HP CTO Phil McKinney shows off the TouchPad controlling home appliances 77
When the Leo Apotheker, CEO at HP, told us that they have a vision for webOS devices that include home appliances, we kind of chuckled at the idea. Certainly not in a bad way - we just had no idea what this idea might look like in reality, or how people might use this futuristic feature. It reminds us of something we'd see in science fiction movies. To be clear, other third-party mobile developers have tried their hands at similar tasks on various platforms, and Google just recently announced that Android is giving it a go, but none of them have had the great success in penetrating the global market of smartphone and tablet users.
In the wonderful world of Phil McKinney, CTO at HP, that dream is becoming a reality. With a fan, lamp and temperature system all connected nearby at his presentation in Maker Faire 2011, McKinney was able to control each of them individually and easily... from the very HP TouchPad he was showing off.
The TouchPad obviously won't have all (or any) of these many different appliances connected on launch, but with the technology in place and HP's clout asking these companies to take the initiative in adding the necessary hooks, we can start to see a clear view of what HP is wanting to do with their webOS ecosystem. It's more than just creating a connection between smartphone, tablet and printer - they want everything to be connected to one central nervous system that lives on your tablet device, your phone, your computer, and the cloud.
McKinney did go on to say that all of the appliance manufacturers were going to need to work with HP to make this idea a reality, but it's coming along and looks interesting. Next we'd like to see if/how they plan on connecting with vehicles. And by vehicles, we mean flying cars controlled via a TouchPad. Of course, we'll need to just see these devices released, first. That's not too much to hope for, is it? As long as these devices will let us keep control, and not the other way around, this advancement in webOS technology is a welcome sight.
Source: AllThingsD; Via: PreCentral Forums
77 Comments
Huzzah! Things seem to be going in the right direction for webOS. Lets just hope sprint feels the same way.
We don't need to hear the Sprint comment again. We know. Everyone here knows .
But does Sprint know?
yeah, great direction! WebOS is catching up, and BIG, thanks to custom-built solution that controls one-in-a-world fan and one-in-a-world lamp!
Using Google for 10seconds, here's something to cool down your enthusiasm: list of 14 (wait, does it mean there are more than 1!?) apps for home automation for Android. And you know what? They all support industry-standard home automation protocols.
http://ulanoff.com/blogs/automation/droid-apps/
...and here's another one, for iOS (erm... 137 apps on the list):
http://ulanoff.com/blogs/automation/iphone-apps/
Oh, wait - there are even SYMBIAN ones out there - isn't that sweet?
http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Security/Antivirus/Doberman-BMS-6649.shtml
I will not waste my time to google out ancient WinMo 6.5 and earlier ones, but at that stage I am pretty sure there are some.
Great job, HP! You are making clowns of yourselves, your competition doesn't even need to do anything else, just point and laugh.
hopefully hp will have netflix for the touchpad, or else 20 million people will have no reason to buy it.
This article isn't about Netflix. It's about appliances. Stay on topic.
If you go back to the Feb 9th demo of the TouchPad, the Netflix question answers itself.
bnceo must be a cop because he seems to want to tell everyone what to do all the time in the forums. People can talk about what ever thy want to. Stop going through here and telling everyone what to do. Get a life.
Does anyone have a video of this yet?
Been wondering myself.
That was informative.
"McKinney did go on to say that all of the appliance manufacturers were going to need to work with HP to make this idea a reality"
Good luck with that. Appliance manufacturers aren't going to work with a platform that 97% of their potential customers aren't using. They are going to work with the big two.
Arguably, you are correct.
But what if all those devices used Bluetooth or WiFi to connect to any OS. WebOS would still be the first with apps [hopefully] with others jumping on the bandwagon. I could see where / all your appliances connected to some network / would work with apps from whatever OS.
Then, the touchpad becomes and extension of that, whereby, it could control the central control unit from anywhere there's internet. Then, if you go to Disney World and forget to turn down the thermostat, it would be possible and even easy to turn it down remotely.
there are apps for home automation for iPhone, I am sure I've read about it about 45 years ago already.
Not sure about Android, but I would guess there are some, too.
EDIT: Of course there are home automation apps for both platforms, in droves.
All the device makers need a unified open API to make this work.
