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MZA: Avaya Continues to Lead PBX Market

tomek@biz-news.com (Tomasz Czech) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 08:50:00 +0100

The latest figures released by analyst firm MZA have shown that the Corded PBX market (excluding Micro PBX products) increased by 16% in Q2 2010 compared to Q2 2009 at a global level. Avaya continued to lead the world PBX market, growing market share from 13% in Q1 2010 to 15% in Q2 2010.

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Originally appeared on VoIP Biz-News.com on 10/09/2010

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Privus Mobile Debuts Real-Time Caller ID and Text ID for BlackBerry

tomek@biz-news.com (Tomasz Czech) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:03:00 +0100

Privus Mobile, the Caller ID solution for BlackBerry smartphones, has released new features for its smartphone Caller ID application delivering real-time caller and text identification. Through this feature Privus Mobile announces the name of the incoming call or text for true hands-free operations regardless of whether the person is in the user’s contact list or not.

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Originally appeared on Smartphone Biz-news.com on 09/09/2010

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Skype Launches Channel Partner Program in the U.S.

tomek@biz-news.com (Tomasz Czech) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:55:00 +0100

Skype has announced the introduction of the Skype Channel Partner Program to help businesses who are looking to use Skype for their collaboration and communication needs. According to Skype, the goal of the program is to establish a qualified network of channel partners in the United States that can assist companies interested in using Skype “to improve their productivity and optimize their communication costs.”

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Originally appeared on VoIP Biz-News.com on 09/09/2010

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Leading Technology Companies Announce HD Voice Initiative in the U.K.

tomek@biz-news.com (Tomasz Czech) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:00:00 +0100

XConnect, Polycom, BroadSoft and Dialogic announced an initiative to promote the adoption of high-definition voice by service providers in the United Kingdom. Through workshops and cooperative communication and marketing, the HD initiative is designed to raise awareness and educate service providers about the benefits of HD voice and help them resolve implementation challenges.

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Originally appeared on VoIP Biz-News.com on 09/09/2010

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HP overhauls SANs, management software for SMEs

http://www.techworld.com/storage (Tech World) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:26:00 +0100

HP adds 10Gbit/sec. Ethernet option to its P2000 modular storage array

Hewlett-Packard has announced several product upgrades for its small and mid-sized customers, including a new version of its modular storage array with 10Gbit/sec. Ethernet ports.

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Brewery moves to private cloud with virtual storage solution

http://www.techworld.com/storage (Tech World) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:01:00 +0100

Heineken speeds up supply-chain process with Compellent Fluid Data

Brewing company Heineken Netherlands has turned to a private cloud environment in its data centre to help manage data growth, save on costs and space and to automate data management.

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EMC hints at mid-range storage system

http://www.theregister.co.uk/ (The Register) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 07:07:22 +0100

NX3e - e for exciting

EMC has signalled that a new mid-range storage system is coming - a low-end one in the $10,000-$75,000 area. We reckon it's the Celerra NX3e, and we're spilling the beans here.…

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IDC Reports Mixed Messages from Storage Software Market

http://www.eweek.com (Eweek) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:08:45 +0100

Year-over-year numbers show 3.3 percent growth, while quarter-to-quarter results indicate a 2.3 percent revenue decrease. - Industry analyst IDC reported Sept. 7 that the worldwide storage software sector enjoyed a small revenue gain year-over-year in the second quarter of 2010 but also that market numbers dropped a bit from Q1. In its quarterly Worldwide Quarterly Storage Software Tracker report, IDC said the storage...

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SoliCall Releases Personal PBXMate for SMB’s and Private Users

tomek@biz-news.com (Tomasz Czech) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:07:00 +0100

SoliCall, a provider of real time noise reduction and echo cancellation solutions for voice calls, has announced the release of a personal version of its enterprise level PBXMate product.

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Originally appeared on VoIP Biz-News.com on 08/09/2010

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Pliant Technology introduces multi-level cell (MLC) solid-state drives

Sonia R. Lelii ( ) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:57:56 +0100

Pliant Technology offers its first multi-level cell (MLC) flash solid-state drives; sees MLC and pricier single-level cell (SLC) devices forming enterprise performance and capacity tiers.

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Nokia N8 Offcially for Sale at the end of September

tomek@biz-news.com (Tomasz Czech) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:42:00 +0100

Nokia finally announced that Nokia N8, the company's long-awaited, flagship handset, will be on-sale in the last week of September for £429 SIM free or on contract from £35 per month.

