Producing this week's Cool Yule Tools holiday gift guide has taken up a lot of our free time lately, so other than the technology equipment we tested for that article, we haven't done much else with the home network lately. Here are three home network-related news items that crossed the wire recently, and also piqued our interest:

If you're a big fan of the new iMac G5 and its Front Row application, you may want to soon stream the three-dimensional menu from any TV in the house. Ustec recently announced that its tecStream product creates a multimedia, all-digital network for sharing media, data and voice over a single Cat 5 cable. The product will enable multi-room, multimedia networking with one remote control. The company says "It is the first home networking solution to overcome the limitations of Ethernet or IP-based technologies for transporting video." The tecStream network will let users include up to eight locations with networked TVs and can run up to 16 independent streams of high-bandwidth video (30M bit/sec and higher) simultaneously, Ustec says. More details on the company and product are available at its Web site.

SageTV has released Version 4.0 of its Media Center software, which now adds the ability to watch or record high-definition programs (with the appropriate tuner cards) and stream them anywhere in the home. The new version also includes integrated electronic program guides for Canada and Europe; additional music file type and playlist supports; and a new set-up wizard that aims to help users turn their Windows PCs into a media center or personal video recorder. The new version is now available for $79.95. The SageTV Client application, which lets live and recorded content to be streamed to other networked PCs, costs $29.95.

Sony says its LocationFree system will now support the Playstation Portable device, which means PSP users will be able to access their audio and video content from the LocationFree Base Station. The Base Station can connect to several audio/visual devices, including a set-top TV tuner, DVD player or PVR. The 12-inch LocationFree TV (Model LF-X11) can access the Base Station in order to watch TV, DVDs or PVR content wirelessly in the home and over the Internet. Networked PCs with the LocationFree Player software can also access the Base Station, Sony says. Users can connect their PSP to the system by downloading a free firmware (Version 2.5) upgrade from Sony.