Home Tech

The networked home -- complete with "smart" appliances and a range of security and entertainment options -- is becoming increasingly common. Many new homes come equipped with centrally controlled entertainment, security and climate systems, and more existing homes are being retrofitted with home the...

PRODUCT REVIEW

Patrolling Network Security With NetTrooper

Like many home keyboard jockeys, I view my wireless network as a black box. I set it up to share my broadband Internet connection. It does that. So I leave well enough alone. That doesn't mean, though, that my curiosity isn't aroused from time to time, and I feel an urge to poke around with the netw...

Sony fired the latest salvo in the ongoing high-definition format war Monday when it announced that it will release its second Blu-ray Disc player for about US$400 less than its current one. Priced at about $600, the new BDP-S300 model will sport a new design, advanced audio codecs, Bravia Theater S...

Google on Monday confirmed that it has signed on several new, big-name partners in its program to distribute video content along with advertising over its AdSense online network. Included among the new partners are the NBA, CondeNet's Epicurious.com and Style.com, The Wall Street Journal Online and ...

Adobe and Photobucket.com have teamed up to give the site's 35 million subscribers free access to basic video remixing and editing technology online. Users will be abel to incorporate music, effects, transitions and titles into their videos. "At Photobucket, we're committed to helping our users get...

Millions are choosing to build smart homes from scratch each year, while many others are adding networking features to their existing homes. For example, home-builder Lennar recently began offering a networked home option for buyers. From the living room, where the PC is capable of becoming an enter...

SECURITY ALERT

Router Hack Attack Could Expose Home Network Users

Home network users could be vulnerable to attacks from hackers who can alter the configuration of a broadband router or wireless access point. Symantec released its "Drive-By Pharming" attacks report Thursday, roughly two months after security researchers at Symantec and Indiana University first pub...

The use of a home network largely as a broadband-sharing mechanism is just the first of several stages in the evolution of connectivity. For example, while we predict that by year-end 2010, nearly 40 million U.S. households -- and an estimated 180 million worldwide households -- will have data netwo...

PRODUCT REVIEW

Video Conversion Confusion? M2Converter Can Clarify

Everywhere you turn these days, someone is pushing video -- on the Internet, on portable media players, even on cell phones. What's omitted by many enthusiastic purveyors of this electronic marvel, though, is that the digital video scene is a jungle of befuddling and confusing formats, a system more...

It's easy to see how some gamers end up spending so much money on accessories when you add up all the special controllers, high-powered headsets, memory upgrades and multiplayer network subscriptions that players use to enhance the experience. "Through the years, gamers have demonstrated a willingne...

If Henry Ford were alive today, his jaw might very well drop to the floor. Though Ford's cars were innovative for the time, the automaker probably never could have imagined that the company that bears his name would one day ink a deal with Microsoft for hands-free Bluetooth technology in-vehicle ope...

The average person spends nearly an hour a day driving to and from work, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. So-called "extreme commuters" spend four hours or more -- that's the equivalent of spending over a month per year sitting in a car. Long commute times are one factor driving the demand for t...

Many analysts believe Apple is set to unveil a set-top box that could bear the name "iTV" at this week's Macworld Conference and Expo. Netgear, however, beat Apple to the punch Sunday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where the company debuted its Digital Entertainer HD media receiver, ...

Missing its self-proclaimed deadline to implement its audio anti-piracy software won't immediately hurt YouTube's goodwill with the entertainment industry. As New Year's Eve approached last weekend, YouTube, which was purchased in October by Google for US$1.65 billion in stock, acknowledged it would...

For this last column of 2006, I thought it would be interesting to look ahead to 2007 and explore the battles that are to come. The three big ones are the Battle for the Digital Home, the Battle for your Pocket, and the Battle for Your Lap. The fighters include Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, HP, Dell, G...

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