High Tech Vegas Hotel

[[Syntax]]

This article is about the new "City Center" hotel the MGM/Mirage is building, says rooms will have
RFID door locks,
Gigabit ethernet,
42inch plasma screens,
Motorized curtains,
Zigbee based wireless thermostats,
Motion sensors that turn off lights in unoccupied rooms ect..

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a4f5c562-e...0779fd2ac.html

[Voltage Spike]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

This article is about the new "City Center" hotel the MGM/Mirage is building

There will always be a certain segment of the population that will buy into anything gadget-y. A lot of these features seem like a normal hotel with a little bit of practical thought thrown in.

Gigabit ethernet? All recent hotels should have been wired with Category 5 cabling in mind. You already needed to lay cabling for the telephones, you might as well avoid the hassle of wireless while you're at it.

Sensor-net thermostats? It sounds like they are prototyping a system for renovating old hotels where they don't wish to install new wiring.

I thought large-screen TVs and energy-linked motion sensors (albeit to the environmental controls and not the lights) were standard these days.

What would be really nice is if the Riviera had an ice machine on, at least, every other floor with it being well-documented. There's nothing worse than leaving a party to grab some ice and having to examine every floor on the way down for that damn machine. I've got a buzz to maintain, people!

[xor]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

This article is about the new "City Center" hotel the MGM/Mirage is building, says rooms will have
RFID door locks,
Gigabit ethernet,
42inch plasma screens,
Motorized curtains,
Zigbee based wireless thermostats,
Motion sensors that turn off lights in unoccupied rooms ect..

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a4f5c562-e...0779fd2ac.html

Had some of that stuff down at the Rivera Maya in Mexico. I didn't like the light and temperature senors. One being a self contained resort they were very concerned about power. So they decided what the room temperature was going to be. I would leave my laptop in the room to charge only to come back and find out the sensors would power down the room when I wasn't in it. Very annoying.

xor

What need is that Logans Run style sex transporter.

[streaker69]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

What need is that Logans Run style sex transporter.

The problem with that is, at age 26, you're required to report to Carasel or get sliced and diced by a crazy computer controlled laser while Farrah Fawcett watches.

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

I would leave my laptop in the room to charge only to come back and find out the sensors would power down the room when I wasn't in it. Very annoying.

for rooms like that, the best practice is to find the outlet where a clock-radio or other time-based device is plugged in. those do not power off usually, since it would reset the time.

always carrying one of these in your laptop bag is a really good idea. they cost almost nothing, weigh almost nothing, take up virtually no space, and can make a real difference when you just need to charge something in a pinch. heck, in airports and other public places where there's one outlet per every four hundred seats or some such ratio, odds are someone else will have already taken the power outlet in the room.

indeed, they'll have likely taken it and even had to politely wave off other hopeful folk who want to suckle at the electric teat. but you can stroll up, ask to jump in, be all but guaranteed a spot, and can even let one additional person get on that with no trouble at all. :-)

better still (in my opinion) than a three-outlet plug (like the one in the above link) is taking an old multi-outlet extension cord (maybe one that was broken in one spot) and cutting it up to remove the bulk of its length.

repair it, using heat shrink to secure your patch work, and the result is maybe a six inch or one foot long cord that is just a three-prong plug on one end and a series of outlets on the other. this allows the male plug to fit into odd places (such as down in recessed single-unit outlets like one encounters under floor plates) and gives you more variety when it comes to attaching devices to the female end (even a fat wall wart will work on such a device without obscuring any of the other receptacles.)

[Thorn]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

...
better still (in my opinion) than a three-outlet plug (like the one in the above link) is taking an old multi-outlet extension cord (maybe one that was broken in one spot) and cutting it up to remove the bulk of its length.
...

Belkin makes a mini extension cord, with 4 outlets. It's just barely larger than the 3-outlet block pictured. Staples and Radio Shack have them.

[theprez98]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

Belkin makes a mini extension cord, with 4 outlets. It's just barely larger than the 3-outlet block pictured. Staples and Radio Shack have them.

Radio Shack carries something useful?

[[Syntax]]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

As for the zigbee thermostats they specifically said they were designing some of the stuff for renovation into older properties.
"I think this is a prototype for the rest of MGM's hotels; we think we are going to want to put technology like this into all of our remodels in the end."


Something like this?
http://www.ultraproducts.com/images/...31872_LR_1.jpg
I believe the commercial one that is found at most the stores is called a "squid" cord.

Home Made squid cord. http://blog.makezine.com/archive/200...e_power_s.html
Store bought cord. http://www.powersentry.com/products/...uct/100596.jpg

[[Syntax]]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

On another note, while searching for pictures of the squid cord I saw this.. and thought some of your gadget builders would like it..
Pnuematic Marble Shooting Airgun

I love his disclaimer
As before, these pictures are for entertainment purposes only. I offer no advice on how to build your own and these are certainly not instructions on how to go out and build your own. If you should attempt to do so and in the process do something illegal, or injure yourself or someone else you have no one to blame but yourself. Imagine the most airtight disclaimer you can, add in a safety factor of 10, and you might begin to approach the disclaimer I am attempting to make here. Whatever happens, it will not be my fault. Clear?

