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All the entries posted in January.
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Home > Plugged In > Archives > 2008 > January
January 2008
Dell lays off at least 1,200
Dell Inc. has confirmed it has laid off at least 1,200 people at its sales and support centers in Edmonton, Ottawa and Oklahoma City.
Itis not know whether today’s cuts will affect workers here.
A smarter carpet to catch a senior’s fall
My father has suffered a couple of falls — once while backing away from a wasp and a second from his foot being caught in a rut in the lawn. Each time it scared me. But this I didn’t know — that one-third of seniors fall each year and that such falls cause more deaths than any other injury.
An engineering professor at the University of Missouri is working on an invention to alert a caregiver quickly when a fall occurs.
Harry Tyrer has received $200,000 from the Alzheimer’s Association to develop a smart carpet that would electronically monitor a senior’s location and sound an alert in the event of a fall.
Tyrer’s smart carpet project is based a new type of sensor that can be printed on thin, flexible sheets. He’s also developing circuits that will feed the sensor sheet’s signals several times a second to a computer for display and electronic analysis by a caregiver.
It’s a great idea for a problem that most of us don’t think of as a killer.
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National Instruments stock gets a downgrade
National Instruments Corp. shares tumbled today on an analyst’s downgrade and the company’s cautious outlook for the first half of 2008 pulled down the stock.
Citi Investment Research analyst Terence Whalen dropped the shares to “sell” from “hold,” saying the tight link between National Instruments’ fortunes and global industrial spending would hurt the company as the U.S. economy slows. The Austin company reported earnings Thursday that missed Wall Street’s estimates, and its executives scaled back forecasts for the current quarter.
Its shares are “likely to see choppy trading conditions over the next several quarters,” Whalen wrote in a note to clients. He lowered his target price to $24 from $41.
Despite the expected slowdown in sales growth, National Instruments executives said Tuesday they would push forward with plans to expand their technical sales force globally. The highly trained salespeople work with fewer customers, but customers that buy higher-end, more technical and more expensive systems.
The expanding sales force will be key in National Instruments push into the higher-end graphical system design and embedded systems the company’s research and development staff has produced over the past five years. Those newer products have fueled sales over the past 18 months, and they take the company into markets that don’t rely as heavily on the ups and downs of the economy and purchasing managers index, which tracks industrial spending.
National Instruments shares closed Wednesday at $26.23, down $2.72 or more than 9 percent. It’s the stock’s lowest closing price since April 13, 2007.
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Dell shuts down U.S. kiosks
Dell Inc. will close all its kiosks in the U.S. as it shifts its retail focus to its growing partnerships with Best Buy, Wal-Mart and other store chains.
The computer maker first started opening kiosks throughout the U.S. in 2002 to give customers a chance to see and feel its products. The small shops, set up in malls, airports and other high-traffic areas, did not sell any PCs on site. Rather, customers could place orders online and have the products delivered to their homes or offices.
The kiosks became redundant this year as Dell entered partnerships with major retail chains with stores scattered across the U.S. It signed on first with Wal-Mart, added Staples a few months later and most recently announced it would sell some of its top-end consumer PCs in Best Buy stores.
Dell, long known for selling primarily online or over the phone, has looked to wrap new sales channels around the direct model as its revenue growth has slowed and its profits have slipped. The company also has set up Partner Direct, a program for technology re-sellers who buy computers, add their own bells and whistles, then sell them to end users.
Dell said the decision would not impact its kiosks in other countries.
Toshiba: HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray War not over yet
Now that we’re all trying to pay for the holiday gift giving we did, you might not be in the market for an DVD player that fits the high-definition format.
Many consumers were on the sidelines anyway because of the “HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray” war between Toshiba and Sony.
At the Consumer Electronics Show this month, Warner Brothers threw its support behind Blu-ray. Rumors abound on the Internet that Paramount will follow and that Best Buy has plans to phase out HD-DVD players.
Meanwhile, Toshiba has slashed prices but at least during mid-January, it didn’t help the slide in sales, according to Digitalbits.com.
So is it worth taking a chance and catching a good deal on a Toshiba player or wait a few months longer to see if Blu-ray actually is the winner?
Techcrunch.com: It’s Obama and McCain
Michael Arrington, the blogger who posts on the site, Techcrunch.com, has endorsed Barack Obama on the Democratic side and John McCain on the Republican side for president.
He’s a little late since the primary season has already started. But he’s still well-read in the blogosphere, ranking number 2 on Forbes’ Web Celeb Top 25 behind Perez Hilton.
