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Samsung & GPEG Invent Video Wall With No Gaps

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According to reports, by using either 40 or 46-inch Samsung digital information display panels, a video wall that removes the unsightly gaps found with other LCD solutions can be constructed.


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Electronicstalk says that the GPEG International VideoWall combines “easy installation and service with high brightness 700cd/m2, a high contrast ratio of 1200:1 and a panel resolution of 1366 x 768”.

The report notes that the VideoWall is fully featured and its “inbuilt computer accepts video signals from VGA through WXGA to WUXGA in either Pal or NTSC. Supported inputs include HDMI, DVI (HDCP) and RGB”.

The graphic-based OSD “supports five languages and the LCD brightness is controlled automatically by the built in light sensor or by manual control”, says Electronicstalk.

The VideoWall software is designed to allow a single image to be displayed across the whole screen area or a series of different images displayed on individual screens or a combination of both.

According to the report, the potential applications include “point of sale advertising in shopping centres; A/V systems and interactive displays in hotels and casinos; and information displays for dealers and traders in financial institutions”.

Telstra Launches Interactive 3D TV

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Telstra has unveiled a 3D TV initiative for the retail sector designed to engage new media savvy consumers at point-of-purchase.

The 3D TV initiative offers a communication medium that engages the new media savvy consumers in retail environments at point-of-purchase, with viewers being able to engage with powerful 3D content without having to wear polarising glasses, in what Telstra calls “Next Dimension Working” for its enterprise and government customers. Other content clips include purpose-built advertising, product information and brand messages for Telstra to demonstrate the power of this technology to the market.

 Telstra Enterprise and Government’s Executive Director – Convergent Sales, Paul Geason said: “Imagine the application of this technology to a traditional and crowded media space to create a new direct communication channel for organisations to engage and inform their customers about new products”.

 Telstra’s Retail Media Solutions partner, Prime Digital Media (PDM) has created purpose-built product and brand messages to demonstrate the power of this technology to Telstra’s enterprise and government customers. The flat-panel plasma display demonstrates a coming together of Telstra’s cutting-edge media comms and network capabilities, as well as PDM’s advanced 3D content production capabilities.

 Julie Frikken, PDM Creative Director said: “What looks like a regular plasma TV at first glance surprises and engages customers with content that reaches out and invites customers to look again. 3D TV will fundamentally change the rules and scope for communicating messages to the marketplace.”
 
 
 
 
 

 

Thin Solution For SOHO Planned

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Sun Microsystems has announced it will work with a local ISP to deliver a thin-client system with StarOffice and a bundled broadband connection. Could Scott McNearly’s dream of thin client networked computing finally be ready for prime time?

The technology certainly has had time to mature and the increasing spread of broadband makes such a hardware/service bundled feasible.

Sun Australia managing director Jim Hassell told The Australian the bundle would be launched once pricing has been worked out.

Subscribers would be equipped with a Sun Ray 170 thin client with 17in screen and could include monthly bills for data storage and include software such as Star Office and Sun Java desktop, and security features.

The deal is targeted at home and small business users looking for a managed solution they can pay for by the month.

 

 

Aggressive CE Push For ViewSonic

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Display vendor ViewSonic has Yvonne Zhao, formerly of Ingram Micro, to the position of Marketing and Sales Director for Australia and New Zealand.

With nine years experience in channel marketing to her credit Zhao will be required to lead ViewSonic’s distribution in an aggressive push into the CE market for 2006.

Yvonne Zhao’s new role will see her travelling extensively within Australia and New Zealand, with the aim of building new relationships with resellers and extending the reach of the ViewSonic business.

“The main attraction for me was to take on a role in a more challenging environment and to jump out of my comfort zone, stepping into the next phase of my career,” said Yvonne Zhao.

“This opportunity combines facets of my past jobs I have always wanted to assimilate into one role – sales, marketing and relationship building. I am looking to leverage my firm relationships with sales channel partners, built in my time with Ingram Micro, to have a greater impact on the growth of ViewSonic’s business.”

Zhao’s first goal is to expand the digital TV business into the retail channel by promoting new consumer technologies like the new HDMI LCD TV range and professional 1ms technology.

Yvonne previously studied at Xian foreign Language University in China, as well as University of Technology Sydney and the University of New South Wales. Graduating with a Degree in Economics and Travel, Masters Degree of Management Business Admin and a Certificate in Business Frontline Management

 

20-inch LCD TV Sub-$900

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ViewSonic will set a new price point when it releases the N2010 in time for Christmas.

The display specialist says the 20-inch LCD TV, which will be available from early December, delivers vivid colours and sharp, life-like images with 500 nits of brightness and a 500:1 contrast ratio.


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Featuring multiple connectivity options – including composite, component and S-Video – you can use the screen for cable, game consoles, DVD players and camcorders. Compatibility with EDTV progressive scan DVD players, along with an advanced processor with reverse 3:2 pull down and 4H adaptive comb filter combine to provide optimum performance for viewing video entertainment.

An integrated 181-channel TV tuner, viewers can enjoy off-air television channels, as well as over 100 subscription channels. Two five-watt audio speakers are built-in and audio connections offer further enhancement for  adding surround sound, while parental control and closed caption options are available to help customise each user’s viewing experience.  The N2010 is wall mountable, making it ideal for installations where space is limited.

“Australian consumers now expect high quality entertainment at an affordable price when purchasing flat screen televisions for rooms beyond the living room,” said John Yeh, Country Manager, ViewSonic Australia.  “With the introduction of the N2010, buyers will enjoy a thin, affordable and stylish LCD TV that produces a vivid video experience for any entertainment environment.”

The ViewSonic N2010 has an RRP of A$879 Inc GST, Available from early December.

