Philips To Debut ""La Casa Prossima Futura: The Home Of The Near Future"" At Saks Fifth Avenue In New York City
Imagine working in your kitchen wearing an intelligent apron that recognizes your voice, enabling hands-free operation of the microwave oven, home intercom, telephone and WebTV. Now picture tossing this ""futuristic"" apron into the washing machine after preparing dinner. This vision is closer to reality than you think and will be showcased in an exhibition entitled ""La Casa Prossima Futura: The Home of the Near Future"" at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City from September 15 through October 9. Created by Philips Electronics, ""La Casa Prossima Futura: The Home of the Near Future"" is a simulation of the anticipated future home environment with over 50 futuristic electronic objects and concepts on display. ""La Casa Prossima Futura: The Home of the Near Future"" combines technology and sociology with anthropological values by using electronics to improve the quality of peopleís lives. ""La Casa Prossima Futura: The Home of the Near Future"" will be on display for its public debut on the newly reconstructed 9th floor of the 75 year-old mid-town icon. Saks Fifth Avenue is located on Fifth Avenue at 50th Street in New York City. ""We at Saks Fifth Avenue saw the ëHome of the Near Futureí as the perfect way to celebrate a new millennium in a very unique and sophisticated way,"" stated Christina Johnson, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, Saks Fifth Avenue. ""Our customers strongly identify with the cutting edge in fashion, and this event will give those customers a chance to experience the cutting edge in technology."" Set in a series of home environment vignettes and interactive concept displays, ""La Casa Prossima Futura: The Home of the Near Future"" illustrates how technology serves the individualís personal needs and enhances the domestic qualities of memory, care, performance, pleasure and relationships. On display will be Philips product concepts that will include: ""Emotion Containers"" and ""Interactive Family Tree"" ñ personalized devices that store memories in the form of sound, dates, images, text and even smell. ""Food Analyzer"" ñ weighs food and provides information about its calories, carbohydrates and vitamin levels. ""Bathroom Mirror"" ñ displays information and entertainment programming and serves as a recharge station for personalized products while you are performing daily activities in the bathroom. ""Bookshelf"" ñ houses and recharges interactive books, which contain a touchscreen, interactive pen and video camera, providing a Web-based window through which you can access specific areas of interest. ""Interactive Tablecloth"" ñ washable linen tablecloth provides inductive, cable-free power to all chargeable objects on the table surface, including dinner lamps, plates, glasses, music and communications devices. ""The new digital appliances, tools, and control systems will become, in essence, the new cooks, assistants, colleagues, and even pets. They will recognize us, notice our habits, our likes and dislikes, and adapt their behavior and their services accordingly,"" says Stefano Marzano, Managing Director, Philips Design. ""The challenge will be to find ways of turning ëdeadí objects that leave us cold into things we can truly warm to."" Philips has taken a consumer-centric approach in shaping the home of tomorrow to provide the ultimate in convenience and control. Driven by Philips, the home of the future will be controlled by its inhabitants, and by underlying technologies that converge to make life simpler, more fun, more efficient and convenient. Since 1994, Philips Design has been researching the future of the home environment through a series of projects that explored specific areas of the domestic domain. ""La Casa Prossima Futura: The Home of the Near Future"" is a culmination of objects and concepts created for projects such as Domestic Media, Vision of the Future and Culinary Art. In addition to extensive consumer research and study, Philips has worked with an international panel of leading futurologists and trend analysts to test the general validity of their findings. Information about Philips Design can be found directly at www.design.philips.com. News about Philips can also be found on the U.S. Web site www.philipsusa.com.