Keith Doxey of KAT5.tv has just announced the release of the of the IR upgrade boards for the KAT5 range of AV distibution products.

The daughter boards (pictured) will be available as a DIY kit for self-fitting, or your units can be returned for professional fit.

"Installation manual for the upgrades will be online shortly to help you decide whether to choose self fitting or factory fitting for the upgrades."...

The IR-POD camera mount provides wireless positioning capabilities.

Controlled by hand-held, TV-style remote, the IR-Pod is a motorized base that pans and tilts a camera. Set-up requires users to plug a camera and a power cord into the unit and does not require computer. Works with any camcorder, camera, or webcam within weight restriction; product is available in 2 versions...

Pluggedin.tv Europe Limited, specialists in improving audio and visual performance have just announced the immediate availability of a range of specially upgraded Sky Plus satellite receivers, capable of outputting pure digital video.

For those unfamiliar with SDI, it is a digital video standard which allows the picture information to be input to your scaler or PC capture solution completely digitally, in other words the usual conversions from the MPEG decoder within Sky, to either composite/S-Video/RGB , which would then be converted back in to a digital video signal within your scaler or PC are all completely bypassed. The results are simply the most accurate, revealing and noise-free picture achievable on the Sky platform at any cost...

Just found this, looks very interesting. Converting US Dollar price works out at around £250ish.

The Zanware PC Controller is a powerful, yet low cost remote TCP/IP controller for your personal computer. Each controller mounts in a standard UL 3-gang box, and is powered through the Cat5 Ethernet cable. Just like any networked computer, each controller has an IP address, and communicates through the TCP protocol to your networked Windows (and soon Macintosh) computer. Think of these controllers as "terminals" to your personal computer. Through TCP, the controller "talks" to server software running on your PC. That server software, through the use of XML, provides a powerful menu system, that lets you control a variety of media, Internet, home automation, and other such tasks. With the right software support, anything that runs on your PC can be controlled with a Zanware PC Controller...

"From the BBC Technology website... The radio, currently a working prototype, makes online radio easier to use, and could change listening habits. When a wireless network is available, the radio connects to the internet, making thousands of stations available at the touch of a button...

"Zurich, Switzerland, September 7, 2004 -- Barix today introduced Exstreamer Gold, one of the first networked digital audio players with a built-in amplifier. The device offers custom home installers and integrators even greater flexibility when designing multi-zone distributed audio systems and digital audio streaming applications, because speakers may now be directly attached to the device without using external amplifiers...

... and by all accounts that's the least of it's problems: "While the Zoombot's robotic intelligence and floor-covering algorithms aren't bad, Applica has skimped on a few key areas that make this a less than stellar robotic vacuum..

Another robot vacuum cleaner enters the market. What's the matter with these people, haven't they seen i,Robot yet! :)  "SharperImage gets into the market of vaccum robots with their e-Vac Robotic Vacuum. Similar to the iRobot Roomba the e-Vac also has touch sensors and navigates automatically floors to suck and brush them clean...

"Slim Devices is pleased to announce a major update to Squeezebox. We've replaced our venerable 2-line text display with a beautiful new graphic display.

Shipping TODAY are three new products:

• Graphic Squeezebox (wireless) $279
• Graphic Squeezebox (wired) $199
• Graphic Display Upgrade Kit $69 (after rebate), free US shipping