Comcast Introduces Xfinity Signature Support

Comcast Corporation recently announced the launch of a new 24x7 technical support and equipment protection program for the growing number of home electronics devices – like laptops, home networking equipment, gaming consoles, Wi-Fi enabled smart phones and tablets – people are connecting to Comcast’s services. Called Xfinity Signature Support, this service offers customers a single source for troubleshooting and support for their computers, home networks and many other devices and is another step in the company’s focus on delivering an end-to-end exceptional customer experience backed by the Comcast Customer Guarantee.

The new offering enables customers to select an enhanced level of technical support with monthly subscription plans and one-time support options and is offered in addition to the 24x7 support Comcast already provides for its video, high-speed Internet and phone services.

According to a 2010 survey by Parks Associates, more than 50 percent of Americans with Internet service look to their broadband provider as their first or second choice in solving their home computer-related technical issues. Additionally, 75 percent of those surveyed prefer to receive all of their technical support services from a single vendor.

With Xfinity Signature Support, Comcast customers will have access to knowledgeable and experienced IT specialists who can provide supplementary technical support online, over the phone or in the home. Assistance is available either as part of a monthly subscription plan or on a stand-alone basis for one-time fixes, such as virus removal or connecting printers or game consoles to wireless networks. Xfinity Signature Support also offers extended equipment plans covering computers and flat-panel TVs.

For more information, please visit www.xfinity.com/signaturesupport.

Amazon prepares to launch Android app store

Amazon is expected to launch a mobile app store soon, in an attempt to compete, head-on, with Google's Android Marketplace. A number of Amazon's developers have already submitted some apps to its Appstore Development Portal.

Amazon has also created a Developer Blog and a Twitter account, to promote this launch. Amazon has even have made video postings on YouTube, explaining how to submit apps to its online store.

Rumors indicate that consumers will be able to buy Android apps, from Amazon, on computers, as well as, smart phones and tablets, running Google's Android OS. For Amazon account holders, app purchases will be made using the same account they currently use to make online purchases. To read the full article, please click here.

Trends We Are Expecting to See in 2011 and Beyond

Connected products:

One popular theme among the products displayed at CES was the ability to be connected, whether to the Internet, other products, or a consumer’s smartphone. There were numerous products at CES that were designed to be part of a network, with the goal of delivering more useful, efficient, and compelling customer experiences. The television is one product that’s undergoing a major transformation, with virtually every TV manufacturer at CES displaying their web-connected televisions. These products have the ability to stream content and access applications such as Netflix, Pandora, and games.

The living room isn’t the only room that’s becoming more connected; the kitchen is also being overhauled to be “smarter” for consumers. Appliances in the near future will be able to take stock of the food in the kitchen, present meal suggestions based on those ingredients, and even guide consumers through the cooking process.

A new meaning of “green”:

Eco-friendly certainly isn’t a new product trend, but manufacturers are shifting the meaning of “green” to focus more on energy-efficiency than in the past.

Appliance manufacturers such as LG and Samsung are offering solutions that help consumers determine the best time to run their appliances. Panasonic’s version goes so far as to include solar panels, home fuel cells, an electric vehicle (EV) charging station and energy storage units.

Continued focus on digital health:

The digital health movement continues to move forward with products that marry cutting edge technologies with the growing need for medical devices that help consumers manage their health more actively and dynamically. Medical devices are becoming more and more like consumer electronics devices, with many wearable, mobile medical products already or soon to be on the market. Examples include smartphones that double as heart rate monitors and watches that have GPS locators to help keep track of elderly loved ones. There were also numerous therapeutic and diagnostic devices, medication monitoring equipment, and robotic prosthetics on display.

-- Content submitted by Home Toys

Qualcomm to Buy Atheros for $3.1 Billion

Qualcomm Inc. agreed to buy Wi-Fi chip maker Atheros Communications Inc. for $3.1 billion in cash as it aims to address growing demand for devices that use Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet.The deal—Qualcomm's largest acquisition to date—fills a hole in the company's communication-chip offerings. The importance of Wi-Fi has been growing as more devices—including smartphones, tablets and notebooks—connect to the Internet.

The deal, which values Atheros at $45 a share, comes during a flurry of acquisitions in the technology sector and puts pressure on Qualcomm's rivals, such as Broadcom Corp. Chip companies, including Intel Corp., have been using their high levels of cash to make purchases to add more features to their chips. Qualcomm has about $10 billion in short-term cash and marketable securities. Adding long-term marketable securities raises the figure to $18.4 billion, with $12.1 billion of that located offshore, the company said.

A takeover of Atheros gives Qualcomm greater exposure to Wi-Fi chips and other markets where it doesn't have a significant presence, including providing components for laptop personal computers, which now come standard with Wi-Fi chips.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2011 and modestly add to Qualcomm earnings in fiscal 2012. Atheros will be renamed Qualcomm Networking & Connectivity, and Atheros President and CEO Craig Barratt will join the company as president of the group. Mr. Jacobs said Qualcomm also plans to retain the rest of the Atheros senior management team.

