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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Sharp holiday price drops seen for flat-panel TVs (AP) : Technet

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Sharp holiday price drops seen for flat-panel TVs (AP) : Technet

Sharp holiday price drops seen for flat-panel TVs (AP)

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 08:08 AM PST

By JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writer Jessica Mintz, Ap Technology Writer – Thu Nov 25, 11:08 am ET

SEATTLE – If you're in the market for a new flat-panel TV, it's a good time to buy.

TV prices usually drop from year to year, and the decline will be sharp this season thanks to a supply glut. Consumers have been holding out all year for better deals, leaving lots of unsold televisions on the shelves. Prices for high-definition LCD TVs will fall more than twice as fast as they have so far this year as manufacturers and retailers clear out inventory, analysts predict.

New sets will also be cheaper because TV makers have been getting great deals on the most expensive parts, the glass LCD panels.

However, DisplaySearch analyst Paul Gagnon expects prices for those components to level off early next year, so discounts won't be this steep again until the holidays next year, or even later.

For the consumer, that means that if you pull the trigger on a new set in the next few months, you probably won't be kicking yourself next year for not waiting a little longer.

The law of supply and demand is at work here:

• A TV-buying spree in late 2009 led to component shortages, which kept prices high in early 2010. That discouraged consumers.

• Makers of LCD panels invested profits from last year's buying spree in more manufacturing capacity. Thinking 2010 would be as strong as 2009, they flooded the market. But the economy didn't improve as expected.

• As a result, there's an oversupply of panels, and prices started dropping over the summer. That means cheaper sets should be making their way to stores now.

Already, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has slashed prices for some older models. Among the deals: a 32-inch Vizio set that went to $298 from $348. Amazon.com Inc. and Best Buy Co. are starting to advertise deals, too.

Some of the best deals this season will be on 32-inch LCD TVs, the most popular size. They will sell for rock-bottom rates of $300 or less, compared with about $400 last year. That's because manufacturers are selling raw panels of that size for only slightly more than the cost of making them — $160 to $170 each, far less than the $210 to $220 they fetched earlier this year.

Prices for 40-inch and 42-inch sets will drop about 20 percent, approaching $500, said Gagnon, the DisplaySearch analyst.

Deep price cuts also are coming for higher-end models, including LCD TVs with LED backlights, which use less energy than regular sets and can be thinner or provide improved picture quality. Manufacturers have increased production capacity for parts specific to LED sets; that will drive down prices for components and, ultimately, the TVs themselves.

Overall, good deals will be 15 percent to 20 percent lower than holiday 2009 prices for regular LCD TVs. The price drop had been slimmer at 7 percent earlier this year, Gagnon says, and the decline should return to the single digits by spring.

Of course, the longer a buyer waits, the lower the prices go. But that has to be weighed against the value of having a new TV. If a 32-inch set turns out to be $20 cheaper next summer, the buyer could have gotten six months of better TV for $20.

"In this industry you always know that in the future, you will buy new technology at a lower price. That's not the point," said Sweta Dash, an analyst at iSuppli Corp. "Especially this holiday, the price you will see is very good."

___

AP Retail Writer Mae Anderson in New York contributed to this report.

Australian Senate approves $35B broadband network (AP)

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 06:42 PM PST

– 2 hrs 52 mins ago

CANBERRA, Australia – The Australian Senate on Friday approved legislation that enables the government to roll out a 36 billion Australian dollar ($35 billion) high-speed national broadband network.

The Senate's final two-week session of the year was extended an additional day to vote on the enabling legislation that was opposed by the major opposition party. The legislation was passed 30 votes to 28.

It is expected to become law on Monday when it is voted on in the House of Representatives where key Greens party and independent lawmakers have pledged their support.

The fiber optic broadband network was a major campaign issue at August elections that returned Prime Minister Julia Gillard's center-left Labor Party with a minority government.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott's conservative Liberal Party had promised a smaller, slower AU$6 billion network with a range of technologies including optical fiber, wireless and DSL.

Independent lawmakers said their support for Labor's broadband plan was a major reason why they supported Labor to form government. With the support of three independents and a Greens party lawmaker, Labor commands a single seat majority in the 150-seat House of Representatives where parties form government.

YouTube, French authors, filmmakers reach deal (AP)

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 02:33 AM PST

– Thu Nov 25, 5:33 am ET

PARIS – YouTube and top associations of French authors, filmmakers and other creative artists say they have struck an agreement to put more TV shows and movies online in France.

The deal with three major groups that represent creative talent in France paves the way for authors to get paid when their productions are put on Google's YouTube.

