Wires are terrible. They do nothing but make your house look chaotic. And though we can’t completely get rid of all wires, we can get rid of some. Here are six gadgets to help tame your wild wires.
Sonos Streaming Audio System
Sonos is a whole house system which will wirelessly beam music to as many units as you like. It can pull not only from your own library, but also from a myriad of streaming services. It can also simultaneously stream different sources to different zones in the house. And you can even use your iPad or iPhone to control the action from the palm of your hand. Best of all, the only wires needed are for power and audio. At $US300, the Sonos Play3 is the cheapest way to get your hands on a Sonos product. $US300.
LG Super Multi NAS Drive
Connecting your computer to your HDD for backups is a pain in the arse, right? And what about all those MP3s and videos that won’t fit on your laptop drive? If you had a NAS drive, you could set your computer to automatically back itself up every night and stream music to your computer or internet-connected audio device. $US250. [imgclear]
GE Z-Wave Wireless Lighting Control
Imagine having control over not just one light fixture, but all the lights in your home from a single remote. GE and Zwave have teamed up to offer a range of products which will make all your existing lighting remote controllable via radio waves. By either installing a special lightswitch or plug module, you’ll be conducting a multi-room light show from your couch. ~$US200. [imgclear]
Eye-Fi X2 Wi-Fi SD Card
Uploading your photos from your camera to your computer is always the biggest hassle of the process. You either can’t find the camera cable, or your photo software won’t recognise your card reader, or some other problem. But with the Eye-Fi, your camera can send those files over to your computer without needing a single cable. Just turn on the Eye-Fi, fire up the software on your computer and let the two-machines get to work. $40 [imgclear]
Lockitron Wireless Door Lock
OK, so maybe your door locks didn’t require any wires to begin with, but hell, how are you not entranced by the prospect of opening your door with your phone. If you’re not home and someone needs to get in the house, you can text your door to let them in. THAT, my friends, is the future. $US300. [imgclear]
Netgear Push2TV Wireless HDMI Streamer
More and more computers and phones are coming with the ability to transmit a wireless HDMI video signal, however, many of our TVs don’t natively support the technology. You need a receiver so that you can watch whatever you feel like on your TV without worrying about codecs, or file types or, most importantly, cables. Netgear’s Push2TV box will get you up and running on the cheap. $US95. [imgclear]
Image: Shutterstock/Kinetic Imagery