AU Optronics (AUO) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) received a Statement of Objections from the EU Commission regarding a price-fixing cartel of several LCD panel makers. AUO announced that it will reply after closely reviewing the document while CMO stated that the company will fully cooperate with the EU Commission’s investigation.
LG Display, Sharp, Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) plead guilty to price fixing charges made by the US District Court in San Francisco in 2008 and paid a fine totaling US$585 million. Hitachi Display also paid a US$31 million fine in March 2009 after pleading guilty.
A fine of several hundreds of millions of dollars for AUO and CMO will have a significant impact on their bottom line. The EU investigation has come at a critical juncture as LCD manufacturers are just turning the corner toward profits. It is interesting that Samsung, the largest LCD manufacturer in the world, has not been charged yet.
Source: DigiTimes
Ah, so this is what the real thing looks like: LG‘s Black Label BL-40. Some say it is LG’s next Chocolate phone. The unique feature of the BL-40 is the 21:9 ultrawide aspect ratio with a 800 x 345 resolution (landscape). The UI seems to be LG’s S-Class with a 5 megapixel camera coupled with a Schneider Kreuznach lens. There is also WiFi and a FM transmitter so you can listen to your music in your car via FM radio. I hope there’s a decently-powered media player that can playback ripped DVDs as the resolution is almost perfect for it. What I am curious about is whether or not the average user with average-sized hands can thumb-type in landscape mode with its ultrawide stance.
via Engadget
Short and sweet: 4-inch 21:9 multitouch display with tempered scratch-proof glass. Flash UI, HSDPA 7.2, WiFi, A-GPS and a whole lot more. Looks awesome.
Vertically Capable 130mm or 5.12-inches. That’s the vertical range that the SyncMaster F2380 has. The smaller 20-inch F2080 has it too. Samsung incorporated a telescoping mount, which I think is a wonderful idea and much better than other height-adjusting methods. Looks good too.
S-PVA Viewing angles are 178/178. Contrast ratio is 3000:1. Samsung says that dynamic contrast ratio is 150,000:1, but that’s just marketing speak–don’t put too much faith in that. The 178/178 viewing angles suggest that the F2380 is using the company’s S-PVA LCD panel. And that’s important when you pivot this 23-inch monitor. Monitors using TN (like the one I have: HP w2408) is simply terrible in portrait mode.
Thin Bezel I do not like thick bezels, which reminds me of monitors of yore. The F2380 has a bezel that is just 15mm or 0.59-inch. The LCD is also almost flush with the bezel with the difference at just 2.5mm or slightly less than 0.1-inch. These specs might not sound that big of a deal, but when you put these next to thick-bezeled monitors the difference is night and day. A thin bezel makes multi-monitor solutions much better: there is less of a break between content and the physical chassis takes less space.
16:9 This is unfortunate. Samsung bills the F2380 (and F2080) as a business monitor and yet the LCD sports a 16:9 aspect ratio. I’m not sure what Samsung’s product planning team was thinking. I don’t think IT managers or any executives in a company would want workers to be thinking that they should watch 1080p HD content on their brand new 16:9 monitors from Samsung. I’m guessing the resolution is 1920 x 1080 for the F2380.
100% sRGB Color professionals rejoice: color gamut is improved, I think, to 100% sRGB. What is it in NTSC? Or is that spec not important anymore?
The price is KRW450,000 (about US$345) for the F2380 and KRW378,000 (about US$290) for the F2080.
Source: Samsung (Korean) via Engadget
Need to drive four 30-inch monitors at 2560 x 1600? Don’t want to get two graphics cards? Don’t have the motherboard that supports two PCIe x16 connections? Matrox has the solution: M9148 LP PCIe x16. It has four DisplayPort connections that can each drive resolutions up to 2560 x 1600. Beautiful. The M9148 comes with 1GB of memory and features a low-profile form factor. Thanks Paul for the tip!
