D-Link Unveils Entertainment, Connectivity Products at CES

D-Link announces several products slated for debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, including the Boxee Box Internet media sharing set-top box.

Networking specialist D-Link, which usually focuses on the small to medium-size business space, announced plans to highlight its latest products for digital home networking and solutions at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, including streamlined media players, home and energy monitoring solutions, and portable wireless connectivity devices. The company said it plans to present the devices with a focus on a "Link Your Life" theme.

Products for home entertainment include the Boxee Box by D-Link, a set-top box that delivers movies, TV shows, music and photos from a user's PC, home network and the Internet to his or her HDTV using a remote control. The Boxee also uses social networking features to allow users to share newly discovered content with friends through Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.

In addition, the company is trumpeting the Pebble, which D-Link claims is the only media player of its size, style and price to offer 802.11n wireless technology with full home networking capabilities. It can stream data from wherever it is stored-in USB thumb drives, or SD/XM/flash memory cards, in network storage (NAS) devices, in PCs or on the Internet.

D-Link is also announcing a bevy of connectivity devices, such as the Rush, an Xtreme N 600 Duo HD MediaBridge kit that boosts the power of any existing 802.11a, b, g or n router with up to 600M-bps speed and greater signal coverage; the Touch router, which sports concurrent dual-band capabilities; three data streams to support data transfer rates up to 450M bps; and a 3-inch interactive touch screen for configuration and management of the router and Internet traffic. D-Link is promoting its Wireless N Pocket Router as an ideal travel companion featuring multimode functionality. It can be used either as a wireless router to create an 802.11n Wi-Fi network or as an access point (AP) to add Wi-Fi to an existing wired network. It includes a travel case and SharePort technology to enable users to share USB devices.

The D-Link Home Monitoring Starter Kit is a user-friendly "Connected Home Monitor" system that provides homeowners and renters with additional levels of security for their property. The system connects via a broadband router in the home, and can then be remotely monitored and controlled through a personalized Web portal account. Alerts from wireless sensors around the home are relayed by text, e-mail and voice call to consumers and their designated contacts.

The home monitor can be expanded with the Home Energy Monitoring Starter Kit, a product that lets consumers measure energy consumption of electrical appliances in the home, turning the Home Monitor into the a smart energy green machine. It also provides tools for power management. When linked to the Home Monitoring Starter Kit, consumers can use their Web portal account to program devices to power down when the home is empty.

Finally, the 3G Door Phone is the company's latest idea for adding another level of surveillance for the home. It acts an ordinary doorbell, but it also allows homeowners to get a view of visitors to their property from wherever they are-at home or away-using their 3G mobile phones. A built-in, fixed-focus 0.1-megapixel CMOS camera captures the images of visitors and streams the information to the PC or 3G mobile device, an LED indicator lets the homeowner know that the device is working, and an illuminated button provides visibility when it is dark outside.