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  • ION Television HD Debuts On HD-PRIME


    SES AMERICOM has signed a multi-year distribution agreement with the US’s largest station group, ION Media Networks, to launch its full suite of television networks in HD.

    The move means that SES now has 60 HD channels on its HD-PRIME delivery platform.

    The ION channel provides a mix of television series, theatrical and made-for-television movies and specials.

    Mark Greenlee, senior vice president of network operations at ION Media Networks, said ION has tapped expanded distribution capacity aboard HD-PRIME to offer its HD programming to viewers in more than 94 million homes across the country.

    He said ION Television HD will carry both native and up-converted HD programming on all 60 network stations in the US.

    ION HD starts this week over HD-PRIME satellite AMC-1, with ION’s qubo, a multilingual kid’s network. ION Life, a digital network devoted to active lifestyles, is set to follow later this year.

    "SES AMERICOM provides the reach and reliability ION Media Networks counts on day in and day out to serve both our cable and broadcast audiences nationwide," he said.

    David Goosey, senior system engineer at ION Media Networks, said HD-PRIME offers the advanced technology, the know-how, and the top-of-the-arc orbital slot needed to serve its affiliates and audiences from Honolulu to Boston.

    The HD distribution agreement between ION Media Networks and SES AMERICOM runs through the life of the AMC-1 satellite, which was launched in 1996.

    The hybrid C- and Ku-band spacecraft is located at 103 degrees west, where it is home to national television networks broadcasting to thousands of cable headends that reach tens of millions of homes across the country.

  • Apple TV To Get a Wii-like Remote?


    Apple     has filed a set of patents for a Wii-style remote control for Apple TV.

    In the two patent applications Apple describes a "wand" for controlling the operations of a media system, suggesting the iPhone-maker may be considering games for Apple TV.

    That would involve distributing them to the device through the iTunes App Store, as is currently the case for the iPhone.

    In January, it was suggested that NVIDIA’s Ion platform is likely to be included in the next Apple TV.

    Among the uses proposed by Apple for the wand are zoom operations, a keyboard application, an image application, an illustration application and a media application.

    Other possiblities for the wand include it being used to call up a dock, and then to select an option from the menu by moving the wand across the screen.

    The controller could also scroll through a CoverFlow display and be used to manipulate photos by zooming in and out and rotating.

    It will be interesting to see how this develops – and how Nintendo reacts to the Apple application.

  • Mobile Internet Becoming Part of Daily Lives


    The number of people in the US using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled in the last year.

    An estimated 63.2 million people accessed news and information on their mobile devices in January 2009, up from 36.9 million doing so in January 2008, according to figures released today from comScore.

    Of these, 22.4 million (35 percent) did so daily – also more than double the size of the audience last year.

    The highest growth, however, was in accessing social networking sites or blogs, with 9.3 million using the mobile internet daily to access a social network site or blog in January 2009 compared with 1.8 million in January 2008.

    Mark Donovan, comScore’s senior vice president, mobile, said that that over the course of the past year, mobile Internet use has evolve from an occasional activity to being a daily part of people’s lives.

    "This underscores the growing importance of the mobile medium as consumers become more reliant on their mobile devices to access time-sensitive and utilitarian information."

    Donovan said that social networking and blogging have emerged as very popular daily uses of the mobile Web and these activities are growing at a torrid pace.

    "We also note that much of the growth in news and information usage is driven by the increased popularity of downloaded applications, such as those offered for the iPhone, and by text-based searches."

    In January, 22.3 million people accessed news and information via a downloaded applications, with 8.2 million people using downloaded maps applications.

    SMS is still a strong channel, with 32.4 million people using SMS to access news and information—including 14.1 million people using SMS for search.

    Donovan said that hile smartphones and high-end feature phones, like the Samsung Instinct and LG Dare comprise the Top 10 devices used for news and information access, 70 per cent of those accessing mobile Internet content are using feature phones.

    Other significant segments included:

    • Traded stocks or accessed financial account, which grew by 188 per cent to 3.3 million
    • Accessed movie information, which grew by 185 per cent to 3.1 million
    • Accessed business directories, which grew by 161 per cent to 2.4 million
    • Accessed entertainment news, which grew by 160 per cent to 5.5 million.

