Smart Homes or Useless Gadgets?

What with all this talk about home technology taking over our lives, maybe it’s time for a reality check. I just read an article written by John Dvorak, columnist for PC magazine who’s stock-in-trade is the presentation of contrarian viewpoints. His opinion in this 9/29/04 article is that the appeal of all this cool new technology is far overstated and that we really don’t need all these silly gadgets. I guess I would have to say that I don’t disagree when he questions why someone needs to stream mp3 files from their computer over their wireless net to their kitchen or bathroom (“What kind of nutjob needs that?”), but it won’t be long before people will pay real money to play their large mp3 collection on their family room AV system.

He also claims that only the very wealthy or bored compulsive engineers (like me who wire stuff constantly) really care about smart homes. On this point however, I strongly disagree knowing full well that John is baiting me with his typically hyperbolic writing style. Clearly the infiltration of technology in the home is an irreversible trend, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, and whether you really “need” the nice things that will become commonplace in middle-class homes before we know it.

Just look at the numbers for U.S. households with computers today versus 5 years ago. Then look at the same data on broadband. The number of houses that have their thermostats connected to their home network and programmable on dad’s PC is probably infinitesimal, sure, but it won’t be more than a few years before your next PC will have the capability to manage your sprinklers and your Christmas lights, and yes, your thermostat. You probably won’t use many of those features right away, but having them there will propel the technology just as sure as having cable available in a neighborhood makes people bypass their TV antennas.

The adoption of “smart home” technology is going to happen. Accept it. But know that only things that provide real benefit will ultimately succeed in the marketplace. Home builders keep very accurate records of what people ask for in their new homes, as well as what systems they pay to have installed later. Builders are just as important a factor in the marketplace as consumers. They will only install things that are cost effective for them, which means technology that helps them sell homes, which means technology that people like over the long run and doesn’t generate negative word-of-mouth.

Yes, we certainly don’t need a TV screen on our refrigerator door, but maybe it will morph into a touch screen that keeps track of food expiration dates, or programs the pork chops to be defrosted by 4 pm tomorrow afternoon, or notifies us of specials at our local market, or who knows? What we do know is that these things evolve according to what people want, and the “nutjob” ideas quietly fade away.