Items Tagged With media

"Home automation, or the linking of devices that support entertainment and media as well as appliances, is poised for the upswing, ready to break out of the limited early adopter market and start infiltrating the upper middle class, say market watchers. That's because industry groups-namely the Zigbee Alliance (see ZigBee Buzz) and the Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGI)-are pushing to develop standards that will enable disparate devices to talk to each other, says Erik Michielsen, principal analyst at ABI Research"...

"Smart homes of the future will not only feature designer fabrics and furniture, they will also be filled with clever technology that takes a greater interest in your daily life - Researchers at the technology consultancy Accenture are working on ways to help homes watch what their occupants are doing.

The work is aimed at helping older people by spotting when they get into difficulties, to diagnose health problems before they become serious and to combat loneliness by making it easier to keep in touch with their family.

Eventually the projects could produce products that help almost anyone stay healthy or stay in contact with friends...

This 2-day event was held at London's Olympia on 6th/7th April and was billed as "Europe's biggest Wi-Fi show". Sponsors included Intel and BT, and the event was a 3-way mixture of free exhibition, free seminars and a paid-for conference.

Even though the event was primarily business orientated, the anoraks easily outnumbered the suits - at least in the exhibition and free seminar areas

The exhibition was primarily targeted at the Business-to-Business sector and was well supported by some of the big industry names. Exhibitors came from all areas of the networking field and included community broadband, component and product manufacturers, distributors, software houses and security consultants. Although largely a product and services showcase, it was still possible to buy kit on the day from a handful of stands...

Go Digital presenter Tracey Logan despairs at the home of the future on show at the Ideal Home Exhibition in London, where the family have become digital couch potatoes.

Back in 1960, at London's Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition, the home of the future was a blue and white striped space vehicle in orbit, modelled on the second stage of a Saturn IV rocket.

The colours were practical, designed to absorb and radiate intense solar radiation threatening future communities unshielded by the Earth's atmosphere...

"It's a beautiful Helsinki morning, and you've decided to pop out for the day to do a bit of skiing. You've packed a lunch, you've fitted your snow chains, and you've fed your pet reindeer. And you're half way to the piste when a thought suddenly strikes you... did I leave the oven on!?

Here in Finland, that kind of paranoia could soon be a thing of the past, when everyone has a place like the house that Markku built, because even when he's out he can control every electrical appliance through a web portal on his mobile phone"...