Home Tech

Entertaining Home Technologies
May 16, 2012

Ever since the advent of the first radios and TVs, home entertainment has been a relatively high-tech enterprise, but in the past few years, there has been a revolution in the quality of sights and sounds available. This arena continues to be an experimental space for new and improved technologies that enhance viewing and listening experiences.

Buffalo Debuts Speed Freak WiFi Router
May 14, 2012

Buffalo Tech on Monday became the first on the market with wireless products touting 802.11ac WiFi, also known as "5G WiFi." These are its AirStation WZR-D1800H wireless router and WLI-H4-D1300 wireless media bridge. They purportedly offer speeds up to three times faster than 802.11n, and they are fully backward compatible with 802.11a, b, g and n.

iTV: Not If but What
May 11, 2012

Terry Gou, chief of Foxconn, has confirmed that Apple has an iTV in the works. The news, which instantly sent the consumer electronics industry into a tizzy, came in an article focused on the company's plans to expand into e-commerce and distribution. Yes, an iTV is coming, according to Gou, who dropped a few details about the product, even though neither development nor manufacturing has begun.

Dish Offers New Ad-Vanishing DVR Service
May 11, 2012

Dish Network began offering a new service Thursday that lets users skip all commercials for shows broadcast on major networks when watched the day after the programming first aired. Dubbed "Auto Hop," the feature on Dish Network's digital video recorders allows users to bypass commercials on recorded HD prime-time programs from ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC.

The Tech-Adept Kitchen: A Home's Heart - and Brain
May 08, 2012

We might never get to the point of having a Jetsons-like kitchen that prepares our meals for us, but some recent advances in kitchen technology are getting close to that. Programmable ovens and stoves with pre-set recipes and instructions for various dishes, for instance, take much of the guesswork out of making a meal. In this way, Wolf's convection steam oven helps cooks along while they're making dinner.

AT&T Signs Up for House-Sitting Duty
May 07, 2012

As if the remote home monitoring and automation market weren't crowded enough already with players like ADT and utility companies with their smart meters, AT&T announced on Monday plans for entering the arena. It will offer consumers Web-based access to automation tools for their home energy and water controls, as well as professionally monitored security services.

Waiting for Apple to Charge the Gates of TV Land
May 04, 2012

Speculation about Apple producing a television set that will revolutionize how we watch entertainment at home has been percolating for months, as has the arrival time for the super set. Initially, it was predicted to arrive in time for the 2011 holiday season; then it was going to share the stage with the new iPad in 2012; and when that didn't happen, it was pushed to sometime in 2012 or the first half of 2013.

Home Smart Home
May 01, 2012

Tim Shriver likes to talk to his house. "Turn the porch light on at 3 p.m.," he says through an intercom to the female voice that belongs to his house. She confirms that she will make sure the light comes on as instructed. "Open my shopping list, and add apples, bananas and bread," he continues. She assures him she will update the shopping list, as well. As CEO of Home Automated Living, Shriver has a completely automated house.

Cleaning Up With High-Tech Housekeeping Tools
April 25, 2012

Marla Cilley, aka the FlyLady, knows a thing or two about housecleaning. One of those things is that it's hard to get motivated to do it. To address this problem, she created an empire around inspiring others to step up their housecleaning game. "We do behavior modification through email, Facebook and Twitter, and that behavior modification helps our members establish simple habits and string them into a routine," said Cilley.

Larry vs. Larry
April 21, 2012

A San Francisco courtroom is presently the center ring in the worldwide tech IP litigation circus. While other legal battles over mobile device patents and copyrights are as down and dirty as ever in places like Germany, Australia, and elsewhere in the U.S., the fight between Oracle and Google over the alleged theft of Java technologies stands out due to its cast of characters.

Look Before You Make the Leap to Hulu Plus for Android
April 20, 2012

The 5-year-old subscription streaming video service known as "Hulu Plus" has doubled its subscriber numbers in the last seven months to more than 2 million, according to numbers bandied about by the company. Hulu is a joint venture between investors and television operators: Comcast's NBCUniversal, Fox Entertainment and the Walt Disney Company. Competitors include Netflix and cable providers like Time Warner Cable.

Finding Your Way Around a Router
April 19, 2012

Have you ever accessed your home or small office router configuration settings and been bombarded with a mass of incomprehensible, cryptic computer-eze and senseless acronyms and abbreviations? Never fear -- you can quickly come up to speed on the basics. The router is a computer networking device that manages the data. It interprets the packet's address and directs the packet to its destination.

Ikea Builds Electronics Into Furniture With Uppleva Line
April 18, 2012

A new all-in-one home entertainment center announced Tuesday by Ikea may give some Baby Boomers a sense of deja vu. The new product line is called "Uppleva" by the Swedish furniture retailer, known for making attractively designed products with odd names and selling them at affordable prices. It combines all the components of a home entertainment system into a single piece of furniture.

Can the Olympics Muzzle Social Media?
April 18, 2012

The 2012 Olympics in London -- which have been dubbed the "first social media Olympics" -- will be subjected to a dizzying number of social media restrictions, according to a Tuesday Mashable report. According to the article: "Athletes will not be allowed to tweet photos of themselves with products that aren't official Olympics sponsors or share photos or videos from inside the athletes' village."

The Smarter, Safer Tech-Adept Home
April 17, 2012

Forget to turn on your security system at your home in Denver, and you're on a business trip in Chicago? No problem: With the tap of a finger on a touchscreen, you can switch it on. And while you're at it, you can adjust your home's temperature and flip on a few lights as well. In the converging world of electronics, home security systems are joining a whole suite of offerings making homes smarter and more in sync with the lives of their owners.

Harmony Link Makes the iPad a Less-Than-Ideal Remote
April 17, 2012

There are several apps for iOS that can turn your iPad or iPhone into a remote control. Most of these are special-purpose apps -- they control just one device. Whether the app controls your DVR like Xfinity's application, your PC's cursor or iTunes, you're hooked up to a single device, usually through WiFi.

Entertainment Device Convergence: The State of Play
April 13, 2012

The tumultuous convergence of entertainment devices, greater interaction with the television-viewing experience, and increased involvement of social networks were all in the Klieg lights at the IP&TV World Forum, the Internet television show I attended recently in London. I was immersed in the future of television content delivery mashed with user interaction.

Sony May Get New Life by 10,000 Cuts
April 09, 2012

Sony will lay off 10,000 workers, or about 6 percent of its global workforce, as part of an overall corporate restructuring plan, according to a report. The cutbacks are set to take place over the next two fiscal years. It's unclear when the Japanese company will start slashing jobs or which divisions will take the hardest hits.

IP&TV World Forum, Day 3: Multiscreen Mania
March 23, 2012

I'm surrounded by screens here at the Olympia exhibition hall -- tablet-sized, big screens, you name it -- and they all connect with each other. It's day three at the IP&TV World Forum. The lowly remote control can soon be buried under the sofa cushions for good, judging by the offerings from set-top box manufacturers here.

Taming That Spaghetti of Wires Taking Over Your Home
March 22, 2012

New home construction and remodeling projects, from a multimedia wiring angle, have the advantage of incorporating cable management at the design stage. That design is structured into the build. Unfortunately, existing homes don't have this luxury -- tearing into walls is disruptive and expensive.