
Microsoft Office Labs vision 2019 - jasonlbaptiste
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090228/microsoft-office-labs-vision-2019-video/
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dcurtis
There was a flash somewhere in the video of the house's computer display
showing how much power was being used and indicating it was switching to solar
panels when the sun was out.

I think the home is kind of the last frontier of digitalization of everyday
life. I want my exact power bill/consumption information to be visible on my
computer somewhere in a similar way to Amazon's AWS dashboard, and I want to
be able to turn on and off lights and stuff remotely.

All the technology for this exists, and it's very simple. But new homes just
aren't built with it because there's no great company building the connection
between the physical infrastructure of the home and the internet with great
hardware + software.

Most new built-in central heaters and air conditioners have a standard digital
communication interface that can easily be plugged into and controlled by this
home computer. All power outlets and light sockets are connected to the
powerline, and it's trivial to send data along powerlines.

The sensors to detect how much and at what temperature water is flowing
through your pipes are cheap. You could probably build a totally connected
home for a few hundred dollars (just for the hardware). That includes the
power consumption information for every light socket, light switch, and
outlet; every water socket, sink, shower, etc; and your heating and air
conditioning system.

Can you imagine how much money you could save if you could see a dashboard of
what is sucking up power in your house? Or if your house detected when all of
your cars left the garage and lowered the heater target temperature? Or
optimized light automatically by turning the dimmer up and down based on the
natural light? Or sent you a text message when you left the doors unlocked in
the morning? Or the heater is sucking up more power than normal for a longer
time, so it gets shut off?

It could be monit + munin for your house.

Someone please build this. Or I will.

~~~
savrajsingh
:)

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concretecode
I hate to sound cynical, but we've all seen this before. Anyone can inspire
and captivate with a flashy video, but these prototypes rarely get brought to
market.

The automotive industry is famous for this. Anyone remember the concept-car
version of the Chevy Volt? Picture here:
[http://photos.webridestv.com/datastore/images/user/2551617c1...](http://photos.webridestv.com/datastore/images/user/2551617c1a6f7854167c46dccc3a4f3a/Chevy_Volt_Concept_3781_20070620.jpg)

The concept car was gorgeous, aggressive, and appealing to a section of the
market that traditionally ignores hybrids. Now look at the model that will
actually get released: <http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/>

It's a glorified Honda Civic.

They don't have a product here, and I doubt we'll ever see any of the ideas
introduced in this video (at least not from Microsoft).

If in ten years time, Microsoft can shut me down with a virtual newspaper, a
classroom video-wall with built in translations, and an interactive wallet,
then more power to them. But if instead, we're forced to endure another decade
of watching a company that helped found the industry, spend its time copying
Apple and Google, we might finally come to understand the phrase "real artists
ship."

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dkokelley
Great comment from site: "Man, the future’s going to be full of fingerprints
and smudges"

But seriously, some highlights from the clip:

Interactive wallet (credit cards and business cards all in 1 paper thin
device)

Cell phone with video calls

Seamless file transitions and interactions between tablets and future versions
of MS Surface

Speech to text that really works

Coffee cups that tell you how hot the beverage you are about to enjoy actually
is

And finally, virtual newspapers

~~~
cookiecaper
I'm pretty sure that it's been well-established that most people just aren't
that interested in video calling, at least not through telephone devices. The
technology for that has been around for years and years and no one really
cares -- perhaps presenting the option in a better/more concise/usable way
will change things, but it just doesn't seem like it's in very high demand.

~~~
dkokelley
Isn't part of it on the technology side? More specifically, the cost for
bandwidth. Streaming videos back and forth takes up a lot of bandwidth
compared to calls and texts. From what I understand the carriers have
experimented with it, but the cost doesn't justify it.

Then again, even if it was included in my cell plan, a video call would take
too much effort on my end. I'd have to devote my time to the call and
interacting with the person I'm calling. How can I do that AND drive at the
same time? /sarcasm. Actually, I'm sure some people would find a way...

~~~
amvp
Cell phones with video aren't the future. I've had one for 2 years now.
Unfortunately, it isn't that useful. And I think the carriers know it.

It _is_ included on my cell plan (video calls are treated just like regular
calls on the bill) and my phone supports it (front and rear cameras). And it's
the same for a large percentage of cell phone users where I live (Singapore).
But I don't think anybody really uses it.

The simple mechanics of it involve too much effort for too little additional
utility over a simpler voice call. Positioning / holding the camera. Staying
still. It's not about video calling and driving, it's about video calling and
_walking_. Or typing. Or video calling and doing anything else at all.

Other than grandparents who want video of the new baby, and teenagers who want
to send each other naughty video, I honestly can't see very much point in it.
I suspect, however the technology will continue to get cheaper and more
pervasive, so we'll all end up with it anyway, even if we don't use it much.

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buugs
This is a pretty flashy commercial but I don't think we will come close to
that in 2019 I mean ten years comes pretty fast and the newest interfaces
we've come up with for the average consumer are flat screen monitors on
computers.

I know there is the iphone and other such things but most people I know can
only afford the basic plans on phones let alone a fancy 200 dollar phone.

But if I was wrong that would be a really interesting world to live in, one
wonders how lazy one would get and if it would follow pixar's walle.

~~~
whughes
I think that we have made massive strides in the last ten years. First of all,
consumer hardware is obviously much, much more powerful (certainly powerful
enough to render everything shown in the video, although perhaps not shaped as
elegantly). The Web and the cell networks have provided a lot of this
interconnectivity. Wi-Fi has emerged as well; with laptops and cellphones,
many of these things can be approximated already. It's just a matter of taking
the extra step to make them available and easy for the average person.

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ericwaller
Arbitrary, blocking, transitional animations get old very quickly.

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rms
I saw a really good presentation from a group of 5 designers making a digital
wallet credit card like what briefly flashes in this video. I would have told
them to apply to Y Combinator but they need a hacker.

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mcxx
Way too much hand movement is necessary to interact with the interfaces.

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melvinram
If they could produce the real thing instead of just concept videos, I might
even switch back from Mac... if of course Apple doesn't delivers amazing
competing stuff like it has in the past. Both probably won't happen... but who
knows...

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Alex3917
They just better hope Steve stays healthy, otherwise they won't have anyone to
copy off of.

