Kaleidescape is readying a video download service for launch in Q1 and preparing for a second trial in an ongoing court battle with the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA), Product Marketing Director Linus Wong told us. The company hasn’t released details of the service, including pricing and the number of titles that will be available. But Kaleidescape previewed for dealers at CEDIA earlier this month a video downloaded from the Kaleidescape website. Wong declined comment on whether Kaleidescape had any distribution pacts with movie studios and whether the company developed its video download platform or licensed one from a third party like Rovi.
Microsoft representatives discussed the importance of the TV white spaces and opening spectrum below 1 GHz for unlicensed use. The discussion occurred in a meeting with now former Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman, Amy Levine, an aide to Chairman Julius Genachowski, and others at the commission, said an ex parte filing. Vice President Dan Reed “commended the Commission for its work on television white spaces policy issues; highlighted the benefits of unlicensed access to spectrum below 1 GHz in the TV white spaces, including superior propagation characteristics and range compared with existing Wi-Fi frequencies; described advances and investment in white spaces technologies, including trials on Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., campus and a major new trial in the United Kingdom; and described white spaces advances in countries around the world and in standards-setting organizations,” the company said. Reed also highlighted potential white spaces applications for whole-home or whole-building wireless networking, campus-wide networks, entertainment and gaming, government uses including environmental monitoring and security, rural broadband access, educational networks, machine-to-machine communications and inventory and logistics. Reed “also discussed the increasing importance of unlicensed technologies across the economy,” the filing said. “In particular, he noted studies showing that traffic using unlicensed spectrum will soon surpass traffic using wired networks; the use of unlicensed spectrum to offload traffic from licensed wireless networks; the importance of unlicensed spectrum for the growing ‘Internet of Things;’ and the use of unlicensed spectrum in various user scenarios such as for intelligent transportation, automotive applications and gaming."
Microsoft representatives discussed the importance of the TV white spaces and opening spectrum below 1 GHz for unlicensed use. The discussion occurred in a meeting with now former Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman, Amy Levine, an aide to Chairman Julius Genachowski, and others at the commission, said an ex parte filing. Vice President Dan Reed “commended the Commission for its work on television white spaces policy issues; highlighted the benefits of unlicensed access to spectrum below 1 GHz in the TV white spaces, including superior propagation characteristics and range compared with existing Wi-Fi frequencies; described advances and investment in white spaces technologies, including trials on Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., campus and a major new trial in the United Kingdom; and described white spaces advances in countries around the world and in standards-setting organizations,” the company said. Reed also highlighted potential white spaces applications for whole-home or whole-building wireless networking, campus-wide networks, entertainment and gaming, government uses including environmental monitoring and security, rural broadband access, educational networks, machine-to-machine communications and inventory and logistics. Reed “also discussed the increasing importance of unlicensed technologies across the economy,” the filing said. “In particular, he noted studies showing that traffic using unlicensed spectrum will soon surpass traffic using wired networks; the use of unlicensed spectrum to offload traffic from licensed wireless networks; the importance of unlicensed spectrum for the growing ‘Internet of Things;’ and the use of unlicensed spectrum in various user scenarios such as for intelligent transportation, automotive applications and gaming."
Panasonic is signing a new 15-year lease that will move its U.S. headquarters to Newark, N.J., by 2013, the company said. The CE company will lease 250,000 square feet in a proposed 410,000 square foot building that will be built along a riverfront on land owned by SJP Properties and Matrix Development Corp. Panasonic’s plans to relocate 800 employees from its Secaucus, N.J., headquarters were unveiled at a news conference Wednesday that included Newark Mayor Corey Booker and Panasonic North America CEO Joseph Taylor. Panasonic’s headquarters’ complex in Secaucus is spread across several buildings and about one million square feet, including a 700,000-square-foot warehouse vacant for many years. Panasonic’s 800 employees are down from about 4,000 at the headquarters’ peak. Panasonic, which has been based in Secaucus since 1976, decided to move after being offered up to $102.4 million in potential tax credits. Panasonic will qualify for an Urban Transit Hub tax credit if it brings at least 250 jobs to Newark by 2016 and creates another 200 positions within 10 years, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority has said. If no new jobs are created, Panasonic will only qualify for 80 percent of the tax credit, the state agency said. Panasonic maintained that the 800 jobs were “at risk” if it moved outside New Jersey. The company had considered space in Atlanta, Brooklyn, N.Y., California and Chicago. The state authority found those positions to be “new” jobs. Panasonic’s landlord at the Secaucus facility, Hartz Mountain, sued the company in March in New Jersey Superior Court, maintaining the development agency acted outside its authority. Panasonic filed a motion asking to have the case decided by September. Panasonic’s lease in Secaucus expires in March 2013.
