Next week will find an armada of modern technology being marshaled in behalf of three Atlanta families and their desire to devote less time to a household chore that dates to the dawn of mankind - at least the dawn of clothed mankind.
That seems like an armada more than is needed to do the laundry, if you ask me, and no one's even offering to help sort, fold or put away clothes.
Laundry Time, an eight-week pilot program from the Internet Home Alliance, will eventually include nine families and feature the technology and services of Microsoft, HP, Panasonic, Proctor & Gamble and Whirlpool. The idea is to allow family members to receive alerts and control certain laundry functions from their PCs, cell phones and television sets, thus freeing up more time to spend with their PCs, cell phones and television sets. (They actually sell the idea better than I do, of course.)
Microsoft is kicking in proprietary Laundry Time software and its Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; HP is providing Digital Entertainment Centers; Panasonic is bringing transceivers and TV technology; while Proctor & Gamble applies its consumer know-how. Oh, and Whirlpool has the Laundry Time-enabled washers and dryers, although I couldn't find out whether the families get to keep them or not.
Whether this ever catches on with consumers - and whether anyone will pay money for such conveniences - will all come out in the wash, of course, but label me unenthused. And before anyone asks, the answer is, yes, I do plenty of laundry in my five-person household, perhaps more than my wife would like given our long-running disagreements over best practices.
You be the judge on Laundry Time, though.
According to the press release, here are three examples - and remember that they're supposed to be the best examples - of how a networked laundry operation will improve the quality of your life. I've taken the liberty of providing an alternative to each Laundry Time scenario:
Laundry Time's high-tech vision: "You decide to do your laundry while the family is watching TV. After you start the washer (the system will allow you to implement the process remotely), you relax in front of the TV. Thirty minutes later, an alert pops up on your TV screen saying, "Wash Complete," so you put the load in the dryer and put another load in the washer. You get a similar alert on your TV when the dryer is done, so you never forget about your laundry and can fold your clothes before they get wrinkled."
BuzzBlog's low-tech alternative: Toss in a load of laundry. Thirty minutes later the washing machine's standard-issue alarm will shatter your concentration on an episode of "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit" that you have seen four times already. Utter an obscenity. Tell your spouse as sweetly as possible that she's been right all along and the only way she can be sure that the dryer will be running at the proper temperature setting for her unmentionables is if she sets the bloody thing herself. Smile. Return attention to Detective Benson.
Laundry Time's high-tech vision: "You settle down to do some Web surfing after a busy day. When you start up your browser, you get an Instant Message alert telling you that the dryer did not start its cycle. You realize that you forgot to press the start button. Laundry Time asks you in the IM whether you would like to start the cycle. With your mouse, you select "yes," which starts the dryer, and you continue Web surfing without interruption."
BuzzBlog's low-tech alternative: Remember to press the damn dryer button before firing up your browser. If you forget, attempt to press it again once your memory reboots. If you still fail to initiate the drying process via manual manipulation, go to the nearest telephone and dial 911, as you may be suffering a stroke.
Laundry Time's high-tech vision: "While running errands, you get an alert on your cell phone that the dryer is done. You don't want your clothes to sit in the dryer and wrinkle so you use a key on your cell phone to tell the dryer to 'fluff' the load for an additional 15 minutes, the time it will take you to finish your errands and return home."
BuzzBlog's low-tech alternative: Wrinkles-schminkles. If you're taking phone calls from your laundry appliances while operating an automobile let's just say that a messy crease in the khakis is the least of your concerns.
Of course, these Laundry Time partners are serious companies not in the habit of flushing R&D dollars down the drain. While confident that they've hit on the right formula for success, Tim Woods, vice president of the Internet Home Alliance, tells me that the pilot-test data may lead the project's brain trust to conclude that "now is not the right time" for networked laundry appliances.
Call me old-fashioned - I'm old enough to remember clotheslines and clothespins - but I'm not sure there will be a right time.
