Lastly, here we are in the living area, which, you’ll be pleased to hear, is still the heart of the family home. Let’s enter the room. Now, to the left of the entrance is the main seating area with a sofa, and directly opposite the entrance is an armchair. The sofa backs onto the wall and the armchair faces to the left, across the coffee table to a blank wall. So ’where is the TV?’ I hear you ask. Well, this entire wall is the television. The whole thing is a plasmid screen designed to show your TV, surf the Internet or, when it’s not in use, it displays anything you want from family pictures to famous works of art.
On the opposite wall to the sofa is a fireplace, which still has a real fire nothing beats that now. does it? But the rug in front of the fire now also monitors the temperature, and either opens of closes the chimney, so as not to overheat the room. It still has its normal uses though, as you can see, the cat likes it very much and is curled up on it, happy as can be.
What else is on offer? Well, for entertainment the family still reads books, so there is a bookcase on the wall to the right of the entrance. But what about the computer? Well, it’s inside your head and powered by those intelligent clothes you’re wearing. Imagine this: as you’re sitting relaxing on the armchair, you’ll be able to reach out and put your hot drink on the coffee table in front of the armchair. You suddenly remember that you need to send work an email. That same coffee table holding your cup is also a touch sensitive keyboard for you to type your email and then click    ’send’. All you need to do to activate it is say ’email’ and the image of a keyboard will appear.
Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed your tour around the home of the future and that you’ll come visit again soon. Bye-bye.

(Professor=P Klara=K)
P: Good morning, Klara. Take a seat. Right, I’ve read your first draft of your project on housing. Well done.
K: Thank you. I know it’s only a first draft though, so I’m sure you have some suggestions on how it can be improved. I was very nervous at first because it wasn’t my first choice of topic. I had wanted to do something on voting patterns, but getting information... well, it didn’t look possible within the time frame.
P: Don’t worry. I think that you have made a good choice. Yes, a comparison of the factors influencing housing prices. Very topical!
K: Definitely! There seems to be something about housing prices in the newspapers every day. I just wanted to compare the different factors — you know, location, the proximity of the facility such as schools.
P: As I said, a good choice of topic. Now, the first part is very well done. You clearly introduce what you are going to look at, why and how.
K: Do you think that I have covered enough points there?
P: I think so. Did you have anything else in mind — you know, something else you’d like to cover?
K: Well, a friend suggested that I might include crime rates.
P: Actually, that’s a very good idea. You might consider it. It is something that many people take into account — contrastly or otherwise, when choosing a place to live. Nowadays the police are required to keep quite detailed statistics on crime and you can get them fairly easily. I mean, it’s easy enough to ask for them, but it might take a while for the police to get them to you.
K: OK I’ll make a note of that — contact police for crime statistics.