Let’s face it, we are fascinated by technology, how it blends itself into our lives, how we interact with it, and how it affects us mentally and physically as we begin to use it.
We now find ourselves having technology in the home that knows how much milk we have left, arranges our appointments, or helps us bake that perfect cake. These have all been Sci-Fi concepts that have now become reality.
Does anybody remember the Disney movie called Smart House?
Disney released this movie in 1999 which told the story of a family who wins a newly built Smart Home (called Pat) which takes on a life of its own and becomes quite overbearing.
In 1999 we would have scoffed at the idea that our homes rule our lives but fast forward 19 years later and we now have the likes of Alexa and Google Home firmly entrenched in our homes.
So we thought we would take a brief look at the concepts that were in the film and see how current-day technology has caught up.
We look at Smart Hubs, Internet-connected Fridges, Robotic Vacuum Cleaners, Smart Light Bulbs, and foldable and bendable LCDs.
So let’s jump into some of the cool technology that has emerged in the last few years.
Foldable and Bendable LCDs
There is a scene in the movie that shows a young girl bopping to the tune of her favourite pop song being displayed on the entire width and length of her bedroom wall. It shows a fully integrated electronic video wallpaper concept. How cool is that!
Samsung, LG and Sony, have all had their hands at developing foldable paper-thin LCD screens.
Imagine an LCD screen you can twist, bend, fold, and squeeze without breaking it. We now have PCs that have curved displays and we now have mobile phones that expand from pocket size displays into full tablets making it awesome for games etc. Sadly it may detract us from going out to the movies as we’ll find home TV screens will expand in size and with the help of Netflix keep us bing watching TV until all hours of the night.
LG’s rollable OLED TV is going on sale in 2019. Go check it out when you get time.
Smart Hubs
Telstra a few years ago decided to ‘give away’ their T-Hub product. It wasn’t the greatest of products but it provided a glimpse of the future. The concept was good but perhaps the execution was lacking. It was an Android device that sat on your kitchen counter, connected to the Internet, allowed you to make phone calls, and showed you the weather.
But now in 2018, it seems that Google Home and Alexa have now become common features in our households. We now talk to Alexa to set our appointments, Google Home with the help of Duplex lets us know how to bake the perfect scone or book a table for four at your favourite restaurant, and the Google Home Hub now integrates with your Smart Home. It dims the lights and starts playing your collection of Barry White. Now that’s romantically smart!
Internet-connected Fridges
It won’t be long until the IT development team at Coles or Woolworths start writing apps that integrate with your IoT Fridge. Your Fridge will keep tabs on what’s in your fridge and the expiry of each product you’ve purchased. It’ll even keep a watchful eye on the things you eat and provide that information to 3rd party companies. So if you run low on some milk, you may find retailers will push inventory notifications back to you, but we all know it won’t end there.
But be careful, like any software, there are system bugs. *YUK* and it’s these bugs that might just give you and your guests a bought of food poisoning if you trust it implicitly.
Robot Vacuum Cleaners
OMG… aren’t we becoming lazy?…. we now have machines doing the chores we loathe the most. RVC’s have been around for a while now but with every year that passes they get smarter.
Newer models now have inbuilt Artificial Intelligence recognising objects before it tries to suck them up! This allows it to adapt to the home environment and perform a better job.
Smart Light Bulbs
Ok, before writing this, We wonder what the usefulness would be of a Smart Light Bulb. Smart Light Bulbs connect to your WiFi network and can be controlled by a tablet, mobile, or even your home smart hub. Pretty cool but are they really that useful? So what do they do?
We’ll they dim on command, they can be controlled from anywhere, some play music, but the coolest thing is, they help you sleep better. Some models omit light that helps you regulate natural melatonin production. It’s this production that either helps you fall asleep easier or help you wake up.
Roll on 2019 – lets see what you’ve got!
So where did the year go? 2018 has now been replaced with a new year which promises to fulfil all the fantasies of Sci-Fi writers and ultimately make them into 2019’s reality.
