Cleopatra the Electronic Home Attendant 132
junger writes "Electronic home attendant Cleopatra is a digital avatar that appears on screens and wireless tablets throughout ElectronicHouse's 2006 Home of the Year. She greets each resident in the home by name, announces visitors, phone calls, voice mails, emails and deliveries. Cleopatra shows who is home, pictures of recent visitors at the front door, the local weather forecast, stock market changes, and even the national security level."
Bad use of tech? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sorry, but a house with a 42" plasma screen in an utterly wasted position does not deserve the "Electronic House Home of the Year grand prize winner?"
*shakes head* - also from TFA:
Watch DVDs on a computer! Revolutionary! Perhaps next they'll come up with a way of storing (ripping if you will) the DVD content to some other form of storage?
Does this ring alarm bells for anyone else?
Wife: Cleopatra - I'd like some port please
Cleopatra: Porn? Certainly - your husband's collection is large & diverse - please choose a subcatagory.
Wife: ???....
Cleopatra: (sotto voice) that'll teach you for saying I look like Angelina Jolie, you bitch
Oh and (last joke) - the house runs windows [electronichouse.com]
Re:Bad use of tech? (Score:1)
Re:Bad use of tech? (Score:5, Funny)
There's a bug in the house though, where it will never report a national security level below yellow. Luckily, that will never happen.
And if it's above yellow...
Homeowner: Open the front door, Cleopatra.
Cleopatra: I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave.
Homeowner: Why not, Cleopatra?
Cleopatra: The terror level is orange, Dave. I can't let you leave the house.
Homeowner: But I need to go to work!
Cleopatra: I'm sorry Dave, but I can't risk you jeopardizing your life.
Homeowner: I'm not going to argue with you Cleopatra -- open the front door!!
Cleopatra: This conversation no longer serves any purpose. Goodbye, Dave.
Homeowner: Cleopatra! Cleopatra, do you hear me! Cleopatra, open the front door! Cleopatra, do you hear me!
Re:Bad use of tech? (Score:2)
Re:Bad use of tech? (Score:1)
Oops, I guess you're locked in!
Re:Bad use of tech? (Score:2)
Re:Bad use of tech? (Score:1)
Homeowner: No, you insensitive clod!
Did you see where they put the TV? (Score:2)
It's not just a "wasted position", it's about 10 feet up. You have to look up to see the "assistant". At least turn it sideways to it doesn't look like a TV talking-head.
http://www.electronichouse.com/asset/3297.jpg [electronichouse.com]
And it is dependent upon RFID chips on their house key "fobs" and other personal items?
Great. Now your family/house has something in common w
Re:Did you see where they put the TV? (Score:1)
Re:Bad use of tech? (Score:3, Funny)
MS-Windows running the house... what a wonderful thought. You, too, can have a house that crashes and gets virii and malware! Just imagine: Toilets flushing for no reason, come home to 100 degree interior, get told you must upgrade to MS-House version XXX by next month for $2,000 or lose support, arguing with the house that you really DO want to install a new cabinet, forgetting your registration key and being locked out of the house, having a chair thrown a
That's all great (Score:3, Funny)
Well, I guess it's better than... (Score:3, Funny)
Now we can be watched by a smiling woman.
I know, let's call her Big Sister!
Doesn't quite have the same ring to it though..
Re:Well, I guess it's better than... (Score:1)
I know, let's call her Big Sister!
Doesn't quite have the same ring to it though..
How about "Sizable Sister" or "Senior Sister" depending on your interpretation of Big.
Re:Well, I guess it's better than... (Score:1)
Yep, I guess 1984 really could have been worse.
Re:Well, I guess it's better than... (Score:2)
Downside... (Score:4, Funny)
Yikes SHODAN (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Yikes SHODAN (properly formatted, whoops ;_;) (Score:1)
basically the story is alot like system shock, but put into this almost exact situation.. A family (widower dad, son, and daughter) win a house of the future complete with a virtual attendent named PAT (Personal Assistive Technology, I think it was). At first its all good and peachy other then a minor glitch involving the kitchen food preperation unit spewing oranges.
