High Tech Household

I have been wanting to build a Home Theater PC for a while, but was waiting for the launch of Windows 7 to do so.  When Windows 7 was released on October 22, I started researching what I would need to assemble my own Home Theater PC, and began ordering parts.  Last week, the parts arrived for building my home theater PC using Windows 7 Media Center.  I spent a good deal of Friday night and Saturday putting it together and getting it ready for use.  By Saturday afternoon, I had the PC up and running and connected to my television.

Windows 7 Media Center has a lot to offer as a Home Theater PC (or really, a Home Entertainment PC), including Recording and Playback of TV (DVR-functionality), Movies and Netflix, Hulu and Internet TV, Music and Photo Libraries, and more, all controlled via a remote control and optional wireless keyboard.  Media Center also supports hardware (called Media Center Extenders) that allow you to stream your Media Center content to other TVs throughout your home.  What sets Media Center apart from just a traditional DVR or TiVo is the extensibility.  Third party developers, enthusiasts, and hobbiest programmers can create programs that extend the functionality of Windows 7 Media Center, much like people write apps for smart phones such as the iPhone and Google Android.   Best of all, it comes included in all editions of Windows 7.

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Professor Masahiko Inami of Keio University has created a new advancement in the field of robotics – a robot to do the most mundane of chores, the folding of laundry.  The robot receives instructions on how to fold the laundry via a Windows program, and then works on its own to fold what you give it.  As it is a prototype, this RV-style robot is somewhat impractical for the average household, but has huge commercial implications.  Now, if they could only get a robot to mow the lawn…

As the world gets more wired, and the practical uses of computers continues to evolve, the concept of having a computer in your kitchen is becoming more and more common (HGTV even has an article on their website about it and how to best place a kitchen PC from a design standpoint).  A kitchen PC can have many practical uses beyond being just another gadget toy, such as:

• Keeping Shopping Lists
• Searching the vast array of food blogs (shameless plug:  My wife has a food blog called Domestic Pursuits) for finding recipes
• Storing and easily retrieving recipes, both thoes found on food blogs and those originally on paper
• Monitoring Children’s Internet Usage
• Checking on important emails while waiting for food to cook
• Using Skype or Google Voice as a primary audio/video phone

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When I was growing up, it was common to use these devices to control the lights and appliances in your home when away on vacation, or just year-round, to give the appearance of activity within the home and to discourage would-be burglars.  The devices were fairly simple.  You set the on time and off time, plug a lamp into the device, and then plug the device into the wall.  The lamp will go on and off like clockwork every day based on the time you set.  X10 modules work on a similar  principle, but in a much more advanced way.  X10 not only provides the basic security measures of the old analog light timers, but also has the capabilities necessary to create a full-fledged home security system and home automation system.

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