Networking For Overconvenience 116
Roland Piquepaille writes "For several decades now, we've read that our homes will become smart and that we'll have many robotic slaves at our service. But it's never really worked. A recent European initiative called TEAHA (short for 'The European Application Home Alliance') wants to give another try, and it has enrolled some big industrial partners to make all our appliances interoperate seamlessly. Imagine a message on your TV telling you it's time to start the laundry! Read more for additional details and illustrations describing the concepts."
Wow (Score:5, Funny)
Talk about life changing technology!
Re:Wow (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah.. shopping for a microwave-oven:
-Does it have firewall embedded?
-Yes, with antispyware and phishing filters that call home, too!
Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)
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Tell your house to get up off its foundation...... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Tell your house to get up off its foundation... (Score:2)
State of the art? (Score:1)
It's ironic, however, that a "naggy mother" is the only system currently known which does all the functions you specify in one unit.
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Re:Wow (Score:4, Funny)
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What!? What kind of integration is this!? The TV should START your laundry.
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internetworked.. or just more reliable/precise? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Personally I want home appliances that simply *work*. I don't really care how fast the internet is on my fridge [lginternetfamily.co.uk], if it stops cooling my food within 5 years I'd be very dissapointed. We went through several dishwashers before getting a Bosch which is fairly featureless, but is very reliable.
In terms of the televisio
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I'm trying to teach my girlfriend to not turn the tap on when I'm in the shower, she just laughs though. I can see an "evil" dishwasher having great fun.
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http://www.info-putz.de/db/news/meldungen_foto.ph
Re:internetworked.. or just more reliable/precise? (Score:4, Informative)
Apart from the digital input, these already exist. Companies like Grohe produce thermostatic faucets like these [groheamerica.com].
They typically have two knobs, one to set the temperature, and one to set the amount of water. I've been using these for years, and (provided you get a good one, and not a cheap-ass B-brand) they work perfectly. They're not exactly cheap (>$100), but worth it. Temperature control is to sub-1 degree C accuracy.
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In French-speaking areas, water faucets are labelled F (froid) et C (chaude). Many a non-Francophone tourist has been burned (pun intended) by this.
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http://www.infolink.com.au/articles/17/0C002517.as px [infolink.com.au]
advertising.. the wave of the future (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine, popup advertising following you around the house!
I would wait... (Score:5, Funny)
"BEEP BEEP! Time to walk the... oh, I see you're a little busy... I'll remind you in a couple minutes or so... (that IS all you'll need, right?)"
What the? (Score:4, Insightful)
If that's the best example they can come up with, then I don't have high hopes for this technology. Seriously guys, if you want to get consumers to buy all-new networked home appliances then at least present us with a decent reason why.
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Perhaps they should have said "porn streaming to all your apliances"?
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I can give you three: (1) it will make them more expensive, (2) it will make them more fun for geeks to shop for and buy, and (3) it will create a whole new level of complexity, annoyance, and expense when they malfunction.
But will they actually make anyone's life easier? I doubt it.
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I'd like my alarm clock to start my coffee maker, myself. I'd like it to be smart enough to only do that if it knows it's been refilled (water level sensor, easy). I don't want to bother setting both. I mean, I can live without it, but if it were possible, easy, and cheap, why not?
Knowing the appliance manufacturers though, there would probably be 50 different communication protocols for this to ha
Consider the other side too... (Score:4, Insightful)
To make matters worse, there have been studies that support the fact that pregnant women stressed by all these gadgets/technology, are more likely to have kids with severe mental or psychotic problems. Do you know that the chances of a kid getting a brain disorder are just 1 in 166? It iused to be 1 in 11000 in the late sixties.
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What sources for your statistic about mental health? (it's not that I disagree, I don't know anything about this subject, it's only that I find this astonishing)
JP
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Diagnosis for that sort of thing has changed quite a bit since then - it's barely an apples-to-apples comparison. That said - any legitimate increase, when you get right down to it,
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Nobody knew that these cellphones, together with similar technology would contribute to the increase in our stress levels.
It does seem that the tech making everybody more productive just increased expectations on productivity, and thus increased stress. I'm not sure there's any way around it though, without getting less done. Of course, some people just choose to get less done, earn less and have a less stressful life.
Do you know that the chances of a kid getting a brain disorder are just 1 in 166? I
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It was in the late 60s, early 70s that the definition of "addiction" was changed to include any obsessive behavior. It was in the 80s that every behavior started being a symptom of some sort of "syndrome."
Of course kids are getting more brain disorders; their parents being addicted to the fear of their kids having a brain disorder; and finding them everywhere, is driving the kids fucking crazy.
