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I had a chat with Japanese lifestyle management consultant for the rich recently. In the 90's Bill Gates had networked house and automatically adjusting ligh

I had a chat with Japanese lifestyle management consultant for the rich recently. In the 90's Bill Gates had networked house and automatically adjusting lights and it was the peak of luxury. Today networking and automating the house is so affordable that it's not signalling luxury lifestyle. Apparently doing simple mundane tasks gracefully and carefully without feeling irritated is quickly becoming a way to signal to other rich people. Self regulation, education and taste has always been part of the upper class lifestyle. It's something that money can't buy. Tastefully understated lifestyle and restricting gadget usage is how the rich signal to their peers.

pdkl95 7y ago
> In the 90's Bill Gates had networked house and automatically adjusting lights and it was the peak of luxury. Nonsense. X10 devices cost a bit more than regular outlets/switches/fixtures, but not much more. I know many people that added dimmers/timers/remote-control to their lights for a few hundred dollars in the late-80s/90s. Home automation has been a solved problem with cheap and easy solutions for decades.
- Nokinside 7y ago
  It was way more than just the lights. He had originally something like 50 NT-servers managing his mansion. You could wear a pin that indicated your location. Light, sound system, climate would adjust to your preferences as you moved.
  - pdkl95 7y ago
    Some of that automation might have needed servers to control, I was referring primarily to the "automatically adjusting lights", which hasn't been a luxury feature for a long time, even in Gates' house. > 50 NT-servers That was mostly Gates "eating his own dog food"[1]. Using anything other than NT could have been bad optics. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food
    - SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
      You should read Bill Gates' "The Road Ahead"[1] from 1995 before dismissing things so readily out of hand. It's been a few years since I read it but he describes the setup in detail. It was incredibly complex even by today's standards - and this was 30 years ago! [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead_%28Bill_Gates_book%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead_%28Bill_Gates_b...
- ses1984 7y ago
  Solved for me, the expert, but not solved for thee, the lay person. Even if this was technically within financial reach, my personal experience was that the knowledge of how to do it was intentionally obfuscated because installers wanted to make money.
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    Solved for thee, the lay person. You find your local home automation company and ask them to set up a system for you. Extra benefit: the company performs a one-time service for you and you end up with products you can optionally get them (or someone else) to maintain. Contrast with IoT, where you subscribe to a service that's most likely ephemeral, will brick your devices when the service ends, and exposes you to security risks.
    - ses1984 7y ago
      I don't know where you found such service, but I had two quotes for over 6k and 10k to get automated lighting in my house in 2009.
- cptskippy 7y ago
  Except X10 devices are unsecure and can have issues with interference from neighboring homes. That's part of the reason why Insteon developed a new protocol, it mostly solves those two issues.
  - pdkl95 7y ago
    I'm only using X10 as an example with which I have personal experience. While it did have problems, it was a decent protocol considering it was developed in the 70s. I'm sure much better alternatives exist now (or could easily be developed). The point is that lighting automation (and similar home automation features) is not a difficult problem, that doesn't need anything as powerful as a microcontroller or a dependency on the internet. A simple local-only control protocol is much more appropriate.
    - cptskippy 7y ago
      I would disagree about the microcontroller necessity. Proper security would necessitate a microcontroller.
C1sc0cat 7y ago
Rich .NE. Upper Class - you'd hardly call red moleskin trousers "tastefull" but it is a signifier of a certain class in the UK (cavalry officers)
asdfman123 7y ago
If you're interested in this sort of thing, read "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System" by Fussell. It's a little bit out of date but it's still interesting. It did make me realize that class is everywhere, and I'm constantly signaling it despite thinking I'm above caring about it.

pdkl95 7y ago

> In the 90's Bill Gates had networked house and automatically adjusting lights and it was the peak of luxury. Nonsense. X10 devices cost a bit more than regular outlets/switches/fixtures, but not much more. I know many people that added dimmers/timers/remote-control to their lights for a few hundred dollars in the late-80s/90s. Home automation has been a solved problem with cheap and easy solutions for decades.

Nokinside 7y ago
It was way more than just the lights. He had originally something like 50 NT-servers managing his mansion. You could wear a pin that indicated your location. Light, sound system, climate would adjust to your preferences as you moved.
- pdkl95 7y ago
  Some of that automation might have needed servers to control, I was referring primarily to the "automatically adjusting lights", which hasn't been a luxury feature for a long time, even in Gates' house. > 50 NT-servers That was mostly Gates "eating his own dog food"[1]. Using anything other than NT could have been bad optics. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food
  - SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
    You should read Bill Gates' "The Road Ahead"[1] from 1995 before dismissing things so readily out of hand. It's been a few years since I read it but he describes the setup in detail. It was incredibly complex even by today's standards - and this was 30 years ago! [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead_%28Bill_Gates_book%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Ahead_%28Bill_Gates_b...
ses1984 7y ago
Solved for me, the expert, but not solved for thee, the lay person. Even if this was technically within financial reach, my personal experience was that the knowledge of how to do it was intentionally obfuscated because installers wanted to make money.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Solved for thee, the lay person. You find your local home automation company and ask them to set up a system for you. Extra benefit: the company performs a one-time service for you and you end up with products you can optionally get them (or someone else) to maintain. Contrast with IoT, where you subscribe to a service that's most likely ephemeral, will brick your devices when the service ends, and exposes you to security risks.
  - ses1984 7y ago
    I don't know where you found such service, but I had two quotes for over 6k and 10k to get automated lighting in my house in 2009.
cptskippy 7y ago
Except X10 devices are unsecure and can have issues with interference from neighboring homes. That's part of the reason why Insteon developed a new protocol, it mostly solves those two issues.
- pdkl95 7y ago
  I'm only using X10 as an example with which I have personal experience. While it did have problems, it was a decent protocol considering it was developed in the 70s. I'm sure much better alternatives exist now (or could easily be developed). The point is that lighting automation (and similar home automation features) is not a difficult problem, that doesn't need anything as powerful as a microcontroller or a dependency on the internet. A simple local-only control protocol is much more appropriate.
  - cptskippy 7y ago
    I would disagree about the microcontroller necessity. Proper security would necessitate a microcontroller.

C1sc0cat 7y ago

Rich .NE. Upper Class - you'd hardly call red moleskin trousers "tastefull" but it is a signifier of a certain class in the UK (cavalry officers)

asdfman123 7y ago

If you're interested in this sort of thing, read "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System" by Fussell. It's a little bit out of date but it's still interesting. It did make me realize that class is everywhere, and I'm constantly signaling it despite thinking I'm above caring about it.