Follow the money, from the first to the second round of broadband stimulus grants

18 January 2010 by Steve Blum
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More than a thousand first round hopefuls are still staring into the black hole that swallowed their applications. The second round notifications of funding availability (NOFAs) issued by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for the broadband stimulus program do not explicitly address the status of first round applications.

The stimulus bill gave RUS $2.5 billion and NTIA $4.7 billion for broadband project funding. In the first round, RUS said it would give out up to $2.4 billion.… More

Real time tweets from Showstoppers at CES 2010

7 January 2010 by Steve Blum
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PlaticLogics QUE Pro Reader
 PlasticLogic promises and delivers
PlasticLogic is back with a real product this year, was worth the wait, $649 to $799 for coolest pro-level e-book reader.

PlasticLogic QUE Pro Reader delivers newspapers, displays work documents, has PIM functions, wireless connectivity.

Screen 10.7 inches diagonal, unit 8.5×11 total, wafer thin, light as feather, at top of a crowded category.

Xyxio has breakout potential although it’s a headscratcher at first look, control a computer with your breath.

Xyxio is a technology company, offers means to create devices that are breath controlled and do the same thing as a mouse.… More

Broadband stimulus grant update: first round still under review, second round likely to slip a bit

Anna Gomez, deputy assistant secretary for communications and information at NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), spoke at today’s Tech Policy Summit at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Anna Gomez, NTIA
 Secretary Gomez speaks to reporters
 at 2010 Consumer Electronics Show
She repeated previous agency comments about wanting to “get it done fast, get it done right and with the greatest effect possible.”

She described the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) as “unprecedented” at the NTIA.

Lessons learned in a difficult first round would be applied in the second round.… More

Computing power can now go wherever people want it

Light Blue Optics debuted its Light Touch technology here at the Consumer Electronics Show, and it is what computers, mobile and fixed, will be ten years from now. As CEO Chris Harris put it, “it transforms any flat surface into a touchscreen.” The concept is disruptively simple. What it really does is unleash computing power from physical, mechanical devices.

Light Touch in an office
 Any table becomes a team work space
Keyboards, mice and monitors are easily broken and awkward to arrange anywhere except a desk.… More

Mobile phone disruption coming soon to a TV near you

“If you like developing for a 3-inch screen, I have a 55-inch screen for you,” challenged Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America, as he invited mobile application developers into the world of television. Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show, he introduced Samsung Apps, a consolidated app store for televisions, mobile phones and Blu-ray players.

Samsung opens app store for TVs
 You’re welcome
Samsung is a major mobile phone and television manufacturer, with a mobile phone app store already serving subscribers in Europe and Korea.… More

RIP STB

6 January 2010 by Steve Blum
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The set top box is on the run, harried away by television manufacturers. Toshiba sounded the hunting horn this morning, unveiling its Cell TV product line. Don’t be fooled by the name, it’s a classic case of branding in a vacuum. It has nothing to do with mobile phones. It’s a computer morphed into a set top box and wrapped with a big screen TV. The set top box is the TV.

Toshiba Cell TV
 Spot the set top box
Toshiba calls the chip that powers it the Cell TV Broadband Engine, which was developed in a joint venture with Sony and IBM.… More

The buzz from CES Unveiled

5 January 2010 by Steve Blum
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CES Unveiled was the usual mob scene. Maybe even more so this year. But its a good first look at what has the buzz and what doesn’t.


 Lenovo tablet computer becomes a laptop
Lenovo was the only computer maker showing a genuine tablet computer at the event. And its a beauty.

It’s really two computers in one. The tablet runs on a mobile processor and has good, basic functionality. It docks into a laptop-like device. In fact, when it’s docked, it is a laptop.… More

ASUS aims for design and lifestyle driven brand positioning

5 January 2010 by Steve Blum
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ASUS chairman Jonney Shih gambled that he could set a meet-or-beat benchmark with an early Tuesday news conference at the Consumer Electronics Show. Risky strategy, because if he doesn’t have a game-changing announcement, ASUS will end up looking diminished with every comparison made during Wednesday’s wall-to-wall press events.

Didn’t happen. No tablet computer or e-reader or smartphone to announce.

Turns out, the game they’re trying to change is their brand positioning: shift the ASUS brand from representing smaller, cheaper, geekier laptops and netbooks to being a full-on, mainstream portable computer maker, with a design-driven, consumer electronics edge.… More