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> However the UI should be replaced with a single on/off button, and bluetooth; the complex interface becomes a smartphone app or web page,

As someone who has played the Mega Man Battle Network series [1], I love this idea.

In those games (highly recommended and well worth getting an emulator for), every appliance and machine basically has a universal interface which your "Navis" (think anthropomorphized avatars of Siri) can "jack into" and interact with.

In the real world, I guess something like that could be implemented as:

- Every appliance comes with an standard interface which exposes all its controls and configurable parameters.

- The first time you unbox a new appliance, you register it with your control device (computer/phone/watch.)

- After that you just use any app on your control device (like the HomeKit one on iOS) which supports the standard protocol, to enumerate and view each appliance's controls.

- There could be different levels of access depending on authentication and proximity. Say, a web page might only show you the basic status of all your appliances, but being on the same local network will offer extra controls, while physical contact between your phone/watch and an appliance via NFC will reveal its most sensitive settings.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man_Battle_Network




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