NetGear, meanwhile, has expanded its line to include the WNDR3300, a $130 dual-band, 8-antenna router with a 4-port 10/100 Mbps Ethernet switch, and the WNDR3500 ($160), which is 5 GHz only and has a 5-port gigabit Ethernet switch. A $230 kit comprises two 5 GHz 802.11n access point/bridges (WNHDE111, $130 by itself) as a paired set for gaming, streaming video in HD, or other bridging purposes. NetGear also offers up a dual-band USB adapter (WNDA3100, $100). PC Magazine noted there was no ExpressCard or PC Card adapter mentioned at the show.

Marvell fires the first shot over the bow with this announcement, pre-Consumer Electronics Show (CES), tha they will ship a TopDog chipset at 450 Mbps. It won't ship until second quarter 2008.

Expect more announcements as CES nears or at the show itself.

The dual-band part is particularly exciting, because it means that 5 GHz could become a standard expectation in adapters, allowing for the far better streaming and data transfer possible in that band.

CSIRO won a lawsuit and injunction against Buffalo on the matter of this patent some months ago, but that's the only notable success, and Buffalo has appealed. Other firms have, in turned, preemptively sued CSIRO. Cisco is exempt because as part of an acquisition of an Australian company, they assumed a patent payment responsibility to CSIRO, thus Linksys is in the catbird's seat.

Update, Sept. 27: Likely not to slow things down, IDG News Service reports. In fact, it's more likely CSIRO benefits from ensuring that devices are on the market it could collect royalties from.

The router includes Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), an exciting move for those of us who want people to be able to enable security with the least fuss. WPS is an extended set of simple ways to secure a network that build on previous efforts in the industry that were company or chip vendor specific. The RangePlus router also comes with Linksys Easy Link Advisor, which I had a demo of recently, and was favorably impressed. The LELA avoids jargon, and tries to help a user make all the right choices in securing their router's administration, naming their network, and setting security options. Troubleshooting tools graphically show where there's a bad link in the router to Internet chain; icons on the router itself echo those.

The OWC line-up includes a PCI/PCI-X (not PCI Express) adapter, a CardBus card, and a USB dongle, $68 each. The adapters are 2.4 GHz only, and support wide (40 MHz) channels. They work with Mac OS X 10.3 and later with the appropriate interfaces (Power Macs for the PCI/PCI-X, PowerBooks for the CardBus card, and any Intel or Mac system that can run 10.3 or later for the USB dongle). The adapters, using technology from Ralink, also work with Windows 2000/XP and later, which includes Vista.

Offerings include CardBus ($59) and PCI cards ($99) for PowerPC Macs (10.3.9 or later); a high-powered USB dongle ($150) for all Macs running 10.3.9 or later; and a lower-powered USB dongle called the nNano ($60), which works with 10.3.0 or later. The company also offers upgrade kits and professional mail-in installations of new cards for any Intel Mac mini (no model of which features 802.11n), and the Intel Core Duo models of MacBook, MacBook Pro, and iMac that lacked the 802.11n option.

The firm also has a $50 USB 802.11b/g/n dongle that's a great help for owners of older Macs that were otherwise limited to 802.11b via the now-unavailable-and-expensive-when-purchased-used AirPort Card.