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Combination of Best Desktop Monitor and LCD TV Technology

ASUS has launched the TV Monitor T1 Series, which is a combination of the best desktop monitor and LCD TV technology that enables it to deliver HD TV broadcasting and Full HD Blu-ray Disc playback for the ultimate entertainment and job experience.

The T1 Series has inbuilt TV tuners, large screen monitors that consist of 22-inch, 24-inch and 27-inch sizes that enable users to watch digital (DVB-T) and analog (PAL/SECAM) channels and enjoy all common TV functions in Europe.

Besides, the T1 Series also blows surround sound with a couple of 7-Watt speakers, a rich complement of I/O ports catering to various connectivity needs and ASUS’ exclusive Splendid Video Intelligence Technology for spectacular color reproduction.

Moreover, the monitor has an integrated TV tuner that receives both digital (DVB-T) and analog (PAL/SECAM) signals. It supports all common TV functions, delivering a complete HD TV watching experience.

Even this series supports Full HD 1080p (1920×1080) and sports a pair of HDMI inputs, enabling the delivery of the highest quality content from Blu-ray Disc players through a single cable. Its riches of I/O ports, including HDMIx2, SCARTx2, D-Sub, Composite, Component, S-Video, audio-in jack, S/PDIF out, audio out, earphone out and CI slot enable simultaneous connections to myriad video playback devices such as DVD players and set-top boxes.

Furthermore, this series features ASUS Smart Contrast Ratio (ASCR) technology that bumps up the display’s contrast ratio to an astounding 20000:1 for crisper, more realistic pictures during gameplay or movie viewing.

Another attractive point is that the TV Monitor TV T1 also comes with an intelligent remote control that enables users to adjust settings conveniently and easily.

Since it has a large 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, it boosts users’ productivity and offers a perfect solution for web browsing, e-mail composing, document editing and creative work. Splendid Standard Mode also ensures that every detail in graphics, documents and websites is captured crisply and in optimized color-greatly enhancing comfort during viewing.

Judging by the design, the T1 Series is designed not just to complement, but enhance, the interiors of today’s contemporary homes. Defined by sensuous curves and embellished with chic gold accents, an intricate floral-patterned speaker mesh and a gorgeous high gloss stand, the T1 Series is more akin to a piece of modern furniture than an electronic device.

Its eye-catching visual performance-no matter regardless of video source-is comparable to a large-sized living room television, thanks to features such as a 2D/3D comb-filter, noise reduction, 3D de-interlace, 2:2/3:2 pull down and the exclusive Splendid™ Video Intelligence Technology and tint adjustment. Splendid Video Intelligence Technology adjusts the displays’ parameters to ensure optimized colors with the four preset modes (Scenery, Night View, Game and Standard).

After going through a hard time in the last several months, now there are signs that companies dealing with personal computer (PC) industry will stop reporting lower sales.

In the past couple of months, hardware manufacturers such as Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Dell have recorded sales falls of one-fifth to one-quarter. Even the world’s largest PC software company,   Microsoft, for the very first time booked lower sales of its Windows software that led to large-scale layoffs. For that reason, analysts had predicted that computer sales would suffer a fall by four times greater than that during the dot-com kaput.

But now it seems that they have begun to enjoy a recovery. Intel which is based in Santa Clara (California) said the company recorded second-quarter sales of US$8 billion versus US$9.5 billion it posted in the same period last year, beating analysts’ expectations by US$700 million.

For the first time since the economic recession, Intel was fairly comfortable to provide a forecast for its current quarter, and the company said it expects revenue of US$8.1-8.9 billion. Earlier, analysts said Intel would book revenue of US$7.8 billion in this quarter.

Intel said the company’s second-quarter results were clearly better than expected, while in In April the company said that he thought the PC slump had reached bottom, and the company’s recent financial results seem to confirm this.

Being the world’s largest chip manufacturer, Intel helps set the pace for the computing industry, which is why analysts keep a close eye on the company’s take on the overall market. Increases in the sales of Intel’s chips tend to reflect higher computer sales for HP, Dell and others in the industry.

Intel has warned that businesses remain careful in buying new PCs considering that global economy remains sluggish. Consumers have been the ones who show more willingness to buy new computers, particularly laptops and their diminutive, low-cost cousins, netbooks.

