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Samsung Blue Earth Cellphone has Built-in Solar Charger
Tweet Share on Facebook February 17, 2009 Comment (12)Another twist from Samsung: The back of the touchscreen Blue Earth phone is covered with a solar panel. It's another approach to getting power without plugging in. Like the upcoming Powcell sleeves for the iPhone and BlackBerry Curve, the panel is meant for topping off a battery.
The phone's eco cred includes being made from recycled plastic from water bottles. It's scheduled for release in green-conscious Europe later this year.
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Samsung Memoir Cameraphone Carries Steep Price
Tweet Share on Facebook February 17, 2009 Comment (4)T-Mobile put a $250 price on its upcoming Samsung Memoir, the cellphone with an 8-megapixel camera. The handset will start selling Feb. 25.
The price seems steep for a non-smartphone (and is after a $50 rebate and with a 2-year contract). But at least the camera is making a good impression. Sachsa Segan got a first-hand look at the Mobile World Congress, the year's largest cellphone conference, and posted his comments at Gearlog:
I took a bunch of photos with the Memoir and compared them to shots taken with the Canon PowerShot SD870IS, an 8-megapixel dedicated still camera with excellent image quality. With outdoor shots, you have to zoom in to the pixel level to see any real difference between the two cameras, which is truly impressive. At that level, you see that the Memoir's shots are ever so slightly brighter and less defined than the Canon's - but it's a tough call for an unpracticed eye.
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Cellphones to Get Common Chargers, But Not Apple iPhone
Tweet Share on Facebook February 17, 2009 Comment (2)We might finally be getting some recharger relief: Major cellphone makers say they'll adopt a common connector for charging cables. That'll cut down on the hundreds of millions in chargers that get tossed every year when we buy new phones.
The new chargers will also be more energy efficient, the trade group GSMA said at a conference in Europe.
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Confirmed: A Third of TV Stations Will be Digital Tonight
Tweet Share on Facebook February 17, 2009 Comment (1)As predicted, more than a third of the nation's nearly 1,800 TV stations will be all-digital after midnight tonight. Regulators released the list of 641 stations that will shut off their analog signal tonight, or have already.
Congress recently extended the deadline to turn off analog broadcasts until June. But many stations want to switch anyway to save money by turning off one of the two signals they now are broadcasting. The FCC had said it was concerned some markets might be without analog broadcasts from any of the top four TV networks.
That will be true in about 20 markets. But stations there have agreed to broadcast an analog channel that carries news and emergency information.
Expect other stations to make the switch before June. Without planning for it, Congress has created a rolling, disjointed, and even more confusing transition.
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TV Makers Flee Shrinking Market
Tweet Share on Facebook February 12, 2009 Comment (1)Shakeup in the TV world: Pioneer getting out altogether, and Vizio is dropping its plasma lines in favor of LCDs. Consolidation is to be expected after a drop in TV sales during the fourth quarter. Shipments of TV sets in North America fell 7 percent compared to a year earlier, according to preliminary data from DisplaySearch.
Vizio is abandoning the end of the market that is growing as pocketbooks tighten. Because they tend to be cheaper than LCDs, plasmas were the only segment to grow in shipments over the fourth quarter of 2007.
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Blu-ray Prices Falling as Studios Get Wise
Tweet Share on Facebook February 11, 2009 Comment (4)Studios appear committed to lower prices on Blu-ray disks, according to an analysis of the market by Josh Dreuth at Blu-ray.com:
Since late last year, studios have been reevaluating their Blu-ray strategy in order to speed up consumer adoption of the format. Sure, Blu-ray sales have continued to rise since the beginning of the year, but studios want the high definition format to replace DVD, not commingle with it. DVDs no longer provide studios with the buckets of money they used to, and rampant piracy in Asia and South America are robbing them of bottom line cushion.
I disagree with his view that Blu-ray players have also come down enough in price. Appealing prices can be found, but they're not on cutting-edge players with all the features. Still, it's good to see studios figuring out that high prices threaten to kill Blu-ray in the face of growing competition.
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Vudu Cuts Price in Half to $150
Tweet Share on Facebook February 11, 2009 CommentThere seems an air of desperation in Vudu slashing the price of its set-top box by half to $150. Or maybe a change in plan, as suggested by Wilson Rothman at Gizmodo, who notes the company has gone through a couple of round of layoffs:
...the remaining warm bodies are focused on a third-party software for existing devices (like, hopefully, Xbox 360 and other consoles!!). This is probably what they should have been building in the first place. So when we hear there's a sale, we don't think "success"—we think "going out of business."
Vudu's is the best movie download service I've tried, with a great interface and high-quality video. I hope they survive, if only as an add-on to other devices.
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Google “Favor” Shows We Need Palm Pre vs. Apple iPhone
Tweet Share on Facebook February 11, 2009 Comment (14)Google's reported favor in dropping multitouch support from its Android phones emphasizes why we need the Palm Pre to succeed. Palm flicked two fingers at its Silicon Valley rival and says it's ready to fight any legal claim that Apple might mount over its multitouch patent.
Google's fingers, meanwhile, are stuck in so many pies that it runs into inevitable conflicts. The VentureBeat report summed up a few, including Google wanting to keep its search, maps and other services on Apple's iPhone.
Palm's is a purer play in handsets. It has more motivation to buck Apple and force a healthy airing of the iPhone maker's multitouch claim.
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Deal of the Day: $43,000 for 103-inch Plasma TV
Tweet Share on Facebook February 10, 2009 Comment (4)Hurry, only one discounted floor model left at Sixth Avenue Electronics. Knocked down nearly 40 percent off list price, the 103-inch Panasonic comes with a built-in HDTV tuner and weighs 485 pounds.
Or be a stick in the mud like folks at fatwallet.com who complain about the lack of an HDMI port, or that the set only displays 1080p. Or who whine about the recession.
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More Than a Third of TV Stations Will be Digital Next Week
Tweet Share on Facebook February 10, 2009 CommentNearly 700 TV stations want to have all digital broadcasts by the original deadline next week. That's more than a third of the 1,800 or so stations affected by the transition, and a higher number than earlier estimated.
Federal regulators today released a list of 491 stations that want to make the switch by Feb. 17. That was the original deadline for all stations to make the transition. Congress last week moved the deadline to June, but stations can turn off their analog broadcasts early. Another 190 stations will have made the change before Feb. 17. Regulators may stop some stations from turning off analog signals if they decide it's against the public interest, perhaps for safety reasons.
The high number underscores the confusion that will beset consumers next week. Two stations in my St. Louis market want to make the change, including the ABC affiliate. That means their signals, but only their signals, will disappear from old sets that don't have digital tuners.
