Comcast announces open cable standards one day early
Comcast Corp. Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts is slated to give a keynote speech at CES, and according to an Associated Press story this morning, he's going to be speaking about the "tru2way" initiative.
Sharon Fisher, BetaNews Senior CES Analyst: Formerly known as OpenCable or OCAP, the purpose of the specification is to enable electronics manufacturers to make industry-standard equipment regardless of the cable provider. Such compatibility would also make it easier to develop equipment that can transmit back to the cable network as well as receive from it (hence the '2way' part of the name), which would provide interactive services.
Samsung tries to extend DTV transition onto cell phones
In case music, games, and video weren't enough, vendors are now vying for the opportunity to send digital television signals to your mobile phones.
Samsung is announcing later today updates to its development of Advanced-VSB (A-VSB), which is its standard for mobile digital television. It is an open standard and the company wants to have it complete and available by next February, when the US transitions to all-digital broadcasting.
Panasonic raises the HD wireless connectivity issue
Scott Fulton, BetaNews: The big theme that's developing this year is high-definition connectivity. Essentially, the idea is that there will be many components to each video connoisseur's collection. How will they fit together in such a way that they can be convenient to the consumer and perpetually profitable for the various companies involved?
We asked our Senior CES Analyst, Sharon Fisher, to take a look at Panasonic's first big entry in this field, WirelessHD. Sharon?
Analysis: Making Up Sony's PlayStation 3 Sales Gap
In examining the margins between Sony's end-of-2006 sales goals for PlayStation 3 and the actual numbers reported this morning by NPD Group - the accounting for which, Sony told BetaNews today, makes sense if you count those PS3s still on trucks - Parks Associates analyst Michael Cai told BetaNews there could be more serious factors at play...or at work.
There were several factors behind Sony's debacle, said Michael Cai, an analyst with Parks Associates.
PlayStation 3 Barely Eclipses Two-Thirds of Sales Goals
The December sales numbers from industry analyst firm NPD Group for game consoles have just come in, and they aren't pretty. Sony, beset by supply problems, reduced its initial August prediction of 2 million down to 750,000, and in the end didn't even make that - the company sold 490,700 units in the US in December, for a total of 687,300 since launch.
Of the season's new game consoles, Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the leader, with 1.1 million sold in December for a total of 4.5 million since launch, with Nintendo's Wii following with 604,200 in December and a total of 1.1 million since launch.
Cisco Sues Apple Over 'iPhone' Trademark Use
Cisco had said yesterday that it had been in negotiations with Apple to license the iPhone name, which it was using in connection with its Linksys Internet phone, after repeated requests by Apple, and that with the announcement of the iPhone, they expected Apple to agree to its conditions and sign the agreement that day.
Apparently they didn't.
Idaho Governor Abandons Sweeping Rural Broadband Access Plan
An aggressive plan to roll out broadband Internet access service for rural areas of Idaho was apparently killed today, as evidenced by a lack of appropriation or mention of the project in the state's new governor's State of the State address this afternoon.
Some of us in Idaho were particularly disappointed to listen to new Governor Butch Otter's State of the State speech today, in which he laid out his proposed budget for the upcoming legislative session. Last year, the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor received $5 million in one-time funding, which brought broadband Internet to 73 new communities.
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