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Geek-Chic Power Houses

Posted by michael on from the conspicuous-consumption dept.

nakhla writes "Wired.com is running a lengthy article on wired houses of celebrities. The article describes some of the tech that has gone into the houses of actors, businessmen, and professional athletes, outlining the steps they've gone to in order to obtain techno-nirvana. Included in the article is a profile of JAG's Catherine Bell (my vote for sexiest geek), and her use of a wireless network to connect her to her TiBook, Gateway Laptop, and...get this...Sharp Zaurus Linux PDA. For those of you who are just dying to string fiber around your entire house, this article will have you making a run to your favorite networking hardware store."

3 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. FYI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    On a pseudo-related note, Catherine Bell is a Scientologist.

  2. Re:iTunes by glesga_kiss · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I've done similar. Redhat based firewall/NAT/samba box sharing 180 gig of storage (one half is a backup of the other to be truthful, highly recommended with hard-drive reliability these days) to every PC in the house. PC in living room is hooked up to a hi-fi, which also uses the tape-outs to pipe music to a couple of rooms. VHS RF-out also piped around the house, allowing DVD, video and cable to be viewed anywhere. Laptop in bedroom connected to midi stereo and wireless lan gives me independant music if I want.

    With VNC, you can remote control your home jukebox from anywhere in the world, but I do prefer the couch. Total cost: Not much! The server is an old 200MHz box, that's all it takes. Wireless lan cost a bit, but it has other uses.

    With the addition of a cable modem, streaming files anywhere in the world is great. I could be in work or a hotel miles from home with full access to my music collection. Bliss!

  3. Re:Determining the right infrastructure... by glesga_kiss · · Score: 5, Interesting
    We ended up going cat-5 with pre-wiring and space for wireless access points in the attic and conduit in the walls to pull fiber (or something else) later when it becomes feasible.

    There is always a place for cat-5, cheap and reliable. Even if you have wireless, hooking up two desktop PCs is a waste of RF bandwidth. If you are confident with a drill, go for it. In a few years, a home network might make a desireable selling point for a home.

    Like the idea about running conduit, very forward thinking.