Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

One prediction I'm going to make about the future of computing and homes is having home data centers. I know there are a growing number of people who own a fair share of computers at their homes. Some actually do run home data centers. Some as hobbies, some as collectors, some looking to improve their professional skills. But for me I think there's several practical applications for this. Security. This is evident where people can run webcams in each room of their home connected to large storage disks. A direct line might be even connected to police for additional monitoring if a family feels it's necessary. I recall at a store where some guy was actually talking about how he installed this. With hard drives growing cheaper, I don't see how this should be a problem. Monitoring of electricity and other home utilities. Where a person "signs out" of their home, you could directly link that to when rooms or the whole house even is managed in terms of utilities. This could save people tons of money and be very resource efficient. Not to mention you could directly observe your monthly billing by having an automated system monitor this. Automation of appliances. Need coffee at 6 am before work? Gotta make sure that TV dinner is ready 1 minute before you get home? Imagine USB2, Firewire, or even wireless microwaves, ovens, refrigerators and coffee machines that connect directly to your network where you schedule them just like a VCR. How much time can a person save by doing this? Entertainment. One of the current trends is that the movie/TV industry is putting out volumes of DVDs in collections. Why stop there? Why not allow a person to select the programming they want through their home data center? It'll eliminate the need for piracy if set at a low cost. Instead of paying per item, people pay a regular fee for unlimited usage or it could become a fee that depends on the usage (within reasonability moderated by the government rather than the media conglomerates). The bill becomes something similar to a utility fee. Personal information stored like medical files, education, family trees, employment records. Additionally, diaries, blogs, etc. will be contained here and completely searchable depending on the user's privacy preferences. A home data center will replace the need for home media centers. They will be like a combination of a home media center, with a computer system. Except the computer system might be more like a refrigerator in some closet with a special cooling system. All homes will have special wiring which interfaces appliances that can utilize the data center.