Zaskoda

The success of some gadgets seem obvious in retrospect. From mp3 players to netbooks, you never know when something is going to expode. Or do you? I think the next potential explosion will live in our livingrooms.

I recently started exploring home theater computer systems such as LinuxMCE and Boxee. I had a vague sense of what I wanted before I started looking. These applications were interesting, but not the experience I was looking for. I wasn’t searching for a TV replacement. I did want to consume media, but that’s not all I wanted to do. It came to me while Nino’s mom was visiting. I fired up the Wii so Nino could show off Raging Rabbids. Meanwhile, I found myself playing with the news and weather applications. I sat there watching the view jump around a map of the earth while related news items were shown at the bottom. That was the trigger that brought it all together in my mind.

So the next gadget to change our lives (one of the next) will be an appliance that hooks up to our televisions. Like a console, it will run a custom operating system and developers will be able to create software specifically for this system. Like your home PC, it will most likely have a keyboard. However, it will also have a unique control device not entirely unlike the Wiimote.

The machine will be extremely inexpensive. The company that creates this machine will not be profiting from selling the hardware itself. Instead, the company will profit from 1) the sale of software for the machine and 2) a percentage of e-comerce transactions that occur on the machine.

Unlike a game console system, the device (probably) will not contain any kind of CD/DVD reader. All software and system updates will be installed over the Internet from an online application store. Just like the iPhone app store, Android app store, and the soon to be Pre app store – developers will be able to publish thier software entirely digitally. This same model is showing up on console systems as well.

While existing console system (Xbox 360, PS3, & Wii) are a close match technically, this revolutionary new system will not be gaming centric. There will be a wide variety of software available for the system. Some of it will support commercial transactions. App developers will have access to easy-to-use e-commerece APIs. Simple, secure, and effective microtransactions will be realized.

While this new system may include a Web browser, the Web will not be a primary focus. Much like smart phones and other mobile devices, custom apps will replace popular Web apps. You already see this method in practice; the iPhone uses custom apps to replace the Web interfaces for Google Maps and Youtube.

Here are some apps I imagine we will see:

• Media consumption (news & entertainment in video, audio, and text)
• Interactive weather – imagine updated radar loops applied over Google Earth, imagine zooming in on your city and seeing animated weather matching the weather outside your window.
• Calendar connected to all the other calendars you and your family use (Google Calendar, Yahoo, Outlook, whatever…)
• Games from casual to hardcore.
• Unique social software, well beyond what we see in app like Facebook today.
• Video phone tech that will replace the house phone.
• Home automation connected to the “smart grid” monitoring home energy usage and turning on your coffee pot in the morning.

The news and weather applications built into the Nintendo Wii are perfect examples of user interface innovation that can happen when application developers escape the limitations found inside of a Web browser. Still, the Wii feels like a toy. We can do better.

You may choose to put touch screen displays all through your house and hook them into the system. Your home security system will likely be connected (very much like LinuxMCE).

It will start as a simple set-top box that covers tasks currently performed by your home PC, game consoles, and media appliances (blue ray, dvd, etc). However, it will evolve into the “ships computer” of your home, RV, and automobile. You’ll be able to interface with the system with your wireless computing device (that we’re now calling “smart phones”)…

I can’t wait to see it when it happens.

Zaskoda Uncategorized Appliance, Console, Gadget, Idea