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What a neat idea. I just
What a neat idea. I just left my home to go on vacation. I had to leave the dryer running with the exhaust tube hanging outside through an open window. I have no idea whether the clothes are dry or if the dryer somehow caught fire. I could use the Internet control technology! Now please ask them if I can control the windows as well. Maybe give me a webcam so I can view my laundry area.
<p>Amazing what happens when you
Amazing what happens when you allow people to comment on your Web site.
<p>If his "aunt", Queen Elizabeth
If his "aunt", Queen Elizabeth II did, in fact, keep him out of the asylum, our world is richer for it. Thanks, Your Majesty! This guy clearly needs to return to the mothership, though, and recharge his batteries.
<p>Amusingly, it seems that this
Amusingly, it seems that this same fellow has been playing this same game in the IMDB comment system. Take a look at the list of comments at http://finnish.imdb.com/title/tt0087225/usercomments?start=8 for more of the same.
Anyone think this might be a viral PR routine for some new video game, instead of a random free thinker on parade? Maybe my paranoia is just getting the better of me with that idea, but still....
Washed up?
Totally agree with Paul on the examples given, yet again a solution looking for a problem. However, I'm not totaly cynical. How about a heating system in my country hide-away that I can switch on over the Internet when the weatherman tells me its siuddenly going to freeze? CCTV remote so I can see the deer eating my roses (and maybe trigger an audible chase-away). All technically possible, but it would be nice to do it for a reasonable price and off-the-shelf.
Washed up
All off the shelf apps are available to do this sort of thing including sending you an email an im or calling you on your cell phone streaming the video of the culprit to your web enabled phone while posting to a website the mug shot of the deer eating your roses.
Oh, the irony...
I've been working on putting this very idea to paper at Whirlpool this summer as a potential technology project. Looks like someone beat me to it. My implementation was a little more general (and didn't involve Microsoft, thank God) but, I'd love this technology right now.
Being a part-time college instructor, full-time computer engineering student, and freelance photographer and graphic designer means my attention gets split 16 ways to Sunday. In my apartment my washer and dryer ar far enough away from the front room that I can't hear the buzzer. Invariably I get working on a project or doing some reading, I'll look up and realize it's been two hours or more. The clothes in the dryer are already wrinkled.
I don't watch much TV, but I am on my computer a lot, designing, editing, typing, reading, etc. It'd be a great productivity enhancement if I could configure an IM to pop up when the dryer is done. Then I could take a break, fold or hang the clothes before they are wrinkled, and probably switch loads. The laundry gets done faster, and saves me tons of ironing time. Or, configure the machine to send me a text message while I am out running an errand, so I know to get back home.
I'm old enough to have hung clothes out on a line with clothes pins, but I'm also young enough to have used computers since about age 5. Most people my age (30-ish) are starting homes, starting families, and are very tech-savvy. We are the new generation of home appliance buyers, and we can appreciate and use these features today.
Net Connected Appliances - Helpful
I am very easily distracted and devices that remind me that the laundry is done could both save a lot of time and a lot of frustration.
It's very easy for people to say, "The solution is to just remember your laundry," when they've never experienced the frustration of ADHD.
I would absolutely buy these, even if I have to save extra money for them. Where I have trouble with something as simple as watching a clock, the net connected washer and dryer would immeasurably improve my life.
Whirlpool, if you're reading this, give me a few timing options, Jabber/XMPP (and maybe AIM/Y!IM/SMS) notification, and 802.11b and RJ-45 connectivity. That's a little overkill on the appliances, but those network protocols are common and readily available.
Put these next to the fridge
These need to go along side of the web enabled refridgerators and internet grocery shopping. What ever happened to that?
Excellent idea, but lacks an
Excellent idea, but lacks an essential feature. The washer and dryer need to be able to shutdown the TV and computer/internet function, locking those up until the teenager has finished transfering the clothes or folding and putting clothes away. Then the parents can punch in the unlock code on the dryer, cell phone, browser, etc. to unlock the electronics for the teenager to resume using. Come to think of it, it should also shut down the phone and cell phone as well, and if it could shut out their iPod, that should just about do it.