NETGEAR, Inc., a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and service providers, today announced a new line of products that provide access to next-generation high-speed 802.11ac wireless to meet growing customer needs for better and faster wireless on Internet-enabled WiFi devices in the home. The products-two wireless routers and one wireless USB adapter-make 802.11ac WiFi available to laptops and PCs, even before this capability has been built into these systems.

The previously announced NETGEAR R6300 WiFi Router is the industry's first 802.11ac router. Following up on the introduction of that product, NETGEAR is pleased to announce that it will be expanding its 11ac range with a second 11ac router and a USB adapter. The NETGEAR R6300 WiFi Router supports combined WiFi speeds up to 1750 Mbps, while the NETGEAR R6200 WiFi Router announced today supports approximate combined WiFi speeds up to 1200 Mbps and has a lower price point. Both are backward compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n to provide optimum interoperability with legacy WiFi devices and maintaining maximum performance on Wireless-n.

Amped Wireless, the leading manufacturer of high-power, long-range wireless communications products for the home and office, today unveiled its new flagship, high-performance, long range router - the R20000G High Power Wireless-N Gigabit Dual Band Router.

Engineered to deliver exceptional levels of performance, power and flexibility, this new router is designed for use in large homes and offices. The R20000G brings unprecedented, simultaneous dual band Wi-Fi to home and office users of up to 10,000 square feet of coverage or a quarter of an acre, the same size as a major league baseball diamond.

Buffalo Technology, a global leader in the design, development and manufacturing of wired and wireless networking and network and direct attached storage solutions, today announced that the AirStation WZR-D1800H wireless router and WLI-H4-D1300 wireless media bridge are now available for purchase from select retail partners. Based on Broadcom's 5G WiFi chips and first unveiled on the show floor at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, WZR-D1800H and WLI-H4-D1300 offer speeds up to three times faster than 802.11n and are fully backward compatible with 802.11a, 11b, 11g and 11n to ensure interoperability with legacy devices.

Operating in the 5 GHz spectrum, 802.11ac offers transfer speeds up to 1300 Mbps, ideal for uninterrupted HD video streaming and concurrent Internet access. Along with gigabit speeds, Buffalo's 802.11ac products with improved radios will feature improved reliability and produce better in-home coverage for ultra-portable devices such as tablets and smart phones. As 5G WiFi proliferates into phones and tablets, the WZR-D1800H will enable even better coverage as well as incredibly fast download times, improving the battery life of clients.

Belkin International, creators of people-inspired products and technology solutions, today announced plans to become one of the first to market with a line of wireless dual-band routers supporting the new 802.11ac wireless networking standard. New Belkin products will feature Broadcom's fifth generation (5G WiFi) 802.11ac chips, which enable speeds up to three times faster than existing 802.11n technology.

"802.11ac technology provides the wireless networking backbone needed to reliably handle the increasing amount of mobile devices and streaming content on today's home networks," said Mike Chen, senior director of networking at Belkin. "We are excited to partner with Broadcom to bring cutting-edge Wi-Fi products to market this summer that not only provide great speed and coverage, but also enhance the online streaming experience for videos, movies, and music throughout the home."

Lenovo today announced a new series of ThinkCentre M and Edge Series desktops and all-in-ones (AIOs) designed to fit the needs of today's demanding business environment via a range of models featuring a blend of essential features, powerful performance and affordable technology. The new desktops and AIOs not only include the latest generation of Intel Core processors for powerful performance, but also feature the latest in Lenovo design and performance innovations including blazing fast 15-second boot up times, intelligent cooling methods and productive multi-screen functionality.

"Business professionals working in highly productive and collaborative environments need PCs designed with their business needs in mind," said Tom Shell, vice president and general manager, Commercial Desktop Business Unit, Lenovo. "These new desktops give users and IT managers a more productive computing experience, whether it's better multi-tasking, powerful performance or space-saving design."

MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions, today announced that its Wi-Fi system-on-a-chip (SoC), the RT6856, has been incorporated into D-Link's latest Wi-Fi cloud routers. As a global leader in connectivity, D-Link will be shipping several new cloud routers this spring.

The MediaTek RT6856 Wi-Fi SoC contains a powerful 700 MHz MIPS 34KEc CPU core and dual PCI Express interfaces to simultaneously enable two Wi-Fi streams for "dual band concurrent" home networks providing high quality data, voice and video applications. This powerful SoC allows consumers to create two wireless networks both running at full bandwidth speeds, thus offering a significant increase in total network capacity.