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Originally appeared on Smartphone Biz-news.com on 08/09/2010

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EMC girds itself for low-end mid-range assault

http://www.theregister.co.uk/ (The Register) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:32:18 +0100

Due early 2011

EMC will introduce a new mid-range storage product in early 2011. EMC's chief financial officer, David Goulden, said the new product will refresh the low end of EMC's mid-range storage array product portfolio, currently supplied with CLARiiON and Celerra products.…

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Symantec reveals de-duplication appliance, cloud storage service

http://www.techworld.com/storage (Tech World) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:00:00 +0100

NetBackup 5000 can burn through 4.3TB of data an hour

Symantec has announced a new de-duplication appliance based on its existing software product. It also announced a cloud storage service for NetBackup and Backup Exec customers. The company also announced a new version of its archive software, Enterprise Vault 9.0, which combines email from Microsoft Exchange Online with on-premise archived content sources into a central repository for more comprehensive e-discovery capabilities.

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Pliant does MLC flash

http://www.theregister.co.uk/ (The Register) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:18:29 +0100

Cheaper flash storage array drives

The march of MLC flash into mainstream enterprise storage took another step forward today as Pliant launched its Enterprise Flash Disk (EFD) products.…

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VMware customers virtualize Windows apps with Hyper-V

Bridget Botelho ( ) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:51:47 +0100

IT shops are running business applications on ESX, but then frequently turn to Hyper-V when they virtualize their Windows apps.

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IT shops resist Oracle VM push

Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer ( ) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:47:33 +0100

Oracle's leadership wants to steer customers toward its Xen-based hypervisor, but users are forging their own path with VMware's vSphere.

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Symantec delivers NetBackup with data deduplication on appliance

Sonia Lelli ( ) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:02:16 +0100

Symantec ships its first NetBackup bundled appliance targeted for enterprise backup; also adds cloud connectors to NetBackup and Backup Exec software and adds eDiscovery upgrades to Enterprise Vault.

NetBackup - BackupExec - Data deduplication - Backup - Hardware

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The anatomy of a SAN: Fibre Channel SAN explained

Marc Staimer ( ) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:34:44 +0100

In part one of our series, we examine the features of a Fibre Channel SAN to help you decide if it's the best SAN technology for your SMB.

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Simplify virtual machine backup with image-level backups, CDP and near-CDP

W. Curtis Preston ( ) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:31:20 +0100

Learn how to simplify virtual machine backup with image-level backup, continuous data protection (CDP) and near-CDP in this column by W. Curtis Preston.

Backup - Virtual machine - Continuous data protection - Site Management - Freeware

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Best backup and recovery software: CommVault wins enterprise honor, Acronis top midrange app

Rich Castagna ( ) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:28:29 +0100

Learn who won the best backup and recovery software award from Storage magazine's Quality Awards program in 2010.

Acronis - Backup - Storage - Hard disk drive - Disk Management

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Druva delivers deduping laptop backup

http://www.theregister.co.uk/ (The Register) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:18:34 +0100

Outlook and Office-aware

Three-year-old start-up Druva is opening an office in the UK and delivering global deduplicating backup software for laptops. It's Outlook and Office-aware to reduce network transmission loads and provide user self-service restores, which Druva says Avamar cannot.…

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The Nature Conservancy and IBM Launch Program for Sustaining Watersheds

http://www.ibm.com/press (IBM Storage) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:01:52 +0100


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IBM'S World Community Grid Unveils Research Projects on Three Continents to Improve Water Quality

http://www.ibm.com/press (IBM Storage) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:01:23 +0100

IBM's World Community Grid, a worldwide network of PC owners helping scientists solve humanitarian challenges, today announced several computing projects aimed at developing techniques to produce cleaner and safer water, an increasingly scarce commodity eluding at least 1.2 billion people worldwide.


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Symantec stumbles, drops further behind EMC

http://www.theregister.co.uk/ (The Register) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:11:56 +0100

Shaky second quarter

The gap between EMC and Symantec storage software revenues is widening, according to IDC's worldwide quarterly Storage Software Tracker.…

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Hitachi GST: Sale or IPO?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/ (The Register) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:18:50 +0100

'Ere... wanna buy a high-ranking disk drive operation?

