Can the PC Help?
What aspects of the PC help to solve these critical problems faced by traditional consumer electronics devices? First and foremost, the PC is the ultimate ‘connected device’. The platform upon which the PC is built is one that lends itself to interconnectedness. Comprised of a variety of application programmer interfaces (APIs) and technology standards, the PC’s rich platform make it so that the PC natively works with other devices. Standard technologies in the PC platform such as USB, Firewire, 802.11, CD-RW and DVD recording make this interconnectedness possible. To the consumer, the PC’s platform and standards means that it’s always easy for the PC to talk to other devices — to any screen inside your house, to any remote control, to virtually any device inside the home. PCs also solve the cost issue — PC hardware is extremely inexpensive due to the use of modular components and the economies of scale that apply across the entire PC industry. And because of the modularity inherent
