ABI Research has published a new study called “Home Networking and Digital Home Network Market Analysis” that forecasts core networking device revenues will decline through 2014 due to the current economic slump. However, network connected digital media adapters, TVs, game consoles, VOD set-top boxes will grow from $74 billion this year to $94 billion in 2010. ABI Research states that the main growth driver is people’s desire to distribute audio and video around the home and access online content through their television. Also revealed, Wi-Fi will continue to dominate the connectivity options with Ethernet coming in second and powerline, coax pulling up the rear. MORE »

Strategy Analytics, in their latest report “Connected Home Leaderboard: A Strategic Assessment Of The Leading CE, PC and Mobile Companies,” concluded that Apple and Panasonic have made the greatest strides in the Digital Home segment for the past two years and that up-in-comer Cisco (aka Linksys by Cisco) is set to make a big splash in the near future. What do you guys think? Is Strategy Analytics on point by highlighting these companies as the lead innovators in this space? My guess is, not really. Chime in with your opinion on who’s winning your dollars and loyalty. MORE »

The target connected digital living room consumer household has household income between $100,000 and $150,000, according to recent research by MultiMedia Intelligence. These upper middle class households would ideally have children and be located in a metropolitan area on the East or West Coast.

Based on a sample of over 25,000 respondents with English and Spanish speaking adults in the US, the research asserts that targeting specific consumer household characteristics is a key success factor among companies targeting the Internet-connected digital living room. Current consumers with home networks and consumers using Internet-based video provide tremendous insights into the target consumer segments for next-generation connected consumer electronics devices.

The age of Internet video and music is here. However, nearly all Internet media is still the domain of PCs. “Some consumer segments, such as youth and early adopters, see the PC as an acceptable platform for media consumption,” according to Mark Kirstein, President of MultiMedia Intelligence. “However, a much broader market becomes available when Internet video and music can reach the entertainment-centric platforms of connected TVs, DVD players, set top boxes, video game consoles and audio equipment.” MORE »

I just got this e-mail notification in my inbox this morning (see graphic). So, I jumped over to see what it was all about. Boy… was I impressed. Amazon’s Connected Home Store page is so well dialed in, it’s scary. Amazon has products broken down by popular Digital Home categories, bestsellers, and even home setup scenarios. And if that wasn’t enough, Amazon is providing in-depth/usage case articles (on topics like: printer sharing, wireless photo frames, TV place-shifting), FAQs, terminology definitions, a community discussion board, and a widget tool for helping users discover the perfect device(s) for their needs.

Digital media are transforming our experience of entertainment more profoundly than at any time since the introduction of radio and television themselves. And in industrialized regions, growing numbers of consumers are seeking ways to distribute digital information and entertainment content around the home, creating wired or wireless home networks to do so.

In an audio Webcast presented by ABI Research director Michael Wolf, he assesses the implications for distribution and presentation of digital media, to and through the digitally-equipped home. MORE »

Whew! What a day. Lots of interesting new tech on display. More details, via video interviews, to come. In the meantime, checkout our gallery of opening day pics. MORE »

I’m in Anaheim, California getting ready to attend Disney’s grand openning of a new attraction called the “Innoventions Dream Home” as a guest of HP and Disney. The new Tomorrowland exhibit, created in partnership with HP, Microsoft, Exceptional Innovations (Life|ware), and homebuilder Taylor Morrison, will showcase cutting-edge digital home technologies available now and some that will be rolling out in the not too distant future. The whole idea of the exhibit is to provide a space for visitors to interact with new technologies from the participating companies in different settings and follow how a ficitional family, called the Elias family, leverages the various connected devices and applications in different rooms of the Dream Home for entertianment, information gathering, and home automation purposes. Stay tuned for further updates and exclusive interviews.

Below are the details from Disney on the exhibit’s “high-tech” and “high-touch” rooms [full release]. MORE »

Consumers are moving beyond basic PC-to-PC networks as they look to connect devices to the home network to access and share the growing array of digital content from the Internet, as well as from their own capture devices. While just a few years ago most consumers’ networks had only PCs on them, the growth in non-PC devices on the network has been significant. In a survey of online households in the United States, ABI Research has found that over 26% had a game console connected to their home network, 10% had a network storage device, and another 8% had some form of set-top box connected to their home network. MORE »