And while you're cooking, you'll use an MSN Companion to check on-line recipes and order ingredients. Other innovations include broadband Internet connectivity, a Home Phoneline Networking Alliance for connecting devices over existing phone lines and a wireless network for those parts of the home where there are no phone lines. Many of the products featured are available now and the site has virtual tours of each room, as well as on-line 3D control of each tour. It looks like it might be a nice place to eat, so you click on the restaurant's info button on the screen, and out of your printer comes a sample menu and driving directions. Now, this scene presupposes some conditions.
Internet based and broadcast TV are here already.
So your e-printer is likely to come equipped with hardware and software based on Open Entertainments iTMX platform. Open Entertainment has already developed an interface device for HP's e20, and allows quick and easy printing from Internet enabled TVs, and other Internet connected appliances. There are insurance agents and salespeople who make their living going from office to office, selling policies or products to clients, and need to print out policies, receipts and proposals from their laptops. Often, this means dragging out a parallel cable, attaching the laptop to a printer, and hoping that they get a normal looking page out of the host printer. ZiLOG has a better solution, currently available for HP printers with infrared ports.