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March 01, 2005

Smart Homes Reading

I wonder if the complexity of these devices will require more effort from the user than they purport to save. I have an automatic coffee maker. I never use it. If I am feeling ambitious, I will prepare the coffee the night before and then I’ll turn it on manually when I get up—it only takes 2min to cook. The TMIO internet-accessible refrigerator/oven may give an extra leg-up on the logistics of cooking something that requires an awkward amount of time, say a 4-hour roast, but I am skeptical that the installation and training time required is worth the small amount of flexibility that it gives the user. In general, the technology embedded in these devices seems frivolous.

The Salton project seems to be fixing problems that don’t exist. For example, the bedside computer that updates you as to the status of your coffee machine. Also, the Salton products use Windows, which makes me wary of their usability. The only idea that impressed me in that project was the microwave that will scan the barcode of the food you are about to cook, entering in the cooking time automatically. That seems easy and straightforward—possibly useful.

Posted by rus200 at March 1, 2005 12:11 AM