It wasn't so long ago that your standard "graphical user interface" was quarantined to a computer monitor and relegated to whichever part of the house your hard drive occupied. But in the Innoventions Dream Home, which debuts this week at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., user interfaces have officially migrated beyond the confines of the black box and keyboard, taking the form of interactive tabletop displays, wall-mounted touch screens, and virtual bulletin boards in just about every room of the house.
Built by Taylor Morrison, the concept home features digital home automation, streaming media, and gobs of other techno-fabulous goodies, courtesy of Microsoft, HP, and technology integrator LifeWare. Think digital photo albums, appliances that "talk" to each other, magic mirrors, and wireless everything. The house even has rooms that "recognize" individual family members and morph their surroundings (changing, for example, temperature, lighting, artwork on the walls, and music on the sound system) according to the taste of whomever is occupying the room.
Walt Disney himself, the braintrust behind the original "Monsanto House of the Future" that stood at the gates to Tomorrowland from 1957 to 1967, would no doubt be astounded by this newest upgrade. For an interactive snapshot of some of the home's coolest functions and creature comforts, check out the virtual tour.
Learn more about markets featured in this article: Los Angeles, CA.
