- Joined
- Jan 1, 2009
- Messages
- 15,515
- Reaction score
- 3,877
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Winchester, VA
- Your Mac's Specs
- MBP 16" 2023 (M3 Pro), iPhone 15 Pro, plus ATVs, AWatch, MacMinis (multiple)
In this thread: https://www.mac-forums.com/forums/macos-operating-system/352859-catalina-bugs.html we started a discussion of how computing is becoming more cloud-centric. I proposed that the future of computing is that it will be ubiquitous, that is, the computing will be where I am, not where my computer may be. To make that happen, the networks need to be available with higher speeds. WiFi 5G is the first step. I didn't want to hijack that thread, but I though it worth pursuing what we started there.
So, in that thread we started talking about how modern technology in cars have made keys pretty much obsolete. I see the same thing happening in home tech as well. Wireless and keyless locks are becoming more and more available and some of them work off of a smart phone, so no fob, no key. The lock senses your phone as you approach the door and unlocks it as you arrive. You can pair that with home automation and turn on lights, hvac, music, etc, as you arrive as well. No more entering a dark house.
Now add some internet. My home is automated a bit. Not as much as I would like, but I do have a home automation center running on an old iMac from 2008. It controls the lights in and out of my home. A little before sunset, it turns on certain lights around the house, then at sunset it turns on the lights on my front porch and the landscape lighting on both the front and back of the house. It also turns on a light on my flagpole at sunset so that the flag is properly lit. At 11:30 all those lights are turned off, both in and out, but the flag stays on until sunrise, when it goes out. As part of the security, five minutes before the lights go out, the system senses if I have accidentally left a garage door open, and if I have, it closes it and sends me an email to let me know I forgot (again). I have some programmed settings to control other subsets of my automated lights on an "on demand" basis. Those setting are controlled from my phone.
I also have some motion sensors for some lighting in storage rooms and the utility room. I have cameras that have night vision to monitor activity in the house that record any movement they detect during certain hours (mostly night). When I travel, I program the house lighting to add some randomness. The lights go off in a more staggered way, with all of them on a plus/minus 15 minutes schedule. And I have an additional light in the master bedroom that comes on as the lights are going out and which then goes off about 20 minutes later, again +/- 5 minutes. From the outside, it looks like someone had turned off the lights, gone up to the bedroom, gotten ready and then gone to bed and turned out the last light. In other words, it looks like I am there.
I don't have the keyless/wireless locks yet because I am still investigating the security aspects of them. I think I'll have a solution for that in the next couple of months. I also have a burglar alarm that will have the police here in 5 minutes if the alarm goes off (I know that because we had a false alarm a while back). The burglar alarm uses wireless communications, plus I have a generator backup for the house. So if a creative thief decides to cut my phone lines and power lines to try to break in, the alarm system still works and all the cameras come back on after the generator kicks in 10 seconds later. My ISP cables are buried, come up in my garage, so a miscreant would have to break in, know where the ISB cables are, and then cut them to cut me off from the house, by which time the police have arrived.
I say all of that to put this next sentence in context. All of it can be controlled from anywhere I am with internet connectivity. I can turn any light on or off. I can set/reset my alarm system. I can control the heat/cool cycle. I will be able to lock/unlock my doors once I select which system I want to install. I can see my cameras and download any audio/video I want. Three of my cameras allow me to talk through them to anyone in range. From anywhere in the world. All I need is my phone. And it's all encrypted from end-to-end.
That is what I mean by ubiquity. I have a presence at my house even when I am not there. I have access from anywhere with internet. And I think that same ubiquity is coming to computing in general. The idea of a "computer" will morph to be whatever you have handy. Your software will be in the cloud somewhere, your data somewhere and when you want it, you get it. WiFi 5G will make it more possible to never have to carry a portable (laptop) computer anywhere. Whatever device you have will do whatever you need to do whenever you need to do it.
Part of that model is that software licensing will have to change. No longer will you "own" a license, you'll just pay for access to it. Adobe and Microsoft have moved to that model with Creative Cloud and Office365, others are trying to do so. Users, at least some, are complaining because they are stuck on the "ownership" model.
