subject: Connect Your Digital Tv With Other Household Appliances [print this page] Around twenty years ago, the internet emerged to connect the world. Since then, also networks of smaller scale have been creating great value. The next big thing will be home networking. It will connect all our devices in the house together to work in sync.
At first, this might seem unnecessary. What could our landline phones have to do with our digital TV at all? Here are just a few ways in which wireless technologies can be used at home:
* Get rid of your phone altogether and use your cable broadband to make phone calls through VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). You can make free calls and even have video chats - an ideal way of keeping in touch with friends and family far away.
* Use your computer to store your music or play Internet radio and then stream it through to your speakers elsewhere in the house. And what's best, no long cables needed. There is already a wide range of hardware available to get you started.
* Download TV programmes or movies to your computer and you'll be able to watch them on any screen in the house. However, performance in this are isn't quite perfect yet: networks are getting ever more powerful, but smooth wireless video streaming is, at present, difficult to achieve.
* An increasing number of household goods - digital TVs, computers, lights, speakers, etc. - will contain wireless-equipped devices enabling them to be connected to each other.
* You'll be able to keep tabs on your home, and monitor what's going on in the street, or check out who's arriving at the front door.
* Manage your air conditioning and house lighting from one place, even when you are away from home.
* Advanced washing machines and other domestic goods with sophisticated electronic components will be wireless-equipped so that they can be maintained or have new features automatically installed.