Further Intel said that the company saw a strengthening through June, and expects the rising demand to carry over into the second half of this year. The company added that sales in Asia had stepped up, particularly in China, and that sales in the United States were solid. But overall the immediate fiscal conditions remain sobering for Intel.

During its second quarter, Intel’s net income fell to US$1.0 billion from the US$1.6 billion it reported during the same period last year. Intel earned 18 cents a share, down from 28 cents, beating analyst estimates by 10 cents.

Those figures exclude charges tied to a US$1.45 billion fine levied against Intel by the European Commission for anticompetitive practices in the PC market. With the fine included, Intel posted a loss of US$398 million or seven cents a share.

Yet, Intel reported higher-than-expected gross margins and a quarter-to-quarter rise in sales of chips, boosted by healthier sales of laptop chips.

All major PC companies maintain hope that the release of Microsoft’s new version of its Windows software will coax businesses and consumers to upgrade their computers. Dubbed Windows 7, the software should hit the market in October. Microsoft expects Windows 7 to be part of a catalyst.

The PC doldrums have put intense pressure on some of the industry’s largest players. Dell, in particular, has had a steeper decline in sales than its main rivals HP and Acer because it is more dependent on PC shipments to business customers.

To bring its costs more in line with those of HP and Acer, Dell has spent much of the recession increasing its use of contract manufacturers to build its computers. That strategy runs counter to Dell’s traditional approach of producing PCs at its own factories. Dell expects large businesses to begin upgrading their computers in the months to come.

Shares of Intel climbed 2% to US$16.83 just before the company’s earnings announcement. In after-hours trading, Intel’s stock jumped more than 7% to US$18.04.

Dell has gone through the recession by chasing profits from market segment, so investors were understandably unimpressed when the company declared on this week that it expects to report lower second quarter gross margins.

The company gave investors a hazy update to its business one day ahead of a meeting with financial analysts at its Round Rock, Texas, headquarters. Overall, the company said that demand for computers appears to have stabilized. In addition, Dell predicted that revenue in the second quarter, ending July 31, should be slightly higher than its first quarter revenue of US$12.3 billion.

Meanwhile, Dell warned of a moderate decline in gross margins during the second quarter. It reported second quarter revenue last year of US$16.4 billion. Investors digested these disclosures and knocked close to 4% off Dell’s shares in after-hours trading, placing its stock price at U$12.52.

The company continue to believe that customers are deferring IT purchases and will see demand return to more typical levels at some point. In the meantime, it will continue focusing its our energy and resources on the operating initiatives that will improve the company, and position it for future success.

The global economic recession has proved challenging for Dell with the company losing large amounts of market share to rivals like Acer and Hewlett-Packard. Dell depends on sales of computers to businesses more than its competitors, and businesses have been more reluctant than consumers to purchase new laptop computers.

Like many laptop computers makers, Dell is waiting for Microsoft to release its new Windows 7 operating system in October, which could spur business sales.

Dell executives have explained away the market share losses by saying the company intended to place a premium on keeping profits as high as possible during these tough times. As a result, analysts have kept a close eye on Dell’s margins to gauge the effectiveness of its strategy.

Dell attributed the lower margins to “higher component costs, a competitive pricing environment, and an unfavorable mix of product and business-segment demand.” The company tends to make more money off business laptop computers, so slow sales to corporate customers can hurt its profits.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect Dell to post revenue of US$12.5 billion in the second quarter. Such a total would mark Dell’s first sequential increase in revenue in a year. It reported US$16.4 billion in revenue during last year’s second quarter.

Hitachi Software Engineering Co Ltd said the company has introduced a new product in its “StarBoard” series of electronic blackboards, which is intended to expand the sales to the education market.

The company said that it has changed the functions of the “PX-DUO-50″ electronic blackboard, and that this new product is meant for the “School New Deal program,” under which Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology proposed to enhance (information and communication technology (ICT) and quake resistance of schools.

Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has planned to set up the price of an electronic blackboard at approximately ¥700,000 for each elementary and junior high schools in Japan, and Hitachi Software is preparing to ship its product to half of them.

