My father and I have been trying for some time now (around 20 minutes) to direct my grandmother to the power button on her new HD ready LCD flat screen television.

The power button is hidden on the leftmost edge of the television, behind is a component input.  We have been unable to point this out to her.

But this made me think.  How could the television have been designed better?  Of course it could have had better placed and more tactile buttons but the television could have been networked.

Consider this, a range of electronic devices, such as PVR’s, DVD players, televisions – even microwaves for example all networked together and connected to the internet.  I would be able to establish a connection with my grandmother’s house.  I could invoke the device and command it remotely, i.e. turn the thing on.

Now, that’s all right if you have a family member who is computer literate enough to manage that.  Let’s consider that you do not.  The answer is to have a home monitoring system, just like you get for alarm systems.  When you have a problem, you telephone up and the representative assists you.

It would take a lot of work but the networked home optimised for the aged could, one day, be a reality!

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