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System Integration for the Connected Home

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More to Pay: LCD Price Fixing

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After the $585m government fine for price-fixing, Sharp, Samsung and other LCD makers now must pay $388 million to settle the class-action suit from end users.

LCDThe companies won’t admit to the crime, but Sharp, Samsung, Chimei Innolux, LG and four other LCD manufacturers agreed on a settlement in a price fixing case from a 2007 class action lawsuit.

That suit specifically cites LCD panels sold between 1999 and 2006: the companies were alleged to have driven the price up. For that, the group will pay a total of $388 to settle the claims, with Sharp paying out the largest single amount of $105 million – Samsung with $82.7 million, followed by Chimei Innolux with $78 million, and LG with $70 million.

The government gets their big dollar lawsuit…the end-users cash in on a class action…but the integrators and installers get…nothing!

Go Price Fixing Scandal

Christie Opens Madrid Branch

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Christies MadridChristie opens a Spanish branch in Boadilla del Monte, a town just 14.5 kms outside Madrid, and right next to Ciudad de la Imagen, an office and audiovisual leisure complex which is home to many TV channels, audiovisual producers, multiplexes, postproduction companies, film schools, audiovisual industry associations and film archives.

With a total surface area of 500 sq.m, the branch hosts a showroom displaying Christie’s technologies and products, including projectors and videowalls.

Read more...

Will the Sanyo Brand Disappear?

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Panasonic SanyoIn America, rAVe reports Panasonic plans to eliminate the Sanyo brand by April 1st, 2012. rAVe learned Panasonic will absorb the Sanyo products that aren't redundant, so you'll see Sanyo's meeting room line of projectors take on the Panasonic badge in 2012. As most of Sanyo's sales and marketing channels become redundant, they will be eliminated. For the most part, Sanyo folks will need to find new jobs.

Recent record-losses at Panasonic suggest drastic measures are the order of the day.

Read more...

Servers: Powering the Cloud, Heating the Home

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The increasingly cloud-based modern era demands more and more data centers, each housing hundreds of servers. Servers demanding power to not only run, but also to stay cool (up to 50% of server power goes for cooling). What if we find good use for that wasted server-generated warmth-- like heating homes?

Server heatingResearchers at the University of Virginia and Microsoft are presenting this concept in "The Data Furnace: Heating Up with Cloud Computing." The research paper suggests companies should place servers inside homes, replacing traditional furnaces-- thus the "data furnace" in the title.

The first of such data furnaces would probably find homes in office basements and apartment buildings, but the researchers have another proposal relating directly to the home-- the micro data center. A broadband-connected home could house 2 or 3 server cabinets instead of a furnace, with each cabinet holding enough motherboards to generate heating for colder climates.

However one would have to shut down the machines should temperatures reach over 35 degrees, in order to avoid overheating.

Some European countries are already getting into the data furnace act-- in Helsinki heat generated by data centers is distributed to neighbouring buildings via insulated pipes, while IBM Research-Zurich is also designing a system carrying server-generated heat through water pipes.

Cheap-as-free heating thanks to the cloud? Sounds like a pretty good deal to us.

Go The Data Furnace: Heating Up with Cloud Computing

iSuppli: Q4 Won't Salvage the Rest of 2011

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As Black Friday approaches, we receive news how little the global CE market is growing in 2011-- revenue growth will only reach a mere 1.5% Y-o-Y, according to IHS iSuppli.

Black FridayAnd, no, the holiday season won't manage to salvage the entire year.

Such estimates represent a -77% reduction of previous iSuppli forecasts saying 2011 revenue growth was to reach 6.4% Y-o-Y.

This is clearly not the case now-- forecasts now say WW 2011 CE revenues will total $357.3 billion, from 2010 totals of $351.9BN and growth reaching 7.9% Y-o-Y.

"...It’s becoming apparent that sales in 2011 will fall well short of expectations, as economic issues take their toll," iSuppli says.

The main factor in the year's forecast reduction is a slow LCD TV market. Accounting for nearly 30% of CE revenues, iSuppli forecasts LCD TV revenues will reach $104BN (from previous estimates of $110BN) even if "the segment retains solid momentum going forward."

Some good news remains, though-- the analyst predicts TV and Blu-ray player sales will reverse the negative trend in the holiday season-- topping 2010 levels by Q4 2011, and showing growth of over 4% Y-o-Y in 2012 and 2013.

Unit shipments should also remain solid, with volumes increasing "...at a pace that will neutralize the effects of any price declines." iSuppli forecasts LCD TV shipments will reach 300M and Blu-ray players will total 80M by 2015, while "stolid" categories such as STB players will reach over 100M units.

However, the CE market remains dollar-conscious-- even if consumer appetites for CE equipment remain strong, vendors won't be able to offer competitive prices. Thus, price pressures outweigh growing inventory levels, resulting in capped CE market revenues and growth slowdown.

Go On Eve of Black Friday, CE Market Faces Reality of Weak Year

Panasonic Sells TV Panel Factory to Display Joint Venture

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Panasonic sells off its Mobara, Chiba LCD factory-- the company's main Japanese plant-- for an undisclosed sum to Japan Display, a new joint venture formed by the small display subsidiaries of Hitachi, Sony and Toshiba.

Panasonic TVThe sale is the latest move in Panasonic's TV business restructuring, where it already is reducing manufacturing in attempts to remain profitable. Following the sale (to be finalised April 2012) Panasonic will have only one domestic plant.

Meanwhile Japan Display follows the "union makes strength" maxim as it teams up Hitachi, Sony and Toshiba-- with "help" from government-funded investment firm Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) worth $2.6 billion.

The joint venture will use the Mobara LCD-making plant for small- and medium-size display production.

The Japanese TV industry is still struggling to compete (if not simply survive) due to pressures from cheaper Asian competition such as Samsung and Vizio. Sony expects billion-dollar losses for this year, while Sharp is reported to be revamping some TV lines for smaller panel production.

Globally wobbly consumer confidence and stagnating economies are not helping the situation much, either.

Go Panasonic Factory Sale Agreement

Go INCJ, Hitachi, Sony and Toshiba Sign Agreements Regarding Integration of Small- and Medium-Sized Display Businesses

Go Panasonic Cuts Plasma Production

EU Growth Forecast: "Growth at a Standstill"

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One can describe the Autumn EU economic growth forecast with a single word-- austere. The title "Growth at a Standstill" is bad enough, and the EC report says the going might get even worse.

EU MapIn a few words-- EU GDP will stagnate into 2012, while 2012 EU growth is forecast at around 0.5% before reaching 1.5% by 2013. Inflation will return to below 2% and unemployment will remain at around 9.5%.

Recession risks are not negligible either.

The Eu forecasts annual 2012 GDP growth will reach 0.6% in EU and 1.3% in the euro zone. No member state group will escape the slowdown despite varying growth differences.

Public finances will eventually improve-- but only gradually.

The main drivers of 2011 inflation, energy prices, are set to gradually decrease, with headline inflation falling back below 2% in 2012. The EU expects wages will only grow "moderately," while persistent slack in the economy continues holding back underlying price pressures.

The report lists 3 main risks weighting down the EU and euro-area economy-- continued debt-related uncertainty, the weakness of the financial industry and sluggish world trade. Potentially, the future can go both ways, withe either slower growth or a faster-than-assumed return to confidence.

Go EU Autumn Forecast 2011-2013: Growth at a Standstill