ViewSonic products are distributed in Australia by Synnex and Ingram Micro. For further retail stockists go to www.viewsonic.com.au.

Acer To Release New Chromebook

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TAIPEI – Acer is planning to launch a second-generation Chromebook in mid-October and hopes the cloud-based device will replace its netbook product line which is expected to soon be phased out of the market.
According to a DigiTimes newswire report, Acer and Samsung, which also recently-announced a second-generation Chromebook, are the only two major brand players aggressively promoting Chromebook-related products, promoted by Google.

Industry sources told DigiTimes the advent of Microsoft’s new Surface tablets are part of the reasoning that has prompted Acer to push second-gen Chromebook products, despite the miserable marketplace failure of its first-generation Chromebook.

Lenovo is also reportedly developing second-generation Chromebook products. Acer’s 11.6-inch Chromebook has already entered mass production with monthly shipments expected to reach as high as 200,000 units.

Asia

Acer has admitted its smartphone business will remain unprofitable until next year, but it aims to grow it by pursuing more deals with Chinese telecom carriers.

The Taipei-based company is in talks with Chinese carrier China Unicom that would see it offer Acer-brand smartphones.

Earlier this year Acer inked a deal to launch a smartphone through China Mobile, the world’s largest telecom carrier by subscribers.With one billion mobile phone users, according to research firm IDC, China is set to overtake the US as the world’s largest smartphone market, accounting for 27 percent of global shipments this year, compared with 18 percent for the US.

Ripper Q3 For AMD

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Maybe it’s the Opteron’s or maybe it’s just that the firms memory business didn’t drag it down this quarter, but AMD reported Q3 sales and profit figures that would make any investor smile.

Adobe Posts 21% Revenue Growth

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Adobe Systems’ financial results for its third quarter reached US$487 million down slightly sequentially but up 21 per cent year on year as Creative Suite sales kick in.

The company expects the good times to roll on with fourth quarter guidance suggesting 14 to 19 per cent year-over-year growth and a gross margin of approximately 94 percent (operating margin of 35 to 36 per cent).

With the Macromedia acquisition now approved by Adobe shareholders and the transaction expected to close this quarter, Adobe says the integration process is on track subject to regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of ‘other closing conditions’. Adobe is maintaining a Website as an ongoing source of information regarding the Macromedia acquisition.

“Solid execution drove another outstanding quarter of double digit growth in Q3,” said Bruce Chizen, Adobe chief executive officer. “These results reflect the overall strength of our business which, when combined with our pending acquisition of Macromedia, will position us for even greater success in the future.”

GAAP net income was US$144.9 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2005, compared to US$104.5 the year prior.

GAAP diluted earnings per share for the third quarter of fiscal 2005 were US$0.29 based on 507.8 million weighted average shares. This compares with GAAP diluted earnings per share of US$0.21 reported in the third quarter of fiscal 2004, based on 494.2 million weighted average shares, and GAAP diluted earnings per share of US$0.29 reported in the second quarter of fiscal 2005, based on 508.2 million weighted average shares.

Adobe’s GAAP and non-GAAP operating income was US$183.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2005, compared to US$140.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2004 and US$182.2 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2005. On a year-over-year basis, this represents 31 percent GAAP and non-GAAP operating income growth. As a percent of revenue, GAAP and non-GAAP operating income in the third quarter of fiscal 2005 were 37.7 percent, compared to 34.8 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2004 and 36.7 percent in the second quarter of fiscal 2005.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (PDF: 46k)
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (PDF: 30k)
Condensed Consolidated Statements Of Cash Flows (PDF: 30k)
Non-GAAP Results (PDF: 32k)

www.adobe.com.

 

Share Files Without A PC

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Using a petent pending technology dubbed FlashPoint Los Angeles-based Xmultiple has come up with a USB drives that can share data with other USB drives.

Taking the PC out of information sharing could have multiple applications. Called “Sharing-On-The-Go” (SOTG), the system offers a way to transfer information between USB dirves, MP3 players, digital cameras and the like without a host device. The drives have both a male and female USB connection to allow other devices to be plugged in to it.
The ShareDrives are small, lightweight devices and are powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and are available in 128k, 256k, 512k, 1GB and 2GB sizes.
The drives are available in Australia from electronics component distributor Braemac.

 

www.braemac.com.au 

www.sharedrives.com

Apple Drops Prices On MacBook Air

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While nobody was watching- or rather while we were all still mesmerised by the new iPhone 3G, Apple quietly reduced the price of its most expensive notebook, the MacBook Air by $500 in the US.


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The MacBook Air, which was launched in January and sold in two configurations – with a 80GB magnetic platter hard drive and a 1.6-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, or with a 64GB solid-state drive and a 1.8-GHz CPU has been lauded by some as a minor revolution in laptops, has now been cut in price by some 16 per cent.

And just as happened with the Xbox, which Microsoft dropped in price in the US, the savings flowed onto Australian consumers relatively quickly.

But although Apple rarely announces price reductions, this seems to be all part of Apple’s push to make its brand more palatable to the average price-savvy consumer.

Having aid that, it seems the rumours of Apple realigning its strategy to now take on the enterprise space may well be gaining some credence.

So now that the top of the range Apple notebook will be priced more or less the same as lets say an upper-end Toshiba, Sony or HP notebook and with the introduction of OS 10.6 in early 2009, which is designed to iron out the last remaining incompatibilities with back-end enterprise network apps, there will be no reason for some in the business world to forego Apple when considering the purchase of a notebook.

What will be interesting though, is will this be the last price drop Apple make or will the company, as it has previously, keep the same prices for its hardware, but just add more bells and whistles to keep sales ticking over.

The notebook space is all of a sudden getting very interesting.