This is a follow-up post to my earlier post about technology to help improve the sharing of information among a family. My original post wasn't about these specific panels from AMX being used as my solution, just that similar functionality could be used in the home. However, what I've seen and read about with these AMX controls, I believe they could do most of what I would need from the user-input standpoint.
The problem with the white erase board is that the information is then only available on the white-erase board. I recently developed an application for a client where we eliminated a white-erase board being used for department status information and created a "banner" that everyone could access and see from their computers and a webpage.
The white-erase board also isn't interactive. I can't set reminders on the white erase board that would sync to my phone and computer.
With energy consumption, the panels themselves could have screens like the new Kindle. Low-power consumption where power is only used to change the display, not keep it visible.
The problem with relying on my cell phone is that again, it's an island of information for me. I can't share or assign "To Do" items to the other members of my family. My kids don't have cell phones and I don't plan on them having them for at least another few years at the earliest.
These information controls would absolutely sync to computers as another portal for that information, have a look at this step by step guide.
As for music, I believe the AMX panels can absolutely work as a digital jukebox functionality. Not sure what range issues you're talking about with the panels being connected via Ethernet or wireless connections. The panels themselves wouldn't have the speakers in them, each room would have separate speaker, providing much higher audio quality and far higher than a cell phone playing music.