Even though the AppleTV is a dismal failure, and DirectTV and ATSC are delivering more HD content every day than iTunes has since it's launch, iTunes has "won" the HD content distribution battle. Yes, folks, this is the reality distortion field at it's finest.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs was recently interviewed by CNBC's Jim Goldman and he had a few bold statements to make. For one he called rival Microsoft's Zune media player a "failure" as well as proclaiming that although Blu-ray may have won the format war over HD DVD it had most likely lost the HD content distribution battle.

Well, I agree the Zune is a failure.

Source: Betanews

SAN FRANCISO—High-definition television (HDTV) unit shipments are projected to grow from 97.1 million in 2007 to 241.2 million by 2012, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20 percent, according to a forecast from market research firm iSuppli Corp.

Source: EETimes

Steve Jobs was also recently quoted as saying the Blu-Ray licensing was a "bag of hurt". To paraphrase, it means that the licensing terms for Blu-Ray are just as or more expensive than similiar IP offerings from Apple.

The technology is here, and Apple retail is sharper than your average coutoure boutique. Could an Apple dress be in the works? You heard it here first.

The Lumalive group at Philips Research is exploring the intersection between the company's LED business and the emerging market for wearable electronics. The group got its start when some early prototypes shown at the 2005 IFA conference in Berlin snagged interest.

Source: EE Times

Labels: idress, iphone

iPhone Leads U.S. Smartphone Sales

SAN FRANCISO—Apple Inc.'s iPhone 3G was the top-selling smartphone in the U.S. from June through August, capturing 24 percent of the market, according to market research firm NPD Group.

Labels: iphone

The Microsoft I once knew had virtually no serious researchers. However, there's nothing like waving a big handful of cash to attract top research talent.

Waving Cash Still Successful for Microsoft Research

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Veteran supercomputer researcher Dan Reed will join Microsoft Research as its new director of scalable and multicore computing. Reed brings to Microsoft a long background in parallel computing and activism in technology policy matters, as the group gears up to tackle problems that have puzzled scientists for twenty years.

Filed in the, "hey I didn't know that dept."
TI Embraces Digital Mics

Akustica introduced what it claims is the world's first digital microphone in 2006. Texas Instruments "recognizes that digital microphones are becoming more commonplace," said Kaigham (Ken) Gabriel, co-founder of Pittsburgh-based Akustica. "We just sold our two-millionth digital microphone. It took us 15 months to sell our first million, but only three months to sell the second million."

Ah, I long for the good old days of the Commodore 64. Anyone remember firmware in ROM? Turn on the power and 3s later the computer is ready to go.

Apple iPhone Update

Apple sometime tomorrow afternoon is expected unleash the fourth software update for the iPhone since the handset made its U.S. debut back on June 29th.

Boss, sorry I'm late. Honest, I was on time for work, but I had to flash the EPROM in my Prius before it would let me pull out of the driveway.

Intel Macs Plagued by Freezing

A growing number of users have reported that Apple's aluminum all-in-one computers suffer from a flaw that locks up the interface, rendering the system all but inert until a reboot.

Customers participating in Apple's official support discussions (one, two) have reported that the new iMac will technically continue to run when the freeze occurs, but that it becomes impossible to control or switch to programs without a hard reset.

"Whatever was going on at the time continues, so if you were listening to music it continues to play," one user wrote. "The mouse pointer moves but you cannot select anything. Tabbing through apps doesn't work."

iPhone Hello World Native App

- (void) applicationDidFinishLaunching: (id) unused
{
UIWindow *window;

window = [[UIWindow alloc] initWithContentRect: [UIHardware
fullScreenApplicationContentRect]];

pbCell = [[UIImageAndTextTableCell alloc] init];
[pbCell setTitle: @"Hello world!\n"];

UIPushButton *button = [[UIThreePartButton alloc] initWithTitle:
@"Touch Me"];
buttonCell = [[UITableCell alloc] init];
[buttonCell addSubview: button];
[button sizeToFit];

UITable *table = [[UITable alloc] initWithFrame: CGRectMake(0.0f, 48.0f,
320.0f, 480.0f - 16.0f - 32.0f)];
UITableColumn *col = [[UITableColumn alloc] initWithTitle: @"HelloApp"
identifier: @"hello" width: 320.0f];

[window orderFront: self];
[window makeKey: self];
[window _setHidden: NO];

[table addTableColumn: col];
[table setDataSource: self];
[table setDelegate: self];
[table reloadData];

UINavigationBar *nav = [[UINavigationBar alloc] initWithFrame: CGRectMake(
0.0f, 0.0f, 320.0f, 48.0f)];
[nav showButtonsWithLeftTitle: @"Foo" rightTitle: @"Bar" leftBack: YES];
[nav setBarStyle: 0];

struct CGRect rect = [UIHardware fullScreenApplicationContentRect];
rect.origin.x = rect.origin.y = 0.0f;
UIView *mainView;
mainView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame: rect];
[mainView addSubview: nav];
[mainView addSubview: table];

[window setContentView: mainView];
}

iPhoneSIMfree Is Now Available For Purchase

Looks like you can now begin unlocking iPhones at your earliest convenience. Engadget claims that iPhoneSIMfree's software is now available for purchase online from four online retailers.

Here is a look at iPhoneSIMfree's commercial launch:

Wireless Imports in the US, iPhoneWorldwideUnlock in Australia, 1digitalphone in Germany, and iPhone4arab in Saudi Arabia (currently down) have all purchased bulk licenses from the iPhoneSIMfree team and are selling individual unlocks for around $100 (Update: that price is just from the US etailer, it seems; looks like the Aussies are letting it go for under 50 bucks American. Also, the hackintosh community is already busy at work trying to snatch these sites' code as we speak).

How long do you think it will take until users start distributing iPhoneSIMfree's code across the Web? And how many of you have actually tried this unlock tool yet? Please, let us know.

EE Times: iPhone Clones Teardown

Manhasset, NY — On taking their video camera inside the first clone of the Apple iPhone, Semiconductor Insights' teardown specialists found it to be an almost laughable takeoff of Apple's latest success story. However, its analysts also noted that teardowns of subsequent clones indicate that counterfeiters are capitalizing upon existing designs and more time to bring their fakes up to a quality level that equals and will soon surpass that of not only the iPhone, but all systems they're intent on faking.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — IBM Corp. rolled out Monday (May 21) a blazing 4.7 GHz Power6 dual-core processor and a new server based on it. The new chip bucks the trend of focusing on multiple cores rather than raw speed, but IBM claims its new system nevertheless outperforms rivals on four top computer benchmarks.

Source: EETimes