He based the endorsement partly on a vote on the web site but also on how the candidates stand on technology-related issues such as immigration, mobile spectrum and the digital divide.
Obama got 61 percent of the votes; McCain only 16 percent, well behind Ron Paul who garnered a whopping 74 percent.
McCain’s endorsement is a bit of a surprise. In an interview with ABC recently, Arrington said all of the candidates seem to be tech-savvy except McCain, who says he doesn’t use a computer.
Don’t you think the president should at least be able to do a Google search? Here’s an interview this morning with Arrington on Fox News where he talks about his picks.
One of these guys is not like the others…
Bill Gates, Bono and Michael Dell show off the new collection of (Red) computers from Dell Inc. at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Dell and Microsoft will send part of the proceeds from the (Red) product sales to the Global Fund, an organization that fights AIDS among women and children in Africa. Bono, the lead singer of rock band U2, co-founded (Red) to help raise money for the fund.
See today’s story and the post on Direct2Dell.
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Fighting the battle against email
I received a not-too-subtle reminder from our systems manager at The Post that I’m hoarding too many emails.
The space I’m allotted is 182,585 KB so if I’m approaching that, I really can’t squawk.
I found a blog entry at Lifehacker.com that gives some good advice on how to keep your email cleared. It’s not easy but here goes.
The blog suggests dividing your email into three activities: follow up (mail that require some sort of action), archive (mail needed for long-term reference) and hold (mail you temporarily hold because you’ll need quick access to it in a few days).
Other email, respond to immediately.
So, let’s say you follow these rules and empty your in-box. IN YOUR DREAMS. But if you can, Lifehacker reminds you to keep it empty by never leaving a read email in your inbox, at least not for long.
Let me know if you have any success with this. It will take me days to clear my inbox.
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Vois.com sponsoring Milka Duno’s race car
A new social networking site based in Boca Raton, Vois.com, is sure to gain some exposure with this tried-and-true method.
It is sponsoring the Number 11 Pontiac Riley Daytona Prototype race car at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
That’s Milka Duno’s car. She’s the Venezuelan bombshell who was the first woman to win a major international race in North America by capturing the overall win at the Grand Prix of Miami in 2004.
She’ll certainly catch a few stares. But will that push new sets of eyes to www.vois.com?
HBO to offer programming online
More people are watching television broadcasts online. In fact, it’s doubled since last year to almost 16 percent, the Conference Board Consumer Research Center said.
Those surveyed said convenience and avoiding commercials were the top two reasons.
The growth wasn’t lost on HBO. The premium cable channel will start this week to offer about 400 hours a month in programming to its 29 million subscribers.
It will be available only on PCs, content can’t be downloaded to portable devices and it expires four weeks after it’s downloaded. Still, we may be seeing more announcements like this in the future.
Do you think people will eventually make the computer the primary TV appliance? Or will they do more computing on their TV?
For women, Internet trumps family and friends for health advice
In a sign of how integral the Web has become to daily life, women are more likely to turn to the Internet for health information than ask friends and family, a traditional source for such advice. This tidbit comes from comScore in its latest survey of all things digital.
Medical professionals are still the top source for advice, with 82 percent of women saying they pose their questions to doctors, pharmacists and other healthcare workers.
But Web sites come in at No. 2 with 60 percent, ranking above “friends, family and significant others,” a category chosen by 51 percent of those surveyed.
The survey, designed mainly to find out how women get information about birth control decisions, also found that 85 percent of women using the Internet have researched women’s health issues online and 63 percent have gone online for information about contraception.
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MacBook Air: Thin, stylish and flawed
Steve Jobs did it again — upstaged the Consumer Electronics Show. At least that’s what some bloggers at Wired say.
The blogosphere has been abuzz about the MacBook Air, which was unveiled at the MacWorld this week. The thing was pulled from a manila envelop. It’s that small.
Alright, we get that it’s the thinnest laptop in the world. Light and stylish. One blogger at MacWorld.com called it a really big Nano. It sports a solid-state hard-drive which could make for less computer crashes.
Now for a few of its flaws. A trap door under the computer contains the USB, DVI and headphone ports. Some bloggers found that awkward. Typical of some Apple products, such as the iPhone, the battery isn’t removable.
Five hours of battery life makes that less of an issue. But if a manufacturer says its laptop has five hours of battery life, it usually mean four. Does everyone have that nit to pick?
