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London, UK : The second Back to the Future film envisaged a world of hoverboards, sophisticated 3D advertising, interactive holograms, self-adjusting jackets and, of course, flying cars.
Futurists are often forecasting what our world will look in the years to come – and quite often they get their forecasts wrong.
In fact, the home of today doesn't look all that different from the home of the past.
Granted, there have been significant advances – but we are certainly many moons away from a world with flying cars.
So that's why a new Channel 4 series – Home of the Future – is an interesting project.
The broadcaster has spent £250,000 fitting-out the Sheffield home of the Perera family with stacks of gadgets and futuristic kit – as part of a project to see if their property filled top-to-bottom with space-age technology and gadgets can help improve their lives.
Stripped out and kitted with mini power stations, mind relaxation games and front door locks that can be controlled by patterns on the Perera's thumbs, the show aims to discover how technology can affect the way we work, rest and play, eat, travel and stay healthy.
The series presents the Perera family with both challenges and benefits of changing technology.
For example – it looks at the effects of working from home and how families will cope when cheap food is no longer readily available.
But the family also enjoy robots they can contol, waterless washing machines and vacuums that drive themselves – all things that in the future we may need to look to have covered on our home insurance policies [LV Home insurance home page]
Expert Chris Sanderson, who presents the programme, said: "The highlight, for me, was the moment the 3D printer arrived at the house. It was like the moment a TV came to a village for the very first time. To come face to face with it and get a real glimpse. It was hugely exciting to be able to design an object and see it being made in front of your eyes."
"I spend my time hypothesising about the future so it was fascinating to be able to test it with a family. Seeing how quickly the family adapts. It was hugely exciting, especially seeing how it brought the family together. It is also interesting to see how different generations adapt to technology - for example, to watch grandson Lucas was fascinating.
Joel Perera said: "The experience has made me think about the future consciously. I've learnt about pressures of the future I haven't thought of before. It's changed the way we live. Actual keys? You can do it with your fingerprints. Keys seem so old-fashioned now!"
While the gadgets that the Perera family are currently using as part of this interesting experiment, why not think about taking out house contents insurance for the gadgets that you do have?
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