Smartphones have been with us for a while, and Smart Televisions are just starting to spring up in the front rooms of early adopters. But what else should we be smart-ifying, what other gadgets could do with some extra bells and whistles to make our lives that little bit easier, and that little bit better connected?
Here's a look at some of the bits of technology that need to smarten up if they want to stay relevant in today's ever more internet dependent market.
Watches
There are a few smart watches on the market at the moment, and a few more than will connect to the phone in your pocket and display some information for you, but it's not really enough. A watch with a projection screen and some touch based controls would work well, and do a lot more than just telling the time. Portable connectivity is an important part of our world, it seems silly to let watches get left behind.
Home phones
Right now there's a definite delineation between our home phone line and our mobile phone, which really seems a bit silly. Why not sort some way of connecting the phone that sits in our pocket while we're on the go to the home network when we walk in the door. That way we need fewer handsets, and we won't have to get up to answer the home phone.
Surfaces
There's plenty of work being done on smart surfaces, which can be both table and computer at the same time. Imagine kitchen doors that, at a tap, could tell you what's in all of your cupboards, or even send out orders to home shopping websites in order to fill themselves up. It's a very real possibility in the not too distant future, and should make the kitchen as connected up as the rest of the rooms in your house.
Alarm clocks
Most of us probably use our mobile phones to wake us up in the morning, consigning the alarm clock to a back up, or a last resort for the heavy sleeper. Smart alarm clocks could wake you up to a projection of the news from your favourite website, work out your sleep patterns and make sure they wake you at the opportune moment, and tell the gadgets in the kitchen that it's time to start making breakfast.
In the coming months and years, we're going to see our homes becoming much, much smarter. Quicker internet speeds will let gadgets and gizmos converse with each other, ordering the products you need before you even know you're going to run out of them, and learning your preferences in order to tailor your user experience. It's certainly going to be an interesting time, and it's one that we should all be looking forward to.
