Home Network Clutter Can Go Away!
Take your home network from this: 
to this:
Does it seem like everyone wants to sell you a different box for your home network? And every box needs a cable. And sometimes you have boxes you don’t use all the time, so they pile up? Or, every device you own ends up not having enough places to plug in a cable. Your computer does not have enough USB ports. You are missing an HDMI port (that’s the one you need for HDTV), so you need to buy USB hubs or HDMI hubs?
Don’t let your home network overwhelm you, keep reading to find out how can you simplify your life and your home network.
How can you get rid of the boxes, the hubs, and the cables from your home network? How can you make life easy and regain space on your desk, your bookshelves and stereo racks?
There are four things that can help now:
1. Go wireless wherever possible
2. Shamelessly exploit the Internet
3. Look for WiFi enabled devices
4. Get rid of old boxes.
Wireless
Wireless is the first play to go to eliminate the wires in your home. If you use wireless enabled devices you can get rid cables to your printer, cables to your stereo, cables to your mouse and keyboard, cables to synchronize your smartphone and your computer. Typically you are going to use WiFi (802.11g or n) and Bluetooth for mouse, keyboard and cell phone. Not all wireless is created equal, media fiends should think about the new Linksys by Cisco Dual N routers that come with two built in networks, at 2.4 and 5 Mhz. The 5 Mhz network is optimized for video streaming. That makes it excellent for playing Internet video or streaming video from your computer.
Exploit the Internet for Entertainment
If you are trying to save money, like the idea of really good music that fits your taste, or like experimenting with new music, the Internet provides thousands of radio stations. If you hook your stereo or sound system up to the Internet, you can have access to amazing music. You actually don’t need a radio tuner any more. And there are no CDs to store and no new bookcases to buy or lug around when you move homes.
If you haven’t discovered intelligent music services, you should try them out too. Services like Rhapsody, which you can access on wireless enabled sound systems like the Conductor or Director from Linksys By Cisco, allow you to specify a seed song and they will find music that is similar in its attributes. I specified Philip Glass, a minimalist classical composer and the radio station it synthesized around him, delighted me.
Subscription services are also wonderful to explore. Services like Rhapsody can be played on a WiFi enabled music system. They allow you to test out music before you buy it or just listen to music once and move on.
Look for WiFi Enabled Devices
Music systems, printers, cameras, laptops, netbooks, dual mode cell phones, wireless Skype phones – all can use WiFi. That cleans up clutter. But realistically, if you have invested thousands of dollars in a stereo, you are not going to throw it out. You need to WiFi-ize it. Tools called extenders, little boxes again, can add WiFi capabilities to your sound system. But you can get rid of the ugly cable from your computer to the stereo or home theater system.
Get Rid of Old Boxes
It’s hard to do, we know. But it’s time to get rid of old boxes. If you have been buying hard drives over the years and you have lots of small hard drives lying around, not really being used, perhaps it’s time to get rid of them. Hard drives are now so inexpensive; you might as well replace all your small hard drives with a big hard drive, preferably a server like the Media Hub because servers are more useful. In addition to the benefit of removing clutter, there is another really good reason for getting rid of them at your local electronics recycler, the older a hard drive, the more likely it will fail. So don’t be tempted to use them as secondary back up. Basically, it’s just too much trouble.
Some boxes are harder to get rid of. It’s probably a good idea to keep around your tuner, your audiophile tuner, your VHS player, perhaps a good idea to keep around a cassette deck, but only if you use them or have historical content you want to play. Legally, you probably need to keep your CDs around if you have ripped them (converted them to MP3 files) and ethically, if you want to support artists, you shouldn’t sell CDs in the second hand market after ripping.
The Clutter Free Home
So what would a minimalist household look like? A media server like the Linksys Media Hub centralizes media access and makes it available when you leave home. A notebook computer with HDTV capability. A wireless Dual-N router for streaming music and video. A WiFi enabled sound system like the Linksys Conductor or Director that can play music from the Internet and the server. A wireless enable printer. Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. An iTouch or iPhone for listening to music on the go, listening to Audibile audiobooks on the elliptical machine, and for reading Kindle-ized ebooks from Amazon.
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Posted by Johanna Fry at 04:22PM PST
Johanna Fry
Paris Jun 19, 2009
Wireless is the way to go. Nothing ruins the look of your home office or entertainment center like wires and cords hanging out everywhere. Technology just keeps getting better all the time.