$1,800. Is it worth it? One Mac user is an Air hater. A blogger with the handle, Ashcraft, complained that heavy users will be buying plenty of peripherals to get their work done. Meaning more expense.
A quick pros-and-cons review can be found on Eweek.com.
High-tech companies goes green by going blue
Everybody’s talking about technology companies going green. How about one going blue, as in deep-blue sea?
A new Silicon Valley company, International Data Security, is planning to convert 50 decommissioned cargo ships into floating data centers around the world.
It will use sea water to cool servers, cutting energy costs by 30 percent over traditional storage centers.
The first is expected to be stationed off of San Francisco’s Pier 50 sometime in April, the Ars Technica Web site said. I wonder how one of them would hold up in a hurricane zipping across one of Florida’s ports.
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Microsoft powers ads for digital grocery carts
First Vista, now in the produce section?
Microsoft says it’s working with Plano, Texas-based MediaCart and Wakefern Food Corp., the owner of ShopRite supermarkets, to bring targeted promotions to the next advertising frontier: your grocery cart.
MediaCart’s computerized carts, which have been tested in ShopRite stores, have a screen that allows shoppers to locate products, view specials in particular aisles, read recipes and nutritional information and use a shopping list uploaded from home.
Microsoft’s technology allows the cart screens to show ads targeted to customers when they swipe their supermarket cards. The ads and promotions are based on past purchases or the uploaded shopping list.
The companies make a point of saying the technology will be anonymous, with no identifying information shared with advertisers, MediaCart or Microsoft.
Good to know for trips down that potato chip aisle.
(Photo: MediaCart)
The Internet gets political
More people are turning to the Internet than they did four years ago to find out about the presidential campaign.
The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press says only 13 percent of Americans used the Web to learn about presidential candidates in 2004. Now it’s almost one-quarter. And it’s 42 percent for the 18 to 29 age group.
Newspapers and cable news networks held steady during that time at 31 and 38 percent, but nightly news and local TV each slipped a few points.
One site is making it easy to figure out who’s the right candidate for you. Reader Susan Rosen emailed me a link to http://glassbooth.org/, where you can take a quiz and find out which person most likely mirrors your political views.
It asks what issues are most important to you and whether you oppose or support universal health, more domestic surveillance, a timetable for a troop pullout of Iraq and other hot-button questions.
I don’t cover politics, so I guess it’s okay to say that my candidate match was Dennis Kucinich followed by Mike Gravel and John Edwards.
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Another top exec out at Microsoft
First Bill Gates, now Jeff Raikes.
Microsoft Corp. just announced one of its longest-serving executives, Jeff Raikes, is retiring.
Raikes, 49, joined Microsoft in 1981 - six years after the company’s founding - and has long been one of the most visible top guys at the world’s biggest software company. He currently serves as president of Microsoft’s business division, but in the past helped run Microsoft’s Office division, its worldwide sales and other operations.
Along with president Steve Ballmer, Raikes is a trusted lieutenant to founder Gates, who himself is planning to leave the daily operations of Microsoft later this year. Microsoft said it has hired Stephen Elop, formerly chief operating officer at Juniper Networks Inc.
Read Microsoft’s announcement here.
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CES: Play guitar - without a guitar
You may have heard of the immensely popular Guitar Hero video game.
Now comes what could very well be the goofiest gadget of CES 2008.
Strap the Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker around your waist, strum a plastic pick in front of your new sensor-equipped belt buckle and suddenly you’re rockin’ out with an electronic air guitar. You’re also looking pretty wacky: Air Guitar Rocker makes singing karaoke seem sort of normal.
The set-up comes with a little amplifier-speaker that connects to your belt and ten guitar riffs you can play along with. Songs are included from bands like - what else? - Van Halen (“You Really Got Me”) Boston (“More Than A Feelin”) and Deep Purple (“Smoke On The Water”).
Perhaps the coolest thing about Air Guitar Rocker is the price: $30 from www.jadatoys.com
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Popularity of video-sharing sites soaring
You’re not the only one watching movie trailers and the adventures of Darth Vader’s younger brother Chad on YouTube.
The Pew Internet & American Life Project just announced that traffic to video-sharing sites on a typical day doubled in the past year.
A phone survey completed in December found that 48 percent of Internet users have been to such sites, up from 33 percent a year earlier. The survey also found 15 percent of people had been to video-sharing sites “yesterday” up from 8 percent at the end of 2006.
Of people who record their own video, 14 percent post some videos online, about three times as many compared to early 2006.
