Intel's Dream Home

Using some loose change it found down the back of the couch, silicon sumo Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) has put together a $200 million fund aimed at promoting "innovative hardware and software technologies for the digital home." [Ed. note: A place where your fingers live?] Naturally, this will involve a heaping helping of wireless LAN technology to drive what the company calls: "The convergence of personal computer and consumer electronics devices on a seamless, wireless home network."

Intel has already put the building blocks for a cheaper, consumer-friendly wireless LAN chipset in place with the announcement of its Celeron M processor this week. The new Celeron is a version of the Pentium M mobile CPU that is at the heart of the Centrino wireless LAN chipset from the firm.

Centrino was the subject of a similar push last year when Intel put together a $150 million fund to invest in wireless LAN startups and stumped up $300 million to promote its chipset (see Intel's WiFi Wad and Centrino: How Much?). Now, it's apparently the turn of the digital dream home…

Here at Unstrung we're just hoping that one particular Intel innovation makes it to prime time. Just imagine how much better life will be with a WiFi chair! (See WLAN Gets a Bum Steer.)

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung