Articles about Philips

One of my favorite things is my Philips Sonicare toothbrush. While I used to think folks that spent so much money on a fancy toothbrush were a bit crazy, my dentist always recommended it. I ended up receiving one as a Christmas gift, however, and I couldn't be happier. The Sonicare not only makes my teeth feel cleaner, but is more hygienic, thanks to the UV light holder for the replaceable head.

If you take your dental health seriously, and value a quality toothbrush, Philips has a new product that will make tech nerds giddy. The Sonicare FlexCare Platinum Connected is a smart toothbrush that connects to your smartphone using Bluetooth and can even map your mouth. Is this needed innovation, or just overkill?

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When buying a computer monitor nowadays, there are many things to consider. While you might think the bigger the better, you would sort of be wrong. For a monstrous display, you also want a high resolution to go with it. A 43-inch monitor with 1080p, for example, would have blurry text and provide a poor overall experience.

Today, Philips releases its all-new Brilliance 43-inch Ultra HD LCD display to the USA market. This 4K monitor should prove wonderful for many things, such as gaming, photography, CAD, and general-use too. Best of all, the price tag is rather reasonable.

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Buying a monitor can be quite the daunting affair. Not only are there many styles to choose from, but various resolutions too. While 4K monitors are all the rage, some operating systems, such as Windows 10 and some Linux distros, are not optimized for higher resolutions. Text and icons will appear small, and increasing sizes in the OS can cause some programs to display blurry text. In my experience, only OS X scales well to high res monitors.

Keeping that in mind, it is understandable if you are willing to put up with those concerns, as images, movies and games can be absolutely gorgeous on high-resolution screens. Today, Philips announces a beast of a monitor -- 34 inches, curved, with a resolution of 3440 x 1440. While less than 4K, this resolution offers a very wide view.

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Notebooks are wonderful for their portability. I often use a laptop to work in my car, coffee shop -- heck, anywhere really. When at home, however, I like to interact with a large monitor, keyboard and mouse. While I can connect multiple peripherals with USB, and a display with HDMI, this can result in a huge mess of wires. Docking stations can help remedy this, and there are many such options on the market.

Today, Philips announces a very interesting new product that takes the docking station a step further. You see, it is a computer monitor with an integrated docking station. By connecting a single USB 3.0 cable, you can transmit video and audio, plus utilize USB peripherals and gigabit Ethernet.

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Yesterday was the big day for Apple Watch, and also a big day for companies looking to capitalize on the hype and sales. We've seen Amazon jump on board, along with many others. Now the top lighting manufacturer in the world is getting into the game also, as Philips announces that it will be offering customers the chance to control their Hue lights right from their wrists.

Hue, if you aren't familiar, is a line of lightbulbs that are internet connected and can be controlled from multiple devices -- Apple Watch is the latest.

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Anyone who's tried to connect a notebook to a big screen for use in meetings or presentations knows it can be a process that's fraught with difficulty, particularly when it comes to finding the right connection and cable.

The latest release from electronics giant Philips solves this problem by offering simple, one-plug access to desktop equipment, networks, intranet and internet via a single, super-speed USB cable.

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When it comes to PC gaming, hardcore enthusiasts will do anything to get an edge. Extremely high-end graphics cards can cost thousands of dollars. The custom computers built by these gamers can rival the price of a nice used car. They will even buy dedicated sound cards and Ethernet cards to offload minimal CPU cycles just to squeeze out a tad more performance. In other words, money drives performance in PC gaming -- you must pay to play. However, once you build the ultimate gaming PC, with a top of the line mouse and keyboard and all the newest games, what is left to buy? A monitor of course.

A monitor's specs can vary from one to another and for many users, most screens will be "good enough". However, for the hardcore PC gamer, there is never "good enough", only the best. While 4K monitors are all the rage lately, they are not ideal for gaming, as performance takes a massive hit when driving such a resolution. Until 4K gaming becomes the norm, gamers must look elsewhere. Philips has an interim solution with its new 27-inch hardcore gaming monitor. What makes this monitor so special? Read on...

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A pact unveiled at CES around Rhapsody -- a joint venture between RealNetworks and MTV -- and Dutch-based manufacturer Philips looks likely to benefit both sides in the young and promising market of music players.

In the still largely untapped international music player market, Rhapsody will now gain a hardware device that could put it within closer reach of Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's Zune site, while Philips will get an online platform for selliing a new brand of consumer device in North America.

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Philips is preparing a digital video recording system called Personal TV Channel, which could be seen as a competitor to TiVo.

While the device works much like a standard DVR, Philips hopes the way the product determines your preferences will attract consumers. Whereas TiVo Suggestion requires a good deal of input before it works correctly, setup in Philips' DVR is much easier.

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Philips and Energizer have collaborated to produce a cellular phone that would run off a standard 'AAA' battery once the phone's traditional battery runs low. Called the Xenium NRG, the phone also takes advantage of special battery management technology produced by Israeli company Techtium. The battery can be of any brand or type, the company says.

If the battery inserted is rechargeable, when the phone is plugged in to charge both the standard battery and the AAA battery would both be charged. Approximately three extra hours of talk to would be available, the company says. The NRG includes technology that is also used in Energizer's Energi To Go product, a portable cell phone charger introduced last year.

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Philips Electronics said on Friday that nearly 12,000 plasma TVs it sold in the United States are vulnerable to overheating, and plans to visit customers' houses to replace the faulty component. Consumers will be contacted directly, and Philips declined to say how much the fix will cost the company.

A Philips spokesperson downplayed the seriousness of the problem, saying the move was simply a "precaution" and noted there is no fire risk. Only 42-inch and 50-inch sets sold in the United States are affected by the overheating. Plasma TVs have surged in popularity over the past year as prices have continued to fall, but production problems have plagued electronics companies trying to keep up with demand.

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When it comes to television, bigger is better -- at least according to Korean electronics giant LG and its Dutch partner Philips. LG Philips on Wednesday unveiled a 100-inch LCD screen, which is 1.5 times larger than an 82-inch model built by Samsung Electronics last year.

Although such a large display is likely never to reach consumers, companies in the LCD and plasma TV industry have used them to highlight their technological prowess. "Our development of the 100-inch LCD panel reaffirms that LG Philips LCD is the global leader in large-area LCD technology," said LG Philips executive vice president Yeo Sang-Deog.

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Intel and Philips have announced that they will work together to bring new entertainment systems to the market built on the chipmaker's platform. Intel will provide the software, processor and chipset for Philips devices that will allow the user to store and share multimedia content.

The units will run on Windows software and at first will closely resemble a standard PC. However, in an interview on Friday, Intel's Don MacDonald said the company expects that to change over time.

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Philips added two new players to its digital music lineup on Thursday, boasting more capacity, PlaysForSure compatibility and color screens to allow users to store and view JPEG photos.

The GoGear HDD1630 and HDD6330 will have 6GB and 30GB capacities. For navigation, both feature backlit touchpads as well as Philips SuperScroll technology that allows a user to quickly navigate through their song collection.

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Windows Media is continuing its march to ubiquity. Electronics manufacturer Philips has signed a pact with Microsoft to include Windows-based digital rights management technology in its semiconductors and consumer products. Microsoft has already forged similar deals with a number of other hardware makers.

The agreement means Windows Media Video and Audio version 10 will be natively supported by hundreds of products, including digital media receivers, personal video recorders and portable audio players, which use Philips' Nexperia family of multimedia semiconductors.

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