I would like my ideal home to have one box in a hidden place, only one, that will be the main brain of my Home Information System.
Picture it like a black cube with some green LEDs indicating the brain's temperature and some other unimportant info. Who cares if nobody will see it.
This box will have all the hard-drives, memory and hardware any regular server needs to have, plus the respective internet, cable and tv connections.
Now, the rest of my house won't have any other computers at all, only displays, smart displays. Like a 60" flat in the living room, a couple of 21" flats in my studio, a 19" in every bedroom and some 15" and 10" portables for moving around and surfing from your best spot, the couch, floor, kitchen, bathroom, anywhere.
The interesting part about this is that the displays won't have any moving parts, no HD, CD, DVD, no motherboard, keyboard, mouse, nothing. Not like ordinary laptops or tablets, no no no, I mean just the display, thin, light. Take your laptop and break it apart in two pieces, hold the display in your hand and you'll understand what I mean.
Displays like not-so-dumb terminals with 1GB memory, powerful video card and wireless connection to the main 'brain'. The portables must be INK-enabled, of course. The big flat must be remote controlled. All connect to, and work from the server, which is partitioned so everybody in the house can have their own privacy. They should have a memory stick slot for your recordings and installations, if needed.
Now my question is, why having all that technology available today (and cheap) we still have to deal with heavy, clumsy and wired PCs and laptops ???
Reading eBooks in bed would be a real pleasure with a lighter-than-a-mousepad display instead of a heavy tablet or laptop. Reading blogs in the bathroom while doing my duties would be a unique experience too.
So, when is that future coming?
How far are we from the jetsons?
Wake me up when we get there...