You’ve got your wireless router to share your broadband internet connection with your wireless laptop and your iPaq. That in itself is pretty cool. But when you add a cheap 802.11b chip to home electronics, it opens the door to new applications you probably hadn’t considered.
That’s exactly what chipmakers Phillips and Broadcom are trying to do. On Monday, they will be announcing smaller and more power-efficient Wi-fi chips that they hope will one day be in every cellphone, digital camera and mp3 player.
Sync’ing contacts into your cellphone, or songs and pictures with your mp3 player and digital camera will no longer be chores. With these new, cheap chips, you can adjust your thermostat or set your VCR (or PVR) to record over the internet. Tie your alarm clock into your Outlook calandar so you don’t sleep in for that meeting. Recieve an Instant Message, an email, or a page when a lightbulb burns out.
Cheap, small and efficient wi-fi chips are the next important step to ubiquitous computing. Look out!
