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Microsoft Office Labs vision 2019

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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.

So build it :)

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...

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."

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

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

It's funny how Apple convinced many people that iPhone is a 200 dollar phone. iPhone is not a fancy 200 dollar phone; it's at least a 500 dollar phone.

Arbitrary, blocking, transitional animations get old very quickly.

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.

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

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...

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

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