Opinion Hitachi is reported to be considering an IPO or sale of Hitachi GST, its disk drive operation, ranked third in the industry behind Seagate and Western Digital. How much is it worth? Who would want to buy it?…

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Logitech Revue and Google TV get very early blurrycam impressions

(Ross Miller) ( ) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:25:00 +0100

Well, what do we have here? Looks like a Logitech beta user was kind enough to (potentially break his NDA and) show off his early grab: the Google TV-infused Revue. What follows is a series of blurred photos that'd make the FCC weep, but all the same, who are we to critique news? The little unassuming box has HDMI in and out ports, a couple of USB inputs, ethernet, and SPDIF. According to the handler, installation was a "12-step process includes asking the details of your Google account, your physical location, TV, cable box, amp, and more." It works with any Harmony remote, an Android device (in this case, a Droid Incredible), or the packaged keyboard. That latter input we last heard was still in development, but it seems to be working fine right here: full QWERTY, a trackpad, all the necessary keys for GTV navigation. One more pic of the keyboard after the break, as well a video walkthrough.

[Thanks, Craig]

Continue reading Logitech Revue and Google TV get very early blurrycam impressions

Logitech Revue and Google TV get very early blurrycam impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Investors Enjoy Huge Takeaway in HP Buy of 3PAR

http://www.eweek.com (Eweek) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:09:01 +0100

ANALYSIS: CEO David Scott and venture capital firms Menlo Ventures, Worldview Technology Partners and Mayfield Fund will come away with many dollars when the deal is done. - In the aftermath of the out-of-control bidding war that recently concluded with Hewlett-Packard out-spending Dell at $2.35 billion for storage maker 3PAR, the winners undoubtedly are enjoying one of the sweetest Labor Day weekends of their lives. Those victors include CEO David Scott and venture ...

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Skype Introduces 10-Way Video Calling

(Dal) ( ) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:44:09 +0100

Skype — apparently pleased with its five-way beta group video-calling functionality — has just released a new version of Skype 5.0 for Windows that doubles group support. It now allows for up to 10 video callers.

Skype 5.0 beta two is already available for download; it includes 10-way video calls, automatic call recovery and a cleaner user interface. The update is also said to improve call quality and includes a number of bug fixes to make the overall experience much smoother.

Of course, the standout feature is 10-way video calling, something that certainly one-ups their own previous offering and makes it suitable for even larger virtual team meetings and mini family reunions. Of course, it also makes Gmail’s (Gmail) video-calling functionality look like the ugly step sister — a proactive move on the part of Skype (Skype) to combat recent buzz surrounding Gmail Voice Calling.

Still, Skype does caution that 5.0 is beta, and hence, very buggy. It’s also limited to Windows (Windows) users, and 10-way video calls require all group chatters to be using the same second beta version of the app. Have you tested out five-way video calls? Are you ready to upgrade to the 10-person variety?

Source

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Inception European Limited Edition Blu-ray (w/ briefcase) listed for December 6

(Richard Lawler) ( ) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:13:00 +0100

After The Dark Knight, there's no doubt many Blu-ray fans can't wait to see Christopher Nolan's next blockbuster on their HDTVs, and now the Inception special edition has been listed for pre-order in the UK. Specs confirm Warner will include its Maximum Movie Mode where the director walks you through key moments of the film and two digital comics that serve as prologues to the film's events. The packaging itself is also special, with a case resembling the PASIV (Portable Automated Somnacin IntraVenous) device that controls dreams in the movie, a spinning top to remind you when things are over and of course, DVD and digital copy version. Play.com lists a December 6 release date, here's hoping the US gets a similarly full-featured treatment for one of this year's biggest movies.

Inception European Limited Edition Blu-ray (w/ briefcase) listed for December 6 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic locks up Avatar Blu-ray 3D release for 2010

(Richard Lawler) ( ) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:07:00 +0100

Confirming earlier rumors and despite Fox's denials Panasonic representatives told TWICE and CNET we can expect a n exclusive offering of Avatar on the Blu-ray 3D format in "early December." Naturally, the 3D blockbuster is expected to push more than a few to make the jump, but this is nothing but bad news to those with televisions from other manufacturers like Samsung and Sony. There aren't many other details available yet, like if equipment outside of 3DTVs qualifies, or how much it might cost, so for now we'll just let the disappointment of yet another 3D exclusive wash over us.

