The new model of the head sets KOSS KEB 40 soon will appear in sale Tweet

Soon for the Russian market they will leave the new model of the head sets KOSS KEB40 from the well-known American company KOSS Of corporation. KOSS KEB40 are the closed insertable head sets, they ensure with their 9- mm of dynamics the detailed sounding. Main distinctive special feature KEB40 - this is soundproofing due to the additional rings of packing, which makes hearing music more pleasant.

Model KEB40 is suitable for the daily use: silicone embouchures comfortably are arranged in the pinna, and the possibility to select the suitable embouchures of 3 sizes guarantees the convenient and practically imperceptible carrying. KOSS develops and is made entire its production on the unique technologies in accordance with the standard Of the Of sound of OF KOSS. Therefore even daily head set- inserts KOSS are characterized by the high quality of speech transmission. The head sets KOSS KEB40 will appear on the Russian market at the beginning of June of this year.

Labels:

NVIDIA refocuses on Android for Tegra 2, targets Apple A4 Tweet

Gunning for Apple

Huang revealed that by the end of the year we can expect to see some Android phones running Tegra 2 to hit the market, although he wouldn't reveal who would be making them.

One handset-maker he was happy to single-out, however, was Apple - identifying its A4 SoC as Tegra 2's primary competitor, as opposed to Qualcomm's Snapdragon or TI's OMAP (Intel's Moorestown wasn't even mentioned).

"Although it made sense for the first-generation androids to use available phone processors, the follow-on generations of Android are really going to go after performance," said Huang. "And iPhones are out there, the iPhone 4G is coming, the iPad is obviously a revolutionary product. The bar is pretty high for all of the mobile players, and so they need a processor that can keep up with the A4. If not, be much better than what the A4 can do because they have to take on the leader in the space.

"And so I think the second-generation Tegra has been doing incredibly well because Android is doing incredibly well. So we're going to come to market with the second-generation Tegra with the third-generation Android."

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time NVIDIA has publicly spoken so strongly of a focus on Android for Tegra. Apple has its own chip, Nokia is in bed with Intel and Microsoft has thrown NVIDIA's commitment back in its face, so that only really leaves Android anyway, but now it's official.

There are a couple of other mobile platforms out there: BlackBerry and WebOS, and we wouldn't be at all surprised to see NVIDIA court HP quite heavily over its newly acquired OS, which is expected to appear in a tablet before long.

source

Labels:

AT&T Expands Mobile Services Management for Global Customers Tweet

AT&T Global Mobile Management Services Provide Streamlined End-to-End Management of Mobility Operations in Supported Countries.

AT&T* is helping its qualified global enterprise customers significantly simplify their mobile environment with custom mobile management services. These comprehensive services provide enterprises with end-to-end management of mobile service providers in supported countries, increasing the enterprise customers’ visibility and control over their use and spending on wireless services in such countries.

AT&T Global Mobile Management Services supports the full spectrum of a customer’s mobile service management needs through multi-carrier management, standardized operations and consolidated reporting. AT&T already manages tens of thousands of wireless lines for subscribers located in more than 40 countries worldwide on all major continents – and expects to expand this managed service to subscribers located in more than 60 countries this year.

In today’s global business environment where companies are pressured to reduce costs and streamline operations, AT&T Global Mobile Management Services is a flexible offering which can meet the evolving needs of a global organization by driving lower management and mobility service costs. AT&T provides a wireless voice service-based savings commitment to customers of this service.

"Widespread mobile services adoption among enterprises is critical for employee productivity and sustained competition in the global economy. Because mobile has evolved as a localized department or country-level procurement, there is no process for central budget visibility or

planning," said Mark A. Winther, Group Vice President and Consulting Partner of Worldwide Telecommunications, IDC. "Global enterprises need a mobile management solution that reduces costs, improves transparency and facilitates centralized budget controls."

AT&T Global Mobile Management Services offers enterprise customers with more than 10,000 mobile users the ability to:

* Reduce mobile service spend through multi-carrier management and consolidation of users to preferred carriers, effective policy enforcement, and active telecom expense management.
* Have AT&T act as the single point of contact for managing and tracking qualified mobility transactions and escalating network outages, provisioning errors and other incidents and issues to the appropriate providers.
* Increase visibility and control into the use of mobile services through consolidated usage and spend reporting.

“From our experience of delivering the best-in-class network services to AT&T business customers throughout the world, we understand the need to contain costs yet provide unparalleled services and support,” said Chris Hill, vice president, mobility product management, AT&T Business Solutions. “AT&T offers an end-to-end solution which includes serving as the single point of contact managing mobility services across carriers, in dozens of countries throughout the world. Today, we’re expanding our solution to more countries to help our customers manage their mobile services even more efficiently.”

