Tech.co.uk: Samsung’s executive vice president, Ho Kyoon Chung, has said that he expects 42-inch OLED televisions to be on the market in three years’ time.

According to Tech-On, Chung said that by 2010 the OLED panel market will be worth $3.7 billion a year.

“OLED panels have opened the new era of organic optoelectronics,” said Chung. “Not only displays but also new applications such as OLED lighting systems, organic electro-luminescent power generators and organic sensors will emerge in the near future.

Speaking at the FPD International 2007 Forum, Chung said that despite a slow start, OLED TVs will become cheaper and more popular in just a very short space of time.

“Following small panels used in 2007, 3.5 to 7-inch panels will be applied to ultra mobile PCs, for example, in 2008. Then we will realise 14, 15 and 21-inch panels in 2009 and large 40 to 42-inch full HD OLED TVs in 2010.”

OLED (organic light emitting diode) television technology could ultimately replace LCD and plasma TVs in our living rooms. OLED panels don’t require a backlight so they’re very energy efficient and will be able to produce much deeper colours than LCD.

Samsung isn’t the only player in the OLED game. At this year’s CEATEC show in Japan, Sony showed off a tiny 11-inch TV that was just 3mm thick, plus a 27-inch prototype using the same OLED technology.

For the moment, OLED technology is stuck with many of the problems which afflicted LCD in its early days. It’s very hard to build OLED panels of any real size, and even small panels are very expensive to produce.

Toshiba too says it plans to sell a 30-inch OLED TV by 2009.

Ho Kyoon Chung oled Samsung

Earth Times: A bright future lies ahead for Plasma HDTV according to a white paper co-authored by Ross Young, founder and President of DisplaySearch, a leading display industry research firm, and YS Chung, the firm’s Director of FPD Material and Technology Analyst. 

The paper, which is now available at the Panasonic Document Library, cites a variety of factors including luminous efficacy (the relationship between brightness and power consumption), motion performance and cost advantages as top contributors of Plasma’s success.

“The most exciting advancement in Plasma TVs is occurring in luminous efficacy,” states Young in the paper.  “As luminous efficacy improves, higher brightness can be achieved at the same power levels and lower power can be achieved at the same brightness levels.  But the effects of higher luminous efficacy are not just limited to brightness and power.  Improvements in luminous efficacy will have far reaching effects …  in areas including power consumption, brightroom contrast, heat, reliability/lifetimes, and total costs.  As a result, increases in luminous efficacy should dramatically boost the competitiveness of plasma TVs vs. competing TV technologies.”

“In addition, Plasma TVs have inherent advantages in motion performance which have been difficult to quantify until recently … ” according to the paper.  “Plasma panels are known for their ability to reproduce fast-moving video images, resulting in smooth video images of sports and other action content. This ability is not a strength of LCD TVs … ” also cites the paper.

DisplaySearch plasma white paper

BBC News: As the government boasts about improvements in blocking stolen mobile phones, industry experts are concerned Apple’s new iPhone will lead to a jump in thefts. So what good is a stolen mobile these days?

They’re impressive statistics. Every mobile phone reported stolen in the UK is blocked by its network provider for use on that network within 24 hours. Within 48 hours 90% are blocked from every network in the country, according to the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum (MICAF).

Police say 800,000 Britons have their phones stolen every year. They are taken in 52% of all robberies and in 28% of all thefts they are the only thing taken, says the Home Office.

But if they are rendered useless so quickly why are so many still stolen and why are there serious concerns that the UK launch of the Apple iPhone could prompt a sharp rise in thefts?

New technology to dodge security measures, along with mobiles becoming a currency in their own right in some countries are part of the answer. Along with the simple fact that thieves will always take whatever “valuables” are around during a robbery.

The industry and police have worked hard to stop mobile thefts. Blocking, and other measures, having been credited for a 20% drop in such crime. But it’s not a fool-proof system and a phone can be unblocked, even though it is a criminal offence to do so in the UK.

mobile phones stealing

CNNMoney: Harman Kardon yesterday announced the introduction of the Guide + Play(TM) GPS-310, GPS-510 and GPS-810, the newest products in the company’s Guide + Play line of portable GPS navigation units. The new models feature the same clean lines, slim profile, crisp WQVGA LCD screen and intuitive touchscreen operation of the successful Guide + Play GPS-300 and GPS-500 models, but provide added functionality, with some or all of the models incorporating text-to-speech and real-time-traffic features, Windows Media digital-rights management (WM-DRM10), a picture viewer, Bluetooth hands-free calling and a breakthrough rotary wireless controller.

“For the consumer, the possibility of upgrading from an aging OEM head unit to one that offers connectivity to the growing range of popular portable devices is diminishing. Meanwhile, the use of portable devices to deliver content and connectivity in the car is exploding in popularity. As this phenomenon evolves, the average dashboard is getting overcrowded with multiple devices, a rat’s nest of wires, and a distracting array of different user interfaces,” said Mike Giffin, president of the Mobile, Portable and Companion Products Division of Harman Consumer Group. “Our Guide + Play personal GPS product line solves this problem. We start with the most accurate, intuitive, easy-to-use GPS navigation products available. Then we incorporate unsurpassed multimedia and connectivity functionality and versatility for a seamless, integrated mobile-infotainment experience.”

All three Harman Kardon(R) Guide + Play units offer a superior navigation and multimedia experience.

gps GPS 310 GPS 510 GPS 810 harman kardon

CrunchGear: This is basically a Bluetooth speakerphone that clips to your visor and outputs sound to your car’s stereo. You can use it for calls but, even better, you can use it for audio. So if your phone or MP3 player does Bluetooth, you can stream your tunes directly to your car stereo without any wires.

Sound quality is going to be THE make-or-break feature for this device, since FM transmitting is still a little shaky. It uses a feature called “StationFinder” that supposedly finds the cleanest open FM station in your car, so hopefully it’ll put out some clean sound.

NaviGadget: Samsung i780 follows the design of i600 and it will be a top of the line product integrating the 3G, HSDPA, GPS and Wi-Fi. The main features of this device include a full keyboard, a screen with 320×320 pixels resolution, Windows Mobile 6 Pro OS, as well as a mouse which gets rid of the stylus making it operable with only one hand.Hardware specs:

• 2.6″ TFT touch screen
• Full QWERTY keyboard
• integrated GPS receiver with assisted GPS
• Triband GSM (900, 1800 and 1900 MHz), GPRS, EDGE, 3G (2100 MHz) and HSDPA
• 2MP digital camera and a VGA lens in the front for video conferencing
• 256 MB ROM (not yet confirmed)
• 128 MB RAM (not yet confirmed)
• Bluetooth 2.0 + A2DP
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• MiniUSB 2.0
• microSD port
• Integrated Trackpoint
• Dimensions : 11.6×6.1×1.3 cm
• Mobile Windows 6 Professional

No details have been revealed about the supplier of the GPS chip by Samsung. It will be marketed in Europe in January for about 500 €.

A GPS gps HSDPA Samsung i780 Windows Mobile 6 Pro