News Archive for 08/06/20
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The Supreme Court of Canada on Friday ruled that the $52 billion purchase of Bell Canada is valid, allowing the Canadian telecommunications firm to be owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. CBC reports that BCE stock jumped almost 10-percent as a result, rising $3.35 to close at $37.45 in New York. The deal overturns a previous court decision in the Quebec Court of Appeals, who ruled that the company must consider interests of bondholders.
ASUS yesterday unveiled its ARES CG6155 desktop PC, designed for very high-end gamers. The tower was modeled after Eastern and Western armors of the past and present. The looks are backed up with more durable hardware such as dual power supplies delivering 2kW of energy and liquid cooling technology to ensure system stability. The PC uses Intel's quad-core Extreme QX9650 CPU rated at 3GHz, with ASUS providing the necessary software to overclock the chip to 4GHz.
Sony yesterday announced it added a new accessory for its line of Alpha digital SLR cameras, with the HVL-F58AM external flash unit. The top-of-the-line flash replaces the HVL-F56AM model, and features Sony's Quick Shift Bounce system, a flash head that can pivot 90 degrees on a horizontal axis. The guide number is 58 at 105mm and ISO 100.
At the CommunicAsia technology expo today, Japanese national TV broadcaster NHK showed a projection system capable of 77680x4320 resolution, otherwise known as Super Hi-Vision (SHV) and exactly four times higher than 1920x1080 (Full HD) resolution. In contrast, 16 HDTVs at Full HD resolution would have to be stacked together to create one image equivalent to the Super Hi-Vision technology developed by NHK.
Hitachi on Thursday unveiled its newest LCD projector, the second in its line-up to offer 1366x768 (WXGA) resolution. The CP-WX625 LCD projector (not pictured) is being shown at InfoComm 2008 and features a 4000 lumens brightness rating along with a 16:10 native aspect ratio. The business-grade projector was designed with ease of maintenance in mind, including a 2000-hour side-mounted hybrid filter and a 3,000-hour Whisper mode lamp that is accessible via a top panel door.
Dash today has made a low-key price cut to the Dash Express that brings the price of the GPS unit down to $299. The cut lowers the price from its previous $399 and is a further cut from the initial launch price of $599. The price slash is spurred on by "outstanding results" during a temporary Father's Day promotion that brought the price down to a similar level, according to the company, which also suggests it should help add to the number of Dash users contributing to the Express' unique map data sharing features.
Rogers Wireless today instituted new BlackBerry service plans that customers are concerned may reflect the price plans for the iPhone 3G when it arrives in Canada next month. While offering more bandwidth than previous plans, the pricing again includes metered bandwidth with different tiers: a new $30 monthly plan offers 300MB of data with 50 cents per megabyte and overage protection to prevent excessive fees; new extra tiers increase the bandwidth allotment to 1GB ($60), 3GB ($80), and 6GB ($100) with the same protection rates.
The Federal Communications Commission has quietly put the proposed merger between Sirius and XM on its Items on Circulation list. The move indicates that at least a draft proposal for the satellite radio union will be discussed by the FCC and that a final decision on the merger could be made shortly after FCC commissioners discuss the draft. The government agency recently hinted at increased progress earlier this week when it proposed approval of the deal as long as conditions are honored for a-la-carte pricing and channels dedicated to certain public interest groups.
The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) market in the US may be on the verge of collapse with Helio about to scale back or shut down entirely, according to a rumor circulated by Engadget. The provider is allegedly telling store managers that it will shut down at least some of its retail shops in possible preparation for a takeover by Virgin Mobile. No information has yet appeared to suggest that Helio is withdrawing support for the service itself.
A new Samsung phone, the MyShot (SCH-r430), is being adopted by Alltel Wireless. The phone is a fairly basic clamshell design, and primarily features a 1.3-megapixel camera, which saves to an internal memory pool of 20MB. The phone also allows limited web browsing and file downloads, but does not support any broadband options.
The Ottawa, Canada-based business Wi-LAN has added three more companies to a list of ongoing lawsuits, Reuters reports. It is now targeting three cellphone makers, specifically Motorola, UTStarcom, and BlackBerry creator Research in Motion. The companies are specifically accused of violating Wi-LAN patents, and litigation is already in progress at the Marshall Division of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The court is well known for ruling in favor of patent suit plaintiffs.
Sony Ericsson finished its week today with the launch of the Sharapova Design Collection, one of its first themed case lineups. The four cases are influenced by tennis player Maria Sharapova and were custom-designed by London fashion teams to be useful both inside and outside of sports. The Courtside Case and Exercise Case both attach to bags and arms respectively and keep the phone completely protected in less than ideal conditions; the Party Case and the Travel Case use handbag and wallet shapes that are more appropriate for after-hours.
Preempting a formal introduction by AMD alone, both AMD and Diamond have publicly introduced the Radeon HD 4850. Both the reference video card and Diamond's own model are some of the few upper mid-range cards to fit in a single card slot while still outperforming more expensive cards: in benchmarks, the 4850 is known to roughly match the performance of the more expensive GeForce 9800 GTX and the dual-chip Radeon HD 3870 X2. A boost in the number of stream (pixel and vertex) processors from 320 to 480, plus a 625MHz core clock speed and 993MHz memory, is credited for much of the improvement.
Dell's unnamed mini desktop has been given a title as well as early specifications, courtesy of a new leak being spread by Engadget. Now referred to as the Studio Hybrid, the desktop uses a color wrap-around Plexiglas shell instead of the bamboo on show for one version and is now known to use an Intel platform; whether or not it uses Atom or a Core 2 chipset is unclear. The system will also have video support enough for HDMI video out and 4GB of memory, and should come with Wi-Fi.
Over one million units of Samsung's Soul designer phone have sold since it went on sale a month ago, the company says. Although limited to just Europe for its initial launch, the device has been one of the most popular phones in recent weeks and has sold better in this early stage than the iPhone managed in the first quarter of the year, when Apple sold 1.7 million units in three months.
BenQ on Friday claimed an industry first by updating its E series computer displays with a new, extra-sharp model. The E2200HDA is the first known desktop LCD to use a 16:9 aspect ratio that fits widescreen HD content without the black bars that come with most 16:10, non-native screens. It also stands as one of the most densely-packed displays outside of pro-level hardware: while measuring an uncommon 21.5 inches diagonally, the screen provides a full 1920x1080 resolution and will display 1080p content from Blu-ray, game consoles, or other sources without losing any detail.
Hasbro this morning unveiled the A.M.P, or Automated Music Personality. The wheeled but otherwise humanoid robot borrows the same philosophy as the Sony Rolly and at once simplifies and expands on it. Rather than integrate its own MP3 player, the Hasbro device lets users plug in an iPod or any minijack-equipped player into a case on the back; in its simplest mode, the robot automatically detects beats and dances in sync with 49 pulsing lights.
Sprint today began shipping the Samsung Instinct, the carrier's primary challenge to the iPhone 3G. The close cousin of the Europe-oriented F490 is now known to be launching with a number of the same features as the Apple device due three weeks later, including full 3G Internet access (here through Sprint's EVDO Revision A network), true GPS navigation, and the last-minute addition of Exchange mail support despite using a non-smartphone operating system.
Yahoo's board of directors has taken a beating after the Microsoft buyout fiasco, with many leaving their positions as the company looks to restructure its business. The Wall Street Journal writes that Jeff Weiner, Vish Makhijani, Qi Lu, Usama Fayyad, Stewart Butterfield, and Caterina Fake are among those listed who will leave the company, with some saying they are looking for better opportunities with Russian search engine Yandex, and other destinations.
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