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Alice Doesn't Live Here Any More The Brady's canned her. They have a Smart Home now. by Guy Babineau
It's been one of those days but at least it's over and as you drive back home you can relax. Why? Because your new pad is smart. When you get there you won't have to perform irksome chores like turning on the lights, adjusting the thermostat or drawing the blinds. The minute you open the door and switch off the security system your audio centre will kick in, grooving with random selections of music downloaded from the Web while you were at work. The fridge will be fully stocked. When you ran out of milk and pizza pockets this morning, before you threw out the cartons you swiped the bar codes on your refrigerator's keypad. They were added to your digital shopping list which got zapped across the Internet to your e-grocer, who delivered earlier in the day using a pre-authorized entry code. Best of all, the roast should be cooked to perfection. But uh-oh, what's that smell? You dump your stuff inside the front door and dash to the kitchen. Smoke billows out of the stove. The roast is toast. What happened? Your WAP (wireless access protocol) is in sync with your PDA (personal digital assistant) and your local LAN (local area network) seems to be working okay. You call up your service provider and a techie rushes over two hours later. After spending another hour trying to figure out the problem, she finds out that it's relatively simple. It's not a software glitch. It's hardware. A mouse got into the stove and chewed off a wire. In The Brady Bunch, the cult sitcom of Generation you-know-who, the maid Alice did all of the dirty work. Now we can get technology to do it, at least that's what new home buyers are counting on as more of them hire contractors to install hi-tech systems. If you look past the hi-techtosterone bafflegab of digital poobahs, you'll find that what they promise is not necessarily what you'll get. In the 1970s sci-fi flick Demonseed, Julie Christie gets impregnated by a computer-controlled house. Who needs that? In Star Trek, those lazy Federation slobs count on a talking computer to do everything but whenever it spins out of control, they face death. Thanks, but no thanks. Who wants technology they can't control? Much of our perception of space age household gadgetry comes from pop culture futurism, but what's the reality? What exactly are smart homes and is there anyone in Toronto who "does" them? "To me a Smart Home is a home where devices such as home computers, printers, energy, home and security systems are linked together into one centrally controlled system," says Henrik Ebeklint via email. He's the Managing Director of IntelliCom, a company headquartered in Sweden that consults with international technology companies who want to develop home and building automation. IntelliCom manages a website called smarthomeforum.com. "We've created installations to evaluate how to make concepts function and how to provide services at a reasonable cost. The prominent integrated features people want, that we'll see within a year or two in this order, are shared Internet access, music and video on demand, portal services, IP-telephony, bookings, home security and energy solutions." Broadband is the ticket. Broadband means digital "space" large enough to accommodate the information bits you need for interrelated home automation and two-way high speed Internet connectivity. Broadband innovators like the company Bluetooth promise its availability by the end of 2001. Until then, it's wires and cables for most of us, with a bit of wireless thrown in. In Europe, affordable, effective, total wireless home automation may be a reality before it is here simply because member nations have been hard at work cooperating on how to synchronize a variety of systems, technological and otherwise. "The U.S. is ahead of Canada in this area," Jeff Lockyear of Synergy Home Systems says over the phone. Toronto-based Synergy is one of Ontario's leading installers of smart home systems. They're who you call to outfit your new house or condo with a hi-tech infrastructure. Sometimes Jeff receives calls from contractors but usually home owners contact him directly. "Long gone are the days when you got the cable guy to staple wires to your wall. We try to set things up with the future in mind. We'll install extra conduits for phones, TVs and computers in anticipation of new developments. We're big on integration, we believe that all home systems should be accessible and controllable from one place. Think of all the remotes that pile up with every new feature you add on to your television. We want to avoid that." As with PCs, which granted are rapidly improving, smart homes are bitsy-piecey. The technology is Frankensteined together from a variety of unrelated sources. Appliance makers, internet service suppliers and broadband wireless providers have yet to get on board with all-in-one integrated technology available at a reasonable price. So it pays to be prudent about what you want your home to do, and especially what you don't want it to do. "I don't like the term smart home," says Lockyear. "I prefer obedient home. Smart home makes me think of Demonseed."
Originally published in the National Post © Guy Babineau 2003-2004
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