HP´s Phil McKinney demos the HP webOS TouchPad controlling home appliances.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Besides he showed up the FREE Twynergy  HP webOS application, Phil McKinney used part of his talk with the crowd of Maker Faire 2011 hackers to show off Palm’s TouchPad WebOS tablet, due to ship this summer, controlling a fan and lamp and monitoring temperature, all wirelessly. McKinney said that HP needs the help of all the “makers” out there to develop cool apps.

It is the first time I heard about the HP webOS TouchPad controlling home appliances.

Phil also used his Maker Faire 2011 appearance to kick off a new effort to develop tools to aid those with autism. HP and its advertising agency, Goodby Silverstein, are kicking off a project called Hacking Autism, aiming at summoning more people to develop technology to aid those with autism. The effort will include an October “hack-a-thon” in Silicon Valley aimed at getting some ideas under way.

McKinney noted that 1 in 100 people are now born with autism in the U.S. In Silicon Valley, the rate is more like 1 in 80. “It’s a full blown epidemic,” he said.

I think the Hacking Autism project is a great humanitary initiative beyond the technology develop, that will really help people with autism.

Source: Allthingsdigital