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January 01, 2006
Consumer products are finally catching up with technology...
This holiday season has been a pretty good one for my inner geek. Unsuprisingly, a lot of the things I'm going to mention here are also a result of the travel I've been doing. I find myself with a bit of free time to game and the desire to keep in touch with family, both of which the internet serves so well.
First, I'm sure most of you are aware of Skype, well now so are my parents, in particular my mom. Kim and I have been using it to keep in touch when I'm overseas, and I figured that since my folks have readily taken to the old intstant messenger, no reason not to show 'em VOIP technology. Great way to keep in touch with the whole family, even from Europe! Plus, the mental image of mom wearing a headset to talk to me over the intarweb gives me a good chuckle.
Next, my wonderful wife bought me a Slingbox for Xmas so I can keep up with my favorite shows while on the road. In particular I don't want to miss the Rosebowl this year, as my Longhorns go for the BCS title! Now, this kind of technology has been available for a loong time for those tech savvy folks out there, but now that broadband is commonplace, devices like this can be found at your local ciruit city. Works great on the home network. I'll be giving it a field test in 2 days. :)
Lastly, I signed up for a GameTap account. I downloaded a few games and confirmed what I thought...old games aren't as fun as you remember them being. But that's the nature of skill-based activities, eh? However, with over 300 games to choose from, some of which are only a couple of years old, I think the value (~$10/month) is a good one and I recommend it.
Anyway, I think all three of these products are excellent examples of how consumer electronics are finally bringing long standing potential of the internet to the average joe. The setup on all 3 of these things was a snap, which in the case of the Slingbox was very suprising.
-Happy Holidays!
Posted by SunSword at January 1, 2006 02:18 PM
Comments
I'd be interested in hearing how that Slingbox works out for you. That sounds interesting.
Posted by: Mego ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.sunsword.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 3, 2006 05:01 PM
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