Source: Matrox
9.7-inch Multitouch Slate The rumor is back. Apple’s iBook, a solid name IMO for a device geared to compete against Amazon’s Kindle and other ebook readers, will sport a multitouch 9.7-inch TFT LCD integrated into a slate. I don’t think it will be netbook like many others are guessing. I’ve guessed that too. But I’ve changed my mind. Why? When Apple was building the thinnest notebook PC in the world the company could have gone with a smaller display, say a 12-inch or 10-inch, but decided not to and go with a 13.3-inch. There were probably a million reasons but one critical reason was that a full-sized keyboard could be integrated into a 13.3-inch LCD-based chassis. Most will agree that one of Apple’s main mantras is usability and that goes against the concept of a netbook as we know it today.
No E Ink I don’t think Apple is using an E Ink-type display either. There are too many disadvantages compared to a regular LCD. Sure it lasts a long long time and readability is excellent, similar but not quite like paper. But the advantages ends there. You want look at a picture? Only in black and white. Yes, E Ink and others are working on color displays but you’ll need to hold your breath for a good long while. Video? Out of the question. Want to zoom in by pinching? It won’t look pretty if at all possible due to the slow response times. Instead, Apple will use a TFT LCD. Power consumption is down so you can get a full day’s work on those with the current battery technology. Most of us get back home (or somewhere else) that has a plug at the end of each day. A TFT LCD is fast and is color and can be integrated with multitouch. I see this as a no brainer.
According to China Times, Wintek and Dynapack has already received orders from Apple and Foxconn will be the main manufacturer. Engadget is stating that this iBook will be available in October and go for around US$800.
I want you to know a couple of things before I start this review. First, I am not a professional photographer. I have spent a bit too much money on a DSLR and a nice lens but I had to get them. Second, I simply like taking photos but most of the time I wish I had a smaller camera than my Canon 20D. A compact camera that takes DSLR-like pictures seems impossible to get. I think the new Olympus E-P1 is very promising but is quite expensive. With the 17mm that I would get, the total price comes to a whopping US$899.99 at Amazon
Conclusion The EX-FC100 is a fine compact camera if you take pictures mostly when there is a lot of light. The HD record feature is pretty good but again only when there is a lot of light. Low-light performance for both pictures and videos is simply terrible. There is too much noise. My Canon IXUS 70 (bought it in Korea; in the US is PowerShot SD1000) does a much better job. The EX-FC100 retails for US$349.99 and can be found on Amazon for US$278.95
Here is what Coca-Cola’s new Freestyle looks a bit closer up. The company’s Freestyle is a new beverage dispenser that incorporates a touch LCD. As you can see it is pretty nifty: you simply touch the beverage you want (water is on the bottom right) and then I’m guessing you click the ‘POUR’ button. And off you go sippin’. Cool.
On July 8, 2009 the United States Customs and Border Protection agency issued a ruling stating that all current Vizio TVs do not infringe Funai Electric’s US Patent No 6,115,074 (’074). That means Vizio can go about its business of importing its TVs into the US. What is oxymoronic is that Funai’s ’074 patent was issued a Final Rejection by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) back on March 13, 2009. Not surprisingly Vizio has filed a lawsuit against Funai for unlawfully and unfairly discriminating against Vizio. FYI, Funai is the company that bought the rights to the Philips TV brand for five years in the US and Canada.
Source: DigiTimes
Photo source: Akihabara News
NEC‘s Versa Pro J UltraLite Type VS (what a model name!) is a netbook that is just 15.8mm thick. In inches that’s just 0.62. The Versa Pro J UltraLite Type VS’ weight is really ultra-light at just 752g or 1.65lbs! Yes, it is extremely thin and weighs almost nothing, for a netbook. But there is a problem that I can already see.
No Trackpad I know there are many folks who like that little joystick next to the J key, but there are a ton more who don’t. NEC will need to stick on a trackpad by moving up the keyboard to get more sales. The keyboard is a typical Japanese keyboard with the vertical enter/return key and I hope if NEC decides to bring this UltraLite to the US the company will make sure that the right shift key is large, about as large as two alphanumeric keys.
Versa Pro J UltraLite Type VS Specifications
Astronomical The price that is. $1000 for a netbook?!? Not very tempted (I am a bit tempted just to have it in my bag but not actually to use) even if it is ultra-thin and ultra-light. I’ll take my full-blown $999 MacBook any day over this.
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