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HiddenWires: Many consumers are still unable to get to grips with high-definition TV. Even the difference between analog or digital TV is not understood by a third of all German households. These are the findings of a GfK consumer survey on TV viewing conducted in seven European countries.

HDTV (High Definition TV) is being branded as the TV of the future. The higher resolution offers better picture quality and richer detail, promising more enjoyment watching TV than with the standard PAL used up to now. However, its development faces a dilemma. Above all, the public service broadcasters are hesitant to offer HDTV content, since they believe that such programs would currently reach a small minority of households only. Consequently, consumers also see little reason to buy HDTV equipment.

In order to take a closer look at this situation and collect objective figures on the actual state of affairs, GfK carried out a representative study over the summer months this year. GfK companies interviewed 1,000 people by telephone in each of the seven major European countries included in the survey.

The findings convey a clear message. They show that many consumers are not familiar with the latest buzzwords in consumer electronics, such as HD ready or the new DVD successor format, Blu-Ray. When asked whether they own a TV set which is HD ready, 22% of the German households surveyed were unable to answer the question. Also, many consumers do not seem to be aware that a special set-top box is needed to receive HDTV. Similarly, the issue of TV reception, that is the way the TV picks up the signal, is a subject about which one in ten households knew little or nothing. Overall, a third of those asked did not know whether they received their TV signal via an analog or digital connection.

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The Korea Times: Samsung Electronics has fueling its moves to diversify its businesses from its hitherto high dependence on memory chips.

On Friday, Samsung said it has designed the industry’s first digital TV receiver chip based on 65-nanometer processing technology, enabling digital TVs targeting Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia to receive both vestigial sideband (VSB) broadcasts and quadrature amplitude modulation (QSM) cable signals.

Samsung said the new chip will be used for digital TVs, set-top boxes, TV receiver cards for personal computers, USB interfaced plug-and play dongles or boxes and even DVD recorders.

The chip, which fully supports Europe’s NorDig unified standard for digital broadcasting, reduces the channel scanning interval by half, to less than 0.1 second from the conventional 0.2 second, according to Samsung officials.

Moreover, power consumption for the chip is the industry’s lowest at 80-megawatt, about 30 percent of the existing 250-megawatt average power consumption of current solutions.

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Navigadget: O’Neill Europe and MyGuide just announced the launch of the NavJacket – a navigation tool integrated into a Gore-Tex jacket.NavJacket is designed to help you navigate through the mountains with a digital flexible display on the sleeve and the audio instructions in the hood. Apparently you’ll even be able to enter your desired location and the jacket will guide you down the slopes (how does it know where the cliffs are?) in addition giving you details about your speed, distance, route, and weather forecasts too.

NavJacket will also connect to your phone through which it can make available 3D views of the resorts as well as points of interest throughout the resort. Furthermore, an additional feature will be the friend finder function, which will allow you to either track down friends, or choose to follow their path through the slopes.

The NavJacket will be available as part of the O’Neill Fall/Winter 2008/09 collection and will be tested the coming winter season on selected areas in the Alps.

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Camera Core: Nokia has taken its barcode reading technology several steps further and is developing a smartphone that can order an item online from a photo taken by the user.Barcode reading applications are already available on many mobiles, allowing phone users to scan barcodes on advertising posters or in newspaper ads. The codes direct the phone’s Internet browser to a website where further information about the product can be found.

Nokia has developed the technology to allow a camera phone user to take a photo of an item in a window display. The phone’s image recognition software then finds the item on the shop’s Internet store.

The website is loaded and the customer can instantly buy the item online and have it delivered within 24 hours.

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Audio Junkies: iPod focused audio manufacturer, mStation, has released details on its upcoming sound bar speaker system designed to compliment flat screen TVs. The mStation TheaterBar is the company’s attempt to capitalize on the flat screen craze by offering a system that mounts under the TV to maintain a sleek aesthetic. And since it’s an mStation product, the Theaterbar includes an iPod dock; but this dock cleverly folds away when not needed to provide a clean, modern look.

Not much is known about the TheaterBar’s driver setup, but from the renders it does seem to have a bass port. In addition, the renders show an SRS emblem, so simulated surround sound support is likely too. At this point, we can only guess if mStation’s TheaterBar will sink or swim; but with its sexy look and possible feature set it looks like it could be a winner.

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Absolute Gadget: Gadgets! We love ‘em but verily they doth cause the ire and great gnashing of teeth among the sandal-wearing, eco-fraternity. Enviro-botherers Greenpeace has taken time off from being blown up by the French secret service to lay into the Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, claiming that next generation consoles have more toxic chemicals than your average can of carbonated soft drink.The green group accused Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony of falling behind mobile phone and PC manufacturers when it comes to disposing of nasty chemical used in the production of consoles. The initiative is part of Greenpeace’s thrust to get the industry to be eco-friendly.

