The washing machine scans each clothing article's label and retrieves washing instructions online from clothing manufacturers. Since they bought their washing machine with scanning and satellite connections, the Dearbournes have not accidentally tinted a sock pink or shrunk one woollen sweater. But, since it is raining, he does not want to walk. The school's system gets the message and the bus driver's route is automatically corrected to pick up Ewon. After Luke drives off to work, Barbara basically shuts the house down.
All interaction is now passive.
Climate control, emergency notification and electricity management continues, but all other functions cease. She gets no updates, no reminders and no helpful hints. It is a kind of domestic cruise control that Barbara and Erica have agreed upon in order to have peace and quiet for work and studies. He wakes up his mobile phone, which is voice-activated. Luke asks it to dial a secure line to the bank, tells it his PIN code and proceeds to open a special holiday account.