Xanadu Redux

An hour away from returning home to Massachusetts after their last visit, Dan and Allison Wi-Fi’ed their home thermostat to raise the temperature. Welcome to the programmable home.

A few months ago I mocked LiftMaster’s ad that extols the ability of homeowners to open or close their garage doors from anywhere in the world. Welcome, bemusedly, to the programmable home.

For years, some refrigerators have been able to build virtual shopping lists based on what food is removed from the cold storage. Welcome to the programmable home.

Of course, these examples are hardly new. Indeed, almost 31 years ago, in the May 1983 issue of Chain Store Age, my staff (mostly, associate editor Jeff MacCallum) chronicled how existing or nascent technologies would transform the lifestyles of tomorrow (meaning, by now, but that's a story for another day). 

We correctly forecast the boom in compact discs but failed to see the iPod/iPhone /iTunes making CDs all but obsolete. We predicted widespread Internet shopping, what we called “teleshopping,” for at the time the Internet was barely more than a scientific and military communications protocol. We predicted families would disdain albums in favor of viewing photos on their big screen televisions. We predicted robots would be common household members. We predicted electronic watches would convey information (okay, that turned out to be the smart phone, but recently Samsung has advanced a Galaxy Gear smart watch). We predicted technology would automate cars, making drivers all but non essential. Detroit is close to that reality. We made lots of other predictions that have come true. 

We profiled Xanadu, outside Orlando, the first of several experimental homes built to showcase the interface of technology with daily living. The Orlando Xanadu attracted some 1,000 visitors a day. The homes no longer exist, however, victims of the relentless advance of technology that overtook their once-advanced concepts. Still, it is humbling to recall how my magazine anticipated many of the innovations we take for granted today. 

During his next visit Dan said he would check to see if our programmable thermostat wiring could accept a Wi-Fi version (or else we’d have to have an electrician come in). I hope it does. I can’t want to enter the future.

Yule Be Sorry Edition

Pity the poor celebrant who is allergic to Christmas. Trees, that is. That tannenbaum—a real one, not an artificial evergreen—standing majestically in the corner of the living room carries mold and other allergens into the house, making sniffling or wheezing as common a holiday sound as carolers singing before your front door (at least in my Frank Capra version of the wonderful life we all live). 

Oh, and let’s not forget allergies also can be triggered by stress. Few times of year are more stressful than the end of year holidays. Notice I didn’t single out Christmas. As if they didn’t need more tsuris in their lives, Jews get agita from picking the right Hanukkah presents for their loved ones and from having to fight crowds in stores. The Chosen People don’t all buy at wholesale. Some of those fantastic retail discounts really are worth the ride to the shopping center. 

Of course, getting to the store is among the most dreaded activities. Today, for example, is a gridlock alert day in New York City. Moreover, according to a Consumer Reports online survey of 1,100 consumers, 40% rated “aggressive, thoughtless driving in parking lots” as among their most dreaded aspects of the Yuletide season. It trailed only “crowds, long lines” at 58% and “weight gain”, 41%. (Totals exceeded 100% because multiple responses were allowed.) 

Consumer Reports also found “60% of shoppers would rather receive cash as a present than a gift card. And 8-in-10 would rather receive something practical over something ostentatious as a gift.”

By the way, as irksome as seasonal music can be to some, only 14% said it bothered them, just slightly more than the 12% who said they dreaded “seeing certain relatives.”

One aspect of the holiday the CR survey did not measure was annoying commercials. Today I heard for the umpteenth time a spot for Hoodie-Footie pajamas, “the most talked about gift” of the year. For sure it was most talked about, given all the ad time the company has bought. It’s doubtful anyone but someone paid to talk about the hoodie-footie is talking about it.

I also have problems with an ad for a not-so-typical Christmas gift, that of an electric garage door opener. LiftMaster is advertising the ability to remotely access your garage from anywhere in the world just in case you realize from afar  your need to open or close your garage door. Don’t bother wondering why you could be halfway around the world before realizing your garage door may be open. Wonder instead why you are so detached from society that you don’t have a relative or friend who lives nearby whom you would not trust with your garage door code.