Panasonic will begin manufacturing 120,000 plasma display panels (PDPs) per month at its new Amagasaki plant next month. With an additional US$2.3 billion investment the company plans to increase capacity to 1 million PDPs per month. Panasonic plans to be the very first Japanese consumer electronics company to have a 3D TV commercially available in 2010 and will use the Amagasaki to manufacture 50-inch 3D PDPs. Panasonic believes 3D plasma TVs will be superior to 3D LCD TVs. Source: Trading Markets via 3D-Display-info.com

If the iPhone is your computer then this will make your fingers happy: now you can connect a Bluetooth keyboard to your jailbroken iPhone thanks to the BTstack Keyboard app. Engadget played with the $5 app bought from the Cydia store and the experience? “… delightfully rapid responsiveness throughout…” There’s a video too. Source: Engadget

Apple’s tablet could possibly integrate a dynamic surface making use of the technology described in its patent application “Keystroke Tactility Arrangement on a Smooth Touch Surface”. An “articulating frame” is used to create physical bumps on the surface of a display when in keyboard mode. When not in keyboard mode those bumps disappear. If this technology is employed in the upcoming tablet from Apple, I am very much looking forward to experiencing it. And maybe it’ll come to the iPhone / iPod touch as well. Source: AppleInsider

Sony did it; now it’s JVC-Kenwood’s turn. RealD’s 3D technology took part of the awesome 3D effects in Avatar: audiences the world over seems to think it is one solid 3D experience and I agree. 3D is here to stay even with the funky glasses. Source: AkihabaraNews

FCC’s commissioner Mignon Clyburn isn’t too happy with Verizon’s answers to the FCC’s questions about the ETFs and phantom fees for inadvertently pressing a key to launch Verizon’s mobile Internet service. Her exact words:

The company’s answers, however, are unsatisfying and, in some cases, troubling.

Why? Verizon basically said that the increased ETF is to pay for “advertising costs, commissions for sales personnel, and store costs”. So the ads you saw trashing AT&T’s 3G coverage is paid by you, the Verizon advanced devices customer. The ETF is normally used solely to recoup the cost of the wireless device. Verizon also said that it does not practice charging phantom fees for accidental Internet connections. I call BS and so did the FCC:

These issues cannot be ignored… I look forward to exploring this issue in greater depth with my colleagues in the New Year.

I guess that means Verizon will be getting a bit more than just letters from the FCC in 2010. Source: FCC (PDF) via Engadget

Guess I was wrong about the timing. I thought it was going to be sooner, before CES. According to the Financial Times, Apple has rented the stage for several days at the end of January starting on the 26th at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. There are a lot of rumors as to what products will be unveiled; I guess we will have to wait and see. Source: AppleInsider

Jun Hong Optronics is a Taiwan-based joint venture between Wah Hong Industrial and Gunze, a Japan-based touch panel manufacturer. JHO is planning to begin production of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) in February or March 2010 with an initial capacity of 50,000-60,000 m2 per month. In November 2009, Wah Hong began shipping optical films to LG Electronics geared for 32-, 37-, 42-inch LCD TV panels that use either CCFL or LED as the lightsource for the backlight. Source: DIGITIMES

DigiTimes: OmniVision Technologies will be supplying its 5 megapixel CMOS image sensor (CIS) to Apple for the next generation iPhone, which is expected to launch in the second half of 2010.

The 3.2 megapixel CIS that is used in the current iPhone 3GS is also supplied by OmniVision. The company uses Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to produce its CISes and will be increasing its production in Q1’10.

Rumor has it Apple has told developers to prep “full screen resolution” demos of their apps. A previous story by Silicon Alley Insider states:

Apple is preparing to show off a new, larger mobile device with a higher resolution display in January–probably a version of the Apple tablet we’ve been hearing about for months–according to a plugged-in source in the mobile industry.

Apple’s tablet seems like it will be running on the iPhone OS. The new apps that can run in “full screen resolution” also works with the iPhone and iPod touch according to rumors. I predict Apple’s tablet will blow everything else out of the water not only for the superior experience and hardware design, that’s a given, but for the fact that this device will upend the book, magazine and newspaper industries. Source: AppleInsider

The Aspire 1820PTZ from Acer wants to be a Jack of all trades, but ends up being not really good at anything. The display is terrible, especially in portrait mode. Multitouch is so-so. And why would you get a convertible notebook PC if those two things are bad?

SO SO: If want to be bored out of your mind, there is an extremely boring video of Acer’s Aspire 1820PTZ convertible notebook PC booting into Windows 7. It takes about 1 minute 35 seconds to boot and load the side bar: feels slow. Looks to have an accelerometer with auto-adjusting display based on portrait or landscape modes. Other notables: tons of bloatware, so-so keyboard, multitouch experience not so great, decent performance for general use, solid casing. Multitouch on Windows 7 seems to be forced. Using a stylus to navigate the tiny icons and menu items seems torturous. I cannot imagine how painful it would be to use your finger. I personally do not consider resizing and rotating my pictures with my fingers all that fun, or productive. A gimmick is what it is.

LCD NEEDS HELP: Most importantly the LCD is less-than ideal thanks to the extra layer of film for touch. The color is off and the contrast wasn’t that good. Viewing angles were also quite limited especially in portrait mode. I’ve written about the w2408h 24-inch LCD monitor from HP (and the debranded version) and that you should not use it in portrait mode since it will make your eyes very sore. I believe the display is the most important component to any notebook PC because I interface with the notebook via the display every time I use it. It seems you will be somewhat disappointed with the Aspire 1820PTZ’s display if you plan to use it extensively. Source: VR Zone via Engadget

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