Dishwashers, refrigerators, and toasters need to work with all platforms. No one wants to rent an apartment with appliances that support a different platform than their personal choice.
Thinking this isn't being directed towards apartment renters (or apartment owners putting appliances in their apartments).
Maybe high end condos, but then I would expect the touchpad to be included in the lease agreement.
A good refrigerator right now (without added next gen tech) runs 2000+, these aren't the kind of appliances you find in an apartment. A dishwasher will run you 400+ for a good one, high end over 600 easily (once again without added new tech). Higher end toasters are 70-100. For first gen appliances with this new tech I would suspect 3000ish + for the fridge, 900ish+ for a dishwasher, 100+ for a toaster.
I projected my situation a bit. In Silicon Valley, it isn't surprising for a 2000 square foot "fixer-upper" to cost a million dollars. People with $200K salaries tend to rent because it is the wiser decision.
My point is that many people don't make their choice of appliances (okay with toasters they do), but they do make the choice of their tablets.
When I move into a new place, I'm not going to switch to Android because the appliances are set up for that. The place my provide a TouchPad, but if I am an Apple person, I don't want two devices that do the same thing.
It would be like buying a car that only go on some roads. Then you have to buy another car to go on other roads. It's a bad solution. The good solution is to create an open standard (people below mentioned Z-Wave, but I remember X-10 doing some of this kind of stuff more than 15 years ago) for the type of appliance and let people write applications for any OS... or even make it web-enabled.
I agree. Would appliance manufactures like LG and Samsung want to integrate WebOS onto their devices? After all, they make smartphones too. Perhaps now has some reason to justify licensing WebOS out to other cell phone makers.
i recall reading about this story somewhere else a few days ago. it seems like you guys have been a little sluggish lately when it comes to reporting news. i remember the good old days when i used to come to this site and you guys were the among the first to report on BREAKING news stories.
*sigh*
oh how times have changed.
Yeah, I thought they were tweeting an old posting.
Does it use SIP to do that?
That's all I want to know....
Very cool. I cant wait until I can turn stuff on without getting up, besides my entertainment system. Will it make people too lazy? We need to make life like the Jetsons without the effects of Wall-E. =)
this can be done from any smartphone!! Appliances that are z-wave compatible can be controlled with an APP or a controller hooked up to the net, this is cool if the appliances have WebOs built in, but otherwise this is just showing he is connected to the internet!
Yeah, it would be cool to get a WebOS app for the Vera2 similar or better than HomeBuddy for Android. Maybe I should download that dev kit and get busy! :-)
But, yes, this can be done on any smartphone with a browser now. I can control my lights and other house loads with my Pre.
what if someone hacks in your profile and shuts you down a la PS3 network?
i really dont trust the cloud or NFC for that matter.
But could it control a toaster?
it never ceases to amaze me how companies try to make decade old technology seem like it's state of the art, you could do this with a 2000 windows mobile phone, it's more up to the appliances manufacturer than WebOS, like ma15350 said unless WebOS is built into the appliances this really is nothing impressive
If it's using a standard that exists already, that's great but unremarkable.
If it's introducing yet another standard in home automation, it's near worthless as theres no way for it to get traction any time soon.
Don't you see what's happening?! Are you blind?! Once hp hooks itself up to our microwaves, coffee makers and left-over pizza & beer receptacles, they will send out "The Signal", a single wifi/bluetooth/OTA command to take control over us all! We will be forced to do the bidding of the machines, for fear of losing our life-giving re-heated pizza, hot coffee and cold beer! This will all occur on October 21, 2011 OR December 21, 2012, depending on launch dates, supply chains and webOS upgrade roll-out!!
The End is Near!!
But, I still plan on getting one...
just like the mayans predicted.
I can't wait. I want my little veer to control my entire house.
Sorry but I just can't get jazzed about this. Controlling a fan, a light and a temp controller fits into what I call "finding a solution to a problem that doesn't exist". If HP spent more time working on releasing the TP and less on silly marketing like this presentation they wouldn't be in the position they are now. Also, printing is a dead business. Paperless is the future, which means HP has to be worried about a BIG chunk of their revenue. Probably why they bought Palm. Too bad it's turning out the way it has ...
