5 technologies we'd like to see shared between devices

The Gadget Show  Wednesday 17 August 2011

We’ve seen some fantastic new tech over the past few years, from the motion-sensitive Microsoft Kinect and Wii, to huge touchscreens in smartphones. It would be even better if some of this technology became more widespread, and a lot of the features in your smartphone or games console really could be used in other gadgets. Read on to see the five features we’d most like to crop up in other devices.

Voice activated TV The voice search on the latest Android phones is nothing short of incredible and apps like Dragon Dictation on iOS are bringing natural language recognition to the palms of our hands in a way that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago.

What we want to know is, why not put that lovely tech to work in the living room? A TV with voice commands should be easy to implement – modern voice tech doesn’t need to be trained the way it used to be so it should in theory work for anyone in the house. A TV that can listen to you could be used for mundane tasks like switching channel but hook up a set-top box and PVR too and you could call out program titles, actors, even moods and let the AI sort you out something to watch.

Kinect-controlled kitchen Microsoft’s Kinect has proven that waving your hands around in front of the TV is a great way to control a game. HOw about waving your hands in front of the Microwave?

When you are cooking or cleaning in the kitchen with wet or grubby hands you may find yourself trying to turn on light with your nose or fiddle with oven controls with an elbow to avoid making more mess or touching live electricals with damp mitts. A touch of Kinect-style motion sensing could be just the thing to help you control the kitchen without getting bean juice up the walls.

Location-aware remote controls We don’t mean GPS (hiring a satellite is a bit much even for the most dedicated telly addict) but think about how mobile phones can estimate their location by triangulating the distance between cell towers. Stick a few transmitters around the house and you could tag crucial objects like TV remotes or car keys with special RFID tags and have their current location displayed on floorplan via a PC or even your set-top box. Just don’t lose the remote for the set-top box as well.

Bluetooth light switches Let your phone’s Bluetooth transmitter act as an identifier for you as you move around the house. As you walk into a room, the lights could detect that it is you (or at least your phone) and dim or brighten accordingly. Similar tricks could be added to heating or air conditioning systems or even music systems so that your favourite mixes will follow you from room to room.

Touchscreen car windows Anyone who went from an iPhone to an iPad might be forgiven for wanting to find ever larger glass surfaces to run their fingers against in the hope that magical things will happen. The windscreen of your car is one such that could be adapted to act as a touchscreen.

Obviously we don’t want a game of Angry Birds taking place in front of your view ahead (not unless you are parked, anyway) but perhaps a light heads-up display that you can operate with a few flicks might be useful. What we really want to see isn’t a display at all, though. Imagine that – if on spotting a dirty mark on the outside of the windscreen – you could just rub your finger over it from the inside, causing the computer-controlled windscreen wash spray and wipers to go to work on that specific spot.. aye, what then?

Do you agree with our list? Or would you rather see other features used more prominently? Leave a comment and let us know.