ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 25, 1996 TAG: 9606250031
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: at home with technology
SOURCE: DAVID BUTLER
It's useful to step back from the trees occasionally to admire the forest. As an installer, product design engineer, consultant and, most recently, journalist, I've experienced the home systems industry inside out. Yet even after 12 years, I still can't get used to the pace of technological change.
Like it or not, technology has had a profound effect on our lives - usually for the better - at home, at school, and at work. However, in today's fast-paced world, it's easy to lose sight of just how far we've come.
Last month I was chatting with a frail older gentleman in the grocery store when I heard the telltale beep of a pager. As we stood there in the middle of aisle 10, right in front of the paper towels, the man fumbled through the pockets until he managed to silence the tone. He mumbled something about how "She" makes him carry it because he always forgets to turn on his phone.
In a few moments he was speaking to (presumably) his wife on a tiny cellular phone. "Yes dear, I'm almost done. No dear, they didn't have the cheese you like. What's that ... ? I can't seem to hear you ... " As he switched off his phone and slipped it into his pocket, he grinned at me and winked.
Each year, I try to find time to attend at least one trade show. My favorite is Habitech, a small show targeted primarily at custom-installed home systems dealers. Habitech '96 was held in Orlando at the end of May, along with The Digital Destination, a special edition of the Consumer Electronics Shows.
As always, this year's Habitech provided a unique opportunity to see how technology is beginning to affect our homes. Although home automation was the central theme, the show encompassed multi-room audio/video and home security as well as a variety of other advanced home systems. The following trends characterize much of what was new:
Electronics unleashed - When a wire is inconvenient, too expensive or simply not possible, a miniature radio transmitter can create an alternative signal path. The same technology that brought us the pager and cellular phone is now the foundation for many breakthrough products for the home.
Many of the latest wireless products use high-performance 900-MHz transmitters. In the home, beneficiaries include wireless security systems, cordless headphones and speakers, video transmitters and cordless phones. Spread spectrum, a more costly variation, increases both reliability and range.
Kiss, kiss (keep it simple, stupid) - It didn't take the personal computer industry long to figure out that ease-of-use was the ticket to achieving mass market status. The graphical user interface (GUI) was the answer. First introduced on the Macintosh, graphical menus are now the norm in all PCs.
Likewise, a growing number of consumer products (VCRs, A/V receivers, mega-CD changers, cable converters and, of course, home automation systems) now use a television or PC to display colorful on-screen menus. Even telephones are getting simpler with large LCD screens and 'soft-key' menus.
Integration: the process of making whole or complete by adding or bringing together parts; to unify. Our homes are a disparate collection of systems. There's an electrical system, plumbing system, roof system, and so on. Viewing a house as a single integrated system is, at least in theory, a worthy goal.
Technology is finally making integration achievable. Home control, no longer an orphan overlay, is becoming an integral part of the house itself. Toward this end, Habitech was flush with a new genre of smart products. My favorite: the communicating thermostat. Two models with serial ports came bundled with software, while another responded to commands from an inexpensive X-10 controller.
Convergence - Nicholas Negroponte, the visionary leader of MIT's Media Lab, predicted as early as 1979 that digital technology would bring about the convergence of all forms of information. Although few argued the point, no one seemed to grasp the ramifications as well as Negroponte.
Now, as on-line services serve up personalized newspapers and the latest movie machines spin digital video discs, Negroponte's powerful vision suddenly makes sense. Indeed, two of the most respected companies in their fields, Thomson Consumer Electronics and Compaq Computer, announced plans in Orlando to co-develop a TV/PC (or was that a PC/TV?). No doubt, Nick approves.
As I walked through the exhibits one last time, I thought of the old man in the grocery store. What would he think of all this? Perhaps more importantly, what would his wife think?
To receive a selected list of more than 70 Habitech exhibitors, please send a $2 handling fee and a self-addressed envelope to David Butler F-616, Department TWN, P.O. Box 36352, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236-0352. The list includes phone numbers and a brief summary of each company's products or services.
Send questions or comments to Butler at 14713 Pleasant Hill Road, Charlotte, N.C. 28278.
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