If you have the desire to go wireless with your HDMI connection and you have $999 to spare, have a look at Gefen’s new 60Ghz solution which promises to deliver uncompressed 1080p video from up to 30 feet away. The GefenTV Wireless for HDMI 60Ghz supports the HDMI v1.3 specification (including multi-channel audio) and can be upgraded via internet firmware updates. According to the Gefen guys, gamers will also appreciate it’s low latency transmissions not possible with non-60Ghz implementations. Now we just need a wireless power technology to hit the market for a true wireless HDTV install. MORE »

Get ready folks. Starting this April Silicondust will be accepting applications to beta test their currently under development HDHomeRun CableCARD product. The new device (expected to retail for $249) will accept a multi-stream CableCARD and will offer dual HD capable tuners that can be accessed by multiple Windows 7 Media Center PCs over your LAN via Ethernet. Not to be greedy… but I’m thinking there’s going to be a lot potential customers who are going to be begging for a 4-tuner model down the line (if not out of the gate) — which by the way is the max number of tuners supported by (non-speciality) Windows 7 Media Center. One potential negative of this setup, however, is that PCs have to share available tuner streams. In other words with a dual tuner HDHomeRun, for example, if one PC is tuned into a program and recording another, the other PCs can’t watch or record anything as far as I’m aware. Attached below is a video recorded by Pete Brown talking with Silicondust’s Jason Ludka about the new product at CES. MORE »

We’ve recently seen a demo of Alereon’s Wireless USB Laptop to HDTV extender and came away impressed. Well, it turns out Intel has a similar technology now being built into some of the newer boards sporting 2010 Intel Core Processors. The technology is called Intel Wireless Display and will work with a compatible HDTV adapter to stream anything shown/playing on a laptop’s display over HDMI. According to Netgear, the Dell Studio 15z, Sony VAIO VPCS111FM/S, and Toshiba Satellite E205 all support Intel Wireless Display and in turn will work with their new $99.99 Push2TV (PTV1000) adapter available later this month. Products like this get me thinking… maybe an HD capable netbook/laptop/tablet may be a good enough alternative to buying a dedicated digital media adapter to play internet content on your HDTV. What do you think? MORE »

Now here’s a tempting piece of gear showcased at CES. Iomega this February will be launching a $99.99 NAS adapter, called the iConnect Wireless Data Station, that will take any USB hard drive or thumbdrive and make its contents available through your home network or remotely via 802.11n Wi-Fi or Ethernet. In addition, the iConnect features a built-in DLNA / UPnP media server (for streaming photos, videos, music to computers and digital media adapters), Apple Time Machine compatibility, torrent download manager, and printer server which can all be administered through the product’s web interface. Iomega is even throwing in some of its popular EMC software to help users backup computers and keep files synchronized. Not bad for less than a hundred bucks. MORE »

Most likely you’ve never heard of the WiGig wireless standard created by the Wireless Gigabit Alliance. If you haven’t, that’s OK because today the group is announcing the WiGig version 1.0 specification, which they hope will become implemented in home networking gear as early as the first quarter of 2010. So why should you care? We’ve got dual-band 802.11n now, right? Well, because WiGig is 10 times faster than 802.11n, with transfer rates up to 7Gbps, and is backwards compatible with 802.11b/g/n. What’s more, WiGig has been designed for HD media streaming to multiple devices at once, can transfer the contents of a Blu-ray disc in under a minute, and already has the blessing of 15 technology leaders within the CE, PC, semiconductor, and handheld industries. You in…? I am. MORE »

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about FON and its Fonera routers. Luckily, a couple of recent video clips of the Fonera 2.0n in action has prompted me to revisit the current offering. MORE »

The $299 Astak “Mole” Webcam is most likely the coolest IP camera made available to the public to date. The Mole is a standalone, self-configuring IP camera that can be networked via Wi-Fi or Ethernet and accessed from any web browser at home or remotely. What’s more, The Mole features motion detection, night vision, two-way audio, remote pan/tilt and can tweet/email updates, record video to an SD card, and upload video to YouTube. And the video quality isn’t bad either… it records 320×240 or 640×480 video in H.264. The Mole will be available next month at Fry’s, Costco, Amazon.com, Walmart.com, and Astak.com. MORE »

The Hollywood Reporter and Broadband TV News are reporting that Stuart Collingwood, VP EMEA of Sling Media, has been quoted saying that the percentage of people who don’t use their Slingbox for remote placeshifting has jumped from 40% two years ago to 70% today. In fact, most people use their Slingbox to stream TV to networked PCs and other device around the home (see: Sling Media’s downloads page for apps targeted to the desktop PC and handhelds). And when it comes to remote mobile access, 80% of people watch slightly over 15 minutes of television in a single session.

The Pogoplug has been out for a few months now and recently added some new social sharing features, so I decided to see if I could get my hands on one to keep and review. One thing I noticed, though, is that many of the past Pogoplug reviewers just talked about how to attach the Pogoplug to a home network, adding a USB drive, and some of the features the web interface allowed you to do. While all that’s well and good, I never got a true sense on how well the Pogoplug actually did its job. MORE »

Ok, I’ll bite. After reviewing the details on the Ooma Telo VoIP phone adapter and service, I can’t find anything not to like. For $249.99 the Ooma Telo, which needs to be connected to a router with a high-speed Internet connection and is compatible with standard corded or cordless telephones, provides FREE phone calls nationwide and international calls at competitively low rates. In addition, users get caller-ID, call-waiting, 911 service linked to their current address, and other features at no additional charge. Ooma even lets you port your existing phone number for a one-time fee of $39.99 (free with annual subscription to Ooma Premier). Check it out. Ooma Telo is available now at 1,200 retail locations nationwide and online. MORE »