A new startup company called iTwin has what they are touting as some simple hardware to connect remote computers together and share information. The iTwin device consists of two USB drives that start out hooked together, but then can be plugged into separate computers to allow instant sharing of files. The designers state they realized that many people understand how to use a USB drive, but small USB drives hold a limited amount of data and lack in security if you lose the drive.

A user of the iTwin drives can connect them to a single computer and drop some files into the drive, then disconnect the second USB drive. The second USB can then be taken to another computer somewhere else in the world and plugged in, giving instant and automatic access between the two computers. A number of hurdles immediately come to mind when thinking about how this could work with everything from individual computer firewalls and port security, to network firewalls, internet connections and authentication on both ends. But, according to the designers of iTwin it basically makes a connection between the two computers as if they have a “cable-less cable”. The file sharing is unlimited and encrypted, and by simply unplugging one end, the other end is left useless for any attempting hacking.

D-Link unveiled yesterday a new adapter kit for those wishing to extend their home networks via existing TV cabling in the home. This new kit is known as the D-Link Coax Ethernet Adapter Kit (DXN-221) and you’ll find it pricing at around $200.

The D-Link Coax Ethernet Adapter Kit (DXN-221) takes signals from attached Ethernet cables and converts them into outgoing data being transmitted via an attached coaxial cable. It comes with with two adapters, each of which includes an Ethernet port as well as a Coaxial F-type connector for bridging the two adapters together. Other adapters can be purchased separately.

When a device comes along that lets us operate with one less cable on our desk, we’re all for it. The latest offering from IOGEAR uses the sharing-over-network method with its new Net ShareStation.

It plugs into your router (wireless or not) and can take up to four USB devices of your choice, but you’ll need your own AC-powered 4-port USB hub if you want to use more than one device. Yes, that kinda sucks doesn’t it? But if you still want one, you can get it for $80.

Anyone who pays $80 a month for mobile broadband access and then has to pay for broadband at home because they have more than one computer that needs Internet access has wished that there was a router that would allow the sharing of broadband connectivity from a cellular router.

CradlePoint is making that wish come true with its new CTR500 Travel Router. This little router features a support for an external Wi-Fi antenna, uses WPA2 and other security methods and features VPN pass-through. The CTR500 is also compatible with some Express Card modems. The router can also be used as a failover system to change from a normal Internet connection to wireless in the event of a lost normal Internet connection.

IoGear is out today with a new piece of computer hardware which lets on the go workers “access their home or office computers from across the globe, as if they were working on the machine directly.” It is called the PCPortal and pricing is at around $500.

The IoGear PCPortal is completely hardware based, reportedly only requiring an Internet connection, Web browser and your router’s current IP address. With this device you can, for example, do remote file transfers or troubleshoot a remote machine if it is not operating correctly. This device allows for access to multiple machines when connected through a USB KVM switch.

Cisco today unveiled the Nexus 7000 series networking switch boasting remarkable speeds of 15 terabits per second through a “unified fabric” architecture giving very high speed connections through very long distances. Cisco has invested around three years and $250 million into this technology which Doug Gourlay of Cisco describes as the most important product launch since the dawn of switches themselves.

A networking switch is designed to control the flow and direction of data quickly and efficiently between computers, and the Nexus 7000 has the same purpose, but with some significant differences. Aside from just an impressive bandwidth the switch family uses a hybrid type of connection which combines Fibre Channel and Infiniband cables with Ethernet cables giving a very high speed connection that is able to connect computers over great distances that the Fibre Channel and Infiniband cables were unable to do in the past. Distances between machines in this network will be measured in hundreds of miles instead of feet.

Data Drive Thru, the makers of the Tornado USB peer-to-peer connection device for PC’s, have given it an upgrade this year and are launching the iTornado sometime in March of this year. The iTornado works much like its predecessor making a direct connection between computers via USB. The upgrade for this model allows users to not only connect two PC’s, but also allows them to connect a PC to an Intel based Mac to transfer files back and forth.

The device consists of two retractable USB cables and built-in software so there is nothing to install. Simply plug-in both computers and a list of files available on both computers will display, and it will display on both computers. From there users can simply drag and drop files between the two and transfer them via USB 2.0 at up to 25Mb/second. The iTornado can make upgrading or switching from a PC to a Mac a lot easier than trying to find the other computer via a common network or copying back and forth with a thumb drive.

Sometimes you may want to keep your surfing on the down-low. There are any number of legitimate reasons for this. Maybe you think that it’s best if your co-workers don’t find out about your trips to the Barbie Doll website. Totally understandable.