So, I started this to open a conversation. Where is computing going for the end user? Will we be renting CPU time in some cloud processor somewhere instead of having it sit on our desk or in our pocket or on our wrist? Do you think computing ubiquity is here, or coming soon, or a long way off?
So, in that thread we started talking about how modern technology in cars have made keys pretty much obsolete. I see the same thing happening in home tech as well. Wireless and keyless locks are becoming more and more available and some of them work off of a smart phone, so no fob, no key. The lock senses your phone as you approach the door and unlocks it as you arrive. You can pair that with home automation and turn on lights, hvac, music, etc, as you arrive as well. No more entering a dark house.
Now add some internet. My home is automated a bit. Not as much as I would like, but I do have a home automation center running on an old iMac from 2008. It controls the lights in and out of my home. A little before sunset, it turns on certain lights around the house, then at sunset it turns on the lights on my front porch and the landscape lighting on both the front and back of the house. It also turns on a light on my flagpole at sunset so that the flag is properly lit. At 11:30 all those lights are turned off, both in and out, but the flag stays on until sunrise, when it goes out. As part of the security, five minutes before the lights go out, the system senses if I have accidentally left a garage door open, and if I have, it closes it and sends me an email to let me know I forgot (again). I have some programmed settings to control other subsets of my automated lights on an "on demand" basis. Those setting are controlled from my phone.
I also have some motion sensors for some lighting in storage rooms and the utility room. I have cameras that have night vision to monitor activity in the house that record any movement they detect during certain hours (mostly night). When I travel, I program the house lighting to add some randomness. The lights go off in a more staggered way, with all of them on a plus/minus 15 minutes schedule. And I have an additional light in the master bedroom that comes on as the lights are going out and which then goes off about 20 minutes later, again +/- 5 minutes. From the outside, it looks like someone had turned off the lights, gone up to the bedroom, gotten ready and then gone to bed and turned out the last light. In other words, it looks like I am there.
I don't have the keyless/wireless locks yet because I am still investigating the security aspects of them. I think I'll have a solution for that in the next couple of months. I also have a burglar alarm that will have the police here in 5 minutes if the alarm goes off (I know that because we had a false alarm a while back). The burglar alarm uses wireless communications, plus I have a generator backup for the house. So if a creative thief decides to cut my phone lines and power lines to try to break in, the alarm system still works and all the cameras come back on after the generator kicks in 10 seconds later. My ISP cables are buried, come up in my garage, so a miscreant would have to break in, know where the ISB cables are, and then cut them to cut me off from the house, by which time the police have arrived.
I say all of that to put this next sentence in context. All of it can be controlled from anywhere I am with internet connectivity. I can turn any light on or off. I can set/reset my alarm system. I can control the heat/cool cycle. I will be able to lock/unlock my doors once I select which system I want to install. I can see my cameras and download any audio/video I want. Three of my cameras allow me to talk through them to anyone in range. From anywhere in the world. All I need is my phone. And it's all encrypted from end-to-end.
That is what I mean by ubiquity. I have a presence at my house even when I am not there. I have access from anywhere with internet. And I think that same ubiquity is coming to computing in general. The idea of a "computer" will morph to be whatever you have handy. Your software will be in the cloud somewhere, your data somewhere and when you want it, you get it. WiFi 5G will make it more possible to never have to carry a portable (laptop) computer anywhere. Whatever device you have will do whatever you need to do whenever you need to do it.
Part of that model is that software licensing will have to change. No longer will you "own" a license, you'll just pay for access to it. Adobe and Microsoft have moved to that model with Creative Cloud and Office365, others are trying to do so. Users, at least some, are complaining because they are stuck on the "ownership" model.
So, I started this to open a conversation. Where is computing going for the end user? Will we be renting CPU time in some cloud processor somewhere instead of having it sit on our desk or in our pocket or on our wrist? Do you think computing ubiquity is here, or coming soon, or a long way off?