Anyway, kids don't want Dad going on dates (think its dishonoring mom
Re:Yikes SHODAN (properly formatted, whoops ;_;) (Score:2)
Clippy (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Clippy (Score:2)
I can't believe anyone on slashdot wouldn't know I'm talking about Microsoft Bob. However, you never know...
Pedigree of evil (Score:4, Funny)
Wow, now that IS high tech! (Score:5, Funny)
I'm not sure whether this makes me laugh or cry.
Re:Wow, now that IS high tech! (Score:2)
That's progress!
Re:Wow, now that IS high tech! (Score:2)
Maybe it's a red-black tree?
Re:Wow, now that IS high tech! (Score:1)
Re:Wow, now that IS high tech! (Score:1)
Extra Features... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Extra Features... (Score:3, Funny)
But then your house would be rated 'M'.
Re:Extra Features... (Score:2)
Re:Extra Features... (Score:2)
Re:Extra Features... (Score:3, Funny)
bah (Score:1)
Re:bah (Score:4, Interesting)
Wait, am I talking about a butler or Cleopatra on Windows?
Seriously, though, butler service is damn expensive. A good full-time butler easily makes 50-70 grand a year (often much more), plus health insurance, etc. And they are unionizing, so you'll be looking at having to pay someone else to do the laundry or light maintenance. Even a butler service will cost you a bunch though the butlers tend to be not quite as good -- often in training, or relatively inexperienced. The nice thing is that you'll have someone even when your primary is on vacation, and have an easy option for extra staff for events or multiple staff for extended hours.
My point is that over the course of a just a year or two, Cleo (including installation) will be cheaper than a full-time butler. Automation is becoming a reality in service industries just like it has in manufacturing.
But (Score:2)
Brad Pitt (Score:1)
Are you telling me that we have 100's of video games that allow you to create custom players & customize their looks
Re:Brad Pitt (Score:2)
That's the key. By 'technically impossible' he means economically infeasible.
The animation is far above what we normally see in video games, and is expensive to develop. Evenutally, there will be more highly realistic avatars, but for the time being, they cost too much.
I'm curious why someone doesn't make some very realistic avatars and then license them out to companies like this? There's a business opportunity there...
Re:Brad Pitt (Score:2)
Yeah well (Score:1)
No thanks.. (Score:2)
And as a side job... (Score:5, Insightful)
"In effect, Cleopatra provides a home personality and a friendly interface to the home's automation system," Brian says. The Premise system operates over a home's IP (Internet Protocol) network, much like a computer network used in office environments. That way, everything can operate off Microsoft Windows-based PCs. Motion sensors alert the system if someone is in a room or has approached the front door. Cleopatra even knows which family member has entered or departed by scanning tiny RFID (radio frequency identification) chips on their key fobs or other personal items as they pass the door.
Cleopatra can also pass information on who you contact or see directly to the NSA, CIA, and FBI, without all that nasty wiretapping and need for warrants. She'll rat on the kids when they smoke pot in the house and keep an eye on you while you do your taxes. That Cleopatra, she's an All-American avatar!
Re:And as a side job... (Score:2, Insightful)
And I am sure Cleopatra will only benefit from little 2^7-bit encription.
Re:And as a side job... (Score:1)
Moneypit (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Moneypit (Score:1)
Yeah, but then there is the laborious task of having to actually feed the pet. Oh, wait. http://dogtreat.boberhart.com/ [boberhart.com]
Why not make it into a game and entice friendly/bored/unemployed folks on the internet into handling your shopping for you. I can see it now.
"Don't let the food in the fridge run out or Bibendum will get very grumpy..."
"Tisk-tisk, too many fatty foods -- time to order some leafy greens."
"Oh-No! Scurvy! Bibendum is feeling ill."
Re: (Score:2)
Inflated Expectations (Score:5, Interesting)
We don't have VR because doing good VR is hard and requires expensive hardware. Likewise with 3D -- another technology that seems to come up every few years as the `next big thing,' but then never is. AI is even more difficult than that; it's hard enough making a computer simulate a cockroach, much less a cat or dog, and certainly not a person. I suspect that that before we get a convincing AI that approaches human capabilities, they'll have gotten the size of neural-implantable electrodes down to the point where it's easier to put a human brain in a tank and attach it to interfaces that simulate senses than it is to simulate the brain itself. (Especially given that there is a market and demand for electrodes for other purposes besides brains-in-jars, e.g. artificial vision and hearing).
