I'm glad I'm not the only one to have thought about this! I remember posting months ago on avforums asking if anyone knew of networked IR. Not as great as having network connections in every bit of AV kit admitedly, but a nice step forward.

Being able to control AV equipment from a browser interface (using PocketPC or TabletPC or whatever) over a network connection is going to be HUGE.

Personally I think Philips have missed a trick here. Rather than actually marketing the iPronto, they should have developed and licensed the software that runs it and made it available for multiple platforms.

One of the things that could well put people off spending £1000+ on the iPronto is if they've got perfectly decent WiFi enabled devices already (although to be honest, I'm probably going to be getting one anyway!).

There is some good news on the horizon though - the 802.11>IR bridge technology used by the NETX is actually licensed by Philips from a company called Open Peak.

The relevant press release is at [Link: openpeak.com]

Another potentially interesting press release,
[Link: openpeak.com]
clealy hints that other 802.11>IR bridges are due from OEM's in the near future, that will not necessarily be locked down like the NETX. Mind you, I doubt it will very long before some bright spark works out how to control the NETX from any PC, rather than from the iPronto itself....