Future trends

References:	Future significant issues: Automated Houses.
Sites of interest: BBC NewsOnline article: "Computers are anywhere & everywhere". Future News Smart House USA Today article: "Smart Houses gaining acceptance" "Smart Houses: How can they help people with disabilities?" Images downloaded from: http://www.sd.monash. edu.au/marketing/schools/ smarthouse.html © Stephanie Bell 2000 - PI: T4666584	The Internet has many uses including accessing information, (via the World Wide Web) and global communication, (via e-mail). The potential of this medium is extreme so it was inevitable that something to make our domestic lives easier would come out of it.
	Automated houses (or 'Smart Houses') are in the process of being developed. "In the next 12 to 18 months, home appliance manufacturers will begin adding intelligence to washers, dryers and refrigerators", says BBC NewsOnline's Kevin Anderson.
	These houses will have sensors and controllers throughout that interact with eachother and also to the resident's portable PC of some sort. They will be linked to the Internet and via telephony so the user can connect with their home remotely. This will enable us to have the lights turned on ready for when we get home, the curtains drawn when we are on holiday and burglar alarms activated when required.
	Maybe even a security system that senses burglars and informs you via e-mail. Heating systems could be controlled automatically. "There are hundreds, if not thousands, more examples-each one a potential killer app." says Hillary Rettig in an article on the Microsoft site page: http://www.microsoft.com/directaccess/feature/98/0902.asp Avi Rosenthal, owner of HomeWorks Automation in the US has already made deals with local builders to do the wiring and intelligence on more than 100 new homes, charging anything from $10,000 to $100,000 a time. He sees the market for home automation as "limitless", adding: "I don't think I'm going to have any trouble putting my kids through college." "In effect, the occupants of smart houses become sovereigns over their living space and they begin to think of the house as a kind of technology slave", says an article on:http://www.transparencynow.com/automate.htm There is also news of this kind of technology helping the elderly and disabled community so that they can do everyday household tasks with ease. These could include locks, doors, windows, cooker, lights, bath, shower being automatically activated when required using a remote control adapted to their individual needs. "Input devices are different types of keyboards, alternative keyboards with overlays for pictograms etc., environmental control units (ECU) with infrared (IR) signalling, speech recognition devices, and standard and special switches", says an article by Gerhard Elger and Barbro Furugren of the Swedish Handicap Institute. The future of this technology looks bright and exciting. It seems that future generations will have completely different lifestyles to us. The elderly and disabled will feel more able and will have more time for enjoyment. It probably won't be in our lifetime that these homes will be the norm, as they will be too expensive. I wonder if Moore's law (Gordon Moore predicted that microprocessors would double in complexity every eighteen months. This has since been known as Moore's Law) will affect this new technology like it has the PC industry. I also wonder if our homes will 'crash' or catch a virus. I wonder if there will be anti-virus software for these houses. Home insurers could make a fortune.