Panasonic locks up Avatar Blu-ray 3D release for 2010 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IDC Reports More Double-Digit Growth in Disk Storage Market

http://www.eweek.com (Eweek) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:12:57 +0100

The total disk storage systems market grew to $6.8 billion in revenues, representing 20.7 percent growth from 2009's second quarter. - Worldwide sales of disk-based storage arrays, which leveled off only briefly during the last two years of a difficult macroeconomy, climbed a healthy 21 percent in the second quarter of 2010 over the same period a year ago, industry researcher IDC reported Sept. 3. For the quarter, the total d...

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Philips Dimenco glasses-less 3D TV of the future, hopefully our future

(Thomas Ricker) ( ) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:15:00 +0100

The problem with the future is that it's always 3 to 5 years away. Nevertheless, what you're looking at is what Philips and Dimenco, a small company of ex-Philips engineers, say will be coming to the consumer television market as early as 2013 -- earlier if you're in the professional advertising business or just want to view your family photos on a small 3D photo frame. Just remember that Philips has been showing off variations of the glasses-free technology behind this prototype lenticular lens television for years, so we're not getting our hopes up. Nevertheless, Dimenco assured us that the path to the consumer market for its 3D display is clear.

So how did it look? Well, it was ok, we guess. It doesn't have that in-your-face pop of the current generation of 3D televisions that require 3D glasses. The effect is more subtle (or maybe the content was). Our biggest problem was with the sharpness of the display. Although the 56-inch prototype CCFL LCD was 4k (that's 4 times the resolution of your Full HD TV) the image we saw was coarse in appearance due to the lenticular lens required to refract the left and right images for each eye. Having said that, the lenticular lens technology used is certainly better suited for non-stationary viewing. While the border around objects on the screen tended to shift quickly and blur (see the video after the break) when looking at the panel frombetween any of its 15 viewing angles (spread across a 120-degree arc), at least it didn't exhibit those horrible dark vertical bands seen when changing your angle even slightly while viewing 3D panels based on the parallax barrier method of glasses-less 3D. Still, it was hard to find the viewing sweet spot and honestly, given the option to sit in front of this display and a 4k panel "limited" to 2D, we'd have to opt for the latter. Get back to us in 3 to 5 and see if we feel the same.

Continue reading Philips Dimenco glasses-less 3D TV of the future, hopefully our future

Philips Dimenco glasses-less 3D TV of the future, hopefully our future originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hewlett-Packard beats Dell, pays $2.35 billion for 3PAR

Dave Raffo ( ) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:03:52 +0100

Hewlett-Packard outbids Dell and will pay $2.35 billion for storage array vendor 3PAR; HP needs to determine where 3PAR's products fit in its storage strategy while Dell considers its next move.

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Plex announces paternship with LG, pledges to beat Boxee Box and Apple TV for free

(Tim Stevens) ( ) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:26:00 +0100

We're excited about the Boxee Box, and the new-look Apple TV is intriguing, but no single box is as good as a box that doesn't exist yet does the same stuff. Confused? Sit down, let us explain. That's the point Plex is making in announcing its new partnership with LG, which will integrate Plex software into its 2011 Netcast HDTVs and Blu-ray players. Plex enables the same sort of functionality as those smart little boxes mentioned above, letting you serve content from a machine running OS X and push it to your TV or to a mobile device (iPhone and iPad right now, Android coming). Plex also supports all the major online streamers, like Netflix, Hulu, and even the BBC iPlayer. Lack of PC support is something of a bummer, but a Windows version is said to be coming, so even your beige box can soon get in on the box-free fun.

Continue reading Plex announces paternship with LG, pledges to beat Boxee Box and Apple TV for free

Plex announces paternship with LG, pledges to beat Boxee Box and Apple TV for free originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Disk storage is bouncing back, IDC says

http://www.techworld.com/storage (Tech World) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:16:00 +0100

HP leads enterprise disk market, but won't get a boost from 3Par

The market for enterprise disk storage systems grew strongly in the second quarter, continuing to recover from a slump brought on by the economic slowdown of 2008 and 2009, research company IDC said on Friday.

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HP and EMC vie for disk storage lead

http://www.theregister.co.uk/ (The Register) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:32:29 +0100

IBM looking peaky

IDC's latest quarterly disk storage tracker shows EMC and HP competing for the market lead, with EMC growing faster than HP. NetApp is growing faster still but has a lot of ground to make up.…

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HP, 3Par sign definitive merger agreement

http://www.techworld.com/storage (Tech World) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:15:00 +0100

3Par's shareholders have until 24 September to tender their shares in favour of the deal

Hewlett-Packard and 3Par have signed a definitive agreement for HP to buy the California storage vendor for US$2.35 billion, the companies said Thursday.