Yep, I wasn't that excited beyond the "oh, that's kinda cool" either when Google demoed that stuff for Android. The issue for me is that this is yet another "future potential" pending manufacturer adoption; which isn't bad in and of itself. But what I want are the things that are applicable NOW.
webOS has always been full of potential and very light on the "practical now". Why can't it have both?
"printing is a dead business"
I LOL, paperless is the future, and that future is a LOOOOOONG ways away.
Reality is printing, paper use isn't leaving any time soon.
"Reality is printing, paper use isn't leaving any time soon."
Agreed! "The Paperless Office" has been the future for what, 2 decades now? It's not happening any time soon.
I don't know where you all work but paperless is not as far in the future as you think. To back up my point have you all noticed how airline boarding passes are now paperless? What about e-Readers like the nook and kindle? They're paperless as well. Making payments for goods and services via enabled smart phones, that's paperless as well.
What planet do you guys have your heads in a whole on?
As to turning a light on with my phone, that's not going to be broadly adopted for a long, long time because generally, nobody is asking for it. But HP's working on it. And that's the problem.
While cool, it's not the norm. Also, see Tim's comment just below yours.
Now go into the offices of those airlines that are pushing paperless boarding passes. You'll see cabinets and files filled with paper....
Sorry bud... but I worked in this industry for many years. Home automation for lights, heat, music, etc is a large and quickly growing industry. There have always been just a few players for this stuff, but with the advent of tablets and more powerful smarthphones, this market is a big one for electronics stores and retailers. Ka-ching.
HP knows what they are doing. they will be extremely tight lipped until the June event. At that event they are going to announce the touchpad, announce the date as the following week, and announce the pre3 carriers.
Just chill people damn. lol. rock a veer like im doing.
Im jazzed :)
Bring on The June Conference!
BTW i keep getting automated calls from all the HP head honchos saying "cant wait to see you in vegas" and they mention webOS a few times in the messages saying come and see what we got pretty much. So yeah I can wait till Vegas.
Now my microwave's timer function will have the following settings:
* 1 Minute
* 5 Minutes
* Coming Months
Nice!
We need webOS for TV and webOS for cars
WebOS Carputer will be a future project of mine. =)
Flying cars? That's just stupid! We need JETPACKS!!! :)
Apple sued Samsung for stealing intellectual property. I wonder if HP is next since they copied everything from ipad 1, size, shape, weight, even package size, and now the smart cover.
I would be willing to bet that is in the works.
Samsung doesn't have all the patents that HP has. If they wanted to sue they could go **** for tat all day.
HP now has a bag full of patents from Palm that they can counter sue Apple. This is all about positioning and scare tactic. Apple can say iPhone is revolutionary, but the pages of icons has been there with PalmOS for years.
All good points.
best potential patent palm has is
US 20110035708 A1
Cards Patent
So that's the one that Blackberry stole for the playbook. How did they get away with that? Maybe it's because no one has bought a playbook?
it's not a patent yet, but if it does become one Playbook and Windows Mango might be coughing up licensing money
hmm, did you read that patent application you linked to, or just looked at the pretty pictures (worthless in patents, as they are only illustrations to claims)? It says "method for changing wallpapers on multitouch devices", with these "wallpapers" all over the place. There's no mention about "controlling applications", not that I've came across
I am not patent expert, but it doesn't sound very strong for a claim...
Except that in the leaked documents a few months ago, it is shown that HP took many steps to make sure the TouchPad was "like the iPad". In fact, the name iPad showed up a few times in those docs.
So it's not a simple fact of "let's make it like the iPad because only iPad sized components are available".
I doubt that this will have any impact to the short term sale of TouchPad and Pre 3. No appliances can do this, so no one would make the buying decision based on this.
Controlling home appliances that are designed to be controlled by practically any wifi or bluetooth enabled devices computers. Big deal.
The same goes for magazine apps which are basically cookie cutter apps based on the same generic framework. Big deal.
I like what Dieter said on the Palmcast a few days ago - that HP needs to have a TP launch event that highlights new apps. If they don't have a Touchpad launch event then it means that they don't have the apps to show off.
The more that we see magazines and this kind of generic application that any tablet can do the less of an app catalog we can expect for the TP at launch.
Every other tablet company showed up at CES 4 months ago. HP shows off the TP at Maker Faire?
HP held its own event instead of CES. The Maker Faire was just an extra bonus surprise.
