Gadget Guru Builds High-Tech Haven

Alexander Burke writes "In the 27,000-square-foot Carmel, Indiana home of Scott Jones, head of Escient Technologies, fireplaces ignite and drapes close on demand, televisions appear as if by magic and the ceilings play music. Touch-screen panels throughout the house run lights, security, heat and cooling systems, and video and audio libraries. Speakers are embedded in the walls and ceilings behind the plaster. The home includes a movie theater that seats 20 and has a wine cellar accessible only by fingerprint scan. Ted's outfit brings us more information."

More information?

[image]

> Ted's outfit brings us more information.

More information? Hardly. That article was 278 words long, including headline and byline. The slashdot synopsis just about covered the entire thing.

No wait, let me quote it here (it won't even overflow a slashdot comment):

By Jeff Flock, CNN:

Scott Jones' home is 27,000 square feet of both showcase and laboratory for the technologies he develops. He's his own lab rat.

Touch-screen panels throughout the house run lights, security, heat and cooling systems, and video and audio libraries. Speakers are embedded in the walls and ceilings behind the plaster.

"I wanted great sound quality throughout the house but I did not want to have ugly speakers," Jones said.

Even waking up in the morning is a high-tech venture. His alarm clock neither beeps nor buzzes; instead, music begins to play, curtains open on sunshine and lights switch on. And in the bathroom, the shower starts flowing.

Jones is the head of Escient Technologies, a company that develops in-home systems that merge Internet power with electronic appliances and devices. His patented voicemail technology is used by the majority of telephone companies throughout the world.

While Jones is traveling, he can check in on his abode via the Internet. As part of the security system, cameras are trained on every room of the house and every entrance. He can go on the Web and with a few clicks, zoom in on parts of the house or unlock doors from half a world away.

Why does Jones need a home that includes a movie theater that seats 20 and wine cellar accessible only by fingerprint scan?

According to Jones, "I like to build things and change the world."

Yup. That's all folks. : )

Yeah, nice... um... tour.

[Torgo's Pizza]

What I love about the article the most is the picture of the outside of the house. Too bad there isn't anything of the inside of the house and the streaming video is only for paid subscribers. Otherwise, the article is a total fluff piece. No real substance to it at all. It's like a short "House of the Future" blurb right out of the 1957 issue of Popular Mechanics. Changing the world indeed...

This guy is a Geek like the rest of us!

[puto]

Call him an arrogant rich bastard but he is a geek like the rest of us.

Hey, how many of us bought the friggin X-10 cam bundles for 99.99? So we can see what our servers do while we are at Comdex?

How many of us don't have gigs of mp3's in the car? Even built one before commercial players were for sale?

The guy is just ab ubergeek who made some cash and modded the shit outta his house. More power to him!

I would kill to have my own theater. John Carpenters The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, big screen cheese fests for me and the bodies. And imagine Ron Jeremy on the big screen? Yikes.

We would all do something similar if we had the cash. We all got some weird wants.

What are some of the weird things you would do with bucks? Besides being altruistic?

Puto

asking for trouble?

[YouTalkinToMe]

from the article:

While Jones is traveling, he can check in on his abode via the Internet. As part of the security system, cameras are trained on every room of the house and every entrance. He can go on the Web and with a few clicks, zoom in on parts of the house or unlock doors from half a world away.

Now is it just me, or is this asking for trouble?

Re:Gotta love it...

[sql*kitten]

Sure, I like to build things and wouldn't mind changing the world, where is my 27,000 sq ft mansion? But really, how does this mansion change the world?

From the article:

Jones is the head of Escient Technologies, a company that develops in-home systems that merge Internet power with electronic appliances and devices. His patented voicemail technology is used by the majority of telephone companies throughout the world.

If this techology makes it into everyday homes, then he's changed the world, for the better. What he's doing is just immersive research. And he's paying for it with his own money, which is more than can be said for our luxury-obsessed "leaders" talking about changing the world on their latest taxpayer-funded vacation in Jo'burg.

Re:Gotta love it...

[sql*kitten]

...as long as you live in a country where you can actually have one of these houses. I don't see the improvement to non-first world countries.

"You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong" -- Abraham Lincoln.

I hope his video and audio libraries are licensed.

[AugstWest]

I mean, they'd better be the only copies, as well as stored on their original media, because otherwise the jackbooted thugs are going to LOVE trashing such a fine piece of technological advancement.