[OT] Time sync of arbitrary consumer devices

[Michael A. Peters]

Something that has bugged me for years - I have to manually set the time
on my microwave, on my stove, on my VCR (it will auto-sync if I pay for
cable, but cable does not offer me what I consider to be programming
worth what they want to charge - well, I would watch the sci-fi channel,
had I the time to watch it ...), my wall clocks, etc.

I don't understand why these devices can't get their time set through a
radio signal time server running in the home. I'm curious as to what
exists in this area - are there any hobbyist kits that can broadcast
time from my local fedora box running as my lan time server? Are there
hobbyist kits to modify certain types of consumer electronics to listen
to such a signal?

I imagine that what brand consumer goods I have would make a difference,
but it would be something that could be migrated to from off the shelf
microwave and VCR that can't be hardware hacked etc.

I don't quite understand why this type of thing isn't more prevalent in
the home already, we've had the technology to do it for years. I suppose
doing it through a radio signal would mean someone could be mean and
reset all my clocks - but I don't have that many enemies ... and it
would be cool to just have them keep in sync by themselves.