One of the background devices in the movie "RoboCop" that caught my eye, back in 1987, was the use of a motion-detecting terminal that flipped on as you walked into the home. As soon as it detected the owner arriving into the house, it verbally told the human how many people had come to the front door while he was away, delivered his emails onto the screen and then replayed any video phone messages.

Well, we're not too far away from that same type of technology invading our homes, my friends, with the advent of OSGi. The Open Services Gateway Initiative is an independent, non-profit organization working with more than 85 member companies who want to gain access to your home network, automobile devices and, pretty much, any other electronic device you have in your home, via home network, Internet or wireless technology.

The bottom line is, you will soon have the convenience of checking up on your house, appliances, automobile and various other aspects of your life all from a web-based system. The way OSGi puts it is these "application programming interface (API) standards for a platform execution environment" will help provide "cradle-to-grave life cycle management."

After reading that, I wasn't sure if I should be excited or scared. Through a cable or DSL modem, PC, Web phone, automotive, multimedia gateway or dedicated residential gateway, you'll soon be able to carry on many of your home's maintenance, entertainment and security functions from anywhere in the world.

For example, television programs or DVD movies can be projected onto a bedroom wall. The car of the future is also part of this network, through the wireless sharing of multimedia files between home and car stereo systems, according to several press releases from various companies clamoring to get in line to be the next service provider of these technologies. For once, however, companies are working to create a standardized system of this emerging technology so consumers aren't left holding the bag with obsolete systems that were prematurely launched before a standard was established -- remember Beta video cassettes and laser discs? Same concept.

In Duisburg, Germany, "the Intelligent House Duisburg Innovation Center -- 'inHaus' for short -- is a thematically and organizationally unique and integral concept in the field of product-oriented innovations for a networked life," according to the research center's website. "The basis of the project is the inHaus facility … which includes a residential home, a workshop, a networked car and a networked garden."

Here, the inHaus:

Published: October 10, 2003

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Mr. Carr has covered real estate since 1989. He is the author of Real Estate Investing Made Simple. Got a personal real estate issue? Post your questions and comments at Anthony’s blog: commonsenserealestate.blogspot.com.