Taiwan smart homes of the future

I’m doing a bit of research for a project and wondering what ideas you all may have about Taiwan living in the future.

Specifically, how do you think people will live here in the coming 20 years or so? Do you think the idea of ‘smart homes’ will catch on like they’re expected to in the west? What significant changes do you think we’ll see in the way people live, work, travel, entertain, etc?

Although Taiwan is a hot spot for technology (cell phones, ISP, computer tech) I find that Taiwan lifestyle is a bit behind western countries in terms of household ammenities which are considered luxuries here, but have been longtime standards in other parts of the industrialized world.
Things like: dishwashers, vacuums, wall to wall carpet, closets, central heating and cooling, fully equipped kitchens, hot water washing machines.
If Taiwan is so basic now, will smart features catch on?

Thanks for your input.

I’m curious as to how Taiwan with deal with millions of extra people 20 years from now (that is barring a low birth rate and no influx of mainland Chinese and other immigrants)? In terms of housing, you can erect taller apartment buildings, but it’s going to be hard to move everyone around the city. I would guess that more people will work at home / live outside Taipei. More businesses will move to the suburbs.

Don’t see things such as wall to wall carpets happening in Taiwan, well, at least not in bathroom. But I think there will be “smart” kitchens with hyper-efficient appliances (to deal with water shortages, etc).

And I have a dream that either 1) all dogs will be electronic and only bark when an actual thief shows up at the house, or 2) soundproofing will be incredibly cheap and effective.

Someone told me that they don’t have carpets because of the humidity. Dunno if it’s true.

Saw an advert somewhere recently, can’t remember where, for an internet fridge. Some people apparently feel that having your cooler connected to every other cooler in the world is somehow, er, cooler. Can’t say if it’s smarter though.

How about Taiwan makes a start by adopting construction techniques designed to reduce the need for artificial cooling? Saving energy is smart, but unfortunately requires a bit of thinking ahead.

“Smart” features are the only thing that will catch on.

Safe electrical wiring, sewage systems, insulation from heat and cold, central heating/cooling, proper plumbing, these things will always be of secondary importance.

Penny wise, pound poor, welcome to Taiwan.

[quote=“hexuan”]

Safe electrical wiring, sewage systems, insulation from heat and cold, central heating/cooling, proper plumbing, these things will always be of secondary importance.[/quote]

Wiring is what smart features are all about.
Examples:

Microsoft

[quote]In the kitchen, for example, the refrigerator makes use of the

As I see it, “smart” changes will be forced when crises emerge.

Smart houses will therefore be introduced at an exhorbitant cost to the general public because they will also carry lots of “dumb” (superfluous) features to cater for those clientel simply looking for something to distinguish themselves from the rest of the crowd.

I think they’ve already got robot fish in Japan. I’m having second thoughts about the dog, too, since I can foresee electrocutions from the early models when people try to wash them.

i think a lot of the new housing developments are well placed to take advantage of future ‘smart’ homes but i cant imagine it will be an easy process hooking older parts of the country up…

i do think taiwan will jump on to the whole wireless home control systems. for example: where you send your house an SMS, email or whatever and tell it to turn the air con on in 15 minutes, etc. other things such as vid communications with your home and family seem viable. home networks for data storage and file sharing with family throughout the home at various viewing points like tv, bedroom … home security checks while you are at work… this sort of thing. as for internet fridges… dont see the point.

intel had a nice little ‘home of the future’ section to their site… cant find a link tho. might be worth the search.

I don’t particularly think that “smart homes” will catch on in the West, much less in Taiwan. As with so many other technologies, 90% of what is offered is completely useless garbage; the other 10% is all anyone really wants.

Controlling lights from within the house – all lights, from any switch – is something that my uncle’s house had over thirty years ago. Still does, in fact. There is a little rotary knob to pick which of 20 outlets to control, and a rocker switch next to it to switch that outlet on or off. Simple, easy, useful, no need for computerized control, works with whatever you plug in.

Likewise watering functions, say for watering a lawn or garden – my soon-to-be-ex-neighbors on both sides have in-ground sprinkler systems that work just fine. Again, no computerized controls. I wish I’d known how easy those things were to install!

The nice thing about the lack of computers is that when something breaks, you can fix it without calling an electronics tech.

It all reminds me of the “internet appliance” boom of 1999-2000. Everyone was trying to figure out a new gadget to plug into the web. Microwaves, refrigerators, the Microsoft iLoo Internet Port-A-Potty (but of course MSFT was slow off the mark; they came out with that idea in 2002!). The only one I ever saw that made any sense was Kerbango’s Internet Radio Tuner, and that died a horrid death when the entire Internet Revolution got soundly crushed by ugly ol’ Reality.

