01
Mar
2007
GameShout: Sony has developed a Blu-ray disc player at a much lower price tag than the their first iteration; this time priced about 40% less than their previous model.
Their new BDP-S300 is somewhat similar to the later model BDP-S1 but the price is what brings it more in line with rest of the market. While the older model runs $999 (around €750), the new slimmer BDP-S300 runs only $599 (around €450) .
01
Mar
2007
GPS Review: Details of the new TomTom DUO device, scheduled to be coming to CeBIT next month, have been leaked. As the name applies it looks like it will come with a couple of primary functions, navigation and an iPod docking system.
As you can see from this image, it looks like a dock will be available where you can snap in TomTom DUO into one case.
What remains a question though is the exact function of this dock. Will it be a component replacement for a car stereo as has been rumored in the past or will it be a stand-alone device?
It does appear as though the dock will have an FM transmitter to be able to play music stored on an iPod or other USB music player though your car stereo.
While the ONE comes with Bluetooth only for the TomTom PLUS services, it looks like the TomTom DUO will get hands free calling with compatible Bluetooth phones as well.
In terms of the physical aspects, the TomTom DUO looks just like the ONE, except it has square sides unlike the rounded sides of the current TomTom ONE.
01
Mar
2007
Smarthouse News: Canon is set to face massive damages payouts over it’s plans to enter the SED TV market.
When Canon was sued by a small, U.S. technology firm two years ago, the dispute was over a patent license that had cost the Japanese electronics giant a one-time payment of $5.6 million.
But now that the lawsuit has caused Canon to lose the license, a fresh agreement with Texas-based Nano-Proprietary Inc. could be worth millions of dollars more, lawyers said.
Last week a U.S. court ruled against Canon, saying the company breached its deal with Nano-Proprietary by trying to share the flat display technology with Toshiba.
The court’s decision comes as a major setback and perhaps an embarrassment for Tokyo-based Canon.
“It seems strange Canon managed to go all the way to trial and lose,” said Peter Godwin, a Tokyo-based partner at law firm Herbert Smith. “Assuming they were advised they were at risk, you’d expect a company of the size of Canon to have reached a settlement before that.”
Now, Canon is left with no plans for mass production of the displays. The sale of the new TVs, scheduled for the fourth quarter, will be limited to Japan and on a small scale.
The court has yet to address Nano-Proprietary’s claims that Canon engaged in fraud to extend its license rights to Toshiba and perhaps other Japanese companies.
When Canon and Toshiba set up the joint venture in 2004 to develop the panels, the initial plan was to mass-produce the new type of flat TVs in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
But it was the partnership itself that ultimately hurt the Japanese companies in the dispute two years later. The original deal allowed Canon to license Nano-Proprietary’s technology to its own units. Canon had claimed the venture with Toshiba was a subsidiary because Canon’s 50 percent stake included one more share than its partner held.
To resolve the situation, Nano-Proprietary had offered to negotiate a separate license with Toshiba on the same terms as the initial deal with Canon, people familiar with the situation said. But Canon told its partner not to worry and blocked Toshiba from talking to Nano-Proprietary, these people said.
Spokesmen at Canon and Toshiba declined to comment, saying the lawsuit was still going on. A Nano-Proprietary spokesman also declined to discuss its dealings with Canon and Toshiba.
01
Mar
2007
EngadgetHD: Toshiba just announced that it has successfully created a triple-layer disc with 17GB per layer, which amounts to 51GB, a full GB more than dual-layer Blu-ray discs can muster.
Toshiba is already in the process of submitting the new extension of the format to regulatory approval, however, the word on the street still amounts to a potential Q4 release, and it’s still unclear at this time what kind of manufacturing costs or complications these new discs will incur.
Seems the format war is far from over.
01
Mar
2007
AZcentral: Anyone who thinks consumers understand high-definition television should consider a recent survey by Leichtman Research Group.
It concluded that close to one-half of the 24 million households with HDTVs don’t actually watch high-definition programs because they haven’t obtained the necessary hardware from their cable, phone or satellite operators.
And about one half of those viewers – about six million – don’t even realize they’re not watching HDTV. Bruce Leichtman, the market research firm’s president, figures the confusion is partly because the consumers spend so much money on the set they can’t believe they’re not getting what they paid for. “This is cognitive dissonance,” he says.
The forward march of consumer electronics, of course, is replete with examples of technology outpacing the ability of average users to understand it. Look no further than the success of the “For Dummies” series of how-to technology books. Most consumers, surveys show, use only a small fraction of the features on their various devices.
But the history of digital TV has been particularly tortured. In addition to the usual false starts and over-promising, the technology has been hampered by political quagmires, battles at all levels of the TV industry, misleading ads and far too little consumer education.
The problem is bound to get worse as we near the February 2009 digital-transition deadline, when all broadcasters must transmit entirely in digital, rather than analog, signals. In the meantime, sales are rising as the price of flat-panel HDTV sets fall below $1,000. There were 13.6 million HDTVs sold last year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.
The failure of so many HDTV owners to figure out what they’ve actually bought is bad for everyone. After years of dragging their feet, TV networks finally are investing heavily to produce shows in high definition. But these investments aren’t going to pay off anytime soon if 50 percent of the HDTV owners aren’t set up for HD viewing. Retailers and manufacturers complain of unacceptably high rate of returns, though they won’t disclose specific figures.
