about-electronics.eu

Next gen: Newly released figures show that Sony’s PlayStation Network has amassed a global user base exceeding 1.5 million registered users. The total is likely to have been boosted by a number of users registering multiple accounts, but it is nevertheless an impressive statistic considering that the console has only been on release for a little over six months.
The number of registered users has grown by 200,000 since Dave Karraker, Sony Computer Entertainment America’s senior director of public relations, revealed back in April that 1.3 million users had signed up to the service. (…)

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Techlogg.com: New 120Hz refresh rate and five times improved motion detection to appear in new JVC LCD TV models released in September.

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Heise: Although it is now clear that roaming fees will be reduced, it does not seem likely that cell phone users will be able to make international calls within the EU at lower rates this summer.

At the beginning of the week, the EU Commission, the EU Parliament, and ministers from the member states agreed to set a cap on costs for international mobile calls within the EU. In the first year, the ceiling will be at 49 cents per minute for outgoing and 24 cents per minute for incoming calls.

The EU Parliament and the Council of Ministers have yet to formally adopt these changes, though they are expected to do so in mid-July. (…)

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Engadget: The Consumer Electronics Association’s Mobile Electronics Committee looks set to shake up the portable media player (PMP) industry a bit, by announcing a new connection standard for PMPs that’ll extend to vehicles in addition to in-home use.

While details are somewhat light, the standard (otherwise known as CEA-2017) describes a single connector that’ll let you both play and charge a portable media player in conjunction with any in-home or in-vehicle audio/video device sporting the same common connector.

From the looks of it, the newly-standardized connector would also seem to be well on its way to acceptance, with more than 100 companies having a hand in its development, which apparently includes a number of automakers and accessory-makers in addition to PMP manufacturers.

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TWICE: JVC has exited the personal navigation device (PND) business as competition in that segment heats up.

JVC said it is no longer manufacturing its eAvinu KV-PX9 and will focus instead on the auto in-dash navigation market.

JVC mobile entertainment VP Bill Turner stated, “Primarily because the portable navigation business has turned into a price-only market with numerous new competitors entering almost daily, we opted to focus our business on the in-dash market instead.”

There are an estimated 150 suppliers worldwide in the navigation market. Some of the recent brands to enter the United States include LG Electronics, ViaMichelin, Porsche Design and Navigon.

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Reuters: South Korea’s LG Electronics said on Friday it would halt production from one of its three plasma display panel lines before the end of June, in a move expected to minimize damage from the loss-making division.

The world’s No. 2 maker of large-size plasma panels, said in a statement it was considering several strategic options to “efficiently adjust the plasma display business.”

It did not elaborate but said details of the new strategy could come in several months.

LG trails Japan’s Matsushita (Panasonic). and is ahead of home rival Samsung in the plasma business.

Last month, dismal first-quarter plasma screen results wiped out booming mobile phone earnings at LG, which posted a net loss. The display division posted an operating loss margin of 16%.

The move would cut LG’s plasma production capacity by 16 percent and is expected to save 20-30 billion won ($22-33 million) in costs, according to LG.

Some analysts fear plasma makers are now on the verge of becoming niche market players.

In March, while denying rumours it was pulling out of the plasma market, Dutch electronics giant Philips said over time LCD would “become the dominant flat panel TV technology”.

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Here’s the LX01, Pioneer’s latest home cinema system that has been designed to be used with the company’s newest flat screen TV’s.

Due for commercial release in October this year, the LX01 includes:

• a 250GB hard disk DVD recorder with digital terrestrial tuner
• HDMI with 1080p scaling
• a dual-drive subwoofer receiver
• four distinctive 3-dimensional shaped satellite speakers; a speaker design technology unique to Pioneer
• an LCD touch-screen remote control and separate display.

Highlights of this beauty are, in particular, the speaker design.  Using the dodecahedron speaker concept (a dodecahedron is a geometric shape with 12 sides), the speakers deliver an ‘omni-directional’ sound.

Conventional speakers generate directional sound, whereas these 3-dimensional speakers generate sound fields in all directions. The effect is very similar to musical instruments being played in alive performance.

