Having FUN in your Digital Home (3/20/2007)

The #1 reason consumers network their homes is to share an Internet connection (which straightforwardly explains the rapid growth in home networks as a correlation to growth in high-speed Internet access).  #2 is a toss-up between printer- and file-sharing, which makes #3 the other of those two.

Boring. Sorry, that’s more like BORING!

Okay, in all fairness, it’s probably not THAT boring, especially considering the amount one can use the Internet for entertainment, be it gaming, streaming media, or other fun stuff.  But I’m sure there’s a lot of people out there who don’t know just how easy it is to use their home networks for fun in addition to data and utility.  Here are some of my top picks for making the digital lifestyle just a touch less productive.

• Gaming
  Naturally games and fun go together pretty well.  For those of you who are still playing Pitfall on your Ataris or Ultima 4 on your C64s (yes, I played em both), believe it or not, everything you know about gaming has changed, and most of it’s for the better!  All the current generation game consoles have built-in Internet support, and if you aren’t playing online, well, gee, what did you pay $299, $399, or $599 for?  My pick for best online console (as of the time of writing) is the Xbox 360.  The 360 not only has great multiplayer capabilities, and coming very soon you can even play games between Xbox and Windows PCs!  If that wasn’t enough, Xbox Live includes lots of fun for casual gaming (card games, basic board games, etc), lots of on-demand content options, and can stream media from a networked Media Center Edition PC.  This is so much fun it almost hurts!
• Multiroom Music
  Music isn’t so much about “fun” as it is about lifestyle.  If you are one of the 938 billion people who owns an iPod, well you probably have digital music stored on a computer somewhere.  Now one way to play it back on a stereo is by purchasing an iPod Dock, but what happens if you want to listen to it in more than one room of your house or apartment?  For the past few years several companies have made this possibility a distinct reality.  If you are an all-Mac home, you should probably grab an Airport Express (although if you are an all-Mac home and you don’t already know about it, I’m shocked).  If you want to get a device that works really well, and isn’t too expensive, try the Slim Devices Squeezebox.  But if you are ready, willing, and able to break the bank a little, and you want to get the best home streaming music solution on the market (no, I do NOT exaggerate!), you need Sonos.
• Streaming Video
  I don’t like to categorize music and video together very often, as the usage model for both media types are quite different, so I categorized video into its own section.  The past two years have seen truly unexpected growth in the category of streaming video products, and there are some fairly interesting options out there.  The most commonly thought-of product category for streaming video are typically called “digital media adapters” – products which stream videos from your computer to your TV set.  I spent most of 1999-2004 designing and building digital media adapters for companies like Pioneer, HP, and Denon, yet unfortunately none of those products made it to market.  A few “networked DVD players” came out a few years ago, but none were very impressive.  As I blogged about last week, the scene has changed again, with NETGEAR’s own EVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD, the first really well-done solution in the space.  As I mentioned earlier, the Xbox 360 is also capable of streaming video from a connected PC, and coming as soon as this week is the Apple Video product.  I’m sure there’ll be a few other entrants in the space this year, but rest assured, the products are finally solid enough to spend a little money on!
• Other Stuff
  I’ll mention a few other products that don’t necessarily have their own wide categories at present.  First up is the Slingbox.  Yes, I used to work for Sling Media and basically built the thing, but with an ever-growing customer base, it’s impossible to ignore.  In a nutshell, the Slingbox hooks up to your home network and to your cable or satellite box, then lets you watch your home TV services over the Internet, anywhere in the world. Next up is another interesting device, the Nabaztag, the “first smart bunny” (a gadget my friend and Cnet Editor Veronica Belmont likes).  I haven’t used it myself, but with the description “smart bunny”, I think you should check out the company’s Web site for more info.  Last up, I would take a look at the emerging category of Digital Picture Frames.  A quick search on Google or Amazon yields quite a few results at varying price points.  Basically, a digital frame lets you see your digital photos on a small LCD screen somewhere in your home or possibly office.  I haven’t tried too many myself, but I do believe a lot of new units will arrive on the market in 2007, so keep your eyes on the category.

That’s my wrapup on having a little more fun with your home network.  If you have any other suggestions, head over to the NETGEAR Community Forums and share them with us!

Jeremy Toeman
Consumer Technology and New Media Expert