Inside the Smart Home by Harper, Richard;

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""A fascinating insight into potentially one of the most exciting developments that affects each and every one of us as we move forward into the 21st Century. This book indicates the direction industry must take if we are to achieve the dream of living in a Smart Home."" Steve Hearnden, Mobile Telecommunications Consultant, UK

""A timely and much needed compliment to more technology-led explorations of the Smart Home. It draws attention to the complexity, diversity and conceptual richness of domestic life and critically reflects on the adoption and use of technologies in the home to date."" Geraldine Fitzpatrick, Sapient Ltd, UK

If the predictions of leading electronics and consumer companies are to be believed, in the future you may never again have to worry about forgetting to switch the lights off, or locking the front door when you leave your home. Even mundane chores such as visiting your local supermarket to stock up your fridge will become a thing of the past, as the Smart Homes of the future will be able to decide what is needed and order them for us. Inside the Smart Home looks at the designs and technologies behind these new innovations, along with their time-saving, environmental and security benefits, amongst others. Despite these clear advantages however, Smart Homes have so far failed to reach the levels of success originally anticipated, thereby forcing designers to further examine the roles and practicalities of these new technologies. Through the use of detailed case studies from such international giants as Orange, Ariston, Philips Electronics and Electrolux, this book clearly demonstrates what will be possible for our domestic settings in the future if we continue to develop the concept of the Smart Home.

Intelligent, interactive systems are being widely developed specifically for use in the home environment. These include video recorders which learn to record programmes automatically based on previous user preferences, fridges which reorder items automatically via a built-in Internet connection, doors which lock automatically when shut, voice-activated lighting controls, and cookers which automatically calculate cooking times and temperatures. These systems rely heavily on internet, mobile and telecommunications technologies. There has been coverage in the press recently of the 'Orange at Home' project in Hertfordshire - one of the most high-tech residences in the world which contains over £2,000,000 worth of state-of-the art technology."

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Table of Contents:

Conceptions of the Home.- Inside the Smart Home: Ideas, Possibilities and Methods.- Conceptions of the Home.- Smart Homes: Past, Present and Future.- Households as Morally Ordered Communities: Explorations in the Dynamics of Domestic Life.- Time as a Rare Commodity in Home Life.- Emotional Context and “Significancies” of Media.- Designing for the Home.- Paper-mail in the Home of the 21st Century.- Switching On to Switch Off.- The Social Context of Home Computing.- Design with Care: Technology, Disability and the Home.- The Home of the Future.- Towards the Unremarkable Computer: Making Technology at Home in Domestic Routine.- Daily Routines and Means of Communication in a Smart Home.- Living Inside a Smart Home: A Case Study.- Smart Home, Dumb Suppliers? The Future of Smart Homes Markets.

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