going on. iControl provides these companies with the technology to offer us the ability to do this.
The future of the connected home is more likely to engage all aspects of your life. Could you imagine stepping into your bathroom and a scale generating data about your health? This could help with your health in hopes that it would motivate you to live a healthy lifestyle. It could detect dramatic weight change in a short period and suggest that you might have a serious medical issue. The data could then be passed along to your healthcare provider who would call you to check-up on you. iControl on wearables, such as watches, would allow you to adjust different aspects of your house while out exercising or whatever activity you might be doing. Have you ever poured a bowl and cereal and realized there was no milk? That problem could be fixed with a fridge that keeps inventory of what is in it and sends you a list of things that need to be replenished.
Privacy is the one thing that stands in the way of a fully connected home because of the accumulation of personal data that it has the potential to collect. There are many aspects of your life that everybody does not need to know such as your health records or your daily routines. Even though iControl does not own or share the data they still analyze it to help them enhance their solutions. These systems can be hacked and then all your personal data is out there for someone to use for who knows what.
I remember watching the movie Smart House on Disney Channel when i was a kid. Back then, the technology used in the movie seemed pretty outrageous. For example, the house making you dinner and cleaning up after you. I do think its pretty cool on what technology is doing now a days for houses. Ive noticed how lots of security systems are being very futuristic and also other systems allowing you to control anything in your house. I think its pretty cool technology and i would definitely look forward to having this technology for when i buy my own house.
ReplyDeleteI think that having technology like this is cool up to a certain extent. I would not want a bathroom to contact my doctor if I have been changing weight too frequently or for it to notify me if I am unhealthy. I would like the ability to turn appliances on and off, and locking my house up from my phone but any other application pertaining personal information I feel is too much. Like it was stated earlier if someone were to hack the system then they could find out more personal information about me and possibly steal my identity.
ReplyDeleteBethany Burch
I want to start off by saying you used a great analogy using the Disney movie Smart House. This was one of my favorite movies as a child, and as soon as I saw the picture I was immediately interested and ready to read what it was that you had to say. I used to think that the house was so cool. I still think that many of the aspects in this idea are very beneficial. I agree with Bethany that it is taking it too far to contact your doctor if your bathroom thinks you need their services. Systems can always have defects and it would be annoying if everytime there was a glitch in the system your doctor was contacted. However with booming technology Im sure there could be setting in which they have to ask your permission before taking action. It would help protecting homeowners to be able to lock their doors from work if they forgot. I also think everyone would like it if their house could do most things for them, however we are trying to stop obesity, and laziness does not help. Our society is dividing the rich and poor more and more as new advancements come out and this will definitely further divide. I'm eager to read more as new research comes out.
ReplyDeleteI feel that their are both pros and cons for a smart house. It would be great to be able to lock your doors from work if you forgot, and it would be great to not have to do regular chores or having to cook. But their are down sides such as the privacy issues for having all of your personal information, and I think the bathroom contacting your doctor would become annoying if there was a way to turn off some functions I think that would improve the idea.
ReplyDeleteI can recall watching Smart House when I was younger and thinking the concept was so incredible. The thought of a virtual house that can do anything you request is pretty cool. I think it would be really convenient to have a house that can lock and alarm itself to make small things easier for us. However, there are a lot of cons regarding a smart house as well. I think that it would make us too dependent on technology and we could quickly forget about doing simple things such as locking our doors before we leave if we didn’t have the iControl technology anymore. Also, it could be a huge invasion of privacy in regards to our health and other personal concerns. I think that a lot of people would be open to the idea of a smart house as long as it operates in the most efficient way for the consumer. I would love to hear more about the concept and see what comes about in the next few years.
ReplyDeleteThis process would be very convenient to a certain point. Scheduling your bathroom to measure your health when you walk in and contact your doctor if needed is a life saving service. But once your house starts knowing your entire routine, like when your home or not home, that could be accessed by a hacker and then they would know when and how to break in your house or access any other information that you have available. This would also not be available to majority of people depending on the price that they are changing for these devices.
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