There’s a
reason why mobile phones today come with the ‘smart’ prefix. They don’t just
serve as devices that are used to make calls but also as personal assistants,
workout trainers, weathermen, navigators and more.
The
impact of the Internet on our daily life
All of these
functions are made possible thanks to a dazzling array of sensors built in the
hardware. A standard smartphone comes equipped with an accelerometer,
gyroscope, GPS and proximity sensor. Coupled with mobile operating systems and
apps, these smart devices communicate a wide variety of data with their owners.
This feedback
in turn lets us recalibrate how we perform everyday tasks, helping us to become
better versions of ourselves. Already we have smartphones which can measure our
footsteps per day, and wearable computers which can tell us how well we’ve
slept and how many calories we’ve burned in a day.
The
breakthrough of technology lets us recalibrate how we perform everyday tasks
More
excitingly, this design paradigm is now being extended and employed to a whole
new range of smart devices and appliances: Imagine a day when a smartwatch on
your hand can detect when it’s the best time for you to wake up based on your
sleep cycle, tell your room lights and music player to gradually turn up to get
you up. Once you’re in the shower, the coffee maker in your kitchen turns
itself on and makes you a hot cup of java. As you step out of the door, your
smartphone pings your car’s GPS to plot the route to work with the least amount
of traffic. This future isn’t that far off, all you’ll need is for common
devices to get online and communicating with each other, a future known as the
internet of things.
Home & Appliances
Smart mobile
phones sound like they make sense, but what about smart washing machines,
cookers and refrigerators?
LG Home
Chat Washing Machine
Recognition
of voice commands is a feature that is already present for smartphones in the
form of services such as Siri and Google Now. LG has decided to bring the most
natural form of communication for humans over to their appliances, such as a
new Washing Machine unveiled at CES 2014. As part of LG’s Home Chat initiative
for appliances, users will actually be able to issue verbal queries or commands
to their appliances.
LG
unveils ‘talking’ washing machines
Belkin
Crock-Pot WeMo Smart Slow Cooker
Simple
appliances can benefit a lot from some smart sensor sophistication as evidenced
by the Belkin Crock-Pot WeMo Smart Slow Cooker. As a part of Belkin’s efforts
to build a smarter home appliance eco-system, this Crock-Pot can be controlled
remotely through the WeMo application. Users can turn it on or off, adjust
temperature and set timers without having to interact with the Crock-Pot
itself.