Hitachi’s PX-DUO-50 has a 50-inch PDP. This blackboard is equipped with an embedded PC and a coordinate detection device using two infrared cameras, it supports character input and character recognition. Besides, this new product comes with a terrestrial digital TV tuner and a movable stand.

The control buttons, are found on the left side of the display in the previous product, are placed in the right side of the new product in consideration of the opinions of teachers. Moreover, the company offers a protective cover as an option.

Besides the electronic blackboard, Hitachi Software said it has produced a coordinate detection device named “Universal Digitizer Kit (UDK)” which uses a lens with a field angle of 170° for its infrared camera. Since the distance between the two cameras can be narrowed, the coordinate detection device can be equipped regardless of the screen size.

For the coordinate detection device of the previous product, an infrared camera with a field angle of 94° is mounted on each of the upper right and upper left parts of the display. Hence, the size of the coordinate detection device has to be changed depending on the screen size.

Moreover, Hitachi Software will in the second half of fiscal year 2009 release a projector-type electronic blackboard equipped with the UDK called the “StarBoard Next-FX-DUO” (this is a temporary name still). Even the company has prepared to launch an external unit for digital TVs in fiscal 2010, called the “After-purchase StarBoard.”

Videogames have begun to use the latest stereoscopic 3D technology and are now ready to entertain us at home, while biggest names in Hollywood is working on 3D videogames and expanding on the stories of their 3D films.

Let’s take a look at Disney Interactive Studios and see what the company has done. Disney’s “G-Force” game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 which is based on Jerry Bruckheimer’s live action 3D film featuring secret agent guinea pigs, will use Anaglyph 3D, the traditional red and blue glasses from the 1950s 3D craze.

Disney uses this same technology on a Wii game due out in fall, “Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story Midway Mania,” which is based on the Walt Disney World and Disneyland 4D theme park ride and comes out alongside the movie “Toy Story 3D” in October.

At the same time, Ubisoft - in a bid to push 3D technology even further - has developed proprietary stereoscopic 3D technology, the clear polarized glasses movie theater patrons receive these days, for “James Cameron’s Avatar” game.

The action game, which was shown behind closed doors at E3 in Los Angeles last month, will be the first Hollywood-licensed game to introduce stereoscopic 3D to gamers. It is pretty fantastic, because by sticking our head into the monitor, the world will wrap around us. Besides, this is the first time in a videogame that we will be frightened afraid when the hammerhead enemies attack.

As videogame consoles like Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 helped convince consumers to upgrade to HD TVs, 3D videogames could enhance the attraction of 3D TVs in living rooms. Since all entertainments are going 3D, there is a huge interest and desire on the part of equipment makers to bring the 3D stereoscopic technology into the home.

Games are expected to lead that trend as the 3D really does add an appreciable level to the playing experience. The combination of the “Toy Story 3D” released this fall for family audiences and “Avatar” for sci-fi fans will raise awareness and grow the fan base of 3D.

But as is usually the case, we will expect heavy media users, chiefly sci-fi fans and gamers, to be the first to upgrade, and for them, “Avatar” could be a key demand driver. Mass audiences may be later to the party, first because of the price, and second, because the amount of 3D content will be limited for some time.

For the time being, 2D gaming remains the staple. Electronic Arts has just launched its games based on “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” while Activision has a double feature with a virtual version of “Ice Age: Dawn of Dinosaurs” and a new “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” game. The original “Transformers” game sold over 3.16 million copies in the US alone.

Comment on this, actor Shiar LaBeouf who stars in both games, said videogames were now more successful than films. LaBeouf said it is a more all-encompassing medium and we have more control over it. It moves at the tempo of the personality playing it, the actor said. It is really a different form of entertainment that’s more of a tangible, visceral, emotional experience, he said.

Apple has been considered the real winner of the battle between Google and Microsoft by Yankee Group’s research firm, and this statement,  has raised an interesting point on the gaps in what Google has offered consumers.

Everyone admits that Google is as famous as any company in the worlds and it attain a reputation for technological innovation. Yet, the company’s products have been inconsistent so far, easy to use and interconnected in the manner Apple’s are.

But Yankee Group said Google’s ambitions have been hampered by the company’s inability to build a brand ecosystem. As Google announced about the Chrome OS, the company has missed the opportunity to intertwine a consistency for consumers.

