So, think you’re techno-savvy? Think your crib got what it takes to call itself “smart”? Well I don’t bleeding well know, tell me!
How many of you guys live in high-tech homes, or are planning to renovate/style your house/home/apartment/abode/dustbin in the fashion of those proclaiming to be “wired up”?
I visited a friend recently. He’s a real tekkie (so am I, only unlike him I have absolutely no expertise - I just like to go by the name). He loves his toys. Now he’s actually got a small robot (I call it that, though it looks as if it were made from Lego and really is just a miniture pick-up truck) that wipes up his kitchen after he’s put out the rat poison. The li’l slugger runs up to the rat (facing backwards), lifts it by way of a sort of “snap” door underneath it and flips it into the “Truck” (admittedly the flip by itself is rather unimpressive). It then deposits said rat in his garden via an exit-hole (cat-flap). Of course he has to switch the contraption on for it to do it’s work, but all in all it’s rather a marvel.
As is everything else in his house, which by the way is all wired up and ready to go. He’s got everything; Hi-fi, plasma screen, cool video and DVD systems etc. etc. He’s got a ton of other computer-related stuff… and he can use it to control even the lighting both upstairs and down. And the heating. And his next door neighbour’s dog (no I’m kidding, not this one).
How about the Dopers, got any really cool gizmo’s?
Wired? Well, my home is really more unwired. We’ve got wireless LAN and wireless TV - aka satellite. High technology abounds here, but it’s not terribly obvious or in your face for the sake of being obvious and in your face. Gimme a break … a mechanized rat remover?
Computers are about as modern as they get. Next to my feet is a silly-fast Pentium 4 with a 19" LCD, connected to the world via a DSL line that tests out at just over 5,000k.
The home entertainment is on a 40" Sony Wega XBR TV - sure it weighs over 300 pounds, but it beats the socks off projection sets. It’s fed with component video from the DVD player, as well as the satellite. Primary audio source is a Squeezebox, serving up MP3s that live on my main PC via the wireless LAN.
Oddly, my phones are all antiques. There’s one touch-tone phone on the desk for dealing with phone menus. All the other phones have real dials and real bells and are real heavy.
At home (my parents home) we are fairly ‘wired’. Or as gotpasswords, put it unwired. We use Wireless LAN. I love it. Means when I come home from university, I just turn on my laptop and start surfing - no wires, no hassle. We have a decent computer at home as well with a nice 21" flatscreen moniter and all kinds of fancy little toys hooked up to it. I don’t really keep up with what new toys we have for that machine as pretty much only my little brother uses it - I have my laptop. We have also moved past VHS tapes - we have a dvd recorder instead. Much better IMO.
In my dorm room, which is pretty much a closet space, my laptop functions as the ‘heart’. I watch TV on it, and use it as my stereo (naturally, I have an external soundcard and good speaker system). The only problem there is that the school refuses to install phone lines or any internet connection in the rooms. Why? I have no idea. I suppose they fear that we’d all sit around staring at porn all day. So, for that, I have to trudge down to the library 30m away (which sucks since its not open 24-7 and sometimes I just have to look something up at 4am and can’t do it…but, thats a whole other thread)
Also, people used to be very surprised when I’d tell them that we don’t have a landline phone at home. We haven’t had this for over 6 years now. Instead, everyone in the family has a mobile phone with the same number except the last digit. Why people insist on keeping ‘normal’ phones is beyond me.
I guess we’re a fairly tech-savvy family, but certainly not anything extortionate. Rat removers, controlling the lights through the computer, etc… - that’s just ridiculous. Why would I want that? I do still have functioning legs and arms after all.
eh…we’re someplace in between. I don’t have a wireless lan hooked up mostly because we don’t have high speed internet, and there just aren’t any files that we need to swap between computers. Once the DirectWay system costs just a little less money, I’ll probably go ahead and get everything a wireless card. Laptop has it already. My desktop pc sits next to my home stereo, so all my music is served off that right into my reciever. Likewise, I use my Sony Wega 32" TV as a monitor for that computer. While I can’t put the resolution very high (640x480 I think, or maybe 600x800), it works well with the wireless keyboard and mouse for surfing the net and emailing from the couch. Of course the DVD and VHS players are hooked up to the computer in case I want to capture via the capture card. But that’s about it as far as high tech gizmos go. There are a lot of things that are just around the bend however, such as this hp printer that allows wireless printing, faxing, and scanning. That I like. I’m also playing around with some home automation/security toys. I’m trying to tie a home security motion detector with RFID tags, for a security system. I’m just not putting a lot of effort into it right now.