  • Smartphone Market: RIM and Apple Closing On Nokia


    Nokia still tops the smartphone market with sales of 60.9 million handsets last year for a total global market share of 43.7 per cent.

    But the Finnish phone-maker’s sales grew by just 0.8 per cent and its market share dropped from 49.4 per cent, with rivals Research In Motion (RIM) and Apple taking bigger slices of the smartphone pie.

    Research firm Gartner said Nokia still has more than double the market share of its closest competitor, RIM, which has 16.6 per cent.

    It points to the introduction of high-profile handsets by competitors as a key factor in Nokia’s slipping market share.

    The researchers predict that while Nokia’s low-end smartphones will continue to fare well, its higher-end N series handsets are in for a tough ride.

    RIM, on the other hand, has profited from new devices, such as the BlackBerry Bold and the BlackBerry Storm, which have taken its market share from 9.6 per cent in 2007 to 16.6 per cent in 2008.

    Generally, Gartner said worldwide sales of smartphones had grown at their slowest pace yet in the fourth quarter of 2008 as the financial crisis hit demand.

    It said an estimated 38.14 million smartphones sold in the three months to December, an increase of 3.7 per cent over the same period in 2007.

    This is the slowest rise since Gartner began tracking the market for smartphones in 2003.

    Nokia suffered a 16.8 per cent drop in sales during the December quarter.

    Total smartphone sales in 2008 reached 139.3 million units, up almost 14 per cent over the previous year.

  • iPhone Likely to Get Background Application Support?


    Apple has flagged up March 17 for a special event to preview its new iPhone 3.0 software.

    One issue that could be addressed with the new OS is allowing for background tasks from third party applications.

    While the iPhone currently doesn’t allow this, rival handsets running Google Android and, crucially, the as-yet unlaunched Palm Pre, are able to support background applications.

    Since user pressure hasn’t done the trick then maybe the Pre’s imminent arrival has provided Apple with the stimulus it needed to remedy this shortcoming on the iPhone.

    With the new software expected to be available by June/July, this would be perfect timing for Palm’s planned launch of its new smartphone by the end of the first half of 2009.

    Among the other expectations ahead of next week’s Apple event is the suggestion the iPhone OS could find its way into a device somewhere between an iPhone and laptop.

    OK, so Apple recently ruled out a "netbook", but what if it’s a big screen iPod Touch?

  • Developers' Dilemma: Mobile Website or Downloadable Application?


    Despite the rapidly increasing interest in mobile content – and the revenue generating potential it offers – uncertainty often exists over whether to develop mobile websites or create downloadable applications.

    Ameet Shah, sales and business development director with Five Mobile, has raised some interesting points for those considering producing content for smartphones.

    He said that having been in the mobile space for a number of years he is often asked by prospective customers whether they should develop a mobile website or create a downloadable application that runs on the handsets.

    Five Mobile creates mobile applications for brands and enterprises across different platforms and handsets.

    Shah, who writes regularly on Five Mobile’s blog, said the answer depended on what you were trying to accomplish.

    "Web development on mobile phones has long suffered from a very rigid platform and the inability for mobile browsers to keep up with current web technologies," he said.

    "This is slowly changing, partially due to the recent spikes in Smartphone handset sales.

    "With many handset manufacturers attempting to clone the iPhone’s usability and appeal, a larger focus has been placed on the content on mobile phones.

    "This in turn requires better software to render this content."

    Shah said that, for example, both the iPhone and Blackberry Bold browsers can view HTML pages and process JavaScript.

    While technologies such as Flash have long been rumored to be coming in the near term, he said it will take some time before it’s supported on a large number of devices.

    For a full list of Shah’s Pros and Cons for developing mobile web applications, please click here.

  • Intel's X25-M SSD Judged Insufficient For "Heavy Use"


    Intel’s much-hyped X25-M SSD is being marketed as a quicker and much more energy-efficient option for laptops than the traditional hard disk drives, but a review site finds it slower under heavy use, writes M Asim for storage-biz.news.

    According to PC Perspective, this solid-state drive has problems in the sector relating to wear leveling algorithms and remapping that are considered relatively effective to boost performance.

    PC Perspective says that they it does the opposite and becomes fragmented when used heavily.

    The problem becomes even worse with usual defragmentation programs.

    "If a laptop user places light workloads on its X-25 M, it may not find such issues",the review says.

