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60

Fire wall Your Home

60 points posted to Software, Simplify IT, Desktops and Laptops by nicole112707 Jul 3

I can't tell you how many times I have left the house and left the iron, oven, curling iron, or even my parent’s faulty clothing dryer on. You have to turn all the way around and go home or find someone who will break into your house to do it for you. I think that some kind of software developed that links from your home to your computer (at work or where ever) and your cell phone that would enable you to shut off certain outlets in your home would be a life saver. Imagine you are driving to the airport, and you realize that you THINK you left the iron on. Just open your cell phone, call your house, and punch in the appropriate code and the outlets power is cut. Or you open up your laptop log onto the dell site...it pulls up the outline of your home, you click the outlet that the unit is plugged into, and it shuts off. This would not only be ground breaking technology but would also save lives. You could even go as far as to add a garage door shutter as an upgrade, or shut off lights.... turn down/up the air... the possibilities are endless. Just a thought!

aikiwolfie
Jul 3		 I think this is a great idea. But I am wary of encouraging people to rely on these automated features. One day a network packet telling the iron to turn off will get lost or the home server will crash. The iron will stay on. You will think it's off. Your house will burn down. I don't even want to think what a virus could do to a system like this.
nicole112707
Jul 3		 Well, I would like to think that there would be some kind of fail safe... back up program if you will... some kind of sensor run on a different program that could read the current going to the outlet and provide you with an alert by email or text to your phone warning you of a failure in the system. As far as a virus goes.... it has been proven that people can do just about anything with computers and our technology today. With the right amount of security ALMOST all of viruses can be prevented. If someone wants to cause, harm they will... if it wasn't this program it will be something else.... i would just like to think that this idea would help save peoples investments, and possibly lives! Thank you aikiwolfie for your concern... getting a virus wasn't really something i thought of.
aikiwolfie
Jul 3		 If the server is down how does it send an e-mail? What if your ISP goes down? The fail safe needs to be something that doesn't need any human intervention.
elkar
Jul 3		 I do like this idea. I imagine turning on the heat during the winter when you're on your way home. That way it will be nice and toasty when you get home, but won't have to be left on the whole time.

However, I really don't see this being an appropriate area for DELL to pursue. I think this should be left to a more specialized company.
aikiwolfie
Jul 3		 Why do people have such a narrow vision of what is appropriate for Dell to do? Dells core business is server solutions. This would seem to fit the bill.
undead999
Jul 4		 Why not just buy an iron and appliances with auto shut off? install motion sensors that turn off most everyhting if you leave the room for more than 5 minutes? Iron your clothes the night before going to the airport? Have a friend or neighbor stop by to check on everything? Slow your life down, do things in advance so you're not rushing and take your time to check everything before leaving
lappen
Jul 5		 Home Automation Software is/are allready avaliable, http://plutohome.com/index.php. Are you looking for it preinstalled on a dell computer like this? http://www.linuxmce.org/
aikiwolfie
Jul 6		 The nasal cheesy American tone in the Pluto demo just put me off technology for life. I'm off to go live in a cave.
nicole112707
Jul 7		 As far as buying appliances that has an auto shut off, I’ve noticed that when it comes to flat irons... at least the ones that i like, don't have this option. This is just a guess, but i would say that on average people only have maybe one appliance per house hold that has this amenity. And ironing cloths the night before, slowing down.... face it man... life isn't getting any slower. With every year that passes our pace picks up a notch. Yes, slowing down would be ideal but it's not the reality.

Pluto Home.... well i went to their site today.... pretty interesting! But i missed the part where there was any kind of fire safety. They had intrusion alarms which is pretty cool and ways to adjust each room to fit your personal preferences.... but still nothing on fire prevention. Still a cool site, a little to high tech for me. Sounds like a lot of eyes watching your every move... a little scary!

Linux MCE... went to their site... again, these smart homes are great... my idea is a basic safety feature to prevent fire from faulty appliances or human error... from what i can tell these smart homes don't have this option. Maybe I'm missing something!?!
 
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