Blinds open at dawn to naturally awaken, close when you leave for work or at dusk. Windows open when it is nice out but close most or all of the way when it's about to rain. Lights only on when needed. Automatic toilets. (like at some stores) Music and videos pause when you leave room.
I will mention that one big aspect of connected technology that is so attractive to me is the technology heing built into the home itself...simple things like speakers in each room.
In a home, especially a smart house, form is function...like in Biology. It's about being surrounded by stuff that adapts to change...each person's tastes/preferences and needs of the moment.
Maybe a digital bulletin board would be a killer feature. A traditional color LCD screen would be nice but expensive. Maybe an e-ink/e-paper display would work well for that. I read that they are less than 30X the price of an LCD which would be highly affordable. This would be very large and display a calendar, daily agenda, and various reminders/notes.
Nice question. It's difficult because most of the hardware really doesn't exist yet.
A hub for the IOT. Many companies in this space have their own base stations and the wireless router also acts as a 'hub' for many devices in this space. (Cloud printers, Nest thermostat, etc) A device with more computing capability could evolve into a sort of specialized home server for handling home automation.
If you are having guests over, this hub could schedule your Roomba vacuum to clean the floors before company arrives and not interrupt.
It almost seems like we will need an operating system for handling the complexity of all the 'peripherals,' interactions, and applications in the era of home automation.
Even though web connectivity is very popular, it may be best to have a layer of software that is a little more stable that can mediate all the applications that run on it.
I will mention that one big aspect of connected technology that is so attractive to me is the technology heing built into the home itself...simple things like speakers in each room.
In a home, especially a smart house, form is function...like in Biology. It's about being surrounded by stuff that adapts to change...each person's tastes/preferences and needs of the moment.
Maybe a digital bulletin board would be a killer feature. A traditional color LCD screen would be nice but expensive. Maybe an e-ink/e-paper display would work well for that. I read that they are less than 30X the price of an LCD which would be highly affordable. This would be very large and display a calendar, daily agenda, and various reminders/notes.
Nice question. It's difficult because most of the hardware really doesn't exist yet.