Digital living

Hints & tips

Digital living. What is it I hear you ask? Well, our day to day lives are constantly being influenced by technology. From the moment your state of the art stereo wakes you up in the morning, to driving to work with your SatNav, and falling asleep in front of your all singing all dancing TV in the evening, you can not escape it.

Over the past few years the amount of digital products available for the home has increased. You’re all probably aware of Media Centre PCs that allow you to stream movies, pictures and music from your PC to your main TV set. Handheld entertainment devices such as Sony’s PSP and Nintendo’s DS, that allow you to play wireless games anywhere in your home. And there are wireless webcams which can help increase security and see who’s about to knock at the door, so you can decide whether to answer it or not!

Mobile phones have also been digitised extensively, it's sometimes harder to make a phone call than it is to take a video or a picture and store it onto a memory card. Any data stored on the phone can also be downloaded to your PC and shared with any number of devices around your home.

Between 2008 and 2012 all TV signals will turn to digital, which may require you to upgrade or convert your current TV and other equipment to be able to receive digital TV. If you already own a digital TV then I’m sure you’ll agree, playing your favourite games and watching TV has never looked so good.

All this technology forms a part of a digital life and it’s only a matter of time before you can start using your PC to turn on your toaster and play space invaders on your microwave!

For hints and tips on aspects of digital living, please choose from the list on the right-hand side.