Home Networking

It feels like Wi-Fi 6 only just got here, but of course technology marches ever forward. Wi-Fi 7 is on the horizon already, and MediaTek has now announced the first live demos of the next-gen tech, which should be much faster than what we’re used to.

It's not cheap, but this twin-unit router system floods a bigger area with a stronger, faster WiFi connection than anything else on the market. Netgear's Orbi system is super quick and easy to set up, and offers exceptional performance for homes with lots of high-bandwidth devices.

When your Wi-Fi stops working, you can usually plan on spending the next five minutes restaring your broadband modem, router and/or access point and hoping that does the trick. ResetPlug is designed to prevent this irritating procedure by automatically hitting the power reset button for you.

Despite being nigh on ubiquitous in our homes, Wi-Fi is by no means perfect. Home Wi-Fi networks can suffer from dead spots, weak signals and interference, not to mention being a mystery to many when something goes wrong. The new Eero Wi-Fi system seeks to solve these problems.

Nest Labs has announced the launch of a developer program designed to drastically expand the diversity of its home automation devices and the number of products they interact with. Names like Mercedes-Benz, Jawbone and Google Now are already on board.

Say you're a former Apple engineer who can't shake his hankerin' to simplify clunky products. What do you do? If you're Tony Fadell, then you take boring and complicated home sensors, and give them an Apple-like makeover. Fadell's Nest Protect is his company's new take on the smoke alarm.

Gasoline refineries hackable from a 65 km distance, household cameras deployed against their will and trained on you, and a Toyota Prius driven with a laptop: Gizmag looks at a few of the biggest hacks from this year's DefCon and Black Hat security conferences held in Las Vegas.

Netgear and Belkin will be among the first to bring the fifth generation 802.11ac routers to market, promising faster speeds, more bandwidth for mobile devices, and improved range for your home network.

Microsoft Research is looking to unify electrical appliances within the home with the development of HomeOS, a lightweight "smart home" operating system.

Honda recently unveiled its demonstration smart home in Saitama, Japan

Earlier this week, NXP Semiconductors announced a US$1.00 Greenchip which enables every light bulb to have its own wireless IP address. It has since announced it is to make its JenNet-IP, ultra-low-power, wireless software available as Open Source

The Netgear 3DHD Wireless Home Theater Networking Kit delivers multiple jitter-free 1080p high-definition video streams throughout your home.