Chipmaker Qualcomm agreed to buy Wi-Fi chip manufacturer Atheros for $3.1 billion to accelerate expansion to businesses beyond cellular, the companies’ executives said in a conference call Wednesday. The deal, expected to close in the first half, would create a communications platform that spans wireless, home, smart grid and sensor networks, analysts said.
Harris will upgrade a government space control system at the U.S. Space and Missile Systems Center’s Space Superiority Systems Wing for the Air Force, the company said. It said the $25 million, 21-month contract includes a ground terminal system with offensive and defensive “space situation awareness capabilities."
Shipments of game-capable mobile phones are expected to reach 1.27 billion this year, an 11.4 percent increase from 2009, iSuppli said Tuesday. In comparison, combined console and handheld game system shipments are expected to be flat or down this year versus 2009, it said. Home game console shipments are expected to increase 0.2 percent to 52.3 million, while handheld game system shipments are expected to fall 2.5 percent to 38.9 million, it said. “The formidable lead enjoyed by cellphones capable of gaming will continue in the years to come with no hint of decline, and their near-universal presence gives them the potential to become a viable competitive threat to dedicated gaming platforms, primarily handheld devices,” said iSuppli analyst Pamela Tufegdzi. While gamers who “prefer a superior gaming experience will always opt for either a console or handheld, sales of both platforms tend to rise and fall based on the vagaries of product development, consumer buying patterns and economic trends,” she said. Videogame system growth has stalled as the Nintendo DS and Wii, PSP and PS3, and Xbox 360 “reached a mature phase in their individual life cycles and have attained market saturation,” iSuppli said. Consumers have also been “reluctant to buy or upgrade to newer devices due to” high pricing, “the prevailing economic uncertainty of the times” and other factors, it said. In comparison, mobile handsets -- especially smartphones including the iPhone -- “continue to thrive and flourish,” iSuppli said. Mobile phones also have an “advantage of broad penetration” over dedicated game systems because “not everyone owns a gaming console or handset, but cellphones can claim widespread use,” it said. ISuppli said the coming release of the PlayStation Move and Kinect for Xbox 360 motion control systems could “breathe new life into the console space,” and help “to cushion the anticipated decline of overall current-generation consoles in 2011.” Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony are also “expected to launch next-generation consoles” in a few years, “as soon as late 2012,” it said. That will boost revenue and unit shipments of dedicated game systems “into 2014, when the console market will hit 59.9 million units,” iSuppli said. Digital revenue is also growing revenue for the videogame industry, increasing revenue streams via paid downloadable content, it said.
Rovi gained design wins for its TotalGuide interactive program guide (IPG) and expects the first Blu-ray players and TVs containing it will ship Q1 2011, senior executives said on an earnings call. Rovi has said it would transfer the IPG’s source code to CE partners in Q2 (CED Feb 16 p2).
LAS VEGAS -- A new social-media company, Portalarium, is concentrating first on PCs, but it’s “platform agnostic,” co-founder Richard Garriott told us at the Design Innovate Communicate Entertain (D.I.C.E.) Summit. The company will turn to mobile devices including the iPhone this year and “game consoles are definitely on the list” for some time later, he said.
LAS VEGAS -- A new social-media company, Portalarium, is concentrating first on PCs, but it’s “platform agnostic,” co-founder Richard Garriott told us at the Design Innovate Communicate Entertain (D.I.C.E.) Summit. The company will turn to mobile devices including the iPhone this year and “game consoles are definitely on the list” for some time later, he said.