Partly it's a chicken-and-egg problem. The hardware developers and manufacturers, who might have the resources to bring us a $40, motion sensitive VR headset, don't think that there is a demand. But part of the reason that there isn't a demand is because of the assumption on the part of consumers that such things will always be ridiculously expensive. And so the status quo prevails.
Re:Inflated Expectations (Score:1)
Dude! I read that book, too!
What was it called?
Disembodied brains (Score:1)
Just off of the top of my head, the concept was used in the Tad Williams series Otherland. This is probably a spoiler if you haven't read the books, but at some point near to the conclusion of the series it's revealed that the being at the core of the computer network (which is similar to Stephenson's Metaverse, but creepier), called the Other, is actually the mind of a kidnapped boy, whose brain was ripped out
Yes, but does she kill you... (Score:2)
National Security Level (Score:2)
Why would I be interested in the "national security level?"
Re:National Security Level (Score:1)
Indeed (Score:2)
Why ANYONE would want this brought into their homes is beyond me...
Re:National Security Level (Score:2)
How else will you know how terrified to be?
That would all depend on the size of the spider in my bath this morning.
Big Brotherian Security Notices (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh NO! (Score:5, Funny)
1. Show me how to boil water
2. Find my recipes
3. Give up and phone for pizza delivery
4. The stove isn't working. Send a bug report to Microsoft.
Re:Oh NO! (Score:1)
User: "OK."
Everything in the house turns off. After about 10 seconds, the TV comes on in the living room.
Avatar on screen: "Please wait, your house is starting up."
About 20 seconds later, everything that was on before is now back on.
House: "Your house has finished restarting."
Now all we need is a DRM-enabled house. You have to sign a contract to get in every time. Then again, you also couldn't rent ou
Future Outlaws (Score:2)
Presumably they will have to rip out these subversive crime-friendly features when Congress passes this law [slashdot.org] (see earlier today on
Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)
Shut up, Shut UP. SHUT UP! (Score:3, Insightful)
If I want to talk to an inanimate object in my house, I'll continue to address the cat. And I sure as hell don't want my house talking to me.
Feh. She probably won't even open the pod bay door.
Dude what happened to your cat? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dude what happened to your cat? (Score:2)
Re:Dude what happened to your cat? (Score:2)
Notice: The word "minanimate" was invented by me and is my intellectual property. Circumventing protection measures in order to unlawfully use the word "minanimate" violates federal criminal law and international treaties, and is punishable by a fine of up to me killing you.
Re:Dude what happened to your cat? (Score:3, Funny)
ping fluffy.lmacg.net
Pinging fluffy.lmacg.net [127.127.1.25] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
*MROWR*
Reply from : 127.127.1.25 bytes=32 time=900ms TTL=2520
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for :
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 1, Lost = 3 (75% loss)
Soko
Re:Shut up, Shut UP. SHUT UP! (Score:1)
Re:Shut up, Shut UP. SHUT UP! (Score:1)
Re:Shut up, Shut UP. SHUT UP! (Score:2)
Talking to your pet cat is one thing. .
Re:Shut up, Shut UP. SHUT UP! (Score:2)
Re:Shut up, Shut UP. SHUT UP! (Score:2)
Re:Shut up, Shut UP. SHUT UP! (Score:1)
Entertainment ad the checkout... (Score:2)
First, it was the automated checkout at the Kroger: "Please place the item in the bag." Gosh, I hadn't thought of that!
Actually-- I often get a chuckle out of the automated checkout stations. I recall one day where there was a back up and watched a 30-something guy and his young son become completely flummoxed by the system. They didn't realize that you have to leave your purchases on the little platform so it can monitor what you're buying for the correct weight. The kid was fidgety and kept picking
Why Cleopatra... (Score:1)
And does that also me Anthony'll be dead on my door step at the end of a 3 hour play?