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SageTV puts $150 HD Theater 300 up for pre-order, breaks down the specifications

(Darren Murph) ( ) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:42:00 +0100

Whoa, welcome to the new decade SageTV! Nearly two full years after introducing the HD Theater HD200, the aforesaid company is hitting back with the HD Theater 300 -- and frankly, the timing couldn't possibly be worse. Last month, a $149.95 price tag on a no-name streamer may have looked attractive, but with the revised Apple TV and price-adjusted Roku line, we get the feeling this one will be a hard sell. At any rate, this new networked set-top box boasts a non-stackable design, a Toslink optical audio jack, HDMI 1.3 socket, a pair of USB jacks and an Ethernet connector. It also supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD/MA (which means you're cleared to bitstream to your HDMI 1.3 receiver), but you'll need to pony up an extra $29.95 for a WiFi dongle. Yeah, bummer. The outfit suggests that you turn this critter into a whole home DVR solution by running SageTV Media Center software alongside of it, but you should probably know that you'll have some trouble if trying to shove DRM'd content through it. It's available for pre-order down in the source link if you're interested.

[Thanks, Tom]

Continue reading SageTV puts $150 HD Theater 300 up for pre-order, breaks down the specifications

SageTV puts $150 HD Theater 300 up for pre-order, breaks down the specifications originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung's 50-inch 720p PN50C490 3D plasma on sale now for under a grand

(Darren Murph) ( ) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:56:00 +0100

Looking to spoil yourself with a fancy new 3DTV? Ain't got the cash to go all-out? Hello, compromise. Samsung's 50-inch PN50C490 -- which we peeked just a few weeks ago -- is now shipping from Amazon, Best Buy and a slew of other local consumer electronic marts if we had to guess. As a refresher, this mid-sized HDTV has a 720p resolution, 2,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, no internet connectivity to speak of, a USB socket, three HDMI inputs, a pair of component jacks and support for the third dimension. It's up for grabs today at just $989, but you'll probably want to budget a few extra hundies for that Samsung 3D Starter Kit (not to mention a few 3D Blu-ray Discs).

[Thanks, James]

Samsung's 50-inch 720p PN50C490 3D plasma on sale now for under a grand originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBM Paves the Way for Smarter Products and Services Innovation in the Consumer Electronics Industry

http://www.ibm.com/press (IBM Storage) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:09:38 +0100

At IFA 2010 IBM will showcase how it can help Consumer Electronics (CE) manufacturers shift to a services-based business model to provide better device management, enable the quick development and launch of new value-added service capabilities and find new revenue streams. (IBM is in the IFA TecWatch area, Hall 8.1, Booth #15)


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Toshiba StorE TV+ drive connects up to 2TB of media directly to your HDTV

(Richard Lawler) ( ) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:23:00 +0100

Feel like connecting a HTPC or even one of the many streamers to your HDTV is overkill? Toshiba's new StorE TV+ is prepared to quietly retain up to 2TB of media (in various formats, check after the break for specs) until called upon, when it can play them back via HDMI, no connected PC required. It can also connect to PCs or other DLNA devices (like, coincidentally enough, Toshiba's new HDTVs) networked via Ethernet and the included WiFi dongle or load files directly from memory cards and USB drives. Even with all that, a lack of access to internet video sources makes the £199 MSRP a tough sell even ith 2TB of space at the ready, but if it works its way into a TV bundle then there may be buyers willing to bite when it ships next month, while an eSATA hard drive only StorE.D10 model will follow later this year for an unknown price.

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Toshiba StorE TV+ drive connects up to 2TB of media directly to your HDTV originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba finally dives into Blu-ray 3D with BDX3100 player, offers up BDX1100 if stereo's not ...

(Sean Hollister) ( ) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:26:00 +0100

Seems like Toshiba bit off more Blu-ray 3D than it could chew this year -- the Japanese firm's just announced that the new BDX3100KB will be its first set-top stereoscopic player, never mind the BDX3000 it announced at CES. Still, we're willing to forgive and forget if the new machine (replete with DivX and MKV playback, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround, and instant playback of AVCHD footage from connected camcorders) makes it stateside sometime soon -- both it and the relatively boring BDX1100 standard Blu-ray unit are presently slated for a UK release (at unspecified prices) in October of this year. PR after the break.

