The recent announcement of Linksys' new wireless gear puts the spotlight back on video, and the challenge of making it as easy to access on multiple devices as e-mail.

The new technology, based on the still-emerging 802.11n standard, should be able to deliver 100 megabits per second, which is faster than a wired Ethernet connection. Couple that with improved range, and you can shoot high-definition video streams anywhere in the house.

This is snazzy stuff, but I can't help doing a double take at how quickly the video hype machine has moved. Until recently, everything had to be big. A long-time correspondent wondered how I could watch my ancient TV with its 19-inch screen: Didn't my eyes get tired? Now the same guy tells me that the 2.5-inch display on his video iPod is "perfectly adequate." See where this is going? Mobility is everything, and if you can take it with you, a screen the size of a commemorative stamp will do.

If you want to explore wireless video around the home, be aware of this: The 802.11n standard is not set in stone, and any routers or cards you buy today aren't yet guaranteed to work with other products. Video-on-demand is all the rage, and Linksys is a reliable source, the biggest supplier of home wireless equipment. I would just advocate waiting for the dust to settle when, in any case, prices also will have nudged downward. Think early 2007.

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When it comes to Web browsers, I try them all. After all, a browser is the key interface to the Net, and now that Microsoft is bringing out a new version of Internet Explorer, the browser wars are heating back up again. I mostly use Firefox (www.mozilla.org), but lately I've been impressed with Norwegian-based Opera (www.opera.com). The company has removed the annoying ads that used to plague the free version and has tuned the program up for snappy Web performance.

Now Opera is out with a second preview version of Opera 9, which will offer widgets, the small windows that provide Internet services on the desktop. Apple uses much the same idea in its Dashboard, the notion being that there are many occasions when you want specific information without having to launch the full browser to find it.

Another useful feature in Version 9: built-in support for the BitTorrent file-download technology that lets you download from multiple sources simultaneously. It's still a preview version, but Opera 9 should soon go into regular release. It's worth a look.

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Running Microsoft Windows on a Macintosh, once an unthinkable proposition, is now feasible with Apple's Boot Camp software. From a technical perspective, it's a sweet move. Why run Windows via software emulation, which is how you had to do it before, when you can run it directly on the new Intel-based Macs?

The question of why you might want to run it on a Mac in the first place is more complex.

But clearly Apple's marketers see that dual-boot systems are an attractive proposition. I spend most of my time in Linux, but it helps to have Windows XP available when I need to review software or run the occasional program for which there is no Linux equivalent. And plenty of people who use Macs at home work in offices with Windows XP machines. Boot Camp gives them the option of computing in either environment, perhaps nudging fence-sitters in Apple's direction.

But this is a savvier move still when you throw in security concerns and their effect on performance. Whenever I use Windows, I marvel at how long it takes my PC to boot up as it loads antivirus programs, spyware applications and, of course, a robust firewall. Neither Linux nor the Mac are immune to possible attack (and I do use a Linux firewall), but so far the vulnerabilities of Windows have been overwhelmingly obvious and demanding. Anyone dual-booting for long will see a direct comparison that can't hurt Apple sales.

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