Originally Posted By monorailblue ^^^ You hit the nail on the head. This means 5 more years of Innoventions! This is the worst announcement for Tomorrowland in many years.
Originally Posted By oc_dean I thought Innoventions was tied to a series of contracts that kept that spinning bore for just a couple more years. Can a contract be broken for the greater good of Tomorrowland? Well .. I guess my answer should be yes. (ie - Mondavi, Wolfgang Puck: DCA) I'm waiting on pins and needles for the unveiling of a major overhaul to the land that includes a new peoplemover type experience, Star Tours 2.0, and other ideas that we've been hearing just a bit. But it seems like the larger picture is taking into shape .... and if Innoventions is tied to long, binding contracts ...... then any major overhaul to the land .. has to work around this building. Am I wrong? This is all sounding stinky! I don't like the sound of minor exhibits and their legal contracts getting in the way of LARGER plans!
Originally Posted By oc_dean The rumors of "Wall-E" got me buzzing! All lending into a super remodeling that puts an end to every single remnant to that dud of an overhaul in 1998!
Originally Posted By p-n-p06 Once a year HGTV features all the must-have-can't-afford-new tech gadgets for your home and I don't pay for airfare, lodging and food, admission or travel 1,000 miles to see it. (Well, okay, I do have to pay my cable provider!) ;-)
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I wonder if the contracts say that the exhibits have to be in that building. If there is nothing too specific, they can scale them down, and move them elsewhere (something the scope of the NASA exhibit comes to mind) and wait for the contracts to expire. While that wouldn't be the ideal solution, it would probably be one that both sides could agree on, but it would make a strange little part of TL, where corporate sponships go to die a sad, slow, and painful death.
Originally Posted By Offenbach I'm dismayed to read the press releases on this "house of the future." It doesn't sound appealing at all. The Associated Press article (link follows below) mentions that the house will be muted brown and beige, and in the style of a "normal" suburban tract home. That doesn't sound like the Disneyland that I like to visit. The article also insinuates that the original classic Monsanto House of the Future was "cold" and "intimidating to visitors." HUH??? Here, read for yourself...Disneyland is losin' it. <a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jJUqP4kHAoSLYmRhpPQ59F8GWwbAD8UPNOHO1" target="_blank">http://ap.google.com/article/A LeqM5jJUqP4kHAoSLYmRhpPQ59F8GWwbAD8UPNOHO1</a>
Originally Posted By wonderingalice <<The attraction will provide guests with a "high-tech, high-touch" opportunity to experience technology in an entertaining, low-risk environment...>> "low-risk"...?? Nice to know there's not much chance I'll hit a wrong button and burn the house down. Heh heh.
Originally Posted By jonvn It all depends on how well it is done. If they pull another innoventions, and put stuff in there that is less than awe inspiring, then it'll stink. I really don't care about refrigerators that can connect to the internet, for intance. But I am sure you will see one in this house. If they can't come up with stuff to put into this house that is really revolutionary to our way of life, then I don't see it as much of anything of interest. This is what killed the original house of the future. It was almost instantly dated. The fact that they are doing it again shows that the people working on this park are more enamored of the park's own past rather than creating new things for people to enjoy. This is the latest in a long line of callbacks to old disneyland attractions. This is not exactly what TOMORROWland is supposed to be about. This is entirely what TL98 was all about though, and it is beyond pathetic that the people who built that are continuing to engage in this lame and pathetic design strategy that does not work, does not speak to our personal futures, and will not engage the public. When they fill the house with a computer in every room running Windows Vista, or an Xbox 360, we'll know. We'll know that Disney is utterly and totally incapable of providing entertainment in this fashion any longer. I am holding out a last sliver of hope for this. There is a chance it could be good. There is a chance they will make it compelling, interesting, and fun. I hope it will be. But I haven't seen anything from them of late to give me a whole lot of optimism.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Several of fy techie friends asked if I had heard of this, and I told them that it was basically going to just be an exhibit in Innoventions. They found that really hard to believe based on the articles they read, which tells me that they are going to have a lot of lost, angry guests once this thing opens. I'm sure it will be neat, but for some reason this thing is getting several times the publicity of the Asimo show, which actually was cutting edge. This is just a house with computers jammed into every corner.
Originally Posted By StitchDude >The fact that they are doing it again shows that the people working on this park are more enamored of the park's own past rather than creating new things for people to enjoy.< I always felt that in most cases the opposite was true. They have no respect or reverence for the past. Not just of the history of the park and the company, but of the traditions and the spirit of how and why things were done in the past. The idea of doing something in the park today just for fun and not for synergy and to make more money is is gone. In my opinion, that is why they can't come up with a reasonable Tomorrowland. Or anything else which is better than any other theme park.
