Reacting to the increasing demands on Internet bandwidth from tablets, iPods, Blu-ray players, and gaming consoles, home-networking giant NETGEAR launched new solutions at the start of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
Battle for Your TV
The San Jose, Calif.-based company also debuted a router for Verizon Wireless’ new Long Term Evolution network and a second-generation Push2TV HD TV adapter with 1080p resolution. Push2TV HD enables users of laptops equipped with Intel Wireless Display technology to transmit videos, music, photos and Internet content to televisions. It will be available later this month for $119.99.
Push2TV is one of many technologies vying to connect consumers’ online world to their TV screens.
“The market for the living room is heating up,” said Michael Gartenberg of Gartner Research. “Apple, Roku, Google, Microsoft and Sony are all looking at ways of making the TV a connected appliance and aspire to be the dominant platform for the living room.”
A report in The Seattle Times said Microsoft will launch at CES a Windows TV set-top box that runs a version of its operating system and works with Windows Media Center to stream content.
No More Dead Zones?
NETGEAR said its Universal Wi-Fi Range Extender will increase coverage of existing home networks to eliminate dead zones and add bandwidth for gaming and social-networking applications. The $99.99 device, due in March, can be plugged directly into an outlet without cables.
The Internet Adapter for Home Theater offers HD video streaming and can connect up to four devices such as media players or set-top boxes. It will be available this month for $169.99. The company’s Powerline products offer the option of connecting to the Internet via electrical outlets, Wi-Fi or a wired connection. The compact Powerline AV Nano Adapter Kit integrates a 200-megabit-per-second connection into its power supply. It will be available in…