Digressing on this Internet Toaster topic, Sony may be on to capturing a big
part of consumer appliances.  I have a Sony Receiver and VCR.  Both are
designed so they work together and the remote control can be set to operate
Infared or RF.  Sony has designed the VCR to be able to automatically set
its clock from a signal from cable or DSS.  Now, what if Sony started
selling clocks that could automatically be  set from an RF signal from the
VCR -- hey no more having to deal with going through the house setting
clocks on power interruption, or having to do the twice yearly daylight
savings time set forward/set back 1 hour.  If Sony could capture the
consumers imagination of  "intelligent" appliances, that brand would be
preferable over comparable but unintelligent appliances - especially if they
are designed to work together.

Maybe even basic email could be done over cable or DSS, captured, and shown
over a TV rather than a PC.  With this established, you could technically
remotely control a Sony appliance via the Internet via an email message
containing a specific device ID of the appliance in the home.

Maybe I'm off on this approach, but soon these capabilities will appear by
some company bold enough to try to pull it off.