Despite being an occasional gadget freak and a longtime computer nerd, I really don’t want them invading every aspect of my life. The idea of having a sensor in my rice jar is about as attractive to me as the idea of those Japanese toilets that have a built-in urinalysis system. Woohoo, a thousand bucks extra just so that it can tell me when I get diabetes in my seventies. I’ll just keep an eye on my own rice jar, thank you, and if I inadvertently run out, I’ll go get takeout instead.

Edited to add: Hah! Found it. I shit you not. :stuck_out_tongue:

[quote]The idea of having a sensor in my rice jar is about as attractive to me as the idea of those Japanese toilets that have a built-in urinalysis system. Woohoo, a thousand bucks extra just so that it can tell me when I get diabetes in my seventies. I’ll just keep an eye on my own rice jar, thank you, and if I inadvertently run out, I’ll go get takeout instead.
[/quote]

Sniff, sniff. What’s that I smell? Oh, I know – its a breath of fresh air!

Check it out:

vision of the future

The bathroom light comes on automatically when I open the door when I have to go in the middle of the night. Does that count ?

[quote=“Alien”]Check it out:

vision of the future[/quote]
I did. Holy $#*+. I’d hate to be walking around naked and accidentally bend over this thing:

Intelligent Garbage Can. :shock: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Run!
Oh %#*&! IT’S GOT THE CAT! FLUFFEEEEE! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Research, and practical experimentation by your truly, has determined that putting lights on when you go P in the night makes it harder to go to sleep again. There’s usually enough ambient light around for me to stumble to the peeatorioum and do my stuff without actually waking myself up. That’s why I don’t need an alarm clock either.

Who needs smart housing anyway? Smart living is much easier and doesn’t require reliance on gadgets. I mean, M$ for fuck’s sake?

Icebox explorer has detected an error in your beverage protocols. Please reinstall your beer management subsystems. We recommend you close all running programs and sit here in the darkness while that stupid dancing paperclip demands your user ID, credit card number, and a sample of genetic material which will be compared to the file copy at MSN.con/coorslightpromo/popups Why not enjoy a cool glass of piss while you wait? All micorbrews have been transferred to your ‘junk beer’ folder.

Smart houses? Not too likely.

Several huge problems to overcome, including Consumer demand, Infrastructure capacity, Design, Installation and Maintenance.

Consumer demand

Will Taiwan consumers demand intelligent refrigerators to tell them the millk is sour, there are no more eggs and the beer is running low? I doubt it.

Infrastructure

The infrastructure is lagging. When is the last time you have seen a licensed electrician or plumber here? Taiwan’s current homes/apartments have not yet caught up with the past yet. There still aren’t 3 prong electrical sockets. Water pipes are inadequate for a garbage disposal in the kitchen sink. Ventilation fans in many bathrooms just vent up into the false ceiling gap. Windows and doors don’t fit properly, leaving large gaps that make cooling / heating your home energy inefficient. Most of the ntercoms between apartment and downstairs front doors that I’ve seen have been inoperable.

Larsen Ni wrote:

[quote]Consumer demand

Will Taiwan consumers demand intelligent refrigerators to tell them the millk is sour, there are no more eggs and the beer is running low? I doubt it. [/quote]

Will consumers anywhere demand it? I doubt it. If I were cynical I’d say smart advertising will create the demand like it is doing for cell phones that can take pictures. But really I don’t know. I think you’d have to have a really ordered and regular life to benefit from some of these plans. Who, even families with children, have this anymore in Taiwan or wherever it is you are from?

Actually, I think a lot of people do have very routine lives in western countries, and here.
I’m positive a lot of this tech will catch on as you’ve seen more and more people (in a very short time of about 3 to 5 years) who use cell phones as extensions of their bodies. People will grow even more dependent on this kind of technology to activate/program other rituals in their daily lives. Those who originally scoffed at cellphones thinking they would never have need for one, ended up becoming the most avid of all users (text msg especially).
If your cellphone can dial into your home to flip on AC, run a bath, and check if you have beer in the fridge, there’s no telling what else people will want from them.
This is all inevitable ‘progress’. I’m not saying that I personally want to jump on the bandwagon, but I ended up doing just that on every other new tech that’s come out in the past (only) 5 years! And most of you all did too…:wink:
cell phone, digital camera, broadband, dvd, wireless…need i go on?
Hmm…

[quote=“Alien”]Actually, a lot of people do have very routine lives in western countries, and here.
I’m positive a lot of this tech will catch on as you’ve seen more and more people (in a very short time of about 3 to 5 years) who use cell phones as extensions of their bodies. People will grow even more dependent on this kind of technology to activate/program other rituals in their daily lives. who originally scoffed at cellphones thinking they would never have need for one, ended up becoming the most avid of all users (text msg especially).
If your cellphone can dial into your home to flip on AC, run a bath, and check if you have beer in the fridge, there’s no telling what else people will want from them.
This is all inevitable ‘progress’. I’m not saying that I personally want to jump on the bandwagon, but I ended up doing just that on every other new tech that’s come out in the past (only) 5 years! And most of you all did too…:wink:
cell phone, digital camera, broadband, dvd, wireless…need I go on?
Hmm…[/quote]
Yes, you do need to go on – because you’ve named the technologies that caught on, but not the ones that didn’t.