AT&T is an industry leader in serving large business customers, serving thousands of enterprise business customers, including all of the Fortune 1000 and multinational companies on six continents.

For more information on AT&T’s enterprise mobility offerings including AT&T Global Mobile Management Services visit www.att.com/mobilemanagementsolutions.

Labels:

Consumer Purchase of LED-Backlit LCD-TVs Doubles in First Quarter Tweet

Jump is biggest advance since technology was introduced.

Lured by declining prices and increased availability, U.S. consumers significantly increased their purchasing of LED-backlit LCD televisions in the first quarter of 2010, resulting in a doubling of market share for these products compared to the fourth quarter of 2009, according to consumer preference surveys conducted by iSuppli Corp.

LED-backlit LCD-TVs, also known as LED-TVs accounted for 12.1 percent of all televisions purchased by consumers in the United States in the first quarter of 2010, up from 6.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. LED-TVs make use of light-emitting diodes to provide backlighting of LCD panels, in constrast with conventional LCD-TVs using the older Cold Cathode Flourescent Lamp (CCFL) technology.

While the share of LED-TVs has risen consistently since the introduction of the technology last year, the doubling in the first quarter marks the biggest jump yet.

In comparison, the share of LCD-TVs using CCFL backlighting technology fell to 74.4 percent in the first quarter, down from 79.7 percent in the fourth quarter. Plasma television panels continued to hold steady at the 12 percent level, while rear-projection TVs and tube-type CRT-TVs were all but dead categories.

LED-TV Popularity Continues Unabated
The growing popularity of LED-TVs can be attributed to their increased availability and declining prices, iSuppli data show. From initially being available only at CE retailers and online stores, LED-TVs now can be bought at club stores, such as Costco Wholesale Corp., and in mass merchandisers, like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Moreover, both value and premium brands have started offering LED-TVs in smaller models—including the 19-, 22- and 24-inch sizes—broadening their appeal and accessibility.

Prices of LED-TVs declined on average by 19 percent from $2,380 in the fourth quarter of 2009 to $2,040 in the first quarter of 2010. As of April 2010, average pricing for LED-TVs was further down to $1,830—an astonishing 50 percent decline from a year earlier.

Current LED-TV prices carry a smaller price premium compared to LCD-TVs using CCFL, an important factor in the growing enthusiasm of the populace for the new sets, iSuppli surveys show. And compared to CCFL-backlit LCD-TVs, LED TVs consume less electricity, possess an even thinner form factor, and generate a smaller amount of pollution to the environment during their manufacture.

Many LED-TVs also include the newer features and technologies that appeal to consumers wishing to upgrade from older sets. Such features include higher refresh rates, 3-D capability, and built-in Internet connectivity for easy Web access, entertainment, and even social networking on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Labels:

iPad and Imitators Set to Shake up Electronics Supply Chain Tweet

User-Interface-centric design has huge implications for the electronics industry.

The User-Interface (UI)-focused design of Apple Inc.’s iPad will exert a major impact on the electronics supply chain and on how electronic products are designed, according to iSuppli Corp., as the success of the product and its imitators boosts the fortunes of component makers specifically focused on improving the interaction between humans and machines.

“Electronic products have always been designed the same way, with a motherboard-oriented approach starting with the circuits and semiconductors on a central Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and then wrapping UI-focused elements like the keyboard and display around it,” said Derek Lidow, president and chief executive officer at iSuppli. “The iPad is not designed that way. It doesn’t have a traditional motherboard. Rather, it is designed with the UI as the starting point: Apple started by designing the screen, the touch pad and the battery, and lastly focused on the semiconductors and where to put them. This design is what gives the product a unique feel and functionality.”

Shipments of Apple’s iPad are set to rise to 20.1 million in 2012, up from 7.1 million in 2010. However, the influence of the iPad is expected to extend beyond Apple. Other companies offering products competitive to the iPad include Google Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Microsoft Corp.

“Anyone that wants to compete with Apple is going to have to consider the design of the iPad, as well as its huge implications on the electronics design and value chain,” Lidow added. “This unleashes an extremely interesting dynamic. The question of which companies in the supply chain will capture the profits from this UI-based approach will be of major importance in the coming years.”

Display and Touch Screen on Center Stage
Obvious beneficiaries of the UI-centric design philosophy are the suppliers of the display, touch screen assembly and related electronics. The display module in the iPad, supplied by LG Display, is the single most expensive component in the product. The display employs advanced, wide-viewing