Personal Computing

            A smart home makes personal computing easier and it has many other benefits. By setting up a home network, the internet will be made accessible from anywhere in the house. Imagine yourself accessing the internet from your room or the kitchen instead of facing the computer in just one location. Wouldn't that be more comfortable? Imagine yourself not having to fight for the internet line. Imagine being able to simultaneously access the web anytime you like. Sounds good?

            Welcome to the world of smart home. In a smart home, you get to network all your computing resources and devices. For example, a printer can be shared among multiple computers through a LAN. That would save you the cost of getting a printer for each computer. Apart from that, your personal computer can even be turned into a videophone. Why wait till the next holiday to see your family members or friends? By using high-speed broadband networks like cable-modems, DSL, or even VDSL, videoconferencing can be made available. You can then communicate with your loved ones anytime you like.

            One of the benefits of connecting all your computers to the same local area network is that you can actually do things in a more organised and co-ordinated way. For example, if you want to create back up files for a computer, you can actually create a schedule on one computer and have it access the others to create copies of the important files. You can also play multi-player games within your home compound.

            Furthermore, you can even take things one step further. In a smart home, you can actually browse websites and check your emails through your television set! Online shopping can be done at the same time, too!

            All these can be done through a WLAN. Some time ago, HomeRF used to be the in-thing, but it has become less popular now. At the moment, the technology that is by far the most common is the 802.11b which uses the 2.4GHz radio spectrum and has a speed of 11Mbps. However, in the near future, 802.11g will emerge as the newer technology, functioning in the same radio spectrum as the 802.11b but has a faster 22Mbps transfer rate. Data transfer will be 2 times faster by then. Bluetooth technology and Fast Infrared (FIR) are also becoming more popular these days.