Wired @ Home

I am getting a Sony Ericsson W610i which has web access but it hasn't arrived yet so I'm stuck with an Audiovox 8615 from Virgin Mobile. Luckily if you are in the same situation or you don't have a PDA or Smart Phone all you need for this next site is web browsing or text messaging capabilities. Now if you don't have text messaging I'm going to have to ask you to get up and leave.

For the people who have a decent phone then this website is for you. SoonR will transform your tiny cell phone screen into an email inbox and in some instances a PC. Once signed up for the free site, SoonR will install a desktop manager that will let you pick which files to share for the future. You can even access un-shared content with the password you preset in Security after right-clicking the icon and hitting settings. They will then send an activation email and an SMS activation. They seem to be compatible with most phones and countries but it's been about 15min and no SMS. I'll rewrite this tomorrow or sooner for an update. When you want to use it on your phone, find the file or email and it will be displayed. Because of the small screen size it won't be the best but at least it's something. You can also choose to email your content to another one. Standard charges do apply as always.

Developed and tested by Seimens AG, is polymer optical fiber cable. It has been used to transmit data at a speed of about 1 gigabit per second compared to the average 1-8megabits per second in North America. Even though glass optical fiber is able to transmit at higher speeds, it is much thicker, easier to break, and can only be cut cleanly with a diamond blade. Polymer optical fiber however can be cut with a razpr blade, is 1mm thick, and doesn't break easily. Details aren't clear about the projected cost and when it would be released but my guess and many others would say the costs are high and the release date will be in a year. But's it's only a guess and not a well thought out one. Look out for the new technology to start hitting the airwaves sometime soon though.

This device is a simple solution to powering your gadgets on the go without a power supply. It's a crank basically so all you have to do is pull on the handle. It was tested and for 5 minutes and it was able to power 6-8 hours on the iPod shuffle. To show it's credibility it's included in the $100 laptop that is currently being distributed across Asia and Africa. That's exactly how easy and powerful it is to use. It's supposed to generate 5 times as much energy as the conventional pull cord generator and take 5 times longer for the user to become fatigued. It's a cute, simple, yet effective device and is worth considering when it comes out onto the North American market later this year. The company sees huge potential and so do I.

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Kitchen/ Dining Room
The kitchen will be a marvelous thing once you own a smart house. I think the most exciting thing is the storage system. There will be no cupboards at all, except for your fridge, all your food related products you bought will be in a separate storage space. Once your computer knows what you eat everyday, it'll bring out that product with everything else you need to prepare it. For a teenager, they usually eat cereal, so once the computer learns that in less than a week, it will bring up the cereal to the special area where it brings the products up. If the computer gets it wrong you just push it back and ask for something else.
The computer tracks all your items with tags. These tags will be able to let computers know the price and what it is. No more cashiers, but that means your shopping experience is much faster. When you get home and load it in your fridge or send it to your storage space, the computers wil be able to recognize each and every one. This comes in handy when you're at the store and you forget how many eggs or milk you have. All you do is call or text your computer and ask. Your answer comes back instantly. Another great thing about this system is that when you are ready to prepare a meal, bring out some of the items and the counter will be able to suggest some meals. Select one and it will give you the instructions. The dining room will be capable of changing the design of the tabletop which can also be applied to any other table. The example that Microsoft used is for a children's party. There can be planes and they will be able to fly them around the table. The same technology is used for the Microsoft Surface. There is a promotional video at Youtube. This technology is right now only going to be sold to companies for there own use. By the time smart houses are common, the technology will be cheap enough to incorporate throughout the house. The drawback to this system is that it is designed my Microsoft, but hopefully they will make it compatible with other parts like the fridge, counter, and storage centre. If not, competition and the court will take care of that.
Bedroom
Microsoft has developed technology that will be able to display images along the walls of rooms. This technology was made for bedrooms, but mostly for children who like changes often, and the images depicted on the walls can be changed with the touch of a button. In the bedroom, as the computer learns your usual wakeup time, it will start opening the curtains at a certain time to let in the light acting as a natural alarm clock. While you are sleeping in the bedroom, the computer will check out vital stats of your health much like the system used in The Island except there will be no need for urine samples and you won't be cloned. Great movie if you're interested.

