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Comcast to Offer Web Video Service
Tweet Share on Facebook February 23, 2009 Comment (1)Cable provider Comcast plans to launch a Web service that will let its TV subscribers also get video online, Business Insider reports. Reports suggest other cable companies are planning similar efforts.
They are in talks with cable networks, which in the meanwhile have reportedly pressured Hulu.com to limit how its online video is distributed. But instead of online video, the real competition for cable companies is from satellite, reports Between the Lines. Cablecos hope to get a jump on satellite by offering online video to subscribers.
The cable networks, meanwhile, are looking for new outlets. Back in October, when it launched a streaming service with Netflix, a Starz spokesman described how the network was talking up the online approach with its affiliates -- cable and satellite providers. He said some were considering their own online video offerings. It looks like Comcast will be among the first.
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Blu-ray Gaining Traction Against DVDs
Tweet Share on Facebook February 23, 2009 Comment (1)Blu-ray should overcome a key hurdle by rapidly stealing market share from standard DVDs, says a new report. But overall, disk sales won't be growing as Blu-ray sales will barely offset falling sales in standard DVDs, says Futuresource Consulting.
The market for physical disks will remain flat through 2012. The growth for Hollywood studios will come from digital sales, either across the Internet or to mobile players.
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Pirate Bay is for Legal Swapping, and I'm Peter Pan
Tweet Share on Facebook February 20, 2009 Comment (29)A Pirate Bay exec made the startling claim that 80 percent of the material available for downloading through the service is legal to share online. He testified in a Stockholm trial where prosecutors are trying to shut down the file-swapping site.
Let me get that straight. People go to something called "Pirate Bay" to swap legal files. And the founders didn't choose that name to encourage piracy. Right?
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Google: The New Microsoft
Tweet Share on Facebook February 20, 2009 CommentMore reasons to compare the search giant to the software giant. Chipmaker Freescale and PC maker Asus are both talking about using Google's software, Android, for super-cheap netbooks. One story suggests they could sell for $100, others agree they'll be less than $200.
Meanwhile, reporters unearth comments that Google is a monopoly from the woman nominated to be the chief federal trust buster.
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Hopes Rise that Palm Pre Won't be Hogtied Like Apple iPhone
Tweet Share on Facebook February 20, 2009 Comment (9)Hopes are rising that Sprint won't have a stranglehold over the Palm Pre -- at least not as long as AT&T has hogtied the iPhone.
Palm this week quietly demoed a version of the upcoming smartphone that would run on GSM networks. Sprint runs on different technology, indicating Palm is readying the Pre for other carriers.
Now, Palm may only be preparing for a launch in European countries that use GSM tech. But a Reuters report says Sprint's exclusive agreement is at least through the end of 2009. Reuters' source wouldn't comment on next year, but bloggers are widely reading the story as suggesting the Pre would appear on other carriers next year.
Or it's all hopeful thinking. The Pre would benefit from wide distribution as it battles the iPhone. As much as the iPhone has been a success in the U.S. market, it's been hampered by its exclusive deal with AT&T.
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Hulu Move Suggests Internet Video Has Peaked, For Now
Tweet Share on Facebook February 19, 2009 Comment (7)News that Hulu is pulling its video from other services raises the specter that Internet video is running up against a wall. Hulu's CEO explains that providers of its TV shows and movies wanted them pulled from Boxee, nifty software that turns a PC into an Internet media center.
Cable companies are seen as pressuring Hollywood as they try to beat back competition from the Web. They had to fear that Hulu was quickly pulling Internet video from its PC closet to the family room, where cable makes its money.
It's clearly a setback for those of us who want to see shows and movies freed from cable's constraints. We'll see how long cable can keep its hands on the lasso.
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Apple Mac Quality Doesn't Sell in Hard Times
Tweet Share on Facebook February 19, 2009 Comment (4)Reports show that Apple's Mac sales are suffering more than competitors as consumers pinch their pennies, even as consumers love their Macs more than competitors.
NPD Group says Apple sales have fallen more than 30 percent over the past four months, according to ChannelWeb. The issues have nothing to do with quality, says NPD analyst Stephen Baker:
"Right now buyers are not looking for price and value," he said. "Something may not be the best product out there, but if it has a low price point they will be willing to spend."
That conclusion is reinforced by a report from ChangeWave Research that shows Apple customers much happier than others:
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Google Phone: Lack of News Is Bad News
Tweet Share on Facebook February 19, 2009 Comment (1)The recent Mobile World Congress left a sense that something's amiss in the Google phone world. It's been five months since T-Mobile unveiled the G1 to rave reviews. Nothing came at January's Consumer Electronics Show, and now little at the world's biggest gathering of wireless companies.
Only one new handset running Google's Android software was unveiled to compete with the original G1. The maker of that phone, HTC, is producing a new all-touchscreen model, the Magic, for U.K. operator Vodafone.
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Cheaper Plasma TVs Getting More Energy Efficient, Too
Tweet Share on Facebook February 18, 2009 CommentWhile there are fewer companies making plasma TVs, the flat panels won't roll over and die for LCDs.
I usually prefer the look of a plasma's picture with its richer colors and blacks.They also still bring the best bang for the buck, which helps explain why plasmas were the one segment that actually shipped more TVs in the fourth quarter than a year earlier.
Now plasmas promise a jump in energy efficiency that could rob LCDs of a key advantage. Samsung and Panasonic have said they'll deliver plasma models that cut energy use by nearly half. That would put them in the range of the energy that typical LCDs have used. Where a 42-inch Samsung plasma might gulp $90 worth of electricity in a year, a 46-inch LCD from Samsung might use half that, according to CNet data.
LCDs are getting more efficient, too. But the biggest gains come from new, expensive light sources. Samsung has said new LCD's with LED lights should cut a panel's energy use by 40 percent over conventional fluorescent lamps. But their premium price tags will widen the affordability gap over plasmas.
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ZTE Coral 200 Takes Solar Power to Where Outlets are Rare
Tweet Share on Facebook February 18, 2009 Comment (1)I've written that small solar panels, such as those coming on a new Samsung phone, are good for topping off a battery. But that few would depend on them for primary power.
I didn't take into account the developing world. Many countries have more cellphones than homes with electricity. They are the target for the upcoming Coral 200 Solar from ZTE. The Chinese manufacturer says the phone should sell for the equivalent of about $40, reported Singapore's Straits Times. The paper said ZTE has teamed with Digicel, a wireless company in the Caribbean, Central America and Pacific regions.
"In our lives (in the rich world), an interruption of power is a nuisance ... but it is infrequent," Digicel executive Tom Bryant told reporters. "But where we conduct business, the absence of power is a daily activity."
