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Disney's Innoventions Dream Home is a Big Ad For Microsoft and HP...But I Still Want It
Posted by Sean Fallon at 11:00 AM on June 20, 2008
Recently, Disney announced the grand opening of their new Innoventions Dream Home located in Tomorrowland in Anaheim, Calif. The construction was a collaborative effort between Disneyland, Microsoft, HP, Life|ware and home-builder Taylor Morrison--so naturally the home functions more as a big advertising campaign for current products than an actual "home of the future." Still I wouldn't mind booting out the fictional Elias family from their 5000 sq ft home to get my hands on some of this tech.
Microsoft:
In addition to Microsoft technology we are already familiar with like Surface, Home Server, Vista, the Zune , Xbox 360 and the like (the home of the future is still running the 360?), there are a number of future technologies installed in the home that were inspired by innovations from their prototyping lab:
•Magic Mirror: A mirror projects different clothes, accessories and hairstyles onto each family member's image when they stand before it. The clothes not only morph to the contours of the body, but also sway as the person in front of the mirror moves.
•Kitchen of Your Dreams: The kitchen recognises ingredients as a family member sets them on the counter, suggesting recipes for those items and providing instructions once a recipe is selected.
•Story Time: Visit the child's room to be transported to Neverland. Read "Peter Pan" aloud to absorb a full multimedia experience, as cues in the story set off lights, sounds, colours and video.
HP:
In the kitchen, HP has their TouchSmart PC keeping things organised and the iPAQ 510 Voice Messenger is available to make calls. In the living room the aforementioned iPAQ is connected to the Surface table to transfer and display photos. They can also be transferred wirelessly to any number of HP digital photo frames in the house as well as to the MediaSmart TV.
As for Life|ware, they provided much of the RFID technology and media centre solutions that tied all of the technology together.
To get the full scoop on the home of the semi-present, hit the following press releases. [HP and Microsoft and Life|ware and Disney via Hemagazine]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
pevans34
Posted 11:31 AM 20/6/08
man i think this whole setup is kinda ugly. Too many bright, screens everywhere. Make me think Im living inside a computer or something.
is it just me or does anyone else think digital photo frames always come out ugly looking?
pevans34
jawzxy
Posted 11:30 AM 20/6/08
There is zero imagination embodied in their representation of the future. This is all current-gen tech that you can install in your house immediately if you have the money.
jawzxy
scoobydoo
Posted 11:28 AM 20/6/08
I thought that the "house of the future" crap died back in the 50's.
scoobydoo
mferrari
Posted 11:25 AM 20/6/08
@pastrychef: Except for the fact that apple has no interest in the big ass, just barely futuristic touchscreen market (seriously, is the only innovation for the next 20 years going to be touch screens in different shapes and sizes?). The only thing that really is competition for them is the Zune, and if that buggy ass shit box (I owned one, don't flame me!) actually worries Jobs, then he has some serious problems.
mferrari
Rizzuh
Posted 11:19 AM 20/6/08
Time is without function. There is no substance, there is no being: it is only what you are. It is only within the clarity of a state of mind, - of the state of mind with which someone sacrafices an origin, that my friend is true bliss.
Rizzuh
Rizzuh
Posted 11:18 AM 20/6/08
I am really high on lsd and none of this makes any sense
Rizzuh
HawkSkater0
Posted 11:07 AM 20/6/08
So... does it have a blue screen of death room?
HawkSkater0
pastrychef
Posted 11:06 AM 20/6/08
I wonder how long it'll take for Steve Jobs (Disney's largest share holder) to get them to dump the Microsoft and HP tech...
pastrychef
derek168
Posted 11:40 AM 20/6/08
the mirror is gonna give flasher an excuse to go out naked.
derek168
BigRocket
Posted 1:16 PM 20/6/08
I just bought a Taylor Morrison home and my kitchen looks nothing like that. REFUND!
BigRocket
Xidius
Posted 1:12 PM 20/6/08
Oh. It's Michael Jackson's bedroom.
Xidius
Reilaos~
Posted 1:08 PM 20/6/08
@pevans34: Digital screens, TVs, and the like always look like crap after you take a picture of them and put them onto paper or onto yet another screen. That's why all the ads you see in the sales papers have had images of the latest movie or game that they're trying to push doctored onto them, instead of taking pictures of them displaying the picture.
Reilaos~
videoCWK
Posted 12:57 PM 20/6/08
This isn't as futuristic as a "future home" should be. It's more like a "rich people home in six years"
videoCWK
geeniusatwrok
Posted 1:31 PM 20/6/08
um... how is this different from the ancient Monsanto, GE, etc. -sponsored crap in Tomorrowland? Call me when the Monsanto shrinky-ray thing actually works.
the pulsing red atom on that ride scared the crap out of me when I was like eight.
geeniusatwrok
macserv
Posted 1:30 PM 20/6/08
@Dudemeister on the Run: I wouldn't want to pay the salary of the IT staff necessary to support an HP/Microsoft smart-home.
macserv
Dudemeister on the Run
Posted 1:21 PM 20/6/08
I wouldn't want to pay the electric bill for that.
Dudemeister on the Run
Mr.Wilson
Posted 2:53 PM 20/6/08
Is it just me, or other than the mirror and Peter Pan room, it seems awfully boring? Where's the witricity? The spiffy video game attachments? The window screens? And in Innoventions? Thought they were making a new building for this, not taking out all the stuff in the show building! (Glimpses at mirror pic) and I'd only be impressed with that thing if it managed to give me a pinstripe tux.
Mr.Wilson
mcknn
Posted 3:46 PM 20/6/08
@pastrychef: Apple products with wood? Really?
mcknn
thomusvoo
Posted 4:52 PM 20/6/08
sweet
time to check it out
thomusvoo
Brau
Posted 5:59 PM 20/6/08
Great!! A house that nags you for confirmation every time you want to do something, bogs to a crawl when it loads up with malware, and shuts down if you try to replace your stereo with an unauthorized brand. Lovely vista though.
Brau
ianmac47
Posted 11:21 PM 20/6/08
Disney projects like this have always been giant adverts. Look at Epcot center.
ianmac47
gizgal
Posted 4:25 PM 20/6/08
from everything i have read on it, it isn't supposed to be a FUTURE home it is a DREAM home. i read another article that said that most of the tech is available, available but not neccessarily consumer affordable yet. personally, i think the magic mirror sounds pretty cool, and a voice activated kitchen, oh yeah. my husband is particularly interested in the 100 inch television! that is definately a DREAM to him!
gizgal
brienedick
Posted 12:35 PM 20/6/08
I thought it was well executed, but a lot of it was marketing; I saw more Surface tables set up there than I thought could be useful, and most of it was hocking MS stuff than actually showing its usefulness. The life}ware stuff was neat but I think I'd rather have a Harmony 1000.
The Microwave was probably the coolest thing there.
brienedick
anfauglir
Posted 1:19 AM 21/6/08
I can't even afford a house of the present let alone all this crap.
anfauglir
tegronin
Posted 2:48 AM 21/6/08
i think this disply WAS at epcot about 8 years ago...
they have had a house of the future at epcot pretty much since it opened.
tegronin