Internet frontier reaches kitchen

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

The internet is on the way to becoming just another household device - something you might want to use in the kitchen.

Network manufacturer 3Com intends to put it just there. Next year, it will branch out into the consumer internet appliance market with Audrey, a "kitchen bench" web browser, and Kerbango, a standalone internet radio.

Audrey features a 16cm x 12cm colour touch screen, a wireless keyboard and a "tuning dial" that may be used to access up to 12 preset websites.

Audrey users will be able to compose handwritten e-mails using a transparent stylus, which lights up when incoming messages are waiting to be read.

In the United States, Audrey costs $US499 in plain white or $US549 in a range of colours, suggesting a New Zealand price of around $1250 to $1400 when it is launched here in May or June.

3Com New Zealand manager Patrick Carson said Audrey would provide unobtrusive internet access for the whole household.

"At the moment, if you are relying on a PC, the chances are that only one or two people can use it.

"Imagine how much more use you would make of the internet if it was available to you on the kitchen bench."

Next year, 3Com will also launch Kerbango, described as the world's first standalone internet radio, following its acquisition of the company of the same name last July.

Kerbango will include a conventional AM/FM clock radio but will also be able to receive 5500 internet radio stations without a PC, via a tuning service already available at www.kerbango.com.

The Kerbango company says the sound quality is comparable to FM radio on a dial-up connection but users with broadband connections can expect to receive CD-quality sound.

The radio has yet to be introduced in the United States.

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