In his 1995 autobiography/premonition of future technology, Bill Gates lays out the Jules Verne-esque specifics of what a "smart home" will look like some years later.
With the contemporary onset of smart home technology or "domotics" such as phone apps that can control one's home temperature from afar or even rumors of Twitter-controlled refrigerators, the house of the future is more and more becoming the home of today.
Referring to themselves as both the "world's No. 1 system for home control technology" and the "worldwide STANDARD for home and building control," KNX successfully installs "millions" of their smart home devices throughout the U.S., Europe, the Far East, and South America.
Their 100 worldwide company partners offer more than 7000 KNX-certified product groups, and they've recently released this 13-minute instructional video (see below) on just what Gates (and similar-minded visionaries) thought of when first considering a true home of the 21st century (less than 21st century musical theme notwithstanding, and with apologies to Kraftwerk.)
"Imagine coming home in the evening, and your house wakes up," says the British-sounding narrator of the video. "This is not a dream of the future."
The video goes on to explain how the KNX/Jung-modified household makes the demo inhabitant's life "both comfortable and safe," with such electronic touches as:
-- Automatic: garage door (opening for the driver), driveway lights (illuminating for driver), security system (deactivates once a person is in garage), window blinds (which rise on its own).
-- All turn on/off accordingly when the inhabitant leaves for the day, including an automatic heat sensor that lowers temperature to save energy, etc.
-- "Extremely robust"/weather-resistant foundation/push-buttons on the "door communications station" installed at the entrance that can only be dismantled "using a special tool" is thusly extremely secure. There's also an option to connect the door bell to an automatic light for visitors who are guaranteed to be seen and heard in the best quality by unseen external cameras.
-- "Multi-rooming" allows different music/media to be experienced in the various rooms without there being noise overlap.
-- Smart metering (the "intelligent, efficient handling of energy") records and studies the energy consumption of the house, which is similarly monitored by the "facility pilot," which can inform the inhabitants "at a glance" of such domestic concerns.
The video goes on to establish further "modern building technology" such as interlinked communication between rooms and heightened security/temperature systems that help keeps inhabitants of the smart home protected while residing in the lap of futuristic luxury.
For those interested in further information about domotics, the video is less than 15 minutes in duration and presents a clear, concise view into the future already existing in our very present.
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