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

["Ross, Matt" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

What would a wired VCR do?  Let you click on things on the Home Shopping
Network and order them online?
I think 'server' is the wrong term, there are chips which do cost almost
nothing which can be used to ID things.  The simplest I've seen are the
equivalent of a magnetic bar code, though I'm not sure how much they cost.

I couldn't find a site with one on it, but I did find this:
http://www.idchip.com/
If the government can afford one for each of us, I'm sure they don't cost
that much for someone who doesn't pay black ops prices ;-)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Igor Izyumin Jr. [mailto:EMAIL:PROTECTED]
> Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2001 8:29 AM
> To: EMAIL:PROTECTED
> Subject: Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] net-enabled microcontrollers for
> appliances, VCRs, stereos
> 
> 
> > Nope wrong again. They have highly simplified one chip lil 
> web servers
> > that cost just about $1. No flashrom, memory, etc needed.. 
> except for some
> > sort of network interface. I've seen one chip network cards 
> for only a
> > couple dollars.. WiFi probably costs a lil more still but 
> use will drop
> > the cost.
> 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
> 
> > I've seen cheaper. Still not cheap enough to be in a milk carton but
> > eventually I'm sure they will be. Probably a printed 
> circuit in the lid or
> > label. Like the little printed circuits they use for security or the
> > printed cell phones or something.
> Where have you seen those chips?  I really want to order a 
> few if they are 
> that cheap.
> 
> > You obviously don't follow things very close. All these parts are
> > mainstream now. Not even the hackers domain anymore. 
> 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.
> 
> > I'd certainly pay $5
> > extra for a VCR that was wired so that my cell phone, 
> computer, or PDA
> > could act as a universal remote via a handy network interface.
> I haven't seen a wired VCR yet - probably due to two reasons:
> 1. The technology is not mainstream yet
> 2. It's not cost-effective.
> 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.
> -- 
> -- Igor
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