KFG
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To be fair, it is just evolution in action.
All the mental and psychotic kids won't be able to become successful and become utter failures because they can't hold a job... And die off making the world a better place.
Then only children who can adapt to the gadgets will be able to get successful jobs in engineeri
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Then only children who can adapt to the gadgets will be able to get successful jobs in engineering and science!
Well, I think you have that backwards... The kids who are mental will get the sales and marketing jobs, make millions creating nothing, and the kids who know math and science will starve, since they won't have anything to do (or
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Yes. In fact, it is a requirement if you plan to run as a Republican.
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New DRM platform... (Score:2, Insightful)
or
"Sorry, sir, but your credit card has been maxed out. You may not enter your home."
No thanks!
Is this actually useful? (Score:5, Insightful)
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to stop nagging so you can think more closely.
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Will it clean the stairs? "Well, no. It can't climb stairs" (so it can only do half the house anyway).
Can it remove cobwebs, like a normal vacuum? "No it can't reach above floor height".
Can it empty itself, when the dust bag fills up? "Errr, no. can't do that either".
So what we really get for all this technology is a bunch of gizmos that cost a fortune
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Can it even vacuum the floor ? Well, sortof if it's completely flat, and has no carpeting and the dust isn't heav
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What is the point of having a girlfriend, wife, or mom if you still have to do laundry?
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Make sure your girlfriend and your wife don't nag you at the same time, that could lead to some considerable akwardness...
Rolan fuckhead (Score:1, Insightful)
God damn asshat, I hope he dies soon. I really do.
Or atleast I want to kick him in the crotch as soon as possible. Fucking annoying bullshitter. I want these kind of fuckheads OUT. H
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http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/5738 [userscripts.org]
No more roland piquipaki! Thanks to Brendan Donahue, script author.
why is roland a problem? (Score:2)
Roland writes his same 'ol crap on his blog and probably has an RSS feed to Zonk's inbox.
I fixed my problem with Jon Katz stories long ago, by blocking them in my
Standardization (Score:4, Insightful)
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Life-changing technology? (Score:2, Insightful)
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There really is something to be said to the old adage, "They don't make 'em like they used to."
I have a 33 year old Kenmore refrigerator/freezer that my father gave me. It's older then myself. Still going strong. Going
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Hear hear! Isn't it frustrating to have to fully acknowledge that, yet I'm not even 40? Ikea: I know what you mean, you can only assemble it once (properly), the second time it will damage a bit, a third time it'll move to basement/barn because it's halfway falling apart, and it will have to be replaced. Back to basics, finally get right what we already have, then get on from there. We want to get to the future
Ideas to make this 'worth while'. (Score:5, Interesting)
Someone mentioned dial-a-temperature showers. Definitely good, but not really 'networked'... and can definitely be done without it.
TV/DVR/Game Console/etc that work -together-. Why does my TV only have 4 inputs, and why doesn't it -know- what's on each one? With a usb-type system, components could be chained together and the TV could simply display a list of all the components that are connected. It could even turn the unit on, if it's off when you switch to it. A game console could automatically pause, if you switch displays to another unit. The PC could automatically password-lock if you switch away. Too many ideas here.
TV is also connected to the house network for monitoring purposes. The burglar alarm says someone is approaching the front door. It shows them on the display. It's mom, so you use the remote to unlock the front door. (Not wireless, so it can't be exploited.)
Home Monitor also notices that you finished cooking, but left the stove on. Or that the stove has been on for 5 minutes, but you haven't set a timer yet, so it warns you in case you forgot about it. (This would save me constantly.) Timer is on the network so that it can warn you that the lasagna's done and get you to stop playing the Game Console long enough to get it out. Or the laundry is done, or... Too many ideas here.
Alarm clocks on a per-person, per-day schedule. It can even track you in case you end up sleeping on the couch that night, and be sure to wake only the right person up.
The remote control is actually part of the network, instead of being attached to a certain device. You can select what device you want to access and the remote's LCD is reconfigured for that.
Kids got the stereo too loud? Turn it down for them. Remotely.
Kids watching TV after bed time? Turn it off for them. Remotely. Or send them a video message telling them how upset you are.
Stuck in the bathroom with no toilet paper? Tell your significant other remotely, voice only. No more shouting.
I'm not done, these are just off the top of my head. They seem like minor annoyances, until you've had the tech to do that. And then they are huge assets to life. But notice that nowhere did I say all of these apps should be on the internet. No, with the ability of hackers to get into ANYTHING, I completely recommend that the internet is not even hooked into this system at all. That should be a completely seperate network. Closed circuit, as it were.