The research firm imagines that if Apple were to introduce a netbook or some other portable computing device, it would connect neatly into its line of products that range from the iPhone and iPod to the Mac and Apple TV.

The only thing that Yankee Group does not talk about is that Apple will undoubtedly command a price premium for any portable computer entry, and that a segment of users would willingly pay it. Becoming a luxury goods provider like Apple is not easy. We need to maintain the style and the substance that make our products worth more than the undistinguished competition, but it is great job to get it.

However, Google is a company that is based on exploiting the relentless reduction of the cost of computing hardware, the economies of open source software, and the efficiency of huge data centers.

It drives down the cost of everything it gets involved with by offering services, from e-mail storage to Web analytics and soon, operating systems, for free. All it asks is the chance to show some ads and collect some data. For corporations, which want higher levels of service and don’t care for ads, Google charges fees, but much lower than its rivals.

So far, this has been a rewarding strategy, while betting on technology getting cheaper is on the right side of history.

So now the question today will be, is Google wasting some of what could be the best brand but created this century by positioning its operating system as cheaper than Windows? Then, what will happen if the company made the Google name worth paying extra for?

CrunchPad will soon come true after Michael Arrington, founder of the influential tech blog, held a one-year talk of building a touch-screen tablet laptop computer for Web surfing.

Arrington has integrated d a separate company called CrunchPad, but he said will not hold an event at the end of July or the beginning of August to make a big announcement about the CrunchPad, and the tablet will be for sale “as soon as possible.”

A corporate lawyer, who turned into a blogger, Arrington is not really the résumé of a hardware developer. He said he only wants it, and no one will build it. The purpose of the CrunchPad will be very simple, that is, surfing the Web, then turn it on and up comes a browser. It is nothing more than an Internet consumption device for reading, checking e-mail or watching video.

Besides, it will not have a hard drive or keyboard, although users can plug it in to a keyboard if they wish. It will cost less than US$300. The CrunchPad will be 16 millimeters thick with a screen of at least 12 inches that is flush with the aluminum case, and it will come in different colors. It will run on an Intel Atom chip and support Flash, which the Apple iPhone cannot.

Arrington said the CrunchPad will be different from netbooks, the mini-laptop computers made by companies like Acer, Asustek and Dell that my colleagues have written about. Many of those have small keyboards and offer more capabilities than just a browser, like running Microsoft Word.

The additional applications bog down the performance of netbooks, he said, so most people will find it works as good as a netbook or better.  He said it will also be different from the tablet computer that Apple is rumored to be building. He has speculated that an Apple tablet could run iPhone applications and be US$500-1,000. He said he done not intend to be the Pre for the iPhone, because this is very different from what they are doing.

The project started a year ago, when Mr. Arrington wrote a post asking for help from readers to develop a “dead simple Web tablet.” Since then, it has been referred to internally as “Mike’s science project,” and he said he has been spending two-thirds of his time over the last six months working on it.

Most of the development work has been done by his team of 15 in Singapore. They are part of Fusion Garage, a start-up with the motto: “What if the browser could boot without an OS? How different would the world be?” The team showed up at the 2008 TechCrunch50 conference, and TechCrunch is now closing its acquisition of the start-up.

Building hardware has not been as hard as he thought it would be, he said, though he was surprised by the ferocity of the competition, which he said has been much more cutthroat than it is among software and Web companies.

The development of the CrunchPad has been funded internally, Arrington said. He would not comment on whether he has raised outside capital but said that TechCrunch is a very small shareholder.  He said he will remain actively involved for now, but wants to replace himself at CrunchPad and return his full-time focus to the blog.

Dell Inc reportedly has been developing small gadget like a pocket-sized gadget for tapping into the Internet, that will run on Google Inc’s Android software.

The early prototypes are described as slightly larger than Apple Inc’s iPod Touch, which is similar to the iPhone but without cellphone capabilities.

It was repoted also that ell may begin to sell the gadget by the end of this year, although the plan may be postponed or entirely revoked.

The development effort is one of the first experiments by a big-name PC maker in a nascent category of products known as mobile Internet devices, or MIDs, that are designed to fill a perceived gap between mobile phones and laptop computers.