[beakmyn]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

RFID door locks, - Nifty but it's really just the next step up from the current magnetic card. When's the last time you stayed at a hotel that had a real key?
Gigabit ethernet, - I've found most hotel wifi is plenty fast enough, even for torrents
42inch plasma screens, - My room at the Hyatt in Osaka already had this
Motorized curtains, - My room at the Hyatt in Osaka already had this, buttons on the alarm clock to open/close the drapes.
Zigbee based wireless thermostats, - That's different but why do you need a wireless thermostat? Can you change the settings and heat up someone else's room ?

"We can wrap you in a full body suit of neoprene, heat-resistant rubber...
...or raise the temperature in Cosmo's office to . degrees...
...which is probably what we'll do. The neoprene would suffocate you."

Motion sensors that turn off lights in unoccupied rooms ect.. - Heck just about every office I've been to has these but you'll want heat sensitive ones because as I've seen that it's a pain in the butt when you're in a meeting and the lights go out and you have to start waving your arms to get the lights back on. Seriously it just happened to me twice this morning in a meeting.


oh and surge supressor / outlets
http://www.buy.com/prod/belkin-mini-...tml?adid=17653

3 outlets plus two usb charging ports.

[streaker69]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

Motion sensors that turn off lights in unoccupied rooms ect.. - Heck just about every office I've been to has these but you'll want heat sensitive ones because as I've seen that it's a pain in the butt when you're in a meeting and the lights go out and you have to start waving your arms to get the lights back on. Seriously it just happened to me twice this morning in a meeting.

We had these installed in the new wing of our current building. What pieces of shit they are, and these are the ones that are both heat and sound sensitive.

Most of the time, my turns off when I'm in here, and some others don't turn off even for hours when people have left.

I think they're stupid, people should just learn to turn off their lights when they leave.

[FarmerPete]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

We had these installed in the new wing of our current building. What pieces of shit they are, and these are the ones that are both heat and sound sensitive.

Most of the time, my turns off when I'm in here, and some others don't turn off even for hours when people have left.

I think they're stupid, people should just learn to turn off their lights when they leave.

I kind of like them as long as they have a manual override. In my last office at work, mine didn't have a manual override. That drove me crazy. In my house, I tried to install a sensor in my laundry room. I hate coming in with a basket of laundry and having to reach for the switch. Well, wouldn't you know that the furnace heat tripped the sensor all the time. It was worthless. I ended up moving the sensor to the kitchen. It's actually not that bad there. It's nice to walk in from the garage and the light goes right on. It will turn off if you are standing kinda still (like washing dishes) or if you are standing infront of the stove. Luckily, there is a second light switch for a second light in the room, and I'll often have that on when I need a good light source anyways. I also always have the option of the manual override (we'll use that a lot when we watch movies in the other room and don't want the light turning on when some one gets up to go use the restroom).

[streaker69]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

I kind of like them as long as they have a manual override. In my last office at work, mine didn't have a manual override. That drove me crazy. In my house, I tried to install a sensor in my laundry room. I hate coming in with a basket of laundry and having to reach for the switch. Well, wouldn't you know that the furnace heat tripped the sensor all the time. It was worthless. I ended up moving the sensor to the kitchen. It's actually not that bad there. It's nice to walk in from the garage and the light goes right on. It will turn off if you are standing kinda still (like washing dishes) or if you are standing infront of the stove. Luckily, there is a second light switch for a second light in the room, and I'll often have that on when I need a good light source anyways. I also always have the option of the manual override (we'll use that a lot when we watch movies in the other room and don't want the light turning on when some one gets up to go use the restroom).

I have an X10 automation system setup here using HomeSeer. I have it that it works out pretty good with using standard Hawkeye sensors as occupations sensors. We get an occasional blink in the kitchen, but the lights turn right back on.

If you want to talk about it we could discuss methods in PM.

[DaKahuna]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

RFID door locks, - Nifty but it's really just the next step up from the current magnetic card. When's the last time you stayed at a hotel that had a real key?

In October when I was in the UK. Had a physical keylock and no handle on the door. The only way to open or close was to use the key.

Gigabit ethernet, - I've found most hotel wifi is plenty fast enough, even for torrents

Mostly agree. Although I occasionally still run into 802.11b in some of the hotels that were early wireless adopters.

42inch plasma screens, - My room at the Hyatt in Osaka already had this

Wait - they have TV in hotel rooms? I don't think I have turned on a TV while staying in a hotel the last six or seven times. The iternet is much more entertaining.

Motion sensors that turn off lights in unoccupied rooms ect.. - Heck just about every office I've been to has these but you'll want heat sensitive ones because as I've seen that it's a pain in the butt when you're in a meeting and the lights go out and you have to start waving your arms to get the lights back on. Seriously it just happened to me twice this morning in a meeting.

Interestingly enough the hotel with the physical key had motion sensors that would turn off the power when the room was unoccupied. I found this out when I left my laptop running and went out for drinks. Come back and battery was drained.

[xor]

Re: High Tech Vegas Hotel

Motion sensors that turn off lights in unoccupied rooms ect.. - Heck just about every office I've been to has these but you'll want heat sensitive ones because as I've seen that it's a pain in the butt when you're in a meeting and the lights go out and you have to start waving your arms to get the lights back on. Seriously it just happened to me twice this morning in a meeting.

You need a little Italian in you(half Italian so don't be offended). When talking you need to be more animated it's good exercise. Either that or they were bored and trying to give you a hint.....

xor