In the arrangement announced Thursday, YouTube is set to gain greater access to produced content and artists can benefit from greater protection for their craft in the new media landscape.

YouTube struck a similar deal with makers of music videos in France in September.

A French competitor of YouTube, DailyMotion, announced plans a day earlier to feed content from 20 TV stations.

Survey Finds Opera Mini Popular for Net Surfing, But Is It? (NewsFactor)

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 08:38 AM PST

Barry Levine, newsfactor.com Barry Levine, newsfactor.com – Thu Nov 25, 11:38 am ET

Young Opera Mini browser users are surfing the web more often from mobile phones than from a desktop or laptop computer -- even in several countries where smartphones aren't widely used. That finding from a new survey of more than 300,000 respondents may say a lot about Opera Mini users -- but not a whole lot about mobile users in general.

The report from Opera Software, called the State of the Mobile Web, found that the United States, Poland, Germany and Brazil had "the highest percentage of respondents using desktop or laptop computers as the primary means of Internet access," even though those countries are ones "where smartphones are among the top handsets used."

'About Opera Users'

Additionally, the report found that more than 90 percent of Generation Y Opera Mini users in the developing countries of Nigeria, South Africa, and Indonesia used handsets to browse the web more than computers. Opera noted that these countries have fewer smartphones than, say, the U.S. and Germany. It said the results present "a challenge to the long-standing belief that smartphone uptake will be the major driver of mobile web usage globally."

But Avi Greengart, an analyst with Current Analysis, said any such conclusions from the report about the impact of smartphones on Internet usage has to be taken with a grain of salt. The reason, he pointed out, is that Opera Mini browser users are generally not smartphone users.

"Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Symbian devices all come with their own browsers," Greengart said. Users can also download Opera, he noted, but a survey conducted primarily through Opera Mini browser users is going to skew toward feature phones.

"I don't want to discount the value of this survey," he said, "but it's important to understand that the report's most valuable information is about Opera users, not phone users in general."

Text-Dating, Paper Newspapers

Michael Gartenberg, research director at the Gartner Group, noted that the distinction between smartphones and feature phones is blurring with each new generation of devices.

"The smartphone of today is the feature phone of tomorrow," he said. In addition, Gartenberg pointed out, many people are accessing the web through apps such as Twitter, rather than through a browser.

The report also points to some trends among younger users that vary by country. Asking someone out on a date through a text message is popular among this group in China, Germany and Vietnam, each of which had more than 80 percent of respondents admitting to such use. But users in the U.S. were the least likely among surveyed countries to text for a date, with only 44 percent having done so.

However, young users in China and the U.S. share at least one trait -- most of them don't read traditional newspapers. Fifty-three percent of respondents in the U.S. and 57 percent in China never or rarely touch paper-based newspapers.

Firemint posts preview of Real Racing 2 (Macworld)

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 05:30 AM PST

David Dahlquist David Dahlquist – Thu Nov 25, 8:30 am ET

The gaming world is currently busy gushing over Gran Turismo 5 for the Playstation 3, but iPhone owners will soon have their own next generation racing game to brag about.

Developer Firemint has posted a gameplay clip of its upcoming Real Racing 2 for iOS, the sequel to the company's acclaimed 2009 Real Racing game. The video shows the game running on an iPhone 4, with its impressive HD graphics running at a consistently high frame rate.

Real Racing 2 will feature a number of real cars, including the 21010 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, the 2006 BMW Z4 M Coupe Race Car, a 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 and more. Players will also get to enjoy an extensive career mode with over 10 hours of gameplay and the ability to buy and sell cars.

Firemint is shooting for a pre-Christmas release, and states that the game that the game's support will run all the way down to the iPhone 2G and original iPod Touchâ€"though it will of course run best on the iPhone 4.

[Hat tip: Kotaku]

Openness to virtual operators key in 4G mobile: France (AFP)

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 11:52 AM PST

– Thu Nov 25, 2:52 pm ET

PARIS (AFP) – Openess to virtual operators will be an important criteria in awarding frequencies for fourth-generation (4G) telecoms services in auctions next year, a French minister said Thursday.

France currently has three mobile network operators and a fourth is set to begin operating within two years, plus a dozen so-called virtual operators which buy bandwith from the network operators to offer services to the public.

"I want the attribution procedure for the frequencies to remain open to each of the four network operators," said Industry Minister Eric Besson at an industry conference.

However, the procedure to award the frequencies should contain "criteria that values openness towards virtual operators," he said.

"Competition remains the best gauge of the reasonability of prices and for innovation in consumer services in mobile telephony," the minister said.

