Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] net-enabled microcontrollers for appliances,VCRs, stereos

[Michael <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

> And where are they?  Who manufactures them?  I haven't seen any,
> personally.  Show me a link to a datasheet, and maybe I'll believe
> you.  And by the way, a network card is far less complex than an
> embedded web server thing.  A NIC hooks right into the PCI bus, which
> already does most of the work for it.  A VCR neither has a PCI bus nor
> a CPU which can control the NIC.  You would have to put in an extra
> microcontroller, program it

If I feel energetic I'll try to find my bookmark to the site that sells
them. I looked breifly but couldn't find it. Bookmarks are such a pain
when you get hundreds or thousands. And the web servers are cheap because
they only do what they have to.. essentially providing an http interface
to whatever data your gadget already provides. They are made only for
embedded use. You couldn't run like Google off one. A couple different
companies make flavors of these ultra-lite webservers now. Again if I feel
motivated I'll look for them. I'm feeling lazy right now.

> Where have you seen those chips?  I really want to order a few if they are 
> that cheap.

The printed circuits on paper? They don't yet have a printed web server
that I know of but I think they would be pretty easy to do and are bound
to show up. Other circuits printed on paper get used in disposable places
already though so we do know it works.

> Then why aren't there VCRs with network interfaces? The closest I've seen is 
> a cable modem with a webserver.  But those things cost about two times as 
> much as a VCR, for "cheap" electronics.

VCR's suck and so do VCR makers? There might be a web-enabled VCR for all
I know but I don't have one. Shouldn't be to hard to make though. Price
something is sold for has almost nothing to do with how much it cost to
make. Manufacturers often breif sales people that a given product is
exactly the same between the cheap model and the expensive model except
the expensive model has a feature turned on. My favorite was a digital
camera I usda sale.. hooking power to the cameras main IC at the right
spot would let the camera double the resolution. Probably cost less than a
penny to activate per camera but they charged $100 more.

> I haven't seen a wired VCR yet - probably due to two reasons:
> 1. The technology is not mainstream yet
The technology is mainstream, products that use the technology are not
mainstream yet. Companies don't release products the second a technology
is available.. they have to convince mgmt it's a good idea, do user
studies, design, make, test, market, etc.

> 2. It's not cost-effective.
*shrugs* It doesn't cost much. The cardboard box the units are shipped in
probably cost as much.

> 3. Nobody wants them
> I can't say that reason #3 is valid, since there would be at least one model 
> of a VCR that had it built in.  There isn't a single thing that does it and 
> is mainstream.

Could be a reason. It isn't the type of feature that is likely to be well
understood in most user studies. Anyway the VCR idea was just an
example. Most people geeky enough for a web enabled VCR would probably
want a TiVo or something. On the other hand multipurpose remotes are
popular.. if devices shared a common interface to such remotes there could
be a decent business in it.

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