Cable wiring seen as key to the digital home | CNET News.com

Cable wiring seen as key to the digital home | CNET News.com: "The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) plans to formally announce its formation Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Founding members include networking giant Cisco Systems, cable provider Comcast, satellite provider EchoStar Communications, chipmaker Entropic Communications, retailer RadioShack and consumer electronics makers Panasonic, Motorola and Toshiba."
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Coax cable isn't the only delivery method for such networking. Ethernet cabling, which is already used to wire most corporate networks, is one alternative. Wi-Fi, which allows users to connect devices wirelessly, is another. And then there is the existing power system, which sends data through household electrical wiring.

Each of these alternatives has its own challenges. Most homes are not wired for Ethernet, wireless networks have reliability issues and power systems have limited throughput.

SAD: The home network is a big problem no matter which side of the fence you fall on wrt home server or lots of inter-connected devices (with no central point of failure - my opinion on this later)

IMPlanet News Briefs

IM, Media Players Top Means for Internet Access : "A recent survey by Nielsen//NetRatings has found that instant messaging clients are one of the chief ways that Americans use Internet services.
According to the firm, 76 percent of active Internet users access the Internet using a non-browser-based Internet application. Topping the list is Windows Media Player, followed by AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger Servics. Real Networks' Real Player rounded out the top five.
In terms of active user reach, AOL Instant Messenger had a 20 percent share. NetRatings found that MSN Messenger Service had a 19 percent share, while Yahoo! Messenger Service reached 12 percent of active Internet users."

SAD: The last statistic is the more interesting when trying to distinguish the public IM leader -- given Microsoft bundling/tying MSN into Hotmail, passport, etc.; usage is a more interesting measurement than users for this purpose (assuming you have faith in the stats model)