Product Inspiration

In our continuing coverage of the evolution of the smart home, First Alert has just come out with some smoke alarms which communicate with each other and tell you where the fire is. It seems like a great step in the right direction, but its still missing a few features I’d like to see:

1. Does not mesh with existing wireless internet. Lots of us have wireless connections in our houses, why can’t we just add these guys to the network?

2. Will not tell me if my house is on fire when I’m away. Conventional smoke alarms are very loud, and I’ll probably hear them if I’m anywhere inside my house. What would be REALLY useful is if they would call / text / email me when my house is on fire so I could send over a neighbor to grab a few valuables / use an extinguisher.

3. Does not mesh with other home automation products (as far as I can tell). Granted, there’s no one single standard yet for connecting electronic household gadgets together, but it does not make sense long term to have a different wireless system for rain gauges, fire alarms, and lights. Hopefully, this will be sorted out soon.

At any rate, its another example of a dumb device getting smarter. Lets hope it keeps on learning.

http://www.gizmag.com/onelink-wireless-talking-networked-smoke-alarm/8 900/

Electronic paper that has embedded circuitry, speakers, and batteries are poised to make a big impact in the market over the next 7 years or so. Here is one of the first low-cost applications of this technology.

This is a disposable cardboard display which also has the ability to play sounds to potential viewers. It uses conductive inks and a honeycomb structure to hold all of the electronic trappings. Most importantly, this is a great first example of how this new technology’s low expected price will mean that the posters and signs of the near future will not only bug you visually, but audibly as well.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11/throwaway_displ.php

Sending sound through our bones seems like a really strange concept. You put a ’speaker’ of sorts on some bone of your body, and it vibrates the bone to create and send the sound throughout your body (most importantly, to your inner ear). In the last year or two, there have been a few new products that take advantage of this concept, such as headphones and even a children’s toothbrush. This time, developers have built it into a cell phone.

One nice advantage of using bone conduction is that headphones can become much smaller and less obtrusive. In a few years, will this be the one of the first technologies that starts the horrendous-yet-inevitable trend of installing electronic hardware on our bodies?

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/10/bone-conduction.html