Besson said other main criteria to evaluate bids for 4G licenses include ensuring full network coverage of French territory and increasing competition.

Smartphones, Twitter top Japan hit product survey (Reuters)

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 11:55 AM PST

– Thu Nov 25, 2:55 pm ET

TOKYO (Reuters) – Smartphones and Twitter were the hottest products in Japan in 2010 and travel and leisure were back on the menu, an ad agency survey showed, as penny-pinching consumers rediscovered their fun side.

Flat-screen TVs equipped for digital broadcasting placed fourth in Dentsu's annual "Hit Product Recognition Survey" and energy-saving appliances ranked eighth.

Overseas flights from Tokyo's Haneda airport, which resumed full-fledged international services for the first time in 32 years and grabbed headlines with a glitzy new terminal, placed sixth, the survey showed.

The 2010 soccer World Cup, in which Japan's "Samurai Blue" surprised by advancing beyond the group stages, placed ninth.

Japanese consumers have in recent years been forgoing the latest designer brands and cool gadgets in favor of bargain shopping as the economy continues to lag, but the latest crop of tech products has been generating considerable buzz.

Tablet information devices, such as Apple's iPad, came in at 19th, the survey showed, but rose to No.10 in a separate question that predicted hit products and services next year.

And don't forget the 3D boom: 3D movies, TVs and other 3D products placed 15th this year, and are expected to jump to No.6 next year, the survey showed.

On the other hand, the inexpensive retail merchandise that dominated last year's survey vanished from the top 10.

Low-priced domestic-brand fashions, such as those found at casual-clothing retailer Uniqlo, slipped to No. 13 from third place last year, and were absent from the top 20 list of next year's predictions.

Here are the top 10 items in Dentsu's 2010 Hit Products survey, conducted over the Internet earlier this month with responses from 1,000 people:

1. Smartphones

2. Twitter

3. Munchable chili oil

4. Digital broadcasting-equipped widescreen flat-panel TVs

5. Ryoma Sakamoto (a popular historical figure on whom a hit Samurai drama series was based)

6. International flight services at Haneda Airport

7. Tokyo Sky Tree (new broadcasting tower to be completed in 2012)

8. Energy-saving appliances eligible for a rebate scheme

9. 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

10. LED light bulbs

(Reporting by Chris Gallagher, editing by Elaine Lies)

How Online Classrooms Are Helping Haiti Rebuild Its Education System (Mashable)

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 10:30 AM PST

If Big-Rig Drivers Don't Behave, Software Will Log It All (NewsFactor)

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 08:26 AM PST

Adam Dickter, newsfactor.com Adam Dickter, newsfactor.com – Thu Nov 25, 11:26 am ET

Remember the bumper stickers on the backs of trucks and buses asking "How's my driving?" with a toll-free number to call in complaints about the operator's performance? These days, bosses don't have to depend on annoyed motorists to rat out their bad drivers.

Reports on actual speed compared to posted limits, driving behavior, and even inspection records and maintenance can be easily logged electronically and sent to a fleet dispatcher's database.

And as millions of Americans hit the highways to be with loved ones for the Thanksgiving weekend, a deal between the nation's largest wireless carrier and XATA, maker of fleet-compliance software, will make it easier for companies to track safety through drivers' cell phones.

Helps Reduce Accidents

Minneapolis-based XATA's Turnpike fleet management solution, available this week, is designed to help companies comply with the Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA10) initiative of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). That section of the Department of Transportation was established in 2000 to regulate the trucking industry and reduce commercial motor vehicle-related accidents.

"This is a critical software update," said Benigno Gonzalez, vice president of enterprise operations for Verizon Wireless. "With XATA's CSA 2010 fleet-management and compliance tools now available on the nation's most reliable wireless network, customers will have the driver and fleet information they need to help keep their employees safe."

Compatible with Research In Motion's BlackBerrys and other smartphones, XATA Turnpike, a fee-based subscription service, allows customers to access electronic logs to prevent inspection lapses or violations of hour-of-service restrictions as well as keep a scorecard of driver performance and get driving-behavior alerts.

XATA Turnpike data can also be integrated with the third-party applications businesses already use to manage their operations.

Drowsiness Threat

"The impact of CSA 2010 on a fleet's operations is enormous, so companies and drivers need to be well prepared," said Christian Schenk, vice president of product marketing for XATA. "With XATA Turnpike, Verizon Wireless customers will benefit from our industry and product expertise to help ensure CSA 2010 compliance and to better manage their trucks and drivers."