Digital cameras? They’re an improvement on something that everyone already liked. No more expenses for buying and developing film, and no need to worry whether the guy at the photo lab kept copies of the photos showing you with your favorite sex toy jammed up your. . . .

Cell phones? Useful for everything from making dinner reservations when you’re already on the way to calling the tow truck when the car breaks down.

But what about the dot.com boom? There were all sorts of neat technologies available, most of which have evaporated. Wearable computers? A few geeks have PDAs, but most people have ignored them, and practically nobody has gone beyond those clunky little memo-book types.

You named DVDs, but what about Betamax? What about IOmega’s forty different little formats, like the “Click!” microdiskette?

The problem is, you’ve forgotten all of the dumb ideas that didn’t stick, like Internet-enabled microwave ovens, refrigerators with doors that can switch between transparent and opaque, and cars that require you to fasten your seat belt before they’ll start. Some things make sense, and some don’t. Most of what’s being pushed as “smart house” ideas simply doesn’t make sense.

Twenty years from now, you’ll be able to come back and say, “see? being able to switch on/off any outlet from any location was a great idea! Security cameras in every room are wonderful!” And you’ll be right – but you’ll be skipping over the “cat-eating trashcan”, the “digital picture frame with genealogy capability”, and the “Internet microwave” that deservedly never made it out of Philips’ secret consumer testing lab.

[quote=“Alien”]

Although Taiwan is a hot spot for technology (cell phones, ISP, computer tech) I find that Taiwan lifestyle is a bit behind western countries in terms of household ammenities which are considered luxuries here, but have been longtime standards in other parts of the industrialized world.
Things like: dishwashers, vacuums, wall to wall carpet, closets, central heating and cooling, fully equipped kitchens, hot water washing machines.
If Taiwan is so basic now, will smart features catch on?

Thanks for your input.[/quote]

It seems a little bit like you are talking about Taiwan like it was the third world or something.

You need to get out more. You should check out some middle/upper class homes in Taiwan for an eye-opener. I was in one the other day with a full spa in his home and another that had his own squash court and of course most of the above (except dirty carpet).

What you need to understand is that the RENTAL homes are usually crap, especially cheap ones that a lot of us are looking at. If you spent good money to make your apartment very nice with closets etc., you are going to live there not rent it out. If you have to move after a couple of years, you will be able to sell it easily and get your BIG money back (because you made it look so nice and comfortable already), and you won’t have to rent it out for little money because no one wants to buy your crap house or your dime a dozen house. Just rent them to some foreigner or poor family that can’t afford to buy their own home. The good places are usually not for rent or they are very expensive!

I have most of these things in my Taiwan home, as do about 200 other families where I live. You guys are so hot for Lotus Hill you missed this other gem in ShiJr.

Again who said these are advanced things and why are you talking about Taiwan like they are so uncivilized? Taiwanese think that carpet is uncivilized and I agree with them. It is hard to keep spotlessly clean. They prefer wood, marble or tile floors and usually they would throw out and redo any home they bought with carpet. Hot water washing is not totally necessary here as the water is always at a temperature capable of dissolving the washing powder and Taiwanese think using hot water will bleed your clothes colors and it is waste of electricity or gas. Taiwanese are also traditional in terms of dishwashers. I have Taiwanese friends that have dishwashers and they don’t use them very often. They think the dishes get cleaner washed by hand and they don’t like to waste water or electricity both of which cost a lot more here than back in Kansas. Vacuums are not necessary if you have wood, graniote or marble floors. It is much better to sweep and mop these kind of floors. Closets are all over the place. I see them all the time. Again get out more. I have two in my house. Hey, there are even two attics in the gables at this place. I also have central air and heated floors and added quite easily for NT$10,000 a heating unit to the central air. However, many people in this community get rid of the central air con units and replace them with room by room wall units. They do this even though they already have central air because they think central air is waste of electricity. I kind of agree with them, but I still use mine and just close the vents in the rooms I never use like the guest room for example and set the thermostat low.

Anyway here is the URL to my community http://www.pacific.com.tw/images/04-11.jpg Really you got to get out more and consider to pay more for a better place. I am sure they have great palces in Lotus Hill, the place you and others are always talking, but you really need to visit more places. You may also need a car to get to some of them. Anyway, you just have to find apartments where they have already done some interior design. Most places that are rented to others do not contain any interior design work. Good luck.