Consumer Electronics (Finally) Getting Broadband Connections

from the everything-is-connected dept

After years of talking about it (and some experimentation by various consumer electronics brands), it looks like we're reaching a point where consumer electronics offerings really will connect to the internet. Philips has now announced a number of new consumer electronics offerings that all include a broadband internet connection. A few things are a bit confusing in the announcement, though. They claim that Philips partnered with a bunch of broadband companies to provide the broadband with the gadgets. Maybe I'm confused, but shouldn't those things be separate? If I already have broadband in my home, why do I want to sign up again for a different broadband provider just to connect my DVD player to the internet? Also, they don't indicate what they mean by having a "high speed internet hookup". Is it just an ethernet port? Is it WiFi? If it's just ethernet, they may find use to be low, as many people won't have ethernet running anywhere near where their consumer electronics are kept. The biggest question, though, is how easy will it be to network these offerings? If I have a computer with a high speed internet connection - and I suddenly get a DVD player and TV each with their own internet connections, I want to be able to network them all easily. I don't want to have to worry about configurations and IP numbers and such. If these devices don't make that easy, then many people will find themselves giving up in frustration.