The new Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra family of 2, 4, and 6-Bay NAS (Network Attach Storage) solutions are pushing the boundary of what can be done with a home NAS. This latest release is pack full of features:  it is twice as fast as previous range of ReadyNAS, according to Netgear it is the first ever storage solution with media-shifting capabilities, it integrates with TiVo to store your streaming content; it also has Orb and Shifta embedded technology for easy access from other devices.

Netgem has promised to showcase a host of connected home solutions at this year’s IBC show in Amsterdam. The company has confirmed its participation in the event and said they will be showing the latest technologies and demonstrating some of Netgem’s new functionality offered in their STB set-top box range, which is geared at providing new business opportunity for service providers.

With the growth in home control manufacturers porting Flash to their device Control4 has launched its own Flash based developers community.  The community is to complement Control4 4Store application marketplace, a new Flash-based platform to deliver applications that extends device functionality developed on the Control4 OS 2.0 platform.

The Skyworth LED TV was unveiled at this year’s Red Dot Design competition, and is featured as on e of the best of the best of Red Dot.  It is described by its designers as a product that adjusts itself to the environment of the user.  The screen can be detached from the base for those of us who wants to hang it on the wall.  When hanging on the wall, the base can be set apart as a standalone speaker, allowing the Skyworth to be used according to how you want to enjoy it.

Below are some of this year’s winners of the Red Dot Design Award, an internationally recognise and coveted prize among designers.  The ceremony was held in Essen Germany and covers seventeen categories. For this article I only picked those from the Bathrooms, spa and air-conditioning, Household and Kitchen, Entertainment Technology and Cameras and Living Rooms and Bedrooms categories.

The HDBaseT Alliance has formally announced its incorporation and has released the HDBaseT 1.0 specification six months after annoucing the formation of the HDBaseT Alliance.  The technology is set to revolutionise the transmission of HD video throughout the home and within the digital media ecosystem.  According to the Alliance products with embedded HDBaseT technology should be available for us to buy this year.

Hitachi is changing the way we interact with our external storage devices, with the release of the LifeStudio Drive family.  The LifeStudio drive does what the NuVo Music Port Server does, which is, it automatically pulls together and organizes your music, photos, videos and documents from your computer and any connected USB device or your social media outlets, but on a smaller scale. According to Hitachi, the Life Studio technology takes the frustration out of managing your digital content.

Are you planning an installation of a new home entertainment system that integrates with your home control system? Well you might be in luck.  Sony has released a new range of Elevated Standard ES AV Receivers, which it hopes to be the preferred AV Receivers for custom home theatre installers.  The ES AV Receivers were designed especially for this purpose and offer the best in video and audio quality, with seamless integration with multiroom and third party home control systems.

Mitsubishi as selected Broadcom’s BCM2046 single-chip Bluetooth System-on-Chip (SoC)solution for a new range of HDTVs coming this summer. The new models of Mitsubishi Unisen Immersive Sound LED TVs will be built with Broadcom’s Bluetooth solution.  With the popularity of smartphones and wireless technology, Mitsubishi is hoping to take advantage of the available technology to offer the public more options to enjoy their media content.

Step into a world where your home entertainment system not only sound good but look good as well. With a beautiful black toned and sleek design the new UnitiSystem range of music players and server is where multi-room home entertainment systems are at.  The group of home entertainment systems doesn’t come with a lot of buttons and knobs to push and turn just enough for you to get the best quality sound for your listening pleasure.