NETGEAR, Inc., a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and service providers, today announced the availability of the NETGEAR R6300 WiFi Router; the first 802.11ac dual band gigabit WiFi router enabling 5th generation WiFi (5G WiFi) at gigabit speeds. The router is also backwards compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n which provides optimum interoperability with legacy WiFi devices.

The NETGEAR R6300 WiFi Router, powered by Broadcom's 5G WiFi IEEE 802.11ac chips, is up to three times faster than today's 802.11n routers. With an elegant new design that fits perfectly in consumers' living spaces, the router increases the coverage area for HD streaming in the home. The NETGEAR R6300 WiFi Router has speeds of up to 1300 Mbps on 5 GHz and 450 Mbps on 2.4 GHz enabling consumers to download web content from any device in the home in a fraction of the time it would take on a similar 802.11n device.

The versatile new MI-HM65T Mini ITX motherboard from Giada is at home in all environments, including the factory floor, tough monitoring and control applications, embedded computing, office desks, and the home. Built around Intel's HM65 chipset and the Sandy Bridge platform, this motherboard brings users high performance and almost unlimited connectivity, with economical power consumption. It offers all the industry-standard features of a desktop PC in a tiny package, to support a wide range of applications.

Powered by Intel's fast Core i7, i5, i3 or Celeron 867 CPUs, supported by up to 4GB of memory, with onboard integrated graphics and video support, the Giada MI-HM65T can easily take care of almost any task you throw at it. This tough but tiny powerhouse handles industrial control, monitoring and automation applications as well as office and productivity, or home entertainment.

Yesterday Samsung officially introduces the Ivy Bridge-based Series 7 CHRONOS 17 laptop but, through its Canadian website, it also exposed the 15-inch model of the same series. The notebook revealed by Samsung Canada is known as NP700Z5CH and it features a durable aluminum case, a 15.6-inch SuperBright 300nit (1600 x 900) LED-backlit display, a 2.3 GHz Core i7-3615QM processor, 8 GB of RAM, a GeForce GT 640M 1 GB graphics card, a DVD writer, and a 1 TB (5400 RPM) hard drive which is paired up with 8 GB of ExpressCache NAND memory.

The 15-inch Series 7 CHRONOS weights 2.4 kg and also features a 4-in-1 card reader, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, 2 W x 2 speakers, a subwoofer, two USB 3.0 ports, and an 8-cell battery. The laptop's price tag has yet to be announced.

HP China has now put up for sale on its website the 14-inch Pavilion dm4-3110tx Beats Edition laptop which is equipped with one 3rd generation Intel Core processor, namely the quad-core 2.1 GHz Core i7-3612QM. In addition to packing an Ivy Bridge 22 nm CPU, the laptop has an LED-backlit (1366 x 768) HD BrightView display, 4 GB of RAM, a 750 GB hard drive, a DVD writer, and an AMD Radeon HD 7570M 1 GB discrete graphics card.

The dm4-3110tx also comes with a chiclet keyboard with a red backlight, a 720p webcam, a memory card reader, a fingerprint reader, WiFi, Bluetooth, a HDMI output, two USB 3.0 ports, Beats audio, and a 6-cell battery. The laptop costs 6,799 yuan (~ $1,078).

Hauppauge Digital, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAUP), the world's leading developer TV tuner products, has announced that Broadway, Hauppauge's live TV streamer for the iPad and iPhone, now has TV recording support. With this new feature, Broadway can record TV programs locally and then stream it to an iPad or iPhone at a later time. "Broadway" is a stand alone "box" which allows live TV to be watched on an Apple device in the home through a WiFi connection, or anywhere in the world via an Internet connection.

Broadway has-2 built in DVB-T Tuners supporting Freeview allowing users to watch one channel and simultaneously record another. Broadway also connects to cable or satellite set top boxes. Once connected to a TV source, Broadway can tune into a TV program and then either stream the live TV program to an iPad or iPhone, or, with the new feature, record the TV program to a locally attached storage device and then stream the recording at a later time.

Taiwanese heavyweight ASUS has now rolled out in the US its newest U Series ultra-thin laptop, the U32U(-ES21) featuring a 13.3-inch (1366 x 768) LED-backlit display and an AMD 1.65 GHz E-450 APU with Radeon HD 6320 graphics.

ASUS' machine is one inch thick and has a hairline aluminum cover, 4 GB of RAM, a 320 GB hard drive, a 0.3-megapixel webcam, Altec Lansing speakers, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, a 3-in-1 card reader, a HDMI output, and an 8-cell battery enabling up to 10 hours of operation. The U32U-ES21 can be found on Amazon priced at $449.99.