    "But there are some users who are opting for SS drive for the OS partitions, and these drives can be fragmented by a standard power user workload."

    Intel responded by saying that its labs couldn’t duplicate the reviewers’ tests results.

    "We have contacted PC Perspective’s reviewers to find out about their method to duplicate and scrutinize the data," an Intel spokesman said.

    "We think that the imitative workloads they have tested do not represent real world use."

    According to the chip maker, almost every storage device can prove a fiasco if tested for anything other than normal use.

    PC Perspective’s reviewers, meanwhile, say that this performance problem can be fixed with a firmware update from the chip maker.

    Intel unveiled the X25-M last December and has already lowered its price.

  • EMC Being Investigated by the Feds


    The Federal government has just announced in a statement that Data Storage giant, EMC is being investigated over its pricing and improper contract practices.

    EMC revealed in its annual report with the SEC several days ago that the US justice Department had filed a lawsuit against the company, writes Samantha Sai for storage-biz.news.

    According to the Justice Department press release, the lawsuit accuses EMC of failing to disclose its commercial pricing practices during negotiation of its General Services Administration (GSA) contracts.

    It also says EMC provided improper payments and other things of value to Systems Integrators and other Alliance Partners on contracts with government agencies.

    The lawsuit alleges that EMC tendered false claims for hardware and services on “numerous government contracts from the late 90s to the present”.

    It is believed that the lawsuit is based on insider information as the suit was filed in US District Court in Little Rock, Ark under the Whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act.

    Among other allegations in the lawsuit are that EMC, "made payments of money and other things of value (alliance benefits) to a number of systems integration consultants and other alliance partners with whom it had alliance relationships".

    The Justice Department further states "that these alliance relationships and the resulting alliance benefits paid by EMC amount to kickbacks and undisclosed conflict of interest relationships".

    The government press release also declares that EMC has been charged with making false statements to the General Accounting Service about its profit-making pricing customs to collect better proceeds on contracts, "thereby overcharging federal agencies purchasing EMC products and services".

    The report filed by EMC to the SEC mentions that the Justice Department is scrutinizing the company’s fee planning with systems integrators and other associates in federal government dealings.

    It is also looking at the company’s "compliance with the terms and conditions of certain agreements pursuant to which we sold products and services to the federal government, including potential violations of the False Claims Act".

    The investigation partly covers a previous audit by the GSA "concerning our recordkeeping and pricing practices under a schedule agreement we entered into with GSA in November 1999, which, following several extensions, expired in June 2007".

    To date, EMC says it has worked together with the inquiry and assessment and engaged in discussions aimed at resolving this matter without any admission or finding of liability on the part of EMC.

    "We believe that we have meritorious factual and legal defenses to the allegations raised and, if the matter is not resolved and proceeds to litigation, we intend to defend vigorously," the company said.

    "If the matter proceeds to litigation, possible sanctions include an award of damages, including treble damages, fines, penalties and other sanctions, including suspension or debarment from sales to the federal government."

    To keep things in perspective, EMC is not the first IT Corporation to face such allegations. Just a year ago IBM did clear up similar charges with a $ 3 million fine. Other companies that have gone through the same process include Accenture, HP and Sun Microsystems.

    StorageIO Group founder and senior analyst Greg Schulz speculates if the new Administration is just getting started.

    "If that’s the case, one has to wonder who’s next, and how big the boiler will be when the government finally gets around to the really big fish," he said.

  • Results Poor for Silicon Storage Technology – CEO Remains Confident


    Silicon Valley continues to take a pounding on the markets.

    The latest stock market news for Silicon Storage Technology, Inc was all bad news, writes Samantha Sai for storage-biz.news.

    Net revenues for the 4th quarter were USD $58.4 million, a drop of nearly USD $40 million from the 3rd quarter of 2008.

    In 2007, the company had net revenues of USD $107.4 million in the 4th quarter alone.

    To add to its woes, product revenues for the 4th quarter of 2008 were USD $46.3 million, which is close to USD $30 million less than in the 3rd quarter of 2008.

    Only technology licensing revenues remain steady, at USD $12.1 million for the 4th quarter of 2008.

    These numbers have not changed much over the past 2 years.

    Rough estimates indicate that loss from operations for the 4th quarter was close to USD $10 million compared with income from operations of USD $4 million in the 3rd quarter of 2008.