Continue reading Toshiba finally dives into Blu-ray 3D with BDX3100 player, offers up BDX1100 if stereo's not your style

Toshiba finally dives into Blu-ray 3D with BDX3100 player, offers up BDX1100 if stereo's not your style originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba Camileo S30 and P20 pocket camcorders get touchscreens

(Nilay Patel) ( ) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:15:00 +0100

Toshiba's launching some new Camileo pocket HD camcorders at IFA, and hey -- just like everything else in the world, they've sprouted three-inch touchscreens. Both offer 1080p recording and 10x digital zooms with HDMI out and support for 64GB SD storage; the £139 ($214) S30 comes in a more standard form factor that's 19mm (.7 inch) thick and features eight megapixel still photos, automatic exposure control and image stabilization, while the £119 ($183) P20 comes in a pistol grip package and takes five megapixel stills. The P20 will hit in October, while the S30 is set to arrive in January, so it makes perfect sense for Toshiba to announce it now, in September. PR after the break.

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Toshiba Camileo S30 and P20 pocket camcorders get touchscreens originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba goes all LED with new HDTVs at IFA 2010

(Richard Lawler) ( ) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:00:00 +0100

Besides that Android tablet, Toshiba's brought a whole slew LED-lit LCD televisions to IFA 2010. The REGZA WL Series is the company's first range of 3DTVs, available in 40-, 46- and 55-inch sizes (pictured above) with LED backlighting, 7,000,000:1 contrast ratios, it 3D Resolution+ upscaling tech and one pair of active shutter glasses bundled with each one. They're also DLNA enabled and ready for Windows 7, with the Toshiba Media Controller software making streaming content as easy as dragging and dropping a file. The rest of the lineup includes the high end VL series with LED backlighting, midrange REGZA 42SL738 42-inch HDTV and edge-lit SL738 series LCDs in smaller sizes from 9- to 32-inches. Check the press site or YouTube trailers embedded after the break for more details, and don't be surprised to see the 200Hz motion technology, millimeter measurements, DVB-T tuners and BBC streaming while these are due in October across the pond, we'll be keeping an eye out at CEDIA for US-bound variants.

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Toshiba goes all LED with new HDTVs at IFA 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Roku XD and Netgear Roku XD Player hit the FCC

(Nilay Patel) ( ) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:33:00 +0100

Well, well, what's this? Looks like Roku has some bigger plans for hitting back at the $99 Apple TV than just price cuts of its own: a Roku XD and a Netgear Roku XD Player just hit the FCC. That's right, Netgear -- Roku's expanding its platform to third parties. We don't know if these two devices are standalones or designed to work together, but we're guessing they're standalones; the Netgear unit might blend in some of the Digital Entertainer line's support for local playback and services like PlayOn, YouTube, and CinemaNow. Of course, the big question is going to be price, since if these are substantially more thatn the Apple TV's 99 they're going to have to offer some major features, but we should be finding out what's up soon enough: the confidentiality on these docs lifts October 23.

Roku XD and Netgear Roku XD Player hit the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Time Warner Cable deal brings ESPN to mobile devices and PCs

(Ben Drawbaugh) ( ) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:59:00 +0100

Here you were worried that you wouldn't be able to watch ESPN this weekend when the current agreement expires, only to find out that not only did the deal get done, but it brings lots of cool new ESPN products to Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks customers. The most notable is that, in addition to ESPN3.com, customers will be able to stream linear programing from the most well known ESPN networks to your PC and other mobile devices. The deal also includes the addition of ESPN 3D, the new Disney Junior, more ESPN VOD content than we can cover, and a new channel called ESPN Goal Line (essentially The RedZone channel for college football). No hard dates on when any of this wil go live, but certainly a great deal for sports fans, and for everyone else, thanks for paying extra so we can get our fix.

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New Time Warner Cable deal brings ESPN to mobile devices and PCs originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Crestron offers new MTX-3 wireless touchpanel remote

(Dal) ( ) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:38:52 +0100

The MTX-3 offers seamless interaction with AV and environmental systems, providing true feedback of all settings, and displaying metadata information for all digital media. Crestron’s infiNET EX wireless technology provides reliable two-way communications throughout a residence or commercial structure utilising a 2.4 GHz mesh network.

