RE: HA & SWMBO

["Nigel Giddings" <nigel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris,

My wife, most swmbo, and probably most people do not see the point...

In fact a friend once said to me 'I've never known someone spend so much
time on time saving gadgets....'

What I have found makes the difference is the end result, whereas for
most people on the list it is the work that leads to the end result that
is interesting... Finding the content or true use for the all singing
all dancing system can be more difficult than installing, configuring
and integrating it...

A few SWMBO favorites (I know we have done this before):-

TiVo (Better than the Dishwasher)
Pronto (Easy to turn off all that stuff under the telly)
XBMC (Great for DivX Films and watching the TiVo)
Internet access (Must be available 99.9999% of the time)
E-Mail (Outlook with Folders)

The system / network behind this is of no interest at all, the 100M
Switches, Servers, Structured Wiring, Applications are of no interest...
It's what it allows you to do that is important...

I am building my own house, have been for some time, and the biggest
frustration is that I still haven't been able to show all the disparate
systems working together as one yet. So again all she sees is money
going out and nothing coming back. She understands the need for a
Bathroom and Kitchen, even an LCD Telly in the bedroom... But she cannot
see the point of C-Bus, or even UFH yet... and to be honest when
(fingers crossed) it is all working will the function against cost be
worth it???

I firmly believe by installing all the house systems, water, power,
heating, ventilation, entertainment, lighting, information as open
standards the cost of integration will be reduced, at least in terms of
cash. Time is another matter.. I can see me sitting at my laptop in the
kitchen with a WiFi connection tweaking all the variables for months
(years?) to come.

I hope to be able to introduce her to more features of HA as I get them
working, scene lighting I know will be a big hit.

Ability to play MP3 play-lists easily (one button on/off) with zoned
audio.

To know who has called the telephone when you get back, to be able to
screen calls by CLI, individual voicemail boxes sent to e-mail. To be
able to record calls to call centers to prove what you said. Phone
number sync so she has all the numbers she needs everywhere.

To be able to see weather overviews / traffic conditions on web tablets
(maybe more for me). Effective heating and ventilation (will she
notice(probably not)).

Security, probably no points for this one till after the event.

Printer Sharing, File sharing / backup. Web access to e-mail from
anywhere in the world. E-mail wizards for notifications via sms or
whatever.

The point I am trying to make is that it is how all these work together
seamlessly so they are taken for granted...

I wonder what the people on this list would have been doing if they were
alive 100 or 200 years ago? Experimental plumbing, internal combustion
engines, electricity would be a no brainer and probably radio...

Accept why you do it and ask yourself 'why would my SWMBO should be
interested?'

HTH

Nigel

http://photos.corbenic.co.uk


PS Excuse me if I am rambling but I have 'Man Flu' and have been on the
medicine...


-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Hunter [mailto:cjhunter@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 22 March 2006 07:59
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] HA & SWMBO

'just wondered if I'm alone in having a spouse who is yet to be
convinced we should be spending some of our bugdet on HA ... when I show

her the brochures we collected at SmartHomes she tends to say so-what,
how much ... how much ?   They make a pretty poor job of getting the
message across !

Chris