[lit-ideas] Broadband through electrical outlets

Okay.  I want it and I want it now.  (Think American DSL, Blue  Tooth, etc. 
providers will stand for it for an instant?)
 
_http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050929/ap_on_hi_te/broadband_socket;_ylt=A9G_Rx8
I4DtD_qQAgRADW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl_ 
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050929/ap_on_hi_te/broadband_socket;_ylt=A9G_Rx8I4DtD_qQAgRADW7oF;_yl
u=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl) 
 
Chip Helps Electric Outlet Go Broadband  
 
 
 
By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer 4 minutes ago  


The common electric socket will serve as your home's connection to broadband  
with a new chip developed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. â doing away  
with all the Ethernet cables or the hassle of hooking up to a wireless 
network  device. 
Products are still being developed, but gadgets embedded with the chip from  
the Japanese manufacturer of Panasonic products can hook up to a broadband  
network by plugging into the common electrical outlet, company officials said  
Thursday. 
That's because the Osaka-based company has come up with technology to use  
electric wiring in the home to relay not just electricity but also data. 
The technology has been around for some time â including in the United States 
 â but Matsushita's system is unique in that it delivers fast-speed broadband 
 information at up to 170 megabits per second, which is faster than Ethernet. 
The advantage is that the lowly electric socket is everywhere. Right now, a  
broadband outlet still isn't usually available in every room, even in homes 
that  have broadband connections. 
In the future home envisioned by Matsushita, people will be able to download  
and watch high-definition movies in any room of the house that has an  
outlet. 
Attach a special device made by Matsushita into a socket and all you have to  
do is plug your TV or other gadgets into a socket for instant connection to  
broadband, which allows for faster transmission of online information than  
dial-up telephone connections. 
Matsushita hopes to eventually sell refrigerators, TVs and other products  
with the chip already installed. 
A network-connected refrigerator may allow users to connect from a mobile  
phone or laptop to check whether you're low on eggs, for example. Or you may  
want to turn gadgets off or on, such as your washing machine or 
air-conditioner, 
 from outside the home. 
But for now, an adaptor when plugged into an outlet will allow gadgets with  
Ethernet connections â even those without the Matsushita chip â to receive  
broadband. 
Matsushita official Tomiya Miyazaki said that even homes with optical fiber  
connections don't have broadband outlets in every room, and people are tired 
of  setting up gadgets with their home wireless LAN device. 
"Our goal is to have every gadget plugged in this way so that people don't  
have to even think about connecting it to broadband," he said. 
Samples of the technology are being made available to companies, including  
other Japanese electronics makers, that may wish to use it for their products,  
Matsushita officials said. A demonstration of the technology will be on show 
at  the CEATEC exhibition that showcases electronic technology, opening near 
Tokyo  next month. 
Acceptance of the technology is more likely in Europe and the United States  
because of stricter regulations over power line use in Japan, according to  
Matsushita. The company is in talks with the Japanese government to have  
regulations eased.

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