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Home automation is great, but automated parenting is bad.
Bad assumption (Score:2)
That's a foolish assumption. Assumptions like this can result in less secure systems than a wireless system. In a wireless system people are highly aware of the risk of injection risks and eavesdropping, so they are more likely to employ cryptographically sound methods of protection.
Your best bet would be to wire it, because that's sane and doesn't require EM bandwidth sucked up for a very static setup, and don't assume someone can't eavesdrop and/or inject comma
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The toilet paper is an example. I don't keep a single roll, I keep several under the sink. I don't -have- a wife to get it for me. Simply an example.
As for the 'alarm clock knowing where you are' being weird... Well, there's a quote about technology being indistinguishable from magic. We're tal
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Differenent subnet you mean?
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Complexity (Score:2)
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The more than 30 times a year rule (Score:2, Interesting)
I've been wondering for years (Score:2)
I can't tell you when the last time was that I wanted my computer to control any aspect of the household -- because it has never happened. I doubt it ever will. That is not to say that the stove, coffee pot, TVs, and a few other things are not programmable. They are. But why do they need to be networked.
M
New 'Reality' TV (Score:1)
Imagine a channel on your TV dedicated to showing you the inside of your washing machine while you're doing your laundry!
I call it, reality TV!
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a big woohoo. (Score:1)
Here's an idea. (Score:1)
Or, considering that we're definitely moving more towards MCE TV setups, a TV that will tell you when you have an email?
I know there ar
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I can see it now. You and your date are curled up on the couch watching "Lost" or some such, then all of a sudden your TV goes *beep* -- "Tired of being called needle-dick? Add four inches to your manhood..."
Computer can already do this. (Score:2, Insightful)
We Know Engineers Can Dream (Score:1)
Otherwise, toss this in the forgettery along with flying cars, Asimovian robots, predictably functional North Korean nukes, the last digit of pi, Windows Vista and leprechauns.
2nd Homes, Aging Populationand Automation (Score:2)
Most of us in the first world are aging. Combine that with children living farther away and you have 2 choices: Hire an imagrant/slave to take care of you, or develop automated homes. Japan is going for the
Somewhat ironic (Score:2)
sPh
How about getting current tech right first? (Score:2)
To make things worse, the heating has the dumbest thermostat I've ever seen. It ignores room temperature, and only uses the water temp. and outside temp. as inputs. One sensor is used to regulate the temperature in half a dozen rooms, which are warmed up by t
Uhh... (Score:2)
Just because your HVAC system at your office was poorly implemented (don't even know how long ago it was set up), doesn't mean most modern deployments lack common control systems that are more intelligent, sensors for more zones, and vent control to direct hot or cold air as appropriate based on appropriately f
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Everyone complains about SUVs polluting all the time, but how much pollution is created by these incredibly inefficient heating and cooling schemes.
What's the problem? (Score:2)
Yikes! You mean this isn't already on the blueprint for MythTV. v. 0.62? Considering it's only at v. 0.20 I expect HAL by version 1.0 [Yes, obviously he would be a
Technical PDF link. Trusted Computing Inside! (Score:4, Informative)
It specifies devices to contain security module / security component. It specifies that this security component contains a crypto key and that the owner is forbidden to know or read his own keys (that is what they mean when the PDF says "non cloneable"). It specifies using public key cryptography for chips to exchange communication keys in a manner secure against the owner, and specifies Confidentiality as establishing communication links which are secure against the owner "eavesdropping" on his own data. It specifies Authenticity capabilites, meaning that neither the owner nor any competitor can produce a device that can be substituted in your own network in place of a given device. Any attempt at an interoperable substitution will lack the required manufacturer's cryptographic key and signature to authenticate the device, and other devices can reject the substitute and reject its connections and prohibit it from operating in the original device's place.
Every time the PDF uses the word secure or security, it is used in the sense of securing the system against the owner. The PDF literally classifies the owner as an "intruder" at one point, and to be secure against him.
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One word (Score:2)
How about a Beowulf cluster... (Score:1)
That TV would need an attitude adjustment. (Score:1)
That smart TV would soooo get smacked with a smart sledgehammer.
A plain old sledgehammer would do just fine if you think about it.
Skipping a step... (Score:2)
I'm still opening and closing all my windows...
I still have to go up and open/close the vents in my attic...
I still have to climb onto my roof... I still have to adjust my refridgerator's temuratu
How about stuff that doesn't break so damn much? (Score:2)
We put a man on the moon almost 40 years ago. We should be able to at least make this stuff
I'm imagining... (Score:1)