11.04.2008 — Cisco Systems has launched a video contest called “Digital Cribs: Heaven or Hell” to find the coolest uses of personal technology and home networks, as well as the most frustrating stories of technology gone awry.

Two winners will each receive $10,000. Each finalist will get $500.

The contest is part of the company’s “Digital Cribs” Web series, which demystifies the home network and inspires conversations about how consumer technology and home networks contribute to a digitally-enhanced lifestyle.

It already features profiles of NBA star Shane Battier, a video blogger named Meghan Asha (I don't know her, but she cavorts around her condo in knee-high black boots, a mini-skirt and a skimpy top so she must be cool) and artist Lincoln Shatz.

The videos are extremely well produced. In one scene Battier opens his entertainment center cabinet to show off his components and it's a mini-rat's nest of wires! Oops!

The videos can be 3 minutes long. Here are the full contest details.

What’s my point with this? It shows how mainstream home technology is becoming. So break out the video camera and get over to one of your homeowners and start taping.

Make sure they mention your company name in the video!! Hurry, the deadline is December 5. Entries will be judged by online viewers.

Cisco, along with its Linksys division, are the two most popular brands of broadband routers used by members of the CE Pro 100.

By the way, I love the descriptions they use for the contest entries:

Heaven: My divine digital domicile is a sublime space of supreme joy. Wireless nirvana. Celestially connected. A rapturous paradise of technological bliss.

Hell: My digital devil’s den is an accursed abode of tortured agony. Wires everywhere. Broken connections. A wretched purgatory of evil technology.

What a great way for an integrator to get some publicity for one of your installations! Let’s just hope none of your clients enters and wins the “hell” portion of the contest.

Check out the video below of Shane Battier.