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CES daily gadget: Discgear
LAS VEGAS - Okay, so it’s not exactly high-tech. But some of the best stuff at the International Consumer Electronics show this year are products to organize all the high-tech goods we already have.
One such gadget comes from an Austin, Texas-based company called CD3 Inc. that was started by some ex-IBM engineers. 
The Discgear “Selector” safely stores all of your CDs or DVDs and then lets you select whatever movie or music you want by sliding a little lever in the front of the box.
Browse your entire library by moving the lever slowly, or quickly find a particular flick or album by moving the lever to the number from a corresponding list of all titles that slides out from the base of the box. Create or update your customized list by visiting Discgear’s Web site.
At $20-$80, Discgear’s Selectors aren’t as affordable as, say, a shoebox, but they sure work a lot better and cut down on the clutter. www.discgear.com
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CES: GM unveils new concept car
General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner just unveiled his company’s next green-car prototype, a Cadillac crossover concept vehicle it calls Provoq.
The zero-emission vehicle will have a 300-mile range and will run on both hydrogen and electricity, according to Wagoner. It has two charging points, on either of its front fenders, that can be connected to a home outlet in a garage. Another feature: Solar panels that can be used to charge accessories.
Wagoner gave no timetable or pricetag for the the Provoq, but it’s probably a long way off.
GM is still working on its other energy efficient-minded car, the Chevrolet Volt that will run on both electricity and gas. Wagoner said more than 200 engineering are working on Volt full-time, but many car-industry watchers say it’s still three to five years away at best.
Wagoner didn’t give any other updates on Volt during his keynote, but hinted that he hoped to have an announcement soon. In the meantime, he said GM is continuing to work on increasing its output of ethanol-based vehicles.
The unveiling of Provoq was the first-ever car debut at the International Consumer Electronics Show.
CES: Elvis lives!
It’s Day Two of the International Consumer Electronics Show. More importantly, it’s the birthday of Elvis. As if you didn’t already know.
Here where the King once reigned, CES attendees could mark the moment at the almost-famous statue of Elvis outside the Las Vegas Hilton between meetings and the gadget-fest next door at the adjoining convention center. As you can see, somebody was even good enough to bring him some balloons and a happy birthday banner. (I have no idea who the guy waving is, by the way - but he’s almost certainly a fan).
Back when he was flesh and blood, Elvis performed 837 consecutive sold-out shows at the Hilton (then called the International) beginning in 1969.
His last show there was in December 1976, two years after the first-ever Consumer Electronics Show.
Happy Birthday, Elvis.
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CES: Gamers get the best seats in the house
Some of the best seats — or at least one of the most fun ones — in the Consumer Electronics Show house are the gaming stations set up by Voodoo PC, the high-end PC maker that’s now subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard.
The company is showing off its Blackbird gaming rigs with a full sensory experience in a tricked-out chair.
That’s nothing compared with what’s in store for the future, says Ravi Sood, one of two brothers who founded Voodoo, which is based in Calgary. Sood says since H-P bought Voodoo, he gets a sneak peak at what the folks in the H-P labs are up to. He sees a much more “immersive” experience for PC-game fans in the future - beyond even the setup they have at CES.
Gamers “all over the planet” will love the new setups, he says.
Dell held two receptions Monday evening, one real and one virtual, and the mix added an interesting twist to the usual meet-and-greet.
While people mingled and a band played live at Dell’s booth on the CES show floor, a singer/songwriter and a gathering of avatars met in Second Life, the online virtual world. It got interesting when both parties started mingling.
Several of the live folks at CES used the Web cam in the new Dell Crystal monitor to interact with the people gathered virtually on Second Life. And avatars there who touched posters on the walls got a virtual version of the Crystal displays to put in their Second Life homes.
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CES: Intel’s Otellini says mobile Internet could be as significant as advent of television
LAS VEGAS - There’s a whole lot of hype about the mobile Internet at the Consumer Electronics Show this year - and nobody is hyping it more than Intel Corp.
Paul Otellini, CEO of the world’s biggest semiconductor maker, is just about to take the stage here for a keynote speech in which he’s expected to show off new prototype mobile Internet devices - part computer, part Web browser, part Internet-protocol mobile phone - and explain how Intel wants to “put the Internet in your pocket.”
Otellini isn’t holding back with the hyperbole.
“We’re now in the midst of the largest opportunity to redefine consumer electronics and entertainment since the introduction of the television,” he predicted in prepared remarks.
