Increasingly, home networks are being used to transport digital entertainment rather than business data, and network vendors are responding with a slew of products intended to help customers watch movies, look at photos, and listen to music wherever they want--regardless of where on the network that content actually resides.

But regardless of how vendors spin their news, many of these products are also great for small businesses that can use fast networks for big file transfers and backups. Many small businesses can also use the network cameras to monitor workplaces for security purposes.

The most high-profile announcements were of products to support the next-generation version of for moving notebook multimedia to HDTVs and stereos. Netgear will ship a new Push2TV adapter, the PTV2000, that will support the new version enabling 1080p video and streams protected content, later this month. D-Link promises its first WiDi adapter, the MainStage, by midsummer. Logitech, meanwhile, announced a $30 that uses the technology to play WiDi-enabled notebook audio over external stereo speakers.

These products exemplify what appears to be a looming trend for using Wi-Fi as an between devices. The Wi-Fi Alliance says it is working on a standard that will basically provide the same functionality as WiDi without requiring an Intel-based notebook. , the alliance-backed technology for peer-to-peer device connections, is a first step, but right now it's a pipe requiring additional software to be useful the way WiDi is.

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