So as my termination date for my previous job approaches I am trying to get more into / out of my soon-to-be-primary employment running various online outlets for a local entrepreneur who sells "home automation" equipment on the side. I've been doing this work from home until recently my employer decided to open a storefront and office and so now I am commuting like a sucker to the next DFW tendril-stop to work among shelves full of these gadgets. For the first time ever today though I actually handled some and brought them home to try out. I could not believe how excited I got about some wireless light switches and a couple of other gimmicks. I now fully understand why my employer is doing well enough to open a store - these gadgets are terribly amusing. Mind you, I feel fairly sure that I have a tendency toward these kinds of toys as they take their place in our bedroom among the remote-controlled ceiling fan and the Roomba robot vacuum.
For me these sorts of devices straddle the line between truly useful and pretty silly. I generally tend to be against so-called "time-saving devices" but I think what I like about stuff like the Roomba and these remote controlled lights is how it hearkens back to what the future looked like half a century ago. I mean sure we are all now suffering like mad at the havoc wreaked by the futuristic science of that era - post WWII industrial science was hard at work cramming plastics and synthetics and all manner of would-be pollutants down our (grand)parents' throats - but there is also something charming about the optimism of that predicted future.
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