Consumers get discouraged when the picture that transfixed them at the store isn’t the same at home. “It’s getting a Porsche and driving it at 40 down a straight highway,” says Blaine Altaffer, a senior buyer for Circuit City. “You want speed and a crooked highway.”
Consumer ignorance is understandable. It used to be buyers needed only to bring a new set home, plug it into a cable or satellite hookup and flop back on the couch. Now they first must choose either an HDTV set or a standard-definition digital set that has a lower price tag and inferior picture quality. (All HDTV sets are digital, but not vice versa.) Then, they must make sure they’re getting high-definition service from their cable or satellite operator, which typically costs more. After that, they have to lease a high-definition set-top box and make sure it’s set up right.
After all that preparation, viewers still can make the mistake of watching the wrong channel. Cable and satellite systems now carry both HDTV channels and regular channels for the same networks, such as ESPN and CBS. Some consumers get confused when they see the “broadcast in high definition” bug written across the regular channel. They think they’re watching HDTV.
Adding to the complexity, device makers have been fighting over what’s better, plasma or liquid crystal display screens. Even worse, if consumers want a high definition DVD player, they must choose between Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats. Naturally, discs for one don’t play on the other. (…)
But there are signs of hope. A major consumer-education effort on the digital transition was set to be announced Wednesday by the largest industry trade groups representing broadcasters, cable operators, device manufacturers, networks and retailers. There will be the obligatory new Web site, then extensive research and focus groups organized to figure out consumers’ needs. (…)
01
Mar
2007
Techdigest: The village of Exton (UK) is the first to post signs instructing drivers: “Do Not Follow SAT NAV Very Narrow Road”.
A GPS bug is sending many drivers (enough to merit a custom sign!) down streets narrow enough that their vehicles get stuck. Villagers hope the sign not only spares drivers, but spares damage to the hedgerows and verges from when the frustrated drivers get out by any means available.
01
Mar
2007
Heise: According to figures released by Bitkom, the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media, 50.000 parking lot tickets are meanwhile paid with the aid of mobile phones in Germany every month.
“Mobile-phone parking” was already an option in Berlin, Duisburg, Hanover, Paderborn, Saarbrucken, Wiesbaden and Flensburg, the association declared. Other cities such as Detmold and Görlitz were planning to introduce the system, Bitkom added.
Mobile-phone parking had advantages for all the parties concerned, Bitkom vice-president Jörg Menno Harms declared on Tuesday in Berlin.
Drivers no longer had to search for small change and would only be billed for those hours and minutes they had actually parked their car in the lot or space in question.
Municipalities were given the opportunity to offer state-of-the-art services to citizens, Mr. Harms went on to say.
In a number of cities mobile-phone parking lot tickets already accounted for five percent of all parking lot tickets sold, he added.
01
Mar
2007
Navigadget: Four post-graduate students in Germany are working on a new kind of GPS navigation system that can help disabled people find obstacle free routes to their destination.
The idea behind the Trailblazers software, which users will be able to download free onto their cell phones or PDAs, is to systematically collect and distribute information about barrier-free routes. Before — or even during — a trip, users will be able to enter start and destination points in order to map their route using Microsoft Virtual Earth or Google Earth. The actual journey is then recorded along the way using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. Road obstacles can be photographed and uploaded together with the new map — meaning new data is continually being added to the existing information.
This is a great idea. We already have the technology to do this – such as the Dash Navigation System -coming out soon- can collect traffic information from its users and help generate a real-time congestion map. And almost all GPS navigation softwares have a way of marking road blocks and finding a way around it. It just has to be customized for sidewalks and stairs instead of roads.
They team is currently working on a voice recognition function for people who are unable to operate handheld devices. If all goes to plan, the software will be available for free on the Trailblazers Web site starting in May.
01
Mar
2007
Techdigest: Meet the GSM Table Lamp. It’s a nice-looking lamp, which has a GSM receiver and microphone built in, allowing you to call it, and listen to your cats plotting. Well, as long as they plot next to the lamp. And can talk. But other than that, it’s foolproof.The lamp has a range of 15 to 20 feet, but has a whopping price tag of almost £1,000 (about 1480 euro). Couldn’t you hire a private detective for that kind of money if you’re worried your Nanny’s up to no good?
01
Mar
2007
Popgaget: While I don’t sing in the shower very much, I often wish I could boogie to one of my iTunes playlists while going through my morning ablutions. So even though this wireless water-resistant iPod speaker doesn’t come in classic iPod white, I’d be happy to have it in my bathroom, knowing that I wouldn’t have to worry about any accidental splash damage.The 3″ full-range 6-watt speaker comes with a dock, of course, but it’s kept separate from the speaker so that it can be kept somewhere safe and dry – anywhere within the 150′ radius of its wireless signal, in fact. So you could leave the docking station in one place and move the speaker around the house, even out to the pool if that’s where you need some tunes going. However, both the dock and the speaker need AC power, so they’re not truly portable units.
The system is compatible with all iPod nanos, 30GB and 60GB iPod video, and the 20GB iPod photo. The dock also recharges iPods while it’s playing. Speakers come with AM/FM radio, an alarm clock, 3 audio/video out jacks, and one audio in jack for connection to a PC or CD player. And there’s a remote control, of course.
The entire speaker system costs $199.95 (about 150 euro).
