In somewhat surprising fashion, this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas seemed to be a record-breaker. Not only the 153,000 attendees, but the 1.86 million square footage overall also beat out the previous mark set in 2008, before the Great Recession reduced the show to a sombre affair in 2009.

The reason for the surge might have a lot to do with measured optimism over the U.S. economy, and the demand people in developing countries have for electronics. Over 34,000 of the show's attendees were from outside the U.S., a considerable increase over previous years. How many of those were from China specifically wasn't revealed, but entire aisles in the North and South Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center were dominated by Chinese firms of all types.

Even so, the general theme and overall conversation of the show was largely an extension of what CES 2011 ultimately presented. The concept of integration and connectivity within the context of apps, voice recognition, gesturing and on-demand content is essentially in full swing because of the commitment that hardware manufacturers and software developers are making towards it.

The disruptive nature of the Internet continues to sow chaos by either dragging older business models into the future, or rendering them obsolete.

Belkin's Advance N900 DB wireless dual-band N router can deliver speeds up to 450Mbps on each of the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.

Networking

The demand for more and more online content is creating impetus for networking manufacturers to widen the pipes that ferry data back and forth within the home or office.

That being said, cancelling cable or satellite services, or "cord-cutting," hasn't happened en masse quite yet. Despite wide frustration over the costs associated with the television and Internet services offered by the big incumbents (Rogers, Bell, Telus, Shaw, Vidéotron), the move to free digital over-the-air TV and streaming services hasn't materialized in significant numbers just yet. However, that could change as consumers become more aware of the true cost of bandwidth.

In the meantime, networking manufacturers were out in force on the show floor to present their latest offerings. These included non-functioning prototypes for 802.11ac, a new Wi-Fi standard that promises speeds as high as 1.3Gbps, with full backward compatibility with 802.11b/g/n. The current industry standard, 802.11n, or Wireless-N, advertises speeds of about 450Mbps. This used to be limited to just the 5GHz spectrum, but vendors have managed to do the same for the 2.4GHz band as well.

The HomePlug PowerLine Alliance (HPA) announced the new AV2 specification at the show as well. The HPA establishes industry standards for PowerLine networking, which is basically routing one's Internet connection from one room to another over AC wiring. The previous AV standard offered speeds up to 500Mbps, but AV2 is expected to at least double that, making it likely that multiple devices can stream HD video and audio without any hiccups.

Belkin returned to the show floor for the first time since 2008, announcing a new brand identity based on "people-inspired products" complete with an updated logo. The focus for the company, aside from making cases and accessories for mobile devices, will be on making devices with connectivity and streaming in mind.

The Dyle Mobile Live TV adapter from Belkin lets users watch TV on an iPad.

For starters, Belkin has upgraded its flagship router. The Advance N900 DB Wireless Dual-Band N Router is very much like the N750 the company launched in 2011, except for a few improvements. The N900 will offer data speeds on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands that max out at 450Mbps each. The router also supports the IEEE 3x3 standard, meaning that it can transmit data on three streams, providing better throughput for streaming and faster transfer speeds when copying files over the home network. Belkin's IntelliStream has also been designed to prioritize bandwidth for video streaming and online gaming to avoid stuttering and lag that might affect performance. It comes equipped with two USB 2.0 ports and four Gigabit Ethernet ports. The Advance N900 is on sale in the U.S. for an MSRP of US$199.99. A retail launch in Canada is expected in April, but no Canadian pricing was announced.

Belkin also showed off its Streamcast AV 4, an updated design and spec from a prototype product the company showed at CES 2008. The Streamcast AV 4 is essentially a wireless AV-to-HDTV adapter that can take four HDMI connections and connect them wirelessly to a small receiver plugged into an HDTV. The HDMI devices (Blu-ray player, game console, cable box, media player, etc.) can be stationed in the corner of a room, while the TV is mounted on a wall on the other side with no cables or cords sticking out.

The Streamcast AV 4 can work within a range of 30m. The supplied IR blaster can maintain control over the connected devices through their respective remote controls (or a universal remote). The AV 4 can handle 1080p video playback, 5.1 surround sound and 3D streams as well. Aside from the obvious convenience the product offers, Belkin is also positioning this as an alternative to running cables through walls or other intricate home theatre setups. The Streamcast AV 4 will be sold at an MSRP of US$249.99, and while availability in Canada is yet to be confirmed, a springtime launch seems possible.

The same goes for the Streamcast PC, Belkin's answer to PC-to-TV projection. They showed a product where a USB dongle plugged into a Windows PC could project the computer's screen and content over to a TV through a receiver. This is essentially a grandfathered edition of the current Streamcast box, which works exclusively with Intel WiDi-compatible PCs. WiDi, or Wireless Display, is Intel's protocol for projecting a screen, but rather than using a dongle, the software and hardware is built into the next-generation Core "Sandy Bridge" chipsets.

D-Link's DHP-1565 hybrid router combines Wireless-N and PowerLine networking. In areas where Wi-Fi coverage is spotty, users can connect devices using a PowerLine adapter.

Belkin also indicated that it would take on the Slingbox as a competitor with a device called the Screencast TV. The basics are similar, in that a TV signal originating from a cable or satellite box is place-shifted to a laptop, tablet or smartphone over the Internet. An accompanying app for the iPad, iPhone and Android is expected to go with the hardware, though pricing and availability weren't announced.

The same was true of the digital TV antenna and dongle for the iPad called the Dyle Mobile Live TV. The dongle plugs into the iPad's 30-pin connector, and connects to a pair of headphones that house the actual antenna. So while the 3.5mm jack is available for use with other headphones, the proprietary headphones need to be plugged in to pull in free over-the-air digital broadcasts. The other caveat is the partnership with Dyle, a U.S. mobile TV startup. As a result, the product's availability may largely depend on Dyle extending its service to Canada, or a partnership being forged with a Canadian service.

D-Link, which had a more reserved presence at the show (a small booth near the press room promoting the company's new cloud-based services), still had new products to talk about. Much of what the company had to show revolved around the Amplifi routers that first debuted in 2011.

Amplifi has always been geared towards users who require more bandwidth and care about faster throughputs. Taking this concept further, the new HD Media Router 3000 (DIR-857) will be the company's flagship. Like competitive offerings, it delivers 450Mbps speeds for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, coupled with "HD Fuel", which is marketing speak for technology that prioritizes bandwidth-hungry applications and devices for smoother performance. Notably, the Media Router 3000 will also sport a USB 3.0 port in addition to an SD memory card slot for easily streaming and sharing photos and videos, plus the four standard Gigabit Ethernet ports.

The software side of this story comes in SharePort Cloud, D-Link's proprietary cloud-based initiative that will allow consumers to access media and documents stored on drives connected to the router. It appears that this will work with both a USB drive plugged into the router's port, as well as network drives connected via Ethernet, but this wasn't confirmed because network drives sometimes use their own manufacturers' management software and apps. SharePort Cloud would work in tandem with free apps for iOS and Android devices. While accessing documents is the key, there is no word on what limitations there may be on file format compatibility, given that iOS and Android don't play or display everything. The Media Router 3000 is expected to launch "soon" at an MSRP of $169.99.

Netgear's Media Storage Router combines Wireless-N dual-band technology with a 2TB network drive that can be accessed from devices on the local host network.

Netgear's N900 Video and Gaming 4-Port Wi-Fi Adapter acts like a wireless bridge for an existing Wireless-N router. Users can connect up to four devices to take advantage of dual-band functionality for faster streaming, or use it to connect devices that lack built-in Wi-Fi.