Lifeware, Microsoft Star in Disney Dream Home at Innoventions

The folks at Lifeware and Microsoft wanted me to attend the grand opening of the Innoventions Dream Home at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. last week.

I tried hard to get out of it.

I swore I wouldn't cover another Innoventions home since Lutron sponsored five years of it at Disney World in Florida. You know, been there, done that.

Alas, I couldn't say no.

Surprisingly, I was impressed with the experience, and I think the new Dream Home -- sponsored by Microsoft, HP, Lifeware and homebuilder Taylor Morrison -- is good for the home control industry.

Inside the Dream Home

Built inside a futuristic building in Disney's Tomorrowland, the Dream Home is 5,000 square feet and loaded with technology -- most of it real stuff available today, and some of it way out there.

"Seventy to 75 percent of what you see is real," says Bret Fitzgerald, VP of marketing for Exceptional Innovation, maker of the Lifeware automation software that runs the home.

"From Lifeware, about 95 percent of it is there." (The other 5 percent is mostly RFID technology used in the home. Fitzgerald says, "We can communicate with RFID but we don't see it coming for the home anytime soon. It's really just contact closure.")

If you have already experienced Lifeware, like most of our industry, the automation in the Dream Home won't surprise you.

There are several Windows Media Center PCs (Lifeware LMS servers) delivering the typical Media Center experience – music, movies, TV and photos – to every room of the house via televisions and LifePoint touchscreens from Lifeware.

MediaSmart TVs, TouchSmart PCs, and Windows Home Servers from HP facilitate content management and streaming.

Microsoft, of course, provides the Windows Vista operating system that drives the home's connectivity. Xbox 360s serve as Media Center Extenders to deliver Media Center services to remote rooms of the house.

Microsoft Surface technology also makes several appearances in the home.

Scores of digital photo frames (overkill, frankly) occupy virtually every square foot of available counter and wall space.

And then there is the gimmicky stuff like the Magic Mirror -- you can model your wardrobe virtually -- and the Story Time Room where Tinkerbell flies across walls and windows.

For all the technology, though, the Dream Home evokes more nostalgia than futuristic Jetson living. The design, created by home builder Taylor Morrison and Disney designer Tom Zofrea, includes vintage pieces and replicas from the 30s and 40s.

"Obviously there's all this technology, but it has to be inviting, comfortable and real," says Sheryl Palmer, CEO of Taylor Morrison. (Is the traditional design a good thing? The jury is out.)

How Disney Does the Demo

Speaking of storytelling, the demonstration of the Dream Home is performed by Disney actors, who take the roles of the fictional Elias family and friends.

It's a little cheesy for my taste, but I'm probably not the target audience.

The story line is that the youngest son, Robbie, has just scored the final goal that enabled his soccer team to win the world championships. Disney guests are invited to the home for a celebration.

Mom, Dad, daughter, son, coach, neighbors and other Elias relations show Disney guests how they use the home's technology.

At the home's entrance, for example, father John Elias shows how the system "helps us manage our lives."

He explains, "Each of us, through Lifeware has our own personal Life-Scenes. Mine is the 'Dad' scene. "I like the temperature a little cooler in the room.

Also, I'm getting a little older and my eyes aren't what they used to be, so I need it a little brighter in the room."

John adds that he is an architect, and his scene triggers the displays to cycle through architectural images.

The daughter, Chelsea, presses the "Princess" button in the Life-Scenes ("because I'm Daddy's little princess," she says) to pull up her choice of music.