HOUSE WITH IQ
...e for tonight's dinner. They validate the proposed suggestion, breathing a sigh of relief, as the missing ingredients will be delivered within a few hours. They enter the lounge, where their latest e-mails await them on their television set. They quickly consult them: undoubtedly it is news of your arriving guests. At the same time, without the owner even knowing it, your dishwasher has detected an internal technical fault and has automatically requested maintenance assistance from its manufacturer. HAL’s programmers can configure HAL to play a tone that will tell automated telemarketing calls that their line is disconnected, prompting the telemarketers to take your number off their list. Eventually, those calls should shrink to none. There is Much much more HAL can offer with upgrades available. Telemarketers usually block their Caller ID. HAL sends blocked, unavailable and/or private Caller ID calls to a designated voice mailbox where you can play a message that says ["Sorry, we don't answer calls from callers who (block) their Caller ID information. If you are a telemarketer, don't call this number again. If you're not a telemarketer, leave a message and we'll get back to you at our earliest convience.”] All this done when programmed in.." That;s just one side. Did you know that you can script an entire conversation with HAL? Well you can - and it's easy using HAL's state-of-the-art speech features! Michael Schrange says,[“I really impress guests in my home when I show them how HAL controls the various lights, devices and systems in my house“. “But their jaws drop when I tell HAL, "I feel like talking," and HAL replies, "What do you want to talk about?" Then I say, "Let's talk about the sports," and HAL replies, "I love sports - as long as you don't bring up the Yankees. I can't stand Steinbrenner."] Go to automated living.com and learn talk and do much much more. Michael has lived and surpassed many peoples dreams, of the future. Many never thought the day would come when someone would live in a fully automated house, let alone talk to it. This is an excerpt from Michael Schrange’s journal after aquireing a Smart House. “Hot stuff! Programmed my VCR from the office, turned up the thermostat and switched on the lights with the car phone, remotely tweaked the oven a few degrees for my pizza. Everything nice and cozy when I arrived. Maybe I should get the universal remote surgically attached. The software and the utility people say this house has a few flaws but, will be fixed in the next upgrade - SmartHouse 2..1. But it's not ready yet.”””” But, when it does come , “ oh boy”. Cullum, who builds custom homes for a living, says just a few years ago it cost $100,000 to automate a home like this. Last year, he did his own home for about $50,000. "We're doing homes today, just a year later, that are in the $30,000 range," he says. "It's plummeting in what it costs to make a smart home." One could go about getting it from HAL, at iautomate.com. One can purchase a basic HAL package for $299.99. Upgrades are $29.99. Cullum suggests you have it instaled when you purchase a home. It’s much easier and sufficient. Over the last 15 years, computerised controls have become more and more common in our homes. But that’s not suprising is it ? Computers control our washing machines and microwaves, they turn our heating on and off, and they have provided new ways to monitor the safety and security of our homes. The smart home looks at expanding the use of these computers into other parts of the home, creating a single network that can be easily and conveniently controlled. The use of computer controls removes the need to actually flick a switch or turn a knob to make something work and allows elements of the home to be controlled remotely by, or to respond automatically to, the people living in it. The smart home relies on a number of small computers distributed around the house that are either used to turn devices and appliances on and off or to send and receive information. These computers are linked together using either a dedicated cable or by sending a special signal through the mains electricity cables. Cullum says that one reason they are linked are for improvements in sophisticated home security systems, which is the backbone of smart-house technology, Once a security system is in place, it...