For the complete article, please click here.

Dialog Semiconductor Chip Adds 2D to 3D Conversion to Mobile Devices

Swindon-based British company Dialog Semiconductor has created a chip that can perform real-time 2D to 3D conversion for mobile devices, including phones and tablets. The DA8223 also contains a parallax screen driver that, when combined with a parallax barrier filter, will create 3D images to be viewed without glasses.

It works by analysing each 2D video frame and creates a layered depth map, bringing forward foreground objects and sending backgrounds to the rear of the image - creating depth perception. Then, each image pixel is mapped to left or right as applicable, and is sent to the correct eye via a parallax barrier filter. Also, as the chip is hardware driven, it makes no demands on the device's processor.

The chip will be available to mobile device manufacturers in 2011, with samples coming early on allowing products to hit mass production for the latter half of the year.

For the complete article, please click here.

Millions of U.S. households already using Internet-connected CE to watch video-on-demand, finding convenience and savings in these devices

Parks Associates reports three million U.S. broadband households plan to purchase an Internet-connected TV during the 2010 holiday shopping season, further eroding consumer need for brick-and-mortar video sources.

Nearly 25% of U.S. broadband households already own at least one connected TV device, and one-fourth of these households have watched a paid movie-on-demand at least once in the past month, according to Parks Associates' Connected CE Tracker, part of the firm's landmark Consumer Decision Process Service. Parks Associates’ analysts predict connected CE devices will be top sellers in this year’s holiday shopping season.

Only 38% of U.S. broadband households plan to purchase a CE device this year, but it’s the connected CE and smartphones that will be the most popular items. Connected devices are the future of content consumption and entertainment in the living room as they capture the broader trends of integration among different silos in consumers' lives. We will continue to follow their sales through 2011 with Connected CE Tracker.

Connected devices include Internet-connected game consoles, Blu-ray players, tablet computers including the iPad, and digital video players including Roku and Apple TV. By the end of 2010, more than 40 million U.S. consumers will have a broadband-connected game console, more than eight million will have a PC-to-TV connection, more than five million will have a connected Blu-ray player, and over four million will have a networked digital video player (such as an Apple TV or Roku Digital Video Player).

However, even the significant enthusiasm for these devices does not totally offset the drop in CE buying intentions reported for this holiday shopping season. In 2009, almost 50% of U.S. broadband households planned a CE purchase.

Manufacturers, retailers, and technology providers are noting the tight consumer purse strings and continue to roll out the deals. Consumers want deals; that is their trigger as economic conditions have made them more cautious buyers. Market players must stress the value and convenience of Internet-connected devices. It helps that consumers may choose to save the cost of a video membership and eliminate a trip to the store or kiosk.

For more information about Connected CE Tracker or Consumer Decision Process Service, visit http://www.parksassociates.com.

Next-gen mobile TV technology gets more backing

Chip makers IPWireless and ST-Ericsson have joined forces to develop a platform designed to lower the cost of building Integrated Mobile Broadcast (IMB) technology into smartphones.

IPWireless is one of the companies that pioneered the development of IMB. ST-Ericsson is now joining the push to allow operators to deliver TV to smartphones, laptops and tablets using IMB and frequency spectrum they already have, but so far haven't been able to take advantage of.

The first commercial IMB services are scheduled to arrive next year, according to IPWireless. In June, operators O2, Orange and Vodafone said they would conduct a joint U.K. trial to assess how mobile broadcast services can be deployed using a shared network infrastructure.

For the complete article, please click here.

Smartphone replacing Remote Controls?

The standard TV remote control, lost so many times beneath sofa cushions, may soon be lost to history. Many people are now switching to their smart phones as substitutes to their remote controls.

TV viewing habits are changing as more Internet and on-demand content — YouTube videos, streaming movies, shopping sites, Facebook photos — flows directly onto big screens. Navigating all of that demands more action from the viewer, including a fair amount of typing, which current remotes cannot handle.

There have already been successful attempts to use smartphones as remotes. Sonos, which makes Internet-connected stereos, offers a free iPhone application that replicates every feature of its own $349 touch-screen remote control. Over half of Sonos customers now use the app, which links to the stereo over a Wi-Fi network.

Several television manufacturers, like Mitsubishi and Samsung, are following suit with smartphone remotes, and phone apps are part of both Apple and Google’s TV offerings.

Technology giants like Apple and Google, along with a wave of Silicon Valley start-ups, have a vision for the future that would make channel-surfing seem quaint. Soon, they believe, viewers will choose from vast pools of video without distinguishing between TV broadcasts and content streamed over the Internet.

For the complete article, please click here.