A complete infiNET EX network uses the lighting dimmers and other devices throughout the structure as wireless relay stations, each receiving and passing on wireless commands to the central gateway.

Every device that is added to the network effectively increases the range, strength, and reliability of the entire network by providing multiple redundant signal paths, ensuring that every button press is executed instantly and consistently.

The MTX-3 can also communicate directly with the gateway if no other infiNET EX devices are installed. Up to six MTX-3s can be assigned to a single gateway.

Source

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Cisco making a play for Skype?

(Dal) ( ) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:36:11 +0100

Cisco is reportedly looking to buy Skype before the Internet phone provider goes public. The blog TechCrunch posted over the weekend that Cisco made an offer for Skype before it completed its IPO process. The site attributed the unconfirmed information to "reliable sources."

It would be a multibillion purchase as Skype is looking to raise $5 billion in its initial offer, according to TechCrunch.Cisco declined to comment. Skype was not immediately available for comment.

The acquisition would be key to Cisco's thrust into the unified communications and collaboration, and consumer markets. It would bring to the company what is now a free and consumer friendly voice and video capability to augment the IP telephony and unified communications systems it now provides to corporate enterprises.

Integrated with a device such as the Flip pocket videocamera -- which would need an Internet access connection like the expected Wi-Fi capability -- Cisco could offer a handheld voice/data/video device for the consumer and perhaps enterprise market.

Source

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Apple Just Gave Bandwidth Providers a Present

(Andy Abramson) ( ) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:07:13 +0100

Apple has conquered the wireless world with the iPhone and iPad. Now they want to do to the cable industry what they have done to the wireless carriers. Forced them to get bigger pipes to deliver more big file content, more quickly. The announcement yesterday about streaming video is a dream come true for those of us in the streaming media world. And it's well timed. Add to it that more and more Apple devices can now handle this type of content more easily, all the way from laptops down to iPods, iPads and iPhones, and you have a perfect storm scenario that the providers of connectivity have to be ready for. In my view the cable industry is, but the wireless world is not. The only solution is WiFi.

Docsis 3.0 can deliver speeds up to 100 megs to the home. That's more than enough to do what Apple is doing with the concept of on demand video. But the wireless carriers are between the proverbial rock and a hard place as they can only build out so fast, while the cable guys simply lay more fiber. This is why Cablevision has had the right idea, and why Comcast and Time Warner are jumping on the WiFi bandwagon too. And, contrary to the perception that access to WiFi needs to be free, the cable operators are only letting their paying customers on the WiFi networks, and from all reports from friends in those MSO's areas with WiFi, the experience is nothing but as good as being at home.

This is where Apple is seeing it's future. Not simple over 3G and 4G though having a CLEARwire, Rover or unlimited AT&T wireless broadband account just got more valuable as the concept of content on the go, on demand shifts the entire paradigm around consumption. Currently Verizon Wireless sells their 5GB bundle for $59.99, which includes hotspot access where the download capacities are unlimited. That's about four HD one hour TV programs or two feature films. Like the cable operators, both AT&T and Verizon have recognized the need for WiFi offload. But Sprint and T-Mobile have both forsaken that path as Sprint selling of their limited WiFi business to Boingo and T-MO basically shutting down their WiFi efforts other than to maintain some legacy airports, airport lounge and hotel accounts. For AT&T they had to go out and buy Wayport, while Verizon has figured out how to creatively deliver hotspot access to their wireline broadband customers while their wireless data card software for PC's and Macs manages access to many hotspots as well.

But when you see Steve Jobs call the iPod touch a phone, not once but twice, you know Apple is saying "find anyway to connect, we'll get you the media" and that means voice, video or audio as best as it can be.

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HDi Dune Pro media player invites home automation to the party

(Richard Lawler) ( ) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:09:00 +0100

Billed as "the world's first Blu-ray player to support Connected Home Services" the HDi Dune Pro debuts the company's HDi Dune Home Technology that pulls the usual suite of home automation functions -- media management, cameras, thermostats and the like -- to the TV screen. On display this week at IFA, it follows up the BD Prime by being both a capable Blu-ray player and media streamer (check format support after the break) with a 3.5-inch SATA HDD port and 7.1 channel audio support. European home automation heads can experience the 4Home-powered technology for 1990 at the end of October, while all others can check out the main site for a list of resellers around the world.

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HDi Dune Pro media player invites home automation to the party originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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