"Homes that make us smart"

I read another Microsoft paper “Homes that make us smart”, I had mixed feelings about it. The main idea behind this paper was to talk about “smart homes” and in this paper it wasn't so much about ubiquitous computers but that computers should be thought of as “more as a resource for intelligence”. They want to “augment and support” life, enhance it rather than change the way people go about their daily routines. The paper made a good point about this type of technology only benefiting people who really need it, the elderly, disabled etc. and that people who don't have a need for it might not see the point. Surfaces are a key point in this paper especially fridge surfaces which I felt they spent too long in making this point, it was over simplified. Reminding magnets are the first technology mentioned and they seem a good idea, I would probably invest in them, they glow whenever a urgent note or reminder needs to be seen and all it takes is a glance.

HomeNotes were next mentioned, similar to post-it notes which was an idea also brought up in Weiser's paper, “The Computer for the 21^st Century”, seems to be popular. Notes are meant to be intrusive, you are meant to notice them that is their only purpose so it is important where they are placed. HomeNote is a tablet computer but with a SIM card and GPRS in it so people outside the home can communicated by SMS, once again this is costly. It was tested and like the whereabouts clock people felt they had a presence in the home even when they weren't there.

The next technology is the Whereabouts clock, this paper was written before any field trails had been done. They describe it a s “persistent availability” it is not a necessity in the home but it's there if you need it, it is unobtrusive, “at-a-glance” technology, there is no effort involved. Privacy is a concern but the conclusion was made that the clock is still in your home so anyone who sees it will more than likely be a family member or close friend and your specific location is not given just a general location such as “work”, “home”, or “school”.

The last technology was the PictureBowl it serves to manage digital clutter that we are increasingly ending up with more of, photos and videos etc.. while the idea is good I think at the end of the day when the bowl gets full there is still going to be the choice or deleting or transferring the items, it is still in the early stages and I would like to see more about this to see how it progresses.

verall I felt the paper was too long, it had interesting ideas but they seemed to get bogged down with every detail and it distracted from the projects themselves. The idea of intelligent computing almost seemed like it was being forced on me rather than letting me read about the technologies and coming to my own conclusion. I did like the ideas though, the technologies look really useful and pretty cool. I'd love those magnets for my fridge!