Standards involving many new technologies are being developed to make the home of the future possible today. None are more important to that enterprise than a rapidly expanding family of wireless standards - and few have been more competitively (and sometimes contentiously) agreed upon.

New standards are being developed in multiple areas to enable the emergence of the digital home, from environmental controls, to networking, to home entertainment, and more. The rapid evolution of the ecosystem of standard setting organizations (both old and new) that is creating these standards provides a current example of how standards infrastructures rapidly develop to address new commercial opportunities.

When Massachusetts CIO and OpenDocument Format (ODF) champion Peter Quinn announced his resignation last year on Christmas Eve, Massachusetts Governor (and presidential hopeful) Mitt Romney had two choices; stick with ODF, or abandon it. The former would antagonize some, while the latter could leave Romney vulnerable to charges of "flip flopping" and giving in to special interests. Luckily for the ...

What is the size of the "Standard American?" It's a standard that matters more than you might think. And when Americans get larger, then its time to revise the standard.

The IEC and partners, in association with The Economist, launches a competition in honor of the close of "the Electric Century."