    The loss in the 4th quarter of 2007 was double that approximating close to USD $19 million.

    The net loss for SST continues to mount.

    SST’s shares were estimated at $0.31 per share based on approximately 95.5 million diluted shares in the 4th quarter of 2008.

    Incorporated in the 4th quarter 2008 net loss was the price of streamlining fee estimated at USD $2.5 million, an impairment charge connected to the company’s venture in Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation of USD $5.6 million and an impairment cost associated to the company’s assets in ACET of USD $9.7 million.

    By contrast, the company recorded a net income of USD $4.9 million or 40.05 per share based on about 99.7 million diluted shares.

    SST finished the 4th quarter of 2008 with USD $131.7 million in cash equivalents, short-term investments and long term marketable debt securities.

    These numbers are down by 1.1 million from the estimated USD $131.8 million at the end of Sept 2008.
    So what does SST management have to say about this continued decline in profits?

    Bing Yeh, president, and CEO of SST said: "The unprecedented sudden drop in demand of semiconductor products during the fourth quarter resulting from the deepening global financial crisis has caused significant decline in our revenues."

    He goes on to add that: "This persistent difficult economic environment necessitated that we accelerate our planned changes to our business and focus in late 2008.

    "We took important steps to reduce our inventory, streamline our organizational structure, and cut our expenses by focusing our efforts on our most strategic initiatives with the goal of returning the company to profitability.

    "With these organizational changes, we believe that we can control our expenses while continuing to execute our product and technology roadmap and position SST for growth as the economy recovers."

    For the first Quarter of 2009, revenues for SST are projected to be in-between USD $39 million and $45 million.

    All this depends on the gross margin discrepancies, which is expected to very between 38-40 per cent.

    However, the way 2009 has started, the markets remains unpredictable and the above projections mean little.

  • Sun Microsystems and The World's First Open Storage Appliance


    Just a few months ago, Sun Microsystems revealed the availability of its new Unified Storage System – the Sun Storage 7000 family.

    Described as the world’s first Open Storage Appliance, Sun claims the Storage 7000 family is the "biggest thing to happen to storage in decades", writes Samantha Sai for storage-biz-news.

    Quite a brag – though the product’s creativity and innovation speaks volumes for Sun’s group of engineers.

    The Storage 7000 family has three different versions – the 7110, 7210, and 7410 – which have an overall capacity ranging from 2 Tbytes to 288 Tbytes.

    However, the 7410 offers a collected configuration (for advanced accessibility) and is typically aimed for enterprise class configurations, whereas the 7110 and 7210 are better designed for less significant fittings.

    The Sun Storage Unified system can run both NAS and SAN solutions, and Sun pulls seriously on its well-respected ZFS (Zettabyte File System) in the Storage 7000 family.

    Unified storage space rivals EMC Corp, NetApp Inc and IBM Corp have so far focused their attention on IT environments that have a strong NAS presence – but they would very much like to manage SAN as well.

    Sun, meanwhile, has put a major emphasis on facilitating the Storage 7000 family to provide universal function storage requirements.
    The major thrust of Sun’s message for the Storage 7000 is that it makes life a lot easier for storage administrators.

    Sun caims the installations process only takes a few minutes, but persists with key courses of action such as thin provisioning, a function which is embedded in ZFS (as logical storage pools can be enlarged or diminished transparently as long as there is sufficient physical storage to carry them).

    Another feature of the Storage 7000 technology that is of benefit to administration is the concept of DTrace, a collection of analysis that permits real-time system diagnostics.

    Engineers at Sun feel that DTrace can significantly advance storage system troubleshooting to a level never seen before in the industry.

    Another aspect of the Sun Storage 7000 is its performance.

    The company appropriately calls it Hybrid Storage Pools, which shares DRAM, read, and write optimized flash devices that work in working in combination with hard disc drives.

    Sun maintains that the innovative use of SSD technology can help flash memory combine with disc technology resulting in a mega performance that is very cost effective.

    While all that is great, Sun Microsystems continues to show a financial downturn having lost more than USD $1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2009 that ended in Sept 2008.

    With the ongoing financial crises and global recession, the question remains – how well does the Storage 7000 system fit in with other Sun storage products and how does the company plan to market and sell them in a cost efficient method?

    Only time will tell.