Originally Posted By cinderella143also >>Perhaps a family could get bumped there when a big spending private party decides they belong in the Dream Suite.<< Do they really allow that?
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << I really don't care about refrigerators that can connect to the internet, for intance. But I am sure you will see one in this house. >> Really? I, for one, can't wait for this to happen. I hate going to the grocery store. My holy grail of techno-achievements would be to have my refrigerator (or pantry) have a built-in barcode scanner that links to my online shopping cart of choice. When I need food, I scan the bar code on the thing that is running out and it automatically gets delivered to me or packed up for me at the local grocer. No more wasting my time in the shopping aisles tripping over the exploding population of old people clogging the lanes with their EMVs. I'd be in heaven!
Originally Posted By monorailblue ^^^ "Gag me with a spoon" is the only response I can come up with. I don't think I'd connect my fridge to the internet, even if I could.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo SPort goofy, we already have that in the UK on trial. It was something I was working on last year. You place your initial order for groceries on the internet. The grocery store then delivers the food. When you open the door, it tells you what is in there and gives you recipe recommendations. Also if you are on a special diet, you can hook up heart, blood sugar readings and pedometer readings via bluetooth and it will recommend specifics or warn you if you have made unwise decisions. You then scan out the food as you remove it from the fridge. And the stock is automatically ordered and delivered. When RFID chips become even more common place, then the scanning will become redundant. This is one of the many cool gadgets in the house of the future at York University Oincluding central locking by keypad, touch control walls and all sorts. If they get it right, it wil be cool. I loved working on that project and I often feel with my work that I am continuing Walt's view of EPCOT. It is just ashame they have dumbed things down so much. Oh and SG, thanks to the wonders of internet shopping I maybe went to the grocery store 6 times in the whole of 2007.
Originally Posted By NJ AP I believe they offer something similar in NJ. The store provides you with a scan gun which sends the data to the grocery store. I was trying to talk my mother in law into it one particularly icy winter, but couldn't convince her.
Originally Posted By jonvn Dave, do you honestly think people are going to complicate their eating THIS much? The thing is with tech is that it is most successful when it removes complexity from your life. When it makes things easier. It does not succeed when it causes you to have to do more things. Thus, cell phones. It makes it easier to make a phone call. Or DVDs, makes it easier than video tapes to watch a movie. But people scanning their food in at their fridge? No. E-books? No. People are fundamentally lazy. If somethign is simply easier without the tech, then they don't use the tech. A book is very simple to use, and nothing has come along that makes it any easier or better, so e-books just don't cut it. Scanning groceries in at the fridge is an EXTRA CHORE that people are going to have to engage in. That won't happen. It's far too easy to go to the store, pick up what you want and go home. It's also fun. Furthermore, if you don't want to go out, you can still just order online, although I think it is easier just to go pick out what you want at the store. All technology has to be understood in this mode. Does it make your life easier without adding ANY complications? Then it has a chance of success. Otherwise, if it requires people to do new things, it is just going to die on the vine. The less I have to do, and the more the tech does, is how well the tech will succeed. Otherwise, it's kind of pointless.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Oh and SG, thanks to the wonders of internet shopping I maybe went to the grocery store 6 times in the whole of 2007. >> Well, I'm off to the grocery store now for my weekly run. Yuck. If I get up at the crack of dawn and head there early, though, at least I don't have to fight the crowds.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo The fridge I am talking about is designed for elderly, infirm, disabled users. When the RFIDs are used it will be far easier, no scanning involved!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I don't think scanning the food in at the fridge will be that big of a problem. I think it would be tougher to get recipies that work, and stuff like that. A lot of the stuff you eat doesn't get stored in the fridge, so it may not know you have it (you could scan it in, but that would be lying to the fridge, and that's not very nice...), so they would make up concotions of all refrigerated good. It may be good, or it may be terrible. I just don't know yet. And do you scan it when you run out, or each time you use it? Seems like that could complicate things. "It's also fun." Only when you don't have to go several times a week. : )
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo It's scanned as you pull it out of the fridge, but like I say, with RFID chips, no scanning will be required. Also, the software used detects standard shelf life and will also tell you if food is bad. The last thing I forgot to say, you can hook the fridge up to a contact center. If the fridge is not open during a particular period of time, the contact center can call the person's home. If it then surpasses a longer period, someone can pop around. This is really a tool to allow older people to live in their own homes longer without the need of a nursing home. It is pretty cool stuff.
