Property Management Nation

 For the 16th year in a row Bill Gates of Microsoft is the richest man in the world according to the Forbes 400.  His estate, Xanadu, on the east shore of Lake Washington in Medina, Washington is estimated to be worth around $200 million.  It took seven years to build and encompasses 66,000 square feet with much of it underground.  As is expected of the technology guru, Gates’s house contains some of the most advanced technology available.

photo from Zillow.com

Interactive tour of Gates’s estate

He has heated floors (including the driveway and patio), miles of fiber optic cabling, an X-ray machine to screen his mail, a 20 seat home theater with a projection screen, hidden cameras, an elevator to bypass the 84 step hike up to the ground floor, an underwater music system in his 17 foot by 60 foot pool and of course top of the line security with an electronic kiosk at the door wiht a touchsreen, smartcard reader and biometric scanner.

Perhaps one of the coolest features of the house is the “smart” capability.  Everyone who enters the house wears a pin with a microchip for identification that the house “reads.”  Lights, heat preferences, a screen in the foyer that reads personal email, high resolution displays of favorite art as well as features like only the phone nearest you ringing are some of the highlights of this “smart” technology.  If you are in the kitchen and want to cook a prepackaged meal, run the food under a barcode reader and the microwave will automatically set the correct time and temperature.  On a similar note a RFID tag reader will recognize that you have flour out and offer suggestions for baking, even pulling up recipes, displaying them on the countertop and preheating the oven. 

Digital media is another feature of Xanadu and is in every part of the house with a central media server streaming entertainment seamlessly throughout the house.  This means if you start watching a movie on the plasma screen in the den, you can finish it up on a kitchen monitor while cooking without disruption.  The family’s collective music library is also accessible on any device in any room in the house in full-home surround sound.

This is a house that has everything right?  Actually no it does not!   Bill Gates does not allow iPods or iPhones in his house much to the chagrin of his wife Melinda, 12 and 6-year-old daughters and 9-year-old son.  Instead they are forced to use products endorsed or created by Microsoft.  This includes the Zune for MP3s and windows mobile phones like the Palm Treo Pro or the HTC Touch Pro.  These gadgets work similarly to Apple’s iPod/Phone, but just don’t have the same appeal or cool factor.  I guess I understand where Bill is coming from, we all know he has his pride.  As much as I would love to have a “smart” house I don’t think I could live without my iPhone!