In Google Take Over The World Part I mentioned Google and clap-activated light-bulbs, you'd be surprised how close that actually is to the truth. 400,000 Android devices are now being activated every day and Google are seeing a huge potential in their OS that stretches far beyond portable entertainment and communication. The future is coming sooner than you think. Google are to launch a new range of devices by the end of the year including, yes light bulbs, and dishwashers thermostats and almost any domestic electrical device you can think of.
Wireless technology will allow electrical devices to communicate with tablets, computers and phones. The project codenamed Project Tungsten is in full swing and at a demonstration called Android@home Google showed a tablet that could turn lights on and off, send music from the internet to a speaker system. The technology is not just flashy but practical for example one app could gradually raise the lights and turned on a user's radio making waking up a bit more gradual and natural.
It's a very brave move by Google and it's in no means going to be a quickly adopted technology. There's no doubt this time of communication between computers and our house will be fairly standard in around say, 20-40 years but maybe 2011 is too early. I hope not though. I'm so ready for this. The key to its success may not be in Google lightbulbs but in third party companies who invest in the technology just as Ford have taken up Google's API.
What do you think? Is this all a bit silly or is there a potential for tablet/house interaction?