Here's a unique device that renders three others obsolete, the TVPlug, by a Korean manufacturer of the name. This device combines the functionality of a WiFi-N router, a NAS server, and a home media center into a single device. The device includes a MIMO-capable 802.11 b/g/n wireless router with one WAN and two LAN ports. It provides two USB 2.0 ports, which connect to any USB Mass Storage-compliant devices (be it flash drives, portable hard drives, or even drive boxes. The device can act as a media server for all your iOs/Android devices (smartphones, tablets, and smart media players). Lastly, it can also play back videos to a TV.

Wireless network routers transitioned from big boxes with antennas to compact ones, and are now finding their way to the walls of households, blending with other utility connections that pass through walls (electricity, telephone/TV/cable/broadband, wired network, water, and gas). Japanese company is one of those pushing this change, with its MZK-KR150N WiFi b/g/n router that's designed to blend with other wall sockets.

The back-end of this router takes in AC power and WAN/uplink Ethernet cable. Its front-end has a hinged antenna, one downstream Ethernet cable, LEDs, and other configuration buttons. One of the six slots on the socket is blanked, so one can assume there's going to be a variant with two downstream Ethernet ports. The router offers wireless bandwidths with speeds of up to 150 Mbps, and wired bandwidths up to 100 Mbps. Slated for an April launch, the MZK-KR150N is priced at 9,800 JPY (US $118.4).

Things on the Chromebook front have been pretty quiet this year but it seems they will change soon as the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has received and tested a new machine running Google's Chrome OS. Seen below is the VAIO VCC111 Series, Sony's very first Chromebook, which features a 11.6-inch LCD screen (made by Samsung), 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, an SSD, an SD card reader, two USB 2.0 ports, a HDMI output, a webcam, and a 4100 mAh battery.

In addition to bringing the UX21A and UX31A, the upcoming Zenbook series update is set to see the arrival of two more ultrabooks, the UX32A and UX32Vd. Set to cost between $800 and $1,100, these 'budget-minded' ultrabooks are 18.3 mm thick, they weight 1.45 kg, and feature a 13.3-inch (HD or optionally, Full HD IPS), display, 2/4 GB of RAM, a 500 GB hard drive backed by a 24 GB SSD (for some caching fun), and a low-voltage Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge (1.8 GHz Core i3-3217U, 2.4 GHz Core i5-3317U or 2.8 GHz Core i7-3517U) processor.

The UX32A comes with integrated graphics, while the UX32Vd will come equipped with a GeForce GT620M 1 GB card. Both models will have WiFi, Bluetooth, optional WiDi, and offer up to seven hours of battery life.

Japanese BTO notebook maker Unitcom is ready with the LesanceNB S3431/L first-generation Ultrabook for launch on the 24th of March, later this month. This 14-inch Ultrabook is priced at 59,980 JPY (US $730). It is driven by Intel Core i5-2467M (1.60 GHz), with 4 GB dual-channel DDR3 memory, 64 GB SSD holding the OS and programs, 500 GB HDD for documents and storage, and Intel integrated graphics. The 14-inch screen provides 1366x768 pixels resolution. Other features include multi-format card reader, three USB 2.0 ports, WiFi b/g/n, gigabit Ethernet, 1.3 megapixel webcam, and 5 hours rated battery-life on full charge. Measuring 333 x 230 x 19 mm, the S3431/L weighs 1.64 kg.

NETGEAR, Inc., a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and service providers, today announced that the NETGEAR Universal Dual Band WiFi Range Extender (WN2500RP), which extends dual band WiFi coverage for any home office or home network, is now available for purchase at retail stores and online worldwide.

The dramatic increase in connected devices in the home has created a need for better WiFi coverage. With the NETGEAR WiFi Range Extender, users can keep their current wireless equipment and improve WiFi coverage, enhancing overall network quality, range and performance throughout the home for mobile connected devices such as smartphones, iPads, tablets and laptops, as well as connected entertainment devices like smart TVs, gaming consoles, streaming players and more. Unveiled at CES 2012 in January, the NETGEAR WiFi Range Extender is the latest addition to a line-up of easy-to-use WiFi range extender products that provide an enhanced WiFi experience for consumers worldwide.

Option, a global leader in wireless connectivity, security and experience, today launches XYFI - the world's smallest hotspot with integrated 3G, WiFi and hotspot connectivity.

Option's XYFI, the world's smallest 3G WiFi hotspot, enables up to eight simultaneous connections, so users can connect their WiFi devices and invite others to share their broadband connection easily and securely. In addition to connecting to cellular networks to share WiFi, XYFI also connects to WiFi presenting the user as a hub to connectivity and providing carriers with significant WiFi offload benefits.