Intel plans to roll out its smallest and most feature-packed mobile microprocessors, code-named “Menlow” sometime this quarter. Already, at its booth here, it is showing off a dozen or so prototype ultra-mobile computers (UMPCs in geek-speak) and other mobile Internet devices (MIDs) that are based on early Menlow designs.
Earlier Monday, Intel also announced it has begun selling 16 new chips and chip sets for bigger computers based on its 45 nanometer technology. Among the new products are the first 45 nanometer processors for notebook computers.
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Green is the theme at consumer electronics event
LAS VEGAS — Environmental awareness has become one of the rising themes at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show. Michael Dell hit on it last year when he announced Dell Inc.’s “Plant a tree for me” project. This year, Dell has a booth specifically geared to environmental issues, including a wall where people can write about what green means, in their view. Hewlett-Packard Co. also set aside a wide section of its sprawling show-floor both for computer recycling issues. The company has focused its message on energy efficiency, recycling and the use of more environmentally friendly materials. But the computer makers are just a sample. More and more companies throughout the show floor are featuring their greener sides this year.
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CES: Card moves your digital photos wirelessly
LAS VEGAS — WiFi is all but ubiquitous these days, but the Austin, Texas-based WiFi Alliance is still pushing new developments. One of the more interesting ideas the group was showing at the Consumer Electronics Show came from a company called Eye-Fi Inc., based in Mountain View, Calif. Eye-Fi makes a memory card, like the ones you use with a digital camera. Only this company’s cards also include WiFi functionality. Set the camera by your computer, and the card can zip your photos over without a wire or removal of the card. As Eye-Fi’s Web site puts it: “It automatically uploads pictures from your digital camera to your PC or Mac and to your favorite photo sharing, printing, blogging or social networking site. No cables, no waiting, no hassles.” Not earth-shattering, perhaps, but one step more convenient (especially if you, uh, forget a cable to connect your phone and PC. Not that I, uh, would ever do that.).
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CES daily gadget: Garmin Forerunner 405
LAS VEGAS - The outfit whose gadgets give you driving directions now wants to keep you on the path of regular exercise.
Garmin International Inc., the Global Positioning System (GPS) company, is unveiling its newest GPS-enabled watches for runners and bicyclists at the Consumer Electronics Show here, and they’re pretty cool.
Garmin’s Forerunner 405 watches won’t give you directions like a standard GPS system. But they will automatically track your speed, distance, heart rate and location by constantly linking to GPS network satellites. Change settings through a touch-sensitive bevel around the watch face.
After a good run, wirelessly connect your watch to your computer and log your courses, your miles and swap tips with other Forerunner users through a Garmin Web site.
Other companies offer similar gadgets. But Garmin claims its is the first to incorporate GPS, touch technology and its online system - and look good doing it.
Cost: $300 ($350 with heart rate monitor) Availability: Major retailers beginning this week More info: www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/us/ontofitness
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CES: Yahoo goes (more) mobile
LAS VEGAS - In his first major public address since retaking the reins as CEO of Yahoo, company co-founder Jerry Yang just announced a major makeover for the search giant’s presence on cell phones and other portable gadgets.
Yang and Marco Boerries, executive vice president of Yahoo’s Connected Life division, just showed off the company’s new “Yahoo Go 3.0” software for phones here at the International Consumer Electronics show.
The software, which can be downloaded for free - eventually onto more than 300 brands of mobile phones - comes with a rolling “carousel of widgets” that runs along the bottom of a cell phone screen. The button-like widgets give instant, one-click access to information like weather reports, maps, e-mail and calendars. Also among the rolling links is one for Flickr, Yahoo’s photo sharing site. Users can also get instant links to MTV news, eBay and other sites. Users can also customize their mobile Internet home pages so they get instant info every time they open their cell phones - the latest sports scores, e-mails or the next event on their calendar.
To make money on the service, Yahoo plans to sell display advertising, so along with checking your calendar or the latest sports scores, you might also have to get an ad for a new clothing line or movie. The ads, Boerries and Yang say, will be dynamic: Store ads might come with links to a map to its location, for instance, or an ad for jeans might come with a little questionnaire so you can figure out what size and style might be best for you.
Also as part of its mobile strategy, Yahoo is launching a developer program to help software companies develop their own widgets for the Yahoo Go 3.0 platform.
Yahoo’s new mobile push, of course is partly defensive. Apple’s iPhone kick-started the latest mobile Internet craze among tech companies. And Yahoo arch-rival Google Inc. last November announced a new alliance to make its software more widespread on cell phones. Google also is widely expected to launch its own “G-phone” device later this year and perhaps even get into the wireless service business like Verizon or AT&T.
