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DigiTimes: LG has now started operations at its plasma plant in Mexico.

LGE started building its plasma facilities in Reynosa, Mexico in early 2006 with the plan to assemble plasma’s from their Gumi plant in South Korea. The monthly capacity of the Reynosa plant is about 60,000 units and will increase to 100,000 units, the maker said.

This year, about US$45 million (€35 million) each was invested in LG’s plants in Mexico (Reynosa) and Poland (Malwa), with US$200 million (€157 million) invested in the new A3-2 line in Gumi, which yields 180,000 plasma panels monthly.

The line will eventually adopt eight-cut panel processing technology. With improved production technology, LG said its overall plasma capacity is expected to reach 550,000 units per month.

With the completion of the Reynosa plant, LGE now has four PDP module plants in four different regions: Mexico (Reynosa), Poland (Mlawa), China (Nanjing) and South Korea (Gumi). Each plant serves, respectively, as a hub for the Americas, Europe and Asia.

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IFdesign: (…) when a mobile phone tries to do everything, the solutions are always too complex. The functionality loses its familiar forms to communicate with users that result in difficult use and compromised experience. (…) The Black Box concept is to recall and respect the classic long-time conventions and real-world experiences of using various common tools and devices; keep only the meaningful and minimal interface elements to fulfill the maximal user desires. Back to classics. Back to basics.

(source: Earlyadaptors)

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Newlaunches: “The Nintendo DS is very popular in Japan, and taking full advantage of its popularity is the Nation Western Fine Arts Museum. From the museum counter you can borrow a DS which comes with a special cartridge preloaded with the museum details.

Each room in the museum has an access point so once you enter a room the screen automatically displays information relevant to the room. Browsing through the menus is very easy using the touchscreen.

If you find a painting interesting just browse to the painting on the DS choose print and using Wi-Fi the picture is printed which you can collect upon leaving the museum.”

Great idea, if you ask me. What’s keeping the Louvre or the British Museum from doing the same thing?

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EETimes: Satellite communications operators Eutelsat Communications and SES Global are forming a joint venture to transmit video, radio and data to mobile devices and vehicle receivers in the S-band. Alcatel Alenia Espace has won the contract to make the W2A satellite that will be used for the service, which is scheduled to start operating in 2009.

The two operators are investing Euros 130 million in the 50:50 joint venture, subject to the companies receiving regulatory approval.

Based on the Alcatel Alenia Space Spacebus 4000C4 platform, the satellite will also have up to 46 transponders in Ku-band and a C-band payload of 10 transponders.

Operating in the S-band (2.0 and 2.2GHz) is a new opportunity for both Eutelsat (Paris, France) and SES (Betzdorf, Luxembourg) and will target operators of mobile networks and digital radio. The companies say the development of mobile video services through a satellite-based hybrid network will provide content providers and operators with alternative or complementary solutions to terrestrial-based networks such as DVB-H or those that use Internet Protocol (IP) streams sent over an existing Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) network.

(more…)

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About: HDTV is a great advance in home entertainment, however, during the transition period from analog to digital, there are still many consumers that are watching mostly analog television programs on their new HDTVs.

This has generated a lot of complaints about the apparent degraded picture quality of analog television signals when viewed on an HDTV. Analog Television signals, both broadcast and cable, as well as VHS, in most cases, will look worse on an HDTV than they do on a standard analog television.

The reason for this is that HDTVs have the capability of displaying much more detail than an analog TV.

This results in the video processing circuitry in the HDTV enhancing both the good and bad parts of a low resolution image. The cleaner and more stable the signal, the better result you will have.

However, if the picture has background color noise, signal interference, color bleeding, or edge problems, (which may be unnoticeable on an analog TV due to the fact that it is more forgiving due to the lower resolution) the video processing in an HDTV will attempt to clean it up. However, this may deliver mixed results.

Another factor that contributes to the quality of analog television display on HDTVs also depend on the types of video processing circuitry employed by different HDTV makers, and some HDTVs perform the analog-to-digital conversion process better than others. When checking out HDTVs or reviews of HDTVs, make note of any comments regarding the quality of analog signal quality.

Another important point to be made, is that most consumers that are upgrading to HDTV are also upgrading to a larger screen size. This means that as the screen gets larger, lower resolution images look worse, in much the same way as blowing up a photograph until shapes and edges become less defined. In other words, what looked really great on that old 27-inch TV, isn’t going to look quite as good on that new 42-inch Plasma TV.