The Maker Faire was a couple of miles from my house. I would have gone if there was mention that HP and the TouchPad would be there.
webOS on Toasters! It's real after all! :)
Would love to get rid of my X10 kludgeness. Been waiting for years to find something that can replace it. Sure we have been able to do this stuff for a long time but not in a cohesive manor at a practical price. The X10 and other currently available stuff sucks because it is very complicated and extremely unreliable. Sure it is cheap and Misterhouse.sourceforge.net works and everything but normal people can't do this stuff right now. Short of paying a company thousands or knowing a geek, presently you can't do anything like what they are talking about. If they can get something out there that actually works and is affordable, easy to plug-in (notice I didn't say install) and integrated to a touch screen - they might actually have something here that can pull off one the the bases they need for the homerun they are looking for...
How about you show me a TouchPad that can edit Word, Excel, and Powerpoint doc's. One that can view movies from Netflix or my Comcast DVR.
And then show me a store actually selling the device.
Great response, they are sooo far ahead with their "great plans", that they cannot see how far behind competition they are in actually DELIVERING NO-NONSENSE FEATURES THAT EVERYONE CRIES FOR!!!
But their "great plans" include becoming "Number One-er"!
lol
Is it only me, or the idea of cloud computing gives a company enormous power and control over you, your life and the way you use your devises? There was something like this before, but it died 22 years ago. Has anyone heard the term "totalitarianism?"
[THE NETWORK HAS FLAGGED YOUR COMMENT FOR FURTHER CONTENT INVESTIGATION - PLEASE STEP AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD AND REMAIN AT YOUR CURRENT LOCATION]
This is "news"? This has been going on for a long time!! I saw IBM demo the exact same thing back in 1996. Really? **THIS** is what HP is going to hang webOS' hat on?
Why doesn't it catch on? Because all the appliances you want to control have to be built with the intelligence (APIs) to allow this to happen. They also have to be network enabled (wired/wireless).
Perhaps HP can make it store music that you can copy of your LPs/Cassettes/CDs and then play later (they might even invent headphones for it too).
Wow, just wow....
I like your anger! I am angry too!
"Minus 20"
Edit: I was expecting more minuses.
OMG... how low they will go...
If anyone can give me any realistic use case for that, I would be happy. For me, it first, have absolutely nothing to do with WebOS, because it could be done from any connected device (and I bet "there's an app for that" for both iOS and Droid worlds).
What, you fill your dishwasher with dirty stuff, you close it, and then, instead of pushing freaking "start" button on it, you head off to find your tablet to do the same?????
What, you will switch on&off your fridge, and play around with it's thermostat remotely??? Seriously??????
What, you will retrofit your lighting system in your house, to be able to use your TP (or any other web-enabled mobile device, for that matter) to control it, spending serious thousands $$$ (that's the reality)????? Or maybe, you will retrofit your bulbs, with non-existent, intelligent, WiFi-connected ones, (going for, hmmm, let's guess, about $100 a piece)? Perhaps WebOS-equipped ones? That would be really cool, to have them booting up for three minutes, after you switch them on - well here you go, a valid use case - you use your TP to switch them on when you leave office, so they will be on just in time you arrive home.
Ok, heating/air conditioning is one (barely) practical use case. But again, it can be done already, and it has nothing to do with WebOS, for God's sake...
Seriously, how completely LAME managers can be?
HP, stop making arses of yourselves, if you don't have anything relevant to say, don't, and better, start saying relevant things, and fast, for God's sake!!!!!!!!!
Release freaking RELEVANT devices (Pre 3, Touch Pad), roll on your HUGE marketing campaign to showcase user experience, give us really GOOD prices (not iPad 2 ones, for God's sake! And Pre 3 should cost about as much as Veer costs, if you want to be competitive, it is nothing more but mid-range phone by current standards).
I am soooo pi$$ed off with you, HP, it seems it would be better for you to just shut up, instead of producing this constant stream of stupid, annoying, irrelevant LAME blabber! You should be embarrassed with yourselves. If only stupidity could fly, you whole upper ranks would be angels. One stupid announcement after another, and another, it is simply unbelievable. Only Apotheker seems to have at least some coherent vision, others are nothing but corporate clowns.
