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The Connected Home

New household gadgets bring the always-on world home.

Michael Stroud
03.17.05

To recreate the "wireless home" on display at the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association semi-annual wireless trade show here in New Orleans, you'd have to spend millions of dollars. But the exhibit contains important clues about how the connected home will develop in the next few years.

Clearly, wireless will be a big piece of the puzzle. Consumer products that don't need to be hooked up and can be placed anywhere in a house are going to be a lot more desirable than Ethernet or USB cords for most people. Wireless in homes will likely come in many flavors, including WiFi, Bluetooth, infrared, ultra-wideband (in 2006) and perhaps even RFID (wirelessly identifying products by their bar codes).

Products in the 7,000 square foot wireless home ranged from the highly practical (devices that amplify your home's cell phone and WiFi signal) to the impractical (yes, another internet refrigerator) to the whimsical (a wirelessly controlled playroom). Some products are already on the market; others are merely food for thought.

Here is my highly subjective take on what grabbed me (+), what didn't grab me (-) and what I think the jury's out on (?). The caveat is that I wasn't able to independently play around with most of these devices, so I'm assuming they work as advertised. (A big if).

WiFi Cellphones
Kineto Wireless demonstrated a prototype phone that merges WiFi and cellular. Available over the next six to nine months, the phones will automatically switch from cellular to WiFi bandwidth when they enter a user's home. Cell phone users with Bluetooth-enabled phones could also continue conversations over residential Bluetooth networks.

Ultrawideband HDTV (+)
Freescale Semiconductor demonstrated a plasma HDTV using a UWB transmitter to send video streams at about 20 megabits/sec. to another nearby plasma screen. The next-generation wireless technology is ready to be deployed, but most analysts don't expect it to become a serious contender in the home wireless market until next year.

Cellphone Signal Amplifier (+)
How often does your cell phone cut out in your house? Spotwave Wireless' wall-mounted device, which looks like a fire alarm, amplifies cell phone signals. An illustration that life-enhancing technologies don't have to be futuristic or expensive. Sure would be nice if they built a WiFi signal extender into the product.

Kodak Easy Share Printer Dock Plus and Kodak Easy Share One Camera (+)
The printer allows camera phones or digital cameras to wirelessly print using Bluetooth, WiFi, and Infrared. The camera allows the user to send pictures to other users and devices over a WiFi network in a home, hotel, or elsewhere. Both products are already on the market, at around $199 and $599, respectively.

Smart Microwave (+)
I was prepared to discount this microwave system, which reads bar codes on packaged goods, automatically cooks the food, tells the cooks what it's doing, and displays information about the meal on a monitor next to the microwave. But the SmartWave system from the University of Florida is designed for elderly people who have cognitive or visual impairments. (It's been extensively tested at a retirement community). Simply plopping a package next to the microwave is enough to activate the RFID technology. The same technology, hooked to a central computer, can also help them sort clothes for washing machines, and interact with other machines around the house.

Voice-Activated Entertainment (?)
OneVoice Technologies' concept is simple enough: voice-activate your Media Center PC so that you can watch TV shows recorded on the hard disk, view photos, or listen to music simply by speaking aloud. The question is: will consumers feel as cool as Tom Cruise in Minority Report   or incredibly stupid talking to their home entertainment systems? Would your Mom do it?

Online Playroom (?)
Accenture had some of the house's most intriguing concept pieces, headed up by the world's most high-tech crib. Grandma in New York or another room can watch live video of Baby in San Francisco—via PC, PDA, or mobile phone—by panning the WiFi-enabled camera hidden inside a friendly ghost on Baby's crib. She can also snap pictures of Baby and instantly email them wherever. ("You know that's not how it's going to be used," muttered one person watching the demo.) Grandma can also talk to Baby and move toys like a train around his crib. Spooky.

Intelligent Healthcare (?)
Accenture showed a shirt loaded with sensors and a wireless scale that allow patients, their caretakers, and doctors to monitor blood pressure, heart rate, body mass, weight, and other important indicators of health. Biggest problem: you need to plug those sensors into electrodes on the skin, and what man with body hair wants to do that?

Online Medicine Cabinet (-)
Accenture demonstrated how RFID sensors might spot the bar codes on medicine bottles as they are removed from the medicine cabinet and alert the patients to dosages and other medical information. Can you imagine the manufacturer's liability if they got that   wrong?

Global Pet Finder (-)
A robotic dog struggling gamely through the Astroturf in the "front yard" was wearing a GPS-equipped collar to keep him from straying too far. If he went outside a pre-programmed perimeter (it can be as small as the property or as large as a city), an alert would be sent to his owner via cell phone, PDA, or computer. Problem is that Fido would have to be the size of a mule to wear the device, which is shipping next week. (Similar products for children aren't practical yet, either). The tracking technology from Syniverse Technologies would make more sense for a teenager's car.

Samsung HomePad Refrigerator (-)
C'mon, guys. I first saw an internet refrigerator around 10 years ago, and I still don't know anyone who has one. Yeah, this one has a detachable LCD TV on it, too, but who wants that on their refrigerator? Are you really going to pay $5,000 for this baby? Can we please let this one die?

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