Create an aesthetically appealing Designer Appliance that has a Wi-fi connection so it can be setup and controlled by your local computer.
The general purpose appliance would have a real-time clock, radio, cable, camera, speakers, audio video input/output jacks, TV tuner, and USB connection built into it as modules.
The real-time clock would be updated by the computer and it would be a configurable module. An online calendar on your computer could be set to update the alarms and displays of the Designer Appliance.
Digital inputs and outputs would be available on the Designer Appliance for general purpose connections like lights, sirens, door switches, ...
A configurable display could be used to display anything from a remote camera, radio settings, TV, ...
The touch screen of the display would provide all of the controls needed by the Display Appliance. So the Display Appliance could be just about any shape and size.
This general purpose Designer Appliance would take the place of clock radios, small stereos, a variety of alarm systems, ....
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The main point here is that a Designer attractive case provides a broad set of functions that can be distributed cost effectively to every room in the house.
It would have to start as some universal architecture, to support the greatest denominator (likely TV, especially HDTV), and have connectino spots for the variuous components, although some components could share a form factor/connectino point.
Generally, some of the functions could be better executed, individually, as ground up application specific devices, for mass manufacture and consumption. Building a device around a universal platform that only some features will be used, will add unnessary cost to a product, or if a pereson were to "build there own", it would cost more than any integrated commercially available product.
By modular, I meant in the way of software. The home desktop for example could create a LabView (http://www.ni.com/labview/) style graphic based program to interconnect systems to accomplish different tasks.
Like making a clock radio where the stock prices stream across the display. Or a reciever for shortwave enthusiasts that allows them to "key" morse code right from their bed directly to their remote shortwave set (shortwave and huge antenna up on a hill out on the farm, while keying from the wife's downtown apartment). Or allowing the baby crib camera and microphone to be accessed from any room in the house.
So many custom applications become readily and attractively possible by having the tools dressed up in a nice package. Each of the circuits are cheap-cheap-cheap. They just need to be hooked into a common programmable system, using like an FPGA for the glue logic.
Many companies have tried to produce a series of interconnected appliances. The company that came the closest was a derivative of Sunbeam called "Thalia". They had the coffee maker, smoke detector, alarm clock, electric blanket, and touch-screen control center all talking to each other. Unfortunately, they disbanded before the products were ever released to the public. See more info here: http://www.reviewsonline.com/articles/981101249.htm
Otherwise, if you're talking about a clock radio where stock prices could scroll across the display, perhaps an "open source clock radio" like Chumby http://www.chumby.com/ is more what you have in mind.
Err, the website got clipped off. Try this:
Trying again:Thalia Interconnected Appliances