Where are the "Internet" Appliances with Ethernet Cards?

StoryMan asks: "Here's one that stumps me. Maybe someone can explain the logic. Yesterday, I bought a TiVO -- the personal video recorder. An amazing gadget. Absolutely first-rate. (I bought it based on the recent Slashdot story and the NY Times aricle.) But there's a problem. It's a got a modem. I've got a DSL connection, got a LinkSys DSL router, and have 4 computers on my home LAN. So as I'm setting up the TiVo, and waiting for it do dial in, I start to think: man, why doesn't thing just have an ethernet card?" I'm still waiting for an "internet" appliance that gets it right and at least offer an add-on for a network card. Is it really that hard to do?

"I read a press release about the new IPaq information appliance. I think: well, I may get one of these for my kitchen. It'd be neat to have a good-looking appliance sitting somewhere on the counter so I could check e-mail, check CNN.com, have my daily moreover.com newsfeed, etc. But again: no ethernet -- just a crappy 56K modem. (And a $599 price tag! WTF is up with that? But again, I digress...)

Then, I start to think about the I-Opener. A modem. No ethernet.

So I start to wonder: why aren't there cheap internet appliances that simply have an ethernet card? Let me worry about the connection -- you sell me the hardware. The sort of appliance I might put in mykitchen for e-mail and casual surfing. I mean, I've got the home network up and running, got the firewall all configured, so everything is all set.

What's up with all these appliances and their built-in modems? I suspect it's because they're selling the service -- i.e. the 9.95 a month TIVO subscription or the 19.95 MSN service -- and so have no desire to support someone who already has the service.

So I gotta wonder: is the "true" internet appliance is still a long ways off? That what all these so-called 'internet appliances' -- TIVO included -- are simply companies risking losses on hardware in order to sell monthly services? Are there business models in place for internet appliance that *don't* rely on a modem and the monthly service? (I mean, I don't even mind the monthly service! I'd still pay 9.95 a month for TiVO -- but just ditch the modem and let me use my DSL!!)"