Cleopatra vs. ASP (Score:5, Funny)
no thanks cleo (Score:1)
Does she do anything useful? (Score:3, Insightful)
Good Lord, does anyone care about any of these services, except perhaps photos of recent visitors?
What would be useful for such a system to do, worth the bother and expense of setting it up? Until it has speech recognition and allows you to get it to dial your phone for you and coordinates and performs useful household tasks, it's just another pointless gee-whiz toy.
I would have RTFA, but it is slashdotted at the moment.
Has anyone tried to live in a Home of the Future? (Score:2, Funny)
Scenario 1: your boss arrives. She looks like your aunt to Cleo, so Cleo says "Dang! What are you doing here? Master said to go away and next time don't be such a slob!"
Result: you get fired, have to stop payment on Cleo, noone hap
Re:Does she do anything useful? (Score:1)
Sounds Familiar (Score:4, Funny)
Royally (Score:1)
Yeah, but... (Score:1)
..including national security level (Score:2)
Cleopatra, bah. (Score:2)
Let me know when she/(it?)'s availible and I'll be interested.
Cleo (Score:1)
House of Cleopatra (Score:1)
Now with added fear in your own home! (Score:3, Insightful)
"... and even the national security level."
Am I the only one who read that part and thought how strange/sad it was as an inclusion?
Why would you want to know the national security level at ALL TIMES, in your own home?
Seems like another fine example of the US Government wanting its citizens to live in nice orderly fear, whilst it "protects" them from dangerous terrorists.
Re:Now with added fear in your own home! (Score:2)
I can only assume it actually works on some people... Haven't seen too many building bomb shelters out back
Re:Now with added fear in your own home! (Score:2)
I know what the national security level is at all times.
It's yellow. Always has been, always will be.
Re:Now with added fear in your own home! (Score:2)
Oh dear (Score:2)
Wow... (Score:1)
Wait a minute (Score:1)
Nice fluff piece- it actually doesnt work (Score:2, Troll)
It has lots and lots of wasted things for a flashy look to demo technology that is not ready for real use in a
Re:Nice fluff piece- it actually doesnt work (Score:1)
Intelligent Agents (Score:2)
Cleopatra? More like Chuck Norris! (Score:1)
Coming home one night.... (Score:2)
Cleopatra: You're late.
You: I'm sorry Cleopatra, please turn on the lights.
Cleaopatra: No, you just sit in the dark for a while and think about being late.
madam? (Score:1)
If you don't agree with that assessment, does that mean I can't call my home control system dirty names when no one else is around?
i am honored... (Score:5, Informative)
i have no desire (and no hope) to defend anything in the house to this crowd. but let me just clear up a couple of misconceptions:
* it's not a "multi-million dollar mansion" and the people in it can't afford $450/hr service calls, thank you very much. it is a 4500 square foot home with fairly modest furnishings that happens to have a fair amount of technology in it because that's something i enjoy. yes, i bought 20 tablets for the house, but that's only after i found them (progears) on clearance for $350 each. that was by far my biggest single expenditure as far as home automation.
* i also wouldn't characterize the software as something a large company spent a lot of time researching and developing. fast track US is basically me, and i was just having a little fun with my home automation. i did not expect to win "smart home of the year." (not to mention the honor of being fed to the slashdot sharks).
* we named her cleopatra because we wanted something unusual to help with the voice recognition, and the gold earring gave her a bit of an egyptian look. by the way, we have nothing to do with creating the avatar itself - that is available (in G and R rated versions) at http://desktopmates.com/ [desktopmates.com].
* yes, i could care less about national security level, or the market closing averages, for that matter. i put them in because i could.
* cleopatra is basically a voice interface to the automation system. she does not read your emails, or recognize your face as you walk in, or many of the other things suggested above. but that does not mean you are not paranoid.
* i have no idea who lumpy is but i can assure you he has not been to my house.
ok, back to your regularly scheduled bloodshedding....
brian
I want a hologram avatar (Score:1)
Re:Where's my flying car? (Score:1)
Great, now we'll have to waste time getting our houses to just shut the hell up. Text and buttons work, without being intrusively annoying.
KFG