South Korea's house of the future

For many people, the digital home--where PC monitors are invisibly embedded in bathroom mirrors, and sensors and cameras are everywhere--represents a threat to human dignity and pride.

But to be honest, the concept is sort of cool, once you've seen a few demonstrations.

The South Korean government and several large companies here are actively promoting technology for connecting every household appliance to the Internet. Under the 8-3-9 initiative, the country is trying to take the lead it has established in broadband (there is a 71 percent penetration rate there, according to an average of various estimates) to serve as a lab--and eventual supplier--for the products for the home of the future.

In a ubiquitous computing demonstration set up by South Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), large-screen TVs served up virtual versions of the morning newspaper. A system using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, meanwhile, tabulated grocery items in a cart and sent the bill to a cell phone account.

In the wired car, a liquid-crystal display panel/computer in the back seat could play music or video from a home hard drive, find parking spaces, pay bridge tolls, or conduct a video conference with people back at the office.

Samsung's own demo home has a bathroom health monitor that enables you to send information on vital signs such as blood pressure and oxygen levels to your doctor while you sit on the toilet. The home network also includes Internet-activated rice cookers, screens in the bedroom that let you see who is at the front door, and TV sets that can flash up the number of an incoming phone call.