Gigabit-speed wireless LAN equipment that uses the emerging IEEE 802.11ac standard is about to hit the market, with Netgear saying on Thursday that it will start shipping a consumer 802.11ac router in May for a starting list price of US$199.99.

The home entertainment category in our Cool Yule Tools holiday guide used to be a part of the “After Hours” section, but with the explosion of high-tech features in the consumer electronics space, there’s a multitude of devices that will keep you entertained after a long day of work. Here are our picks for gift ideas that can keep you entertained and connected when you’re home:

The Netgear ReadyNAS series of network attached storage units serve as a prime example of how the industry has changed over the years. They were originally a product of Infrant Technologies, a veteran of mainframe disk subsystems that poured decades of serious storage experience into the small drive system for SMBs. Nearly four years into Infrant's acquisition by Netgear in May 2007, the ReadyNAS line now stretches from SOHO to enterprise NAS.

CEOs, like children, squabble sometimes, and publicly rail against one another in the name of corporate positioning. But usually the dueling suits occupy the same product market, or are somehow competing. This doesn't appear to be the case with the global chairman and CEO of Netgear, Patrick Lo, who for no clear reason attacked Steve Jobs and Apple in the Australian press. And instead of bolstering Netgear's reputation, Lo's comments came off smug, cruel and confused.

Network-1 Security Solutions, an acquirer and licensor of intellectual property, says it has settled its Power-over-Ethernet patent infringement case against Cisco and five other companies.

Home is where the network is: That's the mantra of networking vendors at the Consumer Electronics Show 2011 in Las Vegas this week.