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Home electronics go wireless
In Singapore, the Dutch consumer electronics maker Philips is designing a multimedia server to stream audio and video through the air, from the Internet to any device in the home. In Munich, a former unit of Siemens envisions a cordless phone that would double as a music player, wirelessly drawing music from home computers. In Japan, members of Sony's global "digital home team" are redesigning 90 percent of the company's home electronics components to connect wirelessly to the Internet by 2011. Across the consumer electronics industry, the leading players are revamping their audio and video equipment for a future centered around the Internet, a world in which televisions, stereos, computers - even kitchen appliances like dishwashers and refrigerators - can communicate with each other over a wireless home network. Expanded lines of "networked entertainment equipment" will take center stage this week at the Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin, the largest consumer electronics convention in Europe, with 1,200 exhibitors and 200,000 visitors. Sony plans to introduce plug-in adapters to enable some of its Bravia television sets to connect to the Internet wirelessly. Philips will demonstrate a line of hard-disc stereo systems that can wirelessly read and play music stored on personal computers or laptops in other rooms, streaming music selectively through the house. Pioneer, Samsung and Sharp will present flat-panel TVs that hook up to the Internet, some with wires, some without. Hewlett Packard's MediaSmart LCD TV will wirelessly stream high-definition video. Some industry executives say the new focus on Internet content and wireless networks reflects a fundamental shift in home entertainment. "The Internet is so massive," said Tim Page, technology marketing manager at Sony Europe. "So are the opportunities for electronics makers, content providers and consumers to get connected. The push to develop networked devices is one of the main directions for Sony now." The convergence of telecommunications, consumer electronics and computing is bringing together a new set of competitors. Telecommunications operators, seeking to increase the revenue they generate from data traffic, are actively promoting easier, more sophisticated Internet access to the home. One way in which they are doing this is by promoting so-called residential gateways, boxes that combine an Internet router with a modem and software than can wirelessly shuttle and manage video and audio among devices in a home. France Télécom has been the leader among European telecommunications companies, selling six million of its Livebox gateways through 2007, according to Parks Associates, a research firm in Dallas. Major online businesses also see the living room as a potentially lucrative new location for their services, as consumers turn to their TVs instead of PCs to reach the Internet. Google and Yahoo have said they will jointly produce software for consumer electronics makers to make it easier to display Internet content on TV screens. For consumers, the development of wireless home networks will require a shift in thinking, as the lines between computing, home entertainment and communications continue to blur. "The main challenge in our business is consumer awareness," said Hans van't Riet, a senior director for Philips's Streamium line of wireless audio components, which transmit music over home WLAN networks. "Research shows this is a great idea. We just have a marketing challenge." To be sure, while networked devices like Internet-ready TVs, set-top boxes, residential gateways and game consoles like Microsoft's Xbox360 or Sony's PlayStation3 are increasingly common, the truly "networked" wireless home is still a few years off, industry experts say. By the end of this year, 370 million homes worldwide will have broadband Internet, Parks Associates estimates. About 4 in 10, or 150 million, will also have WLAN routers connecting computers to the Internet. Only 5 percent, about 17 million, will have residential media gateways. But whether consumers embrace networked devices and the added complexity of installing and maintaining a wireless home network remains to be seen, one analyst said. "Consumers really aren't driving the trend toward networked devices, the device makers are," said Steven Wilson, an analyst at ABI Research in New York. "The companies are pushing this to try to build a new business, to offer new services. It is really a matter of getting the infrastructure in place." The technology already exists to enable many home electronic devices, including kitchen appliances, to communicate over a wireless network, said Alon Ironi, the chief executive of Siano, an Israeli company that makes video receivers for devices like digital picture frames. The problem, Ironi said, is that most devices are unable to communicate with other manufacturers' products because of different technological standards. "There are different consortia, pushing competing standards," Ironi said. "We are still at an early stage." http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/24/technology/ifa25.php |
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