Home is a place where social objects add value over novelty.
After reading about Social Objects and how they have not quite come into focus, I couldn’t stop thinking about the potential for inanimate objects to talk, have a history, or contain data. It became pretty clear (especially as being a fairly new home owner) that there would be a huge advantage if your homes appliances and components could talk - and not in the conventional use-case of your refrigerator letting you know when the milk is bad.
How about when your furnace needs maintenance, water heater needs scheduled service, air filter needs replacement? With a database handling details about the device, time stamping and alerts - You now can be notified of warranties, end of lifecycle, link to user manuals (could have come in handy when trying to find the oil holes on my furnace), repair history, etc.
This can all be done quite easily with a Stickbits type barcode that links, not to a little web note, but a little more of a robust database (but not overly complex). This way emails can remind you that the air filter has been in for 2 months, roof should be inspected, etc. This would be very handy when purchasing a new house as well - scan the barcodes and now you know exactly what state all your appliances are in the house (e.g. the water heater has about 2 years left).