Smart+Home

== =Overview=

Smart home is a home embedded with technologies, most smart homes have technologies inside the wall out of sight so that everythng is very simple and ordinary in appearence. The speciality of smart homes is that the whole home is integrated with features like security, entertainment, pc, lighting into a single interface. This allows for the home owner (user) to freely interact with technology while not having to deal with seeing everything before them. Smart homes are connect to all the different components via wireless routers, Radio, Bluetooth and Ir receivers

Many people have started to accept some tecnologies that suggest the future of smart homes.[|Bang and Olufsen] helps integrate televison, stereo, pc and lighting through their products allowing a smooth operation by the user with one device like a remote control. Media centers are a step in directing a future of smart homes where the whole home and living experience is brought into a single interface so that the user can Shop, order food and do all their billing and transactions from the comfort of their sofa.

=Reasons why people fear Smart Homes=

The problem with technology is that it tends to malfunction from time to time, people fear that when it does malfunction it may be dangerous to the residents of the home. There is also a fear that if someone was to hack into the brain of the smart home (the computer) its easy to keep people inside in constant fear.

=Smart Appliances=

In today’s world our appliances are going “high tech” and will soon be integrated in our everyday homes. From dishwashers to stoves, to vacuum cleaners to lighting systems many appliances have become ‘smart’ appliances. This new type of technology links appliances to various modes of communication such as the internet, cable, satellite and phone lines.

Several companies such as Sun Microsystems are also developing technology that plans to network electrical devices such as alarm clocks, smoke detectors, coffeemakers etc. Sun Microsystems are creating these appliances so they can be remotely controlled by wireless, web-enabled tablet PCs.

Although, these technologies are far from being perfected as they rely on electricity to function. Another disadvantage would be the dependency of internet connectivity to these appliances. This lack of internet infrastructure remains the biggest barrier to the mainstreaming of smart appliances, which have been much hyped and promised ever since about the time The //Jetsons// made its debut on TV. (Oracle) == Reference:

Harper, Richard. __**Inside the Smart Home**__. New York: Springer-Verlag, 2003.

Meyer, Gordan. __**Smart Home Hacks**__. : O'Reilly and Associates, 2004.


 * Image from [|Bang and Olfsen]