3
1
56262 March 2019 _ PopularMechanics.comThe Freedom
Balloon
FEBRUARY 1980JANUARY
1947HOW TO GET YOUR BOAT
TO POSE FOR BETTER PICTURES
JULY 1969FEBRUARY 1939(^1) Mystery Box
Runs Household by
Controlling Appliances
“With the aid of a small trans-
mitter, many home appliances
can be operated from a dis-
tance. Coffee percolator, egg
cooker, oven, ventilating sys-
tem, or, if you please, a motor
rocking the baby’s cradle.”
NOVEMBER 1946
(^2) The House That’s
Run by Push Buttons
“GHQ is Ray Ellinwood’s bed-
side push-button board. He
can open or close the bedroom
windows, draw the curtains, and
make coffee without leaving
his bed. Another switch turns
on an electric shoe warmer.
Water shoots automatically
from his lawn sprinklers late
in the afternoon and stops
a half hour later. His garage
doors open automatically
when his car passes over a
magnetic coil buried in the
driveway. There’s no doorbell
at his front door, but chimes
ring automatically when you
approach the threshold.”
AUGUST 1986
(^3) House Intelligence
“Before this decade’s out, you’ll
see comprehensive artificial
intelligence systems that
will tie together and manage
appliances, utilities, household
security, and communications.
Such a system won’t merely
operate the dishwasher for
you. It would phone you at work
if the dishwasher floods.”
NOVEMBER 1994
(^4) Inside Tomorrow’s
Infohome
“Three items are going to
converge: the television, the
telephone, and the computer.
The most simplistic visions
of convergence portray these
different devices morphing
into one all-powerful black
box in your living room: a box
that does your spreadsheets,
displays Nick At Nite, and
lets you dial up Grandma on
the video phone.”
JUNE 2001
Cars May Power Homes
“You would plug your car into
your house. The fuel cell would
generate electricity for house-
hold appliances for the first
few hours. In an energy crunch
it could continue to operate
as you slept, and the power
would be sold back to your
local utility.”
SEPTEMBER 2005
(^5) Remote Possibilities
“Today’s robots aren’t yet
scrambling eggs or walking
the dog, but any couch
potato armed with a PC and
a hundred bucks or so can
direct his lights to dim, his
music to play, and his security
system to turn on and off by
using a single remote control.”
DECEMBER 2005
(^6) PM’s Automated Home
“We outfitted the Joneses
with Linksys Wi-Fi cameras
for video monitoring over
the home network. Jami
mounted one to a bracket
on the handle of his smoker
for culinary surveillance.
‘You have to monitor the
temperature of a smoker
constantly,’ he said. ‘Now
I don’t have to keep running
outside. I view the gauge
fromthe PC in the kitchen.’”
A completely automated home might feel like the future,
but elements of it have been around for more than 75 years.