“Game console manufacturers are lagging way behind the makers of mobile phones and PCs who have been reducing the toxic load of the products over the past year,” said Zenia Al Hajj, Greenpeace International’s toxics campaigner. “Game consoles contain many of the same components as PCs so manufacturers can do a lot more.”

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CNNMoney: Samsung Electronics America Inc., a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Corporation, yesterday announced the release of its new 8″ Digital Photo Frame SPF-83V, based on technology developed by Microsoft Research, in time for the holiday season. With this innovative addition to their photo frame lineup, customers can enjoy photos wirelessly in their home and display photos from sharing sites such as Windows Live Spaces or from personal collections on their PC.

The frame works with the Windows Live Photo Gallery, which makes sharing photos with friends and family easy. Users can organize and upload individual photos or albums from their PC to Windows Live Spaces and the photos are ready for display on the frame.

Along with the technology licensed from Microsoft Research, the Samsung frame communicates with Windows Media Player and open standards such as RSS. The product is a result of a long-standing collaboration between Microsoft Corp. and Samsung Electronics, including a patent cross-licensing agreement signed by the two companies in April 2007.

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Reuters: A new tracking system to pinpoint people inside smoked-filled buildings has been developed in a move that should slash the risks faced by fire-fighters.French aerospace company Thales said on Wednesday its Indoor Positioning System (IPS) was aimed initially at helping fire services although it could also be used by the police and armed forces.

Eventually, it could also be applied in the consumer market and offered as an additional service with GPS-enabled cell phones, allowing users to navigate around shopping malls or airports.

The IPS system — effectively an indoor form of satellite navigation (sat-nav) — was developed at the company’s technical laboratory in Reading, west of London.

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CNet: So you’re thinking about Christmas gifts? Perhaps on one hand you’re considering a new DAB radio. On the other, you might be considering an iPod speaker system. It’s time you put those hands together. Intempo’s snazzy RDi iPod docking system is both a digital radio and a set of speakers for your iPod.

This sort of convergence makes sense, especially since the iPod is natively sans-radio even this many years into its life. The RDi dock has a price tag of €180, so it’s only slightly more costly than DAB experts PURE Digital’s promising Chronos iDock system — a €138 setup that offers near identical functionality, and which we’ll be getting our hands on soon.

So what’s on the inside? Well, it’s got 30W of driving power, a promise of decent sound, 16 presets for saving favourite stations, alarm clock functionality and it looks pretty too. But to be honest, we’re not 100 per cent sure there’s anything significantly more impressive on offer than what PURE’s Chronos iDock offers.

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CNet: A report from Goldman Sachs Wednesday spotted by AppleInsider doesn’t exactly shed much more light on that subject, but says that Apple is gearing up to deliver two new iPhones next year. The first one sounds like it will be just a storage upgrade with more flash memory in the first half of the year, while the second half of the year should bring the long-awaited 3G iPhone, according to the report.

Both Apple CEO Steve Jobs and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson have indicated that 2008 is the year for the 3G iPhone, so that’s not much of a surprise. An iPhone that could connect to 3G (third-generation) data networks would allow for faster download speeds, but Apple has held off on introducing such a model to this point because of concerns over battery life, according to Jobs.

Goldman also thinks that Apple is getting ready to introduce a newer version of Apple TV, which had a disappointing first year. But the report doesn’t make much sense; it says Apple is going to attach an LCD screen to Apple TV.

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InformationWeek: Sharp on Wednesday sued Samsung Electronics, accusing the Korean company of infringing on three Sharp patents related to liquid crystal displays used in high definition TVs.The Japanese company filed the complaint in the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea. The suit claims the patents cover technology used in LCDs and LCD TVs manufactured and sold by Samsung. Sharp is asking the court to award it compensatory damages, and to prohibit Samsung from manufacturing and selling the infringing products in South Korea.

Sharp claims in a statement that Samsung used without authorization “technologies that achieve high brightness and high-speed response, as well as a wide viewing angle by regulating and stabilizing the alignment of the LCD modules.”

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marketnews: Jabra has added two new models to its growing line of Bluetooth products. The BT8040 is a miniscule, Bluetooth headset that fits directly in one’s ear via comfortable ear gels; while the SP5050 is an in-car Bluetooth speakerphone that mounts to a car’s visor. Both models allow for hands-free chatting with a paired, Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone. 

The BT8040 uses Multipoint technology that permits it to connect to two devices at the same time. It incorporates Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology, which enhances sound quality on both the transmitted and received audio; while Intelligent Volume Settings equalizes incoming audio volume to avoid voices that are either too quiet or too loud. In fact, the headset boasts Acoustic Shock Protection that will protect the ear from loud and sudden sounds.  

Weighing just 10 grams, the BT8040 also includes a Discreet Light Feature that stops the LED from continually flashing. This is especially useful in dark areas, or anywhere that the light could be considered distracting.  

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