Apparently, you’ll find it difficult to discern which speaker produces which sound.

No word on price as yet.

More: LX01 product news page

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DisplaySearch: LG and Samsung, the two leading South Korean conglomerates and flat panel display (FPD) archrivals, announced a strategic alliance to increase competitiveness against Japanese and Taiwanese rivals.

On Monday, South Korea’s Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy announced that the country’s four major display makers, Samsung Electronics (SSE), Samsung SDI, LG.Philips LCD (LPL) and LG Electronics (LGE), established the Korea Display Industry Association (KDIA).

KDIA will be headed by Sang-wan Lee, chief of the LCD business division of SSE, with the purpose of joint research and development (R&D) on core display technologies. Those technologies will be selected in August through consultations with the government.

Instead of competition that may lead to the demise of the others, members have agreed to sharing patents acquired through government-supported R&D activities.

SSE and LGE also agreed purchase TV panels from each other if necessary from 2H’07, thus breaking a long-held practice of not purchasing each other’s panels. Young-ju Kim, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy, applauded the strategic alliance and stated the importance of leadership of large enterprises for a successful alliance.

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Smarthouse News: Canon has said that it will not rule out a big aquisition in an effort to grow. It has also confirmed that it will launch SED TV technology this year.

Canon has served notice that it will not give up its No. 1 global position in digital cameras and multifunction printers (MFPs) without a fight. It has also said it has not ruled out a large merger or acquisition for the right company with technology that will help Canon to succeed.

That was one of the messages chairman/CEO Fujio Mitarai gave last week as he tried to pump up the company’s image during an official media tour to the Japanese HQ of Canon.

Mitarai said Canon’s goals include of reaching No. 1 standing in all of it market segments over the next few years, including office imaging products, computer peripherals, business information products, optical products as well as cameras.

He noted Canon reached $35 billion in worldwide sales in 2006 and sports a strong balance sheet.

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Afterdawn.com: Panasonic has released its DMP-BD10A Blu ray player in the States, with the somewhat cheap price tag of US$600 (around €440). The player will offer 7.1 channel sound and has support for Dolby TrueHD as well as DTS-HD Audio.

The player features full 1080p resolution and can upconvert standard DVDs to the HD signal.

As an added incentive to buy the player, Panasonic is bundling 5 Blu ray movies for free which the company says have a combined retail value of around €110.

The movies are:”Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl”, “Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest”, “Transporter”, “Fantastic 4″ and “Crash”.

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BBC News: Governments should tax plasma screen televisions because of the large amount of energy they consume, according to a leading expert on climate change. 

Professor Paul Ekins, who studies the economics of climate change, said taxing plasma screens would reflect their “greater climate change burden”.

This would encourage development and take-up of more energy efficient diode screens, Professor Ekins said.

He said government could label energy hungry appliances as a first step.

Plasma televisions, which are 50% bigger than their cathode-ray tube equivalents, consume about four times more energy, according to the government-funded Energy Saving Trust.

A cathode-ray tube TV costs about £25 per year to run and accounts for 100kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, whereas a plasma TV costs about £100 per year and accounts for 400kg of CO2.

But some researchers say exact comparisons are difficult because of the size difference between plasmas and other screen types: cathode-ray tube and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).

“At the very least you might think that government would provide some differential incentives to accelerate the development of more energy efficient diode screens and encourage their take-up,” said Professor Ekins, co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC).

“Once plasma screens are bought, they are likely to be there for five years at a minimum, perhaps 10 years, perhaps longer.”

Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) screens do not require a backlight and thus draw less power. But observers say the technology needs to overcome several technological hurdles, such as the limited lifetimes of some of the materials used in them.

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Tech: A study carried out among students at five UK universities has concluded something we’ve known all long: the mobile web is crap.Two-thirds of the 1,000 students surveyed said the mobile web was such a poor experience they gave up trying, says InfoGin.

The study also found 3G phone owners fared little better, despite their faster connections. Only 18 per cent of 3G phone-using students said they were satisfied with the mobile web experience, telecoms.com reports. (…)

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