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CES: International show, West Coast flair
LAS VEGAS - The Consumer Electronics Show bills itself as an international event - and it truly is.
Sitting next to me in the Hilton Las Vegas Theatre right now awaiting a keynote by Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang is a guy from Austria and reporters from throughout Asia. They’re some of the 140,000 attendees from 150 countries expected at the giant electronics show.
The U.S. companies showing off their latest here hail primarily from one region, however: The West Coast.
About 900 companies exhibiting at CES come from Western U.S. states, according to sponsor Consumer Electronics Association - more than all the rest of the country combined. Not surprisingly, California, home to the tech industry’s capital, Silicon Valley, leads the way.
About 170 companies at CES hail from Southern states, including Florida, Texas and Georgia.
About 250 come from the Northeast; 125 from the Mid-Atlantic and 160 from the Midwest.
Even though Las Vegas is a long plane ride from Florida, companies such as Hollywood, Fla.-based Straight Wire say they think it’s worth it to be here.
Straight Wire, a television and audio cable company, has been exhibiting at CES for more than 20 years.
“Due to the large number of international and new attendees from all facets of the CE industry, it is foolish not to have a booth, regardless of size,” Straight Wire CEO Steven Hill said in a press release.
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Greetings from CES in Las Vegas. Where are the lines?
LAS VEGAS - I haven’t seen a cab line this short since after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Like rush-hour traffic in Silicon Valley or the number of new Porsches in a software startup’s parking garage, the hassle factor getting around during the annual International Consumer Electronics Show can be an indicator of the health of the tech industry. After all, the healthier a company is, the more likely it is to announce new products and send employees to conventions.
Times may be getting tougher.
An hour before Microsoft Corp.’s Bill Gates was due to kickoff the annual CES show here, it took me less than 10 minutes to get through the cab line at McCarran International Airport in Vegas. My colleague Dan Zehr had a similar experience. Cabbies tell me it’s been surprisingly slow all day.
I’ve been attending CES since 2000, and I can’t remember a time - except for after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, when Vegas turned into a ghost town during CES - when getting around here during the world’s biggest electronics show was this easy. Last year, it took at least 30 minutes to get a cab at the airport. Two years ago was just as bad.
Maybe it has something to do with the bad weather across much of West right now. Maybe it has something to do with the relatively sparse line-up of big wigs keynoting this year’s CES.
Or maybe tech companies are tightening up the purse strings on travel and trade shows as they worry about a declining economy.
-Check back for live updates throughout the week from CES.
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SlingPlayer coming to BlackBerries in 2008
CrackBerry addicts are getting a new reason to never put down their handhelds: Sling Media says a BlackBerry version of its SlingPlayer software will debut this year.
The long-requested software will allow users to stream live video to broadband-enabled BlackBerry smartphones from SlingBox devices. SlingBoxes typically send video from a home (such as from a pay-TV signal or a digital video recorder) out onto the Internet where it can be received by computers and mobile devices.
The BlackBerry SlingPlayer software is expected to cost $30, the same one-time cost as versions available for Windows Mobile, Palm, and Symbian phones.
Sling Media said it will demonstrate an early version of the software at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week.
(Photo: SlingPlayer on BlackBerry Pearl 8120/Sling Media)
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Dell launches the new Dell Crystal display
Monitors don’t typically generate a lot of excitement, but with Dell Inc. and other computer makers putting more and more emphasis on product design, even the screens are getting a makeover.
Case in point: Dell today launched the new Dell Crystal display, a 22-inch widescreen monitor developed by its design team in Singapore. The new high-definition screen is made with tempered glass, in which designers embedded four speakers. The Crystal will sell for $1,200. Details on the monitor can be found at www.dell.com/crystal.
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Dell rolls out four more colors, slimmed down notebook
Dell Inc. has rolled out four more color designs and slimmed down its mainstream Inspiron notebook computers.
The company today said it added “blossom, chill, commotion and street” to the eight color designs it previously offered for the Inspiron 1525 laptops. The refreshed line also is thinner and almost a half pound lighter than the prior generation, the company said.
Dell and other computer makers are putting much of their design efforts into building sleek notebooks for consumers, which have driven much of the PC industry’s growth over the past two years. Dell last year rolled out eight new colors and a new design for its high-end XPS notebooks.
However, supply constraints and problems with some of the paint finishes dogged the new launches. While it has worked through most of the backlogs, some flat-panel screens used in notebooks continue to be in short supply.
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