Robert Sinclair, a spokesperson for the American Automobile Association in New York, said software to keep track of drivers' road hours is particularly important.

"There are mandated federal limits on the hours that a trucker can operate a vehicle," Sinclair said. "So that kind of [information] is especially useful. A trucker who is up too long is subject to fatigue." An AAA study of accidents over a five-year period ending in 2009 found that 16 percent of fatalities were tied to drowsy driving.

According to the FMCSA's web site, the number of fatalities involving large trucks and buses in the United States has declined in each of the last three years for which statistics are available, from 5,116 in 2007 to 3,619 last year. The number of injuries has also declined, from 124,000 to 93,000, during the same period.

Microsoft Ditches Drive Extender, Customers Furious (PC Magazine)

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 12:00 AM PST

Samara Lynn - PC Magazine Samara Lynn - Pc Magazine – Thu Nov 25, 3:00 am ET

Microsoft recently announced the decision to drop the Drive Extender feature found in several of its server products, including Windows Home Server (code-named "Vail"), Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Server Essentials.

Drive Extender is a storage technology that enables the of use internal and external hard drives for additional storage on a server. Folder Duplication for specific shared folders on servers is one of the capabilities that allow for the maintaining of two copies of a shared folder on separate hard drives to help protect against the failure of a single hard drive.

Microsoft cites several reasons for the decision. Since SBS 2011 and Storage Server are business offerings, those customers will find storage alternatives in hardware RAID, and application compatibility and data portability solutions.

For Home Server users, the justification for dumping Drive Extender is that many "large hard drives of over 1TB are reasonably priced, and freely available. We are also seeing further expansion of hard drive sizes at a fast rate, where 2TB drives and more are becoming easy accessible to small businesses," according to a Microsoft blog post. "Since customers looking to buy Windows Home Server solutions from OEM's will now have the ability to include larger drives, this will reduce the need for Drive Extender functionality."

There has been significant outcry from users, even though Microsoft technical project manager, Michael Leworthy stated in the blog post that "we are 100 percent committed to Vail, and continue to work on all the core features outside of Drive Extender. We fully expect to be able to show some of our new and partnered OEM solutions at CES."

Many commenters on the Windows Home Server blog are denouncing the decision, with some referring to Drive Extender as a "core component" of WHS. Another responder posts that "Microsoft is abandoning the consumer market" and another replies, "this is the worst decision for the home user."

There's a consensus of discontent surrounding specific technical issues. One big gripe is the loss of the ability to dynamically add storage. A wariness of relying on a third-party solution to perform the same functions as DE also permeates the comments area. The ease-of-use and management of DE is causing much lamenting about its removal.

Many blog commenters are threatening to completely ignore Vail once it's released. It is interesting to ponder if Microsoft expected such a vociferous backlash and if any customer feedback contributed to the decision.

EU Broadband Take-up Pulls Ahead of US, but Speeds Still Low (PC World)

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 04:20 PM PST

Jennifer Baker Jennifer Baker – Thu Nov 25, 7:20 pm ET

European countries are outstripping the U.S. in terms of broadband take-up, but their broadband connections don't match the speeds of those in Asian countries.

Nine European Union member states -- Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.K. -- have broadband take-up above the U.S. level of 26.4 subscriptions per 100 individuals, the European Commission announced Thursday.

But Europe still lags behind Asian countries, particularly Japan and South Korea, in broadband speeds. In July, just 29 percent of E.U. broadband lines had speeds of at least 10Mbps, and only 5 percent of lines had average speeds at or above 30Mbps.

The Commission wants to see all broadband connections at speeds of least 30Mbps by 2020, and has set a target of at least half of European households subscribing to speeds above 100Mbps.

It plans to tackle this target with a focus on fiber-based next-generation networks. Currently only 1 percent of Europeans have a high-speed fiber Internet connection at home, compared to 12 percent of Japanese and 15 percent of South Koreans.

The Commission also wants to reassign radio frequencies for faster wireless services.

"We need to do more to reach our very fast broadband targets. In particular, we need urgent agreement on our proposal to ensure radio spectrum is available for mobile broadband, for which demand is growing very fast," said Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

The new statistics also show that between July 2009 and July 2010, the number of broadband lines continued to grow throughout the E.U. by 8 percent. As of July 2010 around 128 million of the total 220 million households in the E.U had fixed broadband lines. The Netherlands and Denmark continue to be world leaders in broadband take up with nearly 40 lines per 100 citizens, reaching about 80 percent of households. Greece and the Czech Republic made the most progress in per-capita growth in the last year.
at 9:47 PM

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