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Living/Family Room
In the future a family room which contains a 30-46inch TV nowadays, will soon have an extremely large TV that is integrated within the wall of one side of the family room, interchangeable at any time. Speakers will be all over the room so you'll always have a theatre experience at home. You'll have a remote that can do everything like change the lighting to preset degrees as well as control all the electronics such as the TV, DVD player, and speakers. This remote will be used to adjust any other electronics within the house and will change the different options on the remote to whichever room you're currently in. To make changing the volume of the TV in the family room, say in the kitchen, you'd be able to change to the remote buttons to a different room. The remote changes rooms automatically just to simplify things. I mention this remote in this section because most of us would keep this remote in one of these two rooms as it is a room shared by the whole family.
Office
We have a room in our house that has a computer and whatnot and acts as an office at home. I believe most other people have a room like this. Now what I've discovered is that many different companies have different views on what the computer will be in the future. Some say that it definitly won't look like a computer we see today. Some say it will be integrated into walls or part of something, in other words being disguised. I personally am not looking forward to that as I am completely in love with the modern day computer except for the security issues and the speed. If the future can solve those two then there is no point in scraping the beautiful laptop.

Smart houses are the future of where we live and how we live. They will change our work habits and make our lives easier while in the background making it more complicated as the computer did. Smart houses as we refer to them now, will not only be single family homes that we regularly see in the suburbs but that same technology we associate with smart houses will also be in smaller homes like townhouses and condominiums. We are already seeing it take shape right now as companies are testing them with families.
We as human beings, feel it is on our future to move in with technology and make it one with us. Therefore converting the places we live into a piece of technology rather than brick and wood is the perfect way to do it. That being said, let's take look at the different parts of the typical
General
At birth from a time in the future, parents will have the opportunity to implant a chip within their childs' forearms for a small fee yet to be determined. Parents and other adults who didn't have this opportunity at birth will be able to buy this technology as well with people already using it today. What this chip does is: lets other electronics, like computers and smart house computers, know your there and it will be able to track your movements and anything that needs to be done. It is really useful because it replaces keys, brain space for passwords and usernames, and critical certificates like passports and ID. As I mentioned before, the whole house acts like a human, equipped with a brain (computer) and nervous system (appliances and electronics). As the computer gets used to what you do everyday, like brew coffee at 6am and take a bath at 9pm every weekday, it remembers it and stores it as your daily routine. This makes your day faster because it starts to brew coffee before you get there and draws your bath just as you arrive home. You ask, what if traffic is slow? The computer will be working online so it will be able to monitor this and act accordingly. This is all scary to people because computers will have more control and smart house viruses will become a huge threat. All Smart Houses will come equipped with backup power just in case of a major storm or brownout.
Bathroom
Panasonics parent company has developed a toilet that has the industry's lowest water and electricity usage per flush and it requires no tank and no cleaning for 3 months making it the most eco-friendly toilet in the world. (Only available in Japan) It is a glimpse into what we will be seeing in the smart houses in the next decade. In the next century there will be no need for toilet as "it" all evaporates (just wishing). On a cleaner note, a company has developed a multi-colour grout that can be used in tile joints between 1-5mm where the ultra-white is used for indoor bathrooms with tile joints between 1-3mm. This grout will be able to eliminate bacteria growth, mould, and mildew for a lifetime.How about those times when you're shaving or doing your hair, and you want to see the sports highlights or a cooking show? Well, somebody has invented and produced a mirror that can act as a high quality LCD TV. Press the Power button on the remote and the TV comes to life, replacing the mirror image. Turn it off, and the mirror returns to its normal classy self. Obviously this mirror is not just for the bathroom, but it is designed to withstand the heat, wetness, and sweaty conditions of a bathroom. The crazy thing I find with this system is that it comes with hidden speakers behind the mirror! Next is dedicated music for when you're in the shower. Since it's all wirelessly connected, all you need is speakers in your shower or anywhere else and you can access your music anywhere there are speakers, not just in the bathroom. For bathroom speakers though, specially coated speakers will be used so humidity and the steam of the bathroom will not effect its system.