...a good one with the lights ;)
I think your anger is misplaced.. you are applying webos phone boot times and crazy prices for web appliances and software that aren't even on the market yet. Just raging to rage imo.
Also, I would keep in perspective the position HP is in with newly (in the big picture) acquired Palm. Getting a company integrated not just for their software/patents but getting products sifted through the various processes to get phones/tablets into consumer hands is a pretty daunting task considering the demand for a new Palm device already existed BEFORE HP bought Palm.. I'd say last half of 2010 and first half of this year are all chalked up to the merge imo. The second half of this year and more importantly 2012 will tell the real story.
Disappointment at unrealistic time lines and execs who spout BS is understandable, but would you rather them just clam up and not try to hype the potential, or the "on the horizon" aspects of webOS? I think HP is doing what it can with a less than ideal situation.
HP needs to license, their hardware (which was never palms strength) is already way behind. Look at what motorola, HTC, and Samsung are doing. Where will the Pre3 stack up against them by the end of summer? It's big, thick, and they have no option for people who do not want to slide a keyboard out every time they want to do basic tasks. Virtual Keyboards are the future.
But Kerris needs to start actually relating to developers and the webos community and stop sugarcoating for Palm.
"(...) but would you rather them just clam up"
...rather than coming up with BS every time they open their corporate mouth? Yes, any day of the week. Because in the eyes of professionals, it hurts, when each time they hear somebody from HPalm "leadership", they hear lame nonsense, completely irrelevant to WebOS, touted as "WebOS coolness and differentiator".
It sends a very bad message regarding this "leadership's" (in)competence, thus long-term WebOS outlook. Basically, if they prove themselves being lame idiots, I as developer do not believe they will be able to steer WebOS clear on the rocky waters of fierce competition of today's Mobile world.
"(...)and not try to hype the potential, or the "on the horizon" aspects of webOS?"
..and where exactly this lamp/fan BS relates to WebOS specifically, how WebOS differentiates in this regard from ANY OTHER CONNECTED MOBILE PLATFORM???? Oh, wait, I know - WebOS is the only mobile platform that hasn't any third-party apps to do this home automation maajic!
And you know why? Because HPalm is farting around with great "plans", but does not deliver, and does not have even remotely realistic marketing (let's forget about "good" marketing, let's just hope they'll get their heads out of their arseholes, that would be great improvement)
Yes, please, pretty please - HP, start hyping the TRUE potential and strong points of WebOS, UNIQUE points of WebOS - there are many!
I don't get what this is about. APIs for home automation? Home automation is not a software problem. You need hardware. But this hardware already exists. Devices that control this hardware exist. Many of them can be accessed over the net, and have web interfaces. So controlling them from a web-enabled device like a TouchPad is trivial. Even so, there are also numerous apps for controlling these devices.
So what is gained by establishing a software API for this purpose? That only gains something if the phone/tablet makes a direct connection to the device to be controlled. But that creates a security problem - if I can use my phone to easily take direct control over devices in my house, someone else outside my house can check whether those devices are on, and see if there is a response if they change. That's nice if it's a guest, not so nice if it's a burglar who happens to have a smartphone.
Now I could build security into every single device. At additional cost, and no doubt with additional hassle during use. Or I could use a separate device to manage my home automation system and use it essentially like a firewall, a single point of contact that acts as gatekeeper and determines who can and can't access the system as a whole. Conveniently, this is the solution that already exists right now. I just pick an existing standard (e.g. Insteon, UPB, Z-Wave), and an existing controller (e.g. for Insteon the best one is the ISY-99i) with security, system management, diagnostics, and a web interface.
This is 50 Cent controlling things with his iPad.. is there a difference with the TouchPad?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSn1zQpltO8&feature=related
Of course there is a difference! With the TouchPad it will be better because...uhm...well because....with the TouchPad you can...what I mean is.... Oh look! A Pony!
DA** YOU! Just when I thought HP came up with an original idea and did not rip off Apple you post this!
Couldn't you just let me believe for once that HP had an original thought!
Well, actually it would be better on TP because of multitasking / notifications, that is for sure... But is it nearly enough??? Don't think so. For other type apps, it didn't prove to be good enough differentiator on it's own, to gain mindshare, (with all the "soft launches", misplaced marketing, reheated hardware, and all) I don't see anything so different in home automation ones.