In many markets, people and businesses with WiFi hotspots have began monetizing their idle internet bandwidth by sharing it with others via middleman service providers such as FON. While the business model itself is a solid one where everyone wins, it is faced with technical hurdles. Unlike cellular ISPs that use 3G HSDPA technologies, where the size of a "cell" is much larger than the coverage area of a WiFi hotspot, and where moving between cells is seamless, with close to no drops in connectivity (providing there are no dead-zones between the cells), WiFi hotspots have the issue of logging out of one hotspot before logging into another.

This issue makes moving between multiple FON hotspots result in temporary connectivity loss, which can be unacceptable in some situations (such as downloading something important when moving in a bus). No less than the WiFi Alliance is taking interest in eliminating this technical hurdle, by working on what's known as "Passpoint". Simply put, WiFi Passpoint technology lets clients move between physical hotspots without renegotiation (security and DHCP), making the movement seamless, and resulting in little or no connectivity loss, again, provided there's no dead-zone between the coverage areas of the hotspots users are switching between. A novel concept, which will improve wireless internet service.

Two models from Intel's Desktop Board Executive series of motherboards for office PCs got pictured and detailed by VR-Zone. These socket LGA1155 motherboards are mostly based on Intel 7-series Q77 and B75 chipsets, that provide some manageability, and data security features over the feature-set of H77. Intel has three Executive series models planned, the DQ77MK, the DQ77KB, and DB75EN. Of these, the DQ77MK and DB75EN are built in the micro-ATX form-factor, while the DQ77KB is mini-ITX.

The two micro-ATX parts use a similar PCB layout, with some features differing between the two. The DQ77MK is pictured below, it has all the features a small-business PC will ever need. Expansion slots include one each of PCI-Express x16, PCI-Express x4 (open-ended), PCI-Express x1, and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes six SATA (one of which is mSATA, for SSD caching). The PCH gives out four USB 3.0 ports, which are wired two each on the rear-panel and via a header to the front-panel. It uses a simple 5-phase VRM that should be enough to run LGA1155 processors. The socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel memory. It has a variety of external connectivity.

Intel Corporation today announced that its board of directors has promoted Mooly Eden and Richard Taylor to the position of senior vice president. The promotions recognize outstanding performance.

Eden, 60, is senior vice president and was recently named president and general manager of Intel Israel. In this role, Eden is responsible for Intel Israel's operations and strategy, including the Israel Development Centers and Intel's Fab 28 manufacturing facility. In his 30 years at Intel, Eden has held many management and technical positions in microprocessor design, including the Intel Pentium processor with MMX technology. He also was responsible for the development of Intel's mobile PC microprocessors and chipsets, including Intel Centrino Processor Technology, which included a low-power processor and bundle of chips that offered WiFi. This product helped make WiFi a standard, integrated feature on laptops worldwide and is considered a key driver of the mobile revolution. Eden most recently led the PC Client Group, Intel's largest product group.

Panasonic unveiled new 12.1-inch notebooks under the LetsNote NX and LetsNote SX families. Both feature 16:10 aspect ratio screens with 1280x800 pixel resolution, but buyers can opt for a wider 16:9 aspect ratio screen with 1600x900 pixels. A 720p web-cam and fingerprint reader can also be opted for. Where the NX and SX differ is with the SX featuring a top-loading optical drive, while NX lacks it.

Both models are driven by Intel Core i5-2450M processor. HDD comes standard, while faster SSDs can be opted for, which boot the system in under 9 seconds thanks to Panasonic's QuickBoot Manager software. Connectivity features for both include USB 3.0, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR, and display outputs that include HDMI.

This is not even stuff the creative directors of the 007 franchise could have come up with. Lifestyle retail brand Brookstone listed a new pair of polished-silver cufflinks that open up to reveal a USB connector. When plugged into USB (at least as a power source), the cufflink functions as a WiFi hotspot, letting you access its 2 GB flash storage. When plugged to a PC, the cufflink connects to it as both a mass-storage device and a networking device, letting you set up a hotspot. The device measures 75" L x .75" W x .25" H each, and comes in sets of two, priced at US $249.99.

Samsung Electronics America Inc., a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Corporation and the number one worldwide brand of professional commercial display LCD products, is demonstrating its digital solutions leadership at a showcase event featuring the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface and a variety of applications from development partners at the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference, being held Jan. 16 and 17 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York in Room 1A17 (on Level One of the convention center).

Available now through Samsung channel and reseller partners, a CES Best of Innovations 2012 award-winner, the Samsung-Microsoft collaboration incorporates Microsoft Surface 2.0 software and touch technology into an interactive and engaging 40-inch Full HD LCD that can be used horizontally as a table, mounted vertically on a wall or embedded in other fixtures and furniture.