A Few Thoughts on Family Information Tech
November 11, 2009 by Jason Bean
Filed under Computers
As my kids get older and my wife and I continue to try and improve our communication and organization around all things family, I’ve been thinking about ways technology can help with the challenge.
I was at a meeting last week in a corporate building that has just recently been finished. Outside of each conference and meeting room is a small touch panel display that was displaying a calendar for the day.
I did a quick search for the manufacturer and found more options that are available from AMX.
After seeing the calendars, and thinking about some current challenges in my own family, here’s some functionality I’d like to see, and these kinds of panels in each room could really make it a reality. There’s also some entertainment features to take advantage of as well.
- each kid’s room has a panel that I could list events on their calendar. Easily put things like sports practices, upcoming tests, doctor’s appointments, birthday parties, etc.
- each kid’s bedroom panel could display a list of “To Do” items. Similar to Outlook calendar tasks, these could be set to automatically occur and repeat as needed.
- each bedroom panel could serve as a message center for members of the household. The messages could consist of a view of their email Inbox, voice-mail messages, and even private messages among family members.
- in conjunction with a home media server, the ability to access and play music into any room independently of the other rooms, including the ability to play the same music throughout the entire house
All of this type of information management can probably already be done, but what I think is missing is the management of the information in the first place. I should be able to add and manage tasks for each person (and their associated panel) as needed from any Internet connection. Each device could be wired into a home network or connected wirelessly for existing construction homes.
I’d love to be able to send a message to greet my kids when they get home from school, remind them not to forget to take out the kitty litter and clean their rooms. It would also be nice to be reminded of their upcoming math test when I get home and know I’ll be spending some time with them on their homework.
I think that’s unnecessary expenditure, just to ‘communicate’.
Why not get a more affordable white board, where you can jot down things on it, set-up the weekly/monthly agenda, and be able to erase it when it’s over? Much more affordable, and less of an energy sucker.
Why not use your own cellphone to look at voicemail messages, e-mails, to-do’s, and even private messages? Or even a PC?
Listen to music on your PMP/cellphone throughout the house, or connect it to a stereo speaker or dock. I really doubt most people outfit stereo systems in every room throughout the house, or that these panels give suitable range to do that.
This can all already be done, much cheaper, right now, by cellphones or computers. I think you’re looking a bit too much into these panels. That corporate building probably has different needs that make more sense, than having these panels for a personal family.
I started writing a response but it was getting too long. Look for a follow-up post coming soon.
AMX has some great products, but their pricing has not kept up with technology advances. Their touch screens sell for $2,000-$3,000 each. Whereas you can buy an ASUS touch screen laptop for $500. It the the AMXs and Crestrons of the world are about to get a wakeup call. There are several companies that and technologies that are coming out with the same or better features at substantially less cost. If you are looking for some innovative technology for white boards. Look at the http://blog.ted.com/2008/04/wii_remote_hack.php where the presenter shows an interactive white board for $40 in parts.