Glowing, Talking Walls Will Do Your Bidding
Researchers at the Sept. 10 British Association science festival said that houses could be radically transformed by advances in nanotechnology and mobile devices.
Experiments with light emitting diodes and other small devices have led scientists such as Jim Feast of the University of Durham to speculate that televisions could be embedded into the walls, which could be programmed to display images or change color and intensity according to homeowners’ wishes.
“Maybe curtains will become things of the past and we’ll just switch from transparent structures–maybe glass, maybe plastic–to an image of our choice; maybe light bulbs will disappear and we will be able to select the level and color of illumination from our glowing walls,” Feast suggested.
He also predicted that mobile communications technology will shrink to the point where such devices could be weaved into apparel; the initial applications would primarily serve the military and airline pilots, while civilian applications will emerge later.
Orange Communications’ Stephen Hope saw potential in an automated house that can care for infirm residents.
Meanwhile, Nigel Linde of the University of Salford told conference attendees that his team is collaborating with the Greater Manchester police on Crimespot, a project in which law enforcement can be kept apprised of an object’s whereabouts thanks to installed location-aware devices, thus making theft easier to detect.
This raises a number of important issues, such as whether all devices should be equipped with mobile technology, whether homeowners should pay for it at the point of purchase or through home insurance, and whether the police or a third party should monitor the devices.
The security implications of mobile devices that always know a user’s location and activities should also be addressed, Linde said.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Guardian Unlimited (UK) (09/11/03); Radford, Tim.
