Blog articles from 10/2008

DigiTV, a not-for-profit organization owned by U.K.’s Kirklees Council recently received funding from Europe’s T-Seniority Project to build interactive TV-based telecare solutions to serve the chronically ill and the elderly populations. Last month, it also secured funding from the U.K government to develop digital TV-based interactive care solutions. DigiTV is the major technology facilitator behind its Looking Local portal, which broad content from UK’s local authorities through...

Ad Age ran an interesting article today, Public Might Cut Cord on Landlines, Cable TV. The article posed the hypothetical question, “If you could keep only one thing out of a list that included your phone (home or mobile), your TV, or your computer and Internet connection, what would it be?” According to the article, the implications of the current economy and subsequent consumer cutbacks is on the minds of marketers, telecoms, ad agencies, and media companies. Verizon is...

TWICE has a very comprehensive article today about flat-panel TV expectations for the last two months of the year. Sales appear to have been good for the year, leading many to assume that we won't see steep Black Friday or pre-Christmas discounts given on TVs. However, the pricing does look more and more attractive. I did see an article last week in The Wall Street Journal predicting $350 32" LCDs on Black Friday. That would be a pretty darn good price.

I guess the 21st-Century workplace is defined by different success measures, so I'm hoping that my ability to take my Outlook Inbox down from 50+ messages this morning to about 15 is noted on any upcoming performance reviews. Sisyphus had his own way of spending eternity, and I have mine, apparently. Out of the Inbox mess, however, did come a couple of announcements are are worth mentioning: I've been wondering what the HD-PLC folks have been up to, because frankly it...

The NPD Group says that September retail consumer electronics sales were down 2% from last year, but not nearly the freefall that others had feared. Flat-panel TVs continue to sell well, as unit sales increased 20%

Microsoft’s relationship with Aetna, one of the nation’s largest private insurers, seems warming up. On Oct 21, 2008, the two companies announced a new collaboration that will allow six million Aetna members, or 16% of Aetna’s total insured lives, to transfer their personal health information from Aetna’s own PHR to Microsoft’s HealthVault. The long-term goal is to allow all members to do so. Aetna’s PHR capability is built on its acquired assets from ActiveHealth...

One and a half years before the analogue switch-off, scheduled for April 2010, Spaniards seem to be not very keen on DTT as most of them, 61.4 percent, still prefer to watch analogue TV, according to the latest viewing figures. DTT got an average share of 17.4 percent in September, a record figure in its history but still very low in comparison with the allegedly high DTT take-up, with 37.4 percent of Spanish homes already enjoying DTT (of which 32.4 percent have an IDTV), according...

I was telling a reporter the other day that although it's unlikely that the three console makers will reduce their prices to adapt to the poor economic environment, we'll definitely see more and better bundles this holiday season, especially from Microsoft and Sony. Guess what, we are still a month away from Thanksgiving, Black Friday style deals are already emerging. Here's one example from Dell's online store. Not a bad deal, really... Courtesy of dealsea.com. Xbox 360 120GB...