Possibly Dell will use chips based on designed licensed from ARM Holdings PLC, but Dell spokesman said the company does not currently make any devices that use ARM-based chips.

Separately, people informed of the effort said Dell started developing the device last year, after the company aborted an attempt to compete with Apple in the music-player business. Some of the engineers working on the music player were then assigned to help develop the small mobile device.

Earlier this year, Dell appointed an executive, Ain McKendrick, to be in charge of mobile Internet devices at the company. The Dell spokesman said that as the general manager of mobile Internet devices at Dell, Mr. McKendrick’s role involves looking at future products in play for future consideration.

But another source said Dell has considered selling the product through cellular carriers — much as Dell, Hewlett-Packard Co. and other computer makers have begun marketing low-end portables called netbooks through cellular providers.

Dell has also been developing several Android-based smart phones that it plans to start selling later this year, the source said further.

Microsoft has decided to improve the company’s real-time search by including the latest output of popular Twitter users in the company’s search engine, Bing, which was launched one month ago.

Microsoft said there has been much discussion of real-time search and the premium on immediacy of data that has been created, primarily by Twitter, and the company has been watching this phenomenon with great interest and listening carefully to what consumers really want in this space.

But the change will affect a limited number of Twitter-related searches. For instance, when users enter “Al Gore Twitter,” “Al Gore tweets” or “@algore” in the Bing search box, the top result will be the most recent Twitter updates from the former vice president.

Microsoft said it had picked a few thousand Twitter accounts based on their number of followers and the volume of tweets they produce. They include the actor Ashton Kutcher; Kara Swisher, a technology journalist; Danny Sullivan, a search analyst; and some news services that are popular on Twitter. Bing will update the Twitter results every 60 seconds.
The new service does not involve any special relationship between Microsoft and Twitter. Microsoft developed it using public programming interfaces or API’s that Twitter makes available to anyone.

Although all major search engines index Twitter profiles and some older tweets, Bing is the first major search engine that is integrating with Twitter in this way, and it may help Bing keep up the buzz it has generated in the past month.

America’s gadget group Palm will provide confirmation next week that it has signed an agreement with Britain’s O2 in which the British mobile phone network will become the exclusive partner for its long-awaited Palm Pre handset.

The Pre, which began to be sold in the United States last month, has been listed as the most feasible alternative and produced to the iPhone. The new version of the Apple device, iPhone 3GS, began to be sold within less than two weeks ago and a million were snapped up in the first three days.

O2 has an exclusive deal with Apple to stock the iPhone and grasping the Palm Pre is likely to further cement its position as the Birtain’s largest mobile phone network. Reports of a cooperation between Palm and O2 first appeared in May and Carphone Warehouse is also expected to stock the Pre.

It is believed that O2 has seen off fierce competition for the device from Orange, which it also beat to the iPhone at the last minute.

Analysts estimate that Palm has already sold more than 300,000 Pre devices in the US alone and the handset has a crucial role to play in reviving the company’s flagging fortunes.

After leading the handheld computer market in the 1990s with the Palm Pilot, the company’s move into the mobile phone business was scuppered by the arrival of the iPhone.

In the beginning of this year, Palm said that launching a hit device was the vital first step on the road to recovery. Palm has been fighting the battle with basically both hands tied behind its back for the past year and half. Now Palm is getting on the playing field, and it is going to be extremely competitive.

The Apple device sent many handset manufacturers back to the drawing board when it appeared two years ago. Since then a series of similar touchscreen devices have appeared, from the Nokia 5800 and Sony’s X-Series Walkman to the HTC Magic and T-Mobile’s G1. Business email device manufacturer RIM, meanwhile, has pushed hard into the consumer market with the Blackberry Storm.

The Palm Pre has received positive reviews since it launched in the US under an exclusive deal with Sprint. Its touchscreen has been compared favourably with that on the iPhone, while the Pre also has a full slide-out keyboard, making emails easier to type than on the Apple device.

Anyway, for many users the most striking difference between the iPhone and the Pre is the way in which the latter device charges, rather than being plugged in, it merely has to be placed on what Palm calls its “Touchstone” and charges through magnetic induction.