HOME OF FUTURE: CONTROL AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Flat-screen televisions, no deeper than few inches, hang on the walls. Everything from heating and air conditioning to lights and appliances is controlled by computers.

It's the new millennium and homes are wired for the computer age.

Want to use your cellular phone to call the refrigerator to get a shopping list, then have that list sent directly to a grocery store so the order can be filled? How about updating your bathroom with special chips which monitor toothpaste and soap and remind you to buy more before you run out? Think how convenient it would be to have a digital television that calls when the football game is about to kick off and asks you if you want to record it.

Robots are already a reality. In the future, they could be a help in the home, vacuuming, dusting or delivering drinks. Maybe they could even make our children's lunches and help them get to school, then feed the dog.

You only have to check the many Internet sites on home automation to get a glimpse of what is in store for the future.

No one has a crystal ball (yet), but one thing is clear: Homes in the new millennium will be far more automated.

Television, telephones and computers could share a single video monitor. A person could use his computer, watch TV and answer the video telephone, all with the push of a few buttons.

Roger Harms, manager of the Falcon Cable system in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, predicts such a future of integrated technology.

"Your TV will turn into a computer where you can access the Web, e-mail and stuff like that, and shop at home," said Harms.

Flat-screen TVs are already on the market. On the high end, there's a 50-inch, high-resolution monitor that costs $20,000. It doesn't even come with a TV tuner. You have to connect it to your cable box, satellite receiver or VCR to watch television.

In the end, the bulky TVs of the 20th century will become just a memory.

Harms predicts interactive television will become common, allowing people to do everything from shop to vote via computers, cable television and the Internet.

"You will be able to do anything you want right from your chair," said Harms.

"It is a wired world where everything is tied together," he said.

From TVs in cars to radio on the Internet, technology is changing the world, Harms said. People are even reading newspapers on-line.

Housing experts predict the home of the future will stay pretty much the same when it comes to the exterior design. Geodesic domes aren't practical. People aren't looking for a Star Wars home.

Besides, most people like the traditional look and don't want to make a change, they say.

But inside things could be different. Future homes could have more florescent lighting. Such lighting is less expensive to operate and creates less heat.

Homes, experts say, will have central computers to control everything from laundry to security systems. Such technology can turn on the oven. It's already is in place in some homes.

In the new millennium, homes will be designed with the computer in mind, architects say. That's because it is envisioned that every home will have a computer.

Technology offers endless possibilities. Said Harms, "Your imagination can run wild."