Stealth Surfer is here to help. It plugs directly into your USB drive, armed with Tor Network Security, which has an IP masker. It also includes Firefox and Thunderbird, as well as Roboform. Plus a four-year subscription to Hushmail.

Gone are the days of having your USB devices tethered within the standard 5 meter limit of a USB cable. The Gefen USB 400FO USB extender kit uses fiber optics with full USB 2.0 standard compatibility to stretch the reach of not just one but four USB connections up to 1,650 feet or 500 meters.

The kit comes with two externally powered boxes, the send unit (USB 400FOS) and the receive unit (USB 400FOR). Your computer connects up to four USB cables to the sender unit which sends the signal as far as 500 meters to the receiver unit where it gets converted back to a USB connection to power your RC Car or Missile Launcher from almost a third of a mile away.

The creators of the recently constructed Internet2 network have achieved a breakthrough in boosting the speed of transmission. When the network went online in August the fastest believed speed would be somewhere approaching 10 gigabits per second (Gbps). That’s already plenty more speed than the high-speed connections people have in their homes and offices (about 5 megabytes per second).

Now the Internet2 team has achieved speeds up to 100 Gpbs, ten times the previous fastest speed, by sending data via ten different wavelengths over the same cable. Ten different colors of light to transmit the data means that the data gets there ten times faster. As fast as that is, the administrators working at Internet2 are already planning on upgrading their technology sometime in the next 12 to 18 months which could boost the speeds even further, up to 400 Gbps.

Network Attached Storage (NAS) for the purposes of sharing media across a home network is a category more and more computer companies seem to be wandering into. Newer Technology adds its own entry into the race with its new miniStack NAS.

The Newer Technology miniStack NAS, available in storage sizes up to 750GB and starting at around $120, is geared towards the home or small office network. Newer Technology says this NAS device, which connects with up to 20 Windows or Mac users, can stream multimedia files to compatible media players and only requires installation of a device driver to each connecting computer. One can also connect to the miniStack through USB 2.0.

Iomega has definitely come a long way since the days of the Zip drive. Today the long time data storage equipment provider unveiled a new line of Iomega StorCenter Network Hard Drives, available in 1TB ($389), 750GB ($359) and 500GB ($269).

The Iomega StorCenter Network Hard Drives are designed for home office and small business networks. They offer features like media and print server capabilities, backup and disaster recovery software and compatibility with both Mac and Windows based computers. All three products use 3.5-inch 7200 RPM SATA-II hard drives with an 8MB cache and the 1TB unit is a two-drive product supporting RAID 0 (striping), RAID 1 (mirroring) and JBOD (which treats both drives as a large single drive).

Belkin is getting ready to unleash upon wireless Internet users a smart looking router with an interactive display for giving you information on your network. The Belkin N1 Vision is priced at around $200 and will be out in late July.

The Belkin N1 Vision offers wireless 802.11n1 3×3 MIMO radio design and wired gigabit ports for connectivity options. It has a plug-and-play design with no software installation required. A panel with control on the wireless router let you view your network’s broadband speed, computer bandwidth usage, the status of connected network devices and the date/time.

The wireless connectivity options on a laptop are becoming increasingly important considering the growing availability of bandwidth-consuming content such as movies, videos and music. The quality of this experience can be limited by current networking technologies which may not provide adequate bandwidth or wireless range.

To help with this problem, Intel is promoting a new wireless product that works with its Centrino Duo line of processors to assist users in getting more out of their wireless networks. Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N is based on the draft 802.11n Wi-Fi specification and offers users more speed, extended wireless range, and longer battery life.

Uncharacteristic of Intel, it has decided to make a commitment to the draft Wi-Fi standard, known as 802.11n. Intel typically chooses to stick with approved standards to avoid the headaches of early adoption.

Intel has also started a program with vendors like Asus, …

Although greatly overshadowed by recent releases of the Apple TV and the iPhone, the new Apple Airport Extreme Base Station was also recently released by Apple and probably deserves a little more recognition than it’s gotten so far.

The new Airport Extreme is an upgrade from the previous version in multiple ways. The design changed to a square look, similar to that of a mini-Mac or the new Apple TV, with small dimensions of only 1.3 inches high and 6.5 inches square. The wireless capabilities are the other major upgrade which now covers the new 802.11n standard, but is still backwards compatible with the 802.11b and 802.11g technologies.

“The new Airport Extreme is the most powerful and easy to use Wi-Fi base station that we have ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide …