Can your TV talk to your music system? Or your car to your garage? Or maybe your cell phone to your microwave? Possible, but interconnectivity between appliances is still an area that's explored the least. Even with connectivity technologies like Bluetooth, networking between devices hasn't progressed rapidly. Today if your your digital camera can interconnect with your printer, then why not your cell phone with your microwave?
Technocrats say that necessity is the mother of all invention and desginers haven't found an application for a cell phone interconnecting with a microwave. This is bollocks as one can easily switch on a microwave or air conditioner, a few minutes before entering the house - while locking the garrage.
While we've been hearing of the term `plug and play' for some time now, unfortunately, not many appliances support the concept. For instance, it isn't possible yet to buy a CD player off the shelf from a store that could connect to your PC at home, or a refrigerator that would do the same, besides network with your microwave and television set. Tech gurus are trying to figure out ways of programming and reviewing the DVD player at home from anywhere in the world via the net, or switching on the airconditioning while on the way home, this is still a pipe dream for most of us. Simply because the DVD player you may buy may not be net-enabled. Alternatively, while it may be net-enabled, your TV may not work with your VCR, which may in turn not work with the DVD.
Of course, niche applications and gadgets are available, but networking appliances at home is still a cumbersome task restricted to just a few thousand super rich dudes around the world. Some years ago, the "connected, networked, digital home" was unveiled with much fanfare, which doesn't seem to have fired the imagination of many beyond sci-fi and nerdie chat rooms.
What all these appliances lack is the networking and interconnectivity protocols that would determine how each of these talk to each other. While several such protocols may already be available, the unfortunate fact is that they are not as yet standardised and manufacturers have to live with that restriction. And not just interconnectivity between appliances, it is also the physical compatibility of the appliances. In order to be physically compatible, each appliance would need to have standard voltages, at least as far as their input and output channels are concerned. Like for example, if you have to connect your CD player to your computer to play music files downloaded from the internet, both your computer and CD player have to be physically compatible. This is easier said than done, given the large number of manufacturers and brands available in the market. An easier way out would mean using interfaces that connect these devices, enabling them to send data and commands to and fro even if they are not physically compatible; an interpreter and translator kind of device or application that could connect two devices together.
Yet another option would mean the development of a JAVA-like language which each of these devices could understand, even if they are not physically compatible. Inspite of the hullabaloo surrounding JAVA, and JINI, they are not as yet able to meet the requirements of interconnectivity demanded by household appliances. Most electronic appliances manufactured in one country cannot be used universally because of temperature tolerances or due to different voltage and current specifications. Sometimes adapters and converters may be available, but very often one has to hunt around for a connector plug to get a TV purchased in the US to work here in India. An application interface that could connect such appliances and gadgets irrespective of their temperature, current and voltage differences would be an ideal option.
Of course, niche applications and gadgets are available, but networking appliances at home is still a cumbersome task restricted to just a few thousand super rich dudes around the world. Some years ago, the "connected, networked, digital home" was unveiled with much fanfare, which doesn't seem to have fired the imagination of many beyond sci-fi and nerdie chat rooms.
What all these appliances lack is the networking and interconnectivity protocols that would determine how each of these talk to each other. While several such protocols may already be available, the unfortunate fact is that they are not as yet standardised and manufacturers have to live with that restriction. And not just interconnectivity between appliances, it is also the physical compatibility of the appliances. In order to be physically compatible, each appliance would need to have standard voltages, at least as far as their input and output channels are concerned. Like for example, if you have to connect your CD player to your computer to play music files downloaded from the internet, both your computer and CD player have to be physically compatible. This is easier said than done, given the large number of manufacturers and brands available in the market. An easier way out would mean using interfaces that connect these devices, enabling them to send data and commands to and fro even if they are not physically compatible; an interpreter and translator kind of device or application that could connect two devices together.
Yet another option would mean the development of a JAVA-like language which each of these devices could understand, even if they are not physically compatible. Inspite of the hullabaloo surrounding JAVA, and JINI, they are not as yet able to meet the requirements of interconnectivity demanded by household appliances. Most electronic appliances manufactured in one country cannot be used universally because of temperature tolerances or due to different voltage and current specifications. Sometimes adapters and converters may be available, but very often one has to hunt around for a connector plug to get a TV purchased in the US to work here in India. An application interface that could connect such appliances and gadgets irrespective of their temperature, current and voltage differences would be an ideal option.
