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CNN Live Today

Family Life Returning to Normal for Sarah Wooster of London

Aired May 27, 2002 - 10:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Family life is returning a bit to normal this week for Sarah Wooster of London. All last week, you may have seen this, she lived in a fish bowl, a window at Harrods department store. Sarah was one of a family of four living in the window. They were demonstrating a home of the future, in which all the appliance controls are linked by the Internet. Very high tech. And right now, we are linked by satellite to Sarah in London.

Sarah Wooster, hello to you.

And how can you go back to normal life after that?

SARAH WOOSTER: It's been very strange, I can assure you. I keep looking out my window expecting to see hoards of people.

OSBORN: How did you wind up being chosen or deciding to do this?

WOOSTER: Well, I just saw the ad for it, and I fancied the change to do something different, and I was interested that they were looking for someone my age, you know, a mom. And I just went for it, never of course thinking I'd actually get chosen, but I did.

OSBORN: Tell us about some of the wonders that you experienced there in be window. It sounds like a pretty luxurious lineup, with all the things at your disposal, the wonders of modern of wonderful technology. You just think, and say something, and there it is.

WOOSTER: It was absolutely fantastic. I have to say, this space in which we were living was really incredibly comfortable, and it's been hard going home to my ordinary kitchen. The main piece of equipment we had there was this huge fridge, just like you guys had in America, which had a screen on the front, just like a computer screen, and you can access the Internet like that. You could control the other equipment. And we had a washing machine, and a microwave and an air-conditioner.

OSBORN: So we are getting a look inside the window of Harrods, where you were on display for quite some time. Tell us about the Internet-enabled appliances. What was that like, to be able to use that technology?

WOOSTER: Well, I was rather nervous about that at first, because I use a PC, but I'm not particularly into technology, and actually it was incredibly easy to use and really helpful. I can see how this kind of technology is going to become so popular, because basically, you can access ail your home equipment from the office if you're away from home.

So suddenly, it's a hot day, you need to turn your air- conditioning on, you do that; or anything like home shopping it's so easy to do. You just go on to the Internet in your kitchen, which is where I spend most of the time when I'm at home. And the washing machine was just an absolute dream. We had it on all the time when we were in the window, and completely -- virtually completely silent. It was really nice equipment to use.

OSBORN: And, Sarah, one of the things you were talking about, things being more user friendly. That's exactly what the makers of technology are going for. Give us another instance of something that you wanted to do, and sure enough, with the click of a mouse, you did it.

WOOSTER: Well, the kind of thing that was interesting me was, what I was thinking was I do a lot of my food shopping over the Internet, so I get it delivered. And it's much easier to have your computer there in front of your fridge, so you have got your shopping list. It's easy -- you're in the kitchen. It's all on hand.

And things like the washing machine, you can download programs from the Internet, from the LG Dreamworld Web site, and they have a baby program, so when my kids were little, I could have downloaded that, had it from the time they were babies, and then you get rid of it, and then something new comes along. So it's incredibly adaptable this technology, and beautiful to look at, too.

OSBORN: Well, About it being adaptable. I have one more question, so I'm going to bundle two in for you. One, I want to know more about this fridge. It sounds fascinating. And, two, what was it like to be in a fish bowl like that?

WOOSTER: Right, well, the fridge, basically that's what we were using it for, and another thing we used it for, we had a microwave as well in the kitchen, so you can download recipes straight on to the microwave. You go on to the Internet, you find a recipe you like. You download everything you need to know on to the microwave, and then it's ready, and it knows what it's doing.

The other things you can do, you can use it as a diary. You can use it as a calendar. You can take photographs. You can put memos on there, video memos. And in the future, I think it will control everything within the home. I imagine you would have home security on there, control your heating, all these things LG are working on at the moment, and I'm sure that it will happen.

And in terms of the goldfish bowl aspect, I got used to it really quickly. Everyone was incredibly friendly. It just felt like having lots of nice people come and visit you all the time. It was great.

OSBORN: Very well said. Thank you very much. Sarah Wooster, live in London, after the week in the window of Harrods.

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