One suggestion: make sure you have the cleanest analog signal possible – or, better, switch to Digital Cable, HD Cable, or HD Satellite. If you have a high performance HDTV, why waste your money by supplying it with an inferior signal source – you are paying for HD capability – you should reap the rewards.

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AVZombie: The image quality on Blu-ray and HD DVD discs is about to jump forward. So claims Thomson’s Technicolor Content Services division, which has just introduced a new H.264-based proprietary encoding system for next generation HD disc content authoring.

The so-called TIGER AVC, which has been co-developed by Thomson Corporate Research laboratories and Technicolor, is an HD video compression tool that employs 50 new patented algorithms which took more than a year to develop.

“Think of compression standards like a toolbox with hundreds of tools. We developed many new algorithms to get the quality we’re trying to achieve,” says Jeffrey Cooper, general manager for Thomson Corporate Research.
Thomson says not only will TIGER AVC deliver better picture quality for both Blu-ray and HD DVD but it will also use less disc space, leaving more room for audio codecs, special features and functionality.

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Newlaunches: Nokia has announced its first dedicated personal navigation device to include Europe-wide maps, the Nokia 330 Auto Navigation, to take you across European borders effortlessly allowing you to enjoy the ride, while it does the navigating.

Just like its phones the GPS is also fairly simple to use, just enter the destination of your journey and follow the directions from the large 3.5 inch color touch screen.

The Nokia 330 comes with a 2 GB memory card preloaded with Europe-wide map data and detailed travel information. It is not just a GPS receiver but also a PMP as it can playback video, audio and image files.

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T3: This stylish unit boasts more bells and whistles than a Notre Dame May day parade. Look at the spec: HDMI output with video upscaling, a 6.1-channel surround sound set-up and wireless – yes, wireless! – rear speakers.

The Philips HTS9800W system boasts flat-panel speakers, a compact, wall-mountable main unit with blue-tinted, touch-sensitive controls and a slot DVD drive. It’s reminiscent of the sort of thing you’d get from Bang & Olufsen a few years ago, basically – reassuringly expensive-looking.

Pros: Rock-solid video and 6.1 audio performance, Modish looks, Rear speakers are wireless
Cons: No digital audio input, Multiple cables to the main unit “hub” look messy
Verdict: Cool performance, even cooler design… and not too expensive either (600.00 GBP, about 900 euro).

Performance is impressive. The 6.1 speaker configuration gives you an extra rear-centre channel (which either works independently, with DTS ES or Dolby Digital EX discs, or belts out a mix of the rear left and rights). As a result, the sea battle in Pirates of the Caribbean turns into a cacophony of shivering timbers, screaming shipmates and cannons booming at you from all sides.

The system also plays Super Audio CDs and can “upconvert” normal CDs as well. It’s not going to have audiophiles trembling in their polo necks, but September by Earth, Wind and Fire sounds undeniably firey (and windy and earthy).

Using the HDMI output, DVDs can be upscaled to 720p or 1080i resolutions. It’s a detailed but noise-free image – even misty scenes look smooth in Pirates – and a big improvement over RGB Scart.

Our only gripes are the lack of a digital audio input and the slightly complicated cabling for the main unit and subwoofer. Other than that, it’s a fantastically versatile and smart-looking system, well worth its asking price (600.00 GBP, about 900 euro).

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Reuters: Mobile phone signals sent from traffic jams will enable a real-time travel information service, British telecoms group Vodafone and Dutch sat nav company TomTom said on Friday.

The service will be available in the Netherlands in the second half of 2007, using the Dutch Vodafone network.

Mobile phones continuously beam signals to their nearest base stations, which gives the network provider the approximate location of the phone.  TomTom will use this location information to establish if roads are congested, if and by how much the trip will be delayed, and if alternative routes can be suggested.

Mobile phone penetration is more than 100 percent in the Netherlands, meaning that every person carries one or more mobile phones.

“The service provides a much more accurate, faster and more detailed picture of the actual travel times than current solutions. The total investments are a fraction of the current, road side equipment based solutions,” TomTom said.

Unlike current systems, the TomTom system would monitor all roads.

“This is an industry first,” Harold Goddijn, TomTom’s chief executive officer said in a statement. “We are looking forward to signing further deals with leading operators across Europe and the U.S.,” he added.

TomTom sells more than half of all standalone car navigation devices in Europe. In the third quarter it sold 1.2 million of its route finders.

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MarketWatch: EMI Music Chairman Alain Levy recently told an audience at the London Business School that the CD is dead, saying music companies will no longer be able to sell CDs without offering “value-added” material.