What are your ideas for the ultimate internet-enabled home?

October 23, 2008 1:19 PM

I'm putting together a tech wishlist to build the ultimate internet-enabled home (or at least to drool over building it). I'd like your recommendations on the best consumer electronics devices to carry out home-bound computer-related tasks outside the computer (in the same way the Philips VOIP841 phone makes Skype calling simple without a computer). Suggested areas: internet radios, real live news tickers, world thermometers, internet TV boxes, but I'm also interested in whatever other fields you can suggest. Your ideas/experiences welcome, wireless or wired.
posted by scrm to computers & internet (6 comments total)

If you don't mind a bit of DIY, you can build some pretty nifty stuff with MythTV.
posted by PenDevil at 1:40 PM on October 23, 2008

I have no idea how this would work, but something that helps me organize shopping/life; the fridge should tell me I'm low on milk or that it is about to expire, then search stores I usually shop at or are close and tell me the best price. The washer should know when I need detergent and tell me the best price. Appliances of all types should tell me when they need servicing, if they can check my preferred service places calendars and my schedule and suggest days/times that would work, that would be great.
posted by cestmoi15 at 1:42 PM on October 23, 2008

Sounds like you want a few Chumbys.

For DIY stuff, I'd check the makezine blog and visit hackaday.
posted by damn dirty ape at 2:03 PM on October 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Ambient Orb like devices
Wifi picture frames
posted by bottlebrushtree at 3:17 PM on October 23, 2008

Well we just purchased a couple of neat gadgets for our home. Our favorite by far is our new Free-to-Air satellite system. We just got it and up until a few months ago we had no idea that there are free satellite tv channels out there for people to watch. We got the Viewsat HD 9000 from www.fta2z.com. We also just got the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner from www.Irobot.com ! It's a real hoot. It works great too! The only problem is that our dog is a little scared of it.
posted by aurise at 2:26 AM on October 24, 2008

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Now, for ideas ... being able to turn on/off lights and appliances from your mobile phone or the internet is likely something you'd want to do.

You could also use a (relatively inexpensive!) Motorola Homesight system to watch over your home.. i.e. snap pictures/videos of any movement, or when a door opens, and have the notification sent to your mobile phone. It can also watch for floods and temperature extremes, as well as turn on/off lights and control your thermostat.

Take a look around our website, I'm sure you will find some products that fulfill a need you didnt even know you had :)
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posted by Ryaske at 12:14 PM on October 24, 2008