Smart Home Blog

Mediabolic announced a new conception of digital home based on the Yahoo! Digital Home Engine. The Yahoo! Digital Home Engine is a software module which can be installed on PC or a network-attached storage (NAS) product to give consumer electronics devices access to the media from the Yahoo! websites. Currently it’ll work in Japan only. But I think this conception will be expanded to the rest of the world if it’ll be success.

Currently Yahoo! Digital Home Engine covers only entertaiment area. Let’s see how it’ll be integrated with existing home automation systems.

Siemens has announced Gigaset S450 cordless handset with support of Yahoo! Messenger. The S450 can work as a landline cordless phone but it also can handle Yahoo! Messenger sensibilities. To work with Messenger the phone comes with the Gigaset M34 USB to plug in into PC. The S450 also features:

• one button to access your Yahoo! contact list (incl. presence status)

• illuminated color display with icon-based menu

• phonebook for up to 150 entries

Yahoo! Messenger with Voice seems strong competitor for Skype. It has an excellent user interface and voice features as well.

I read that Siemens also decided to throw in 250 free minutes of Yahoo! Phone Out with each purchase of the S450. It’s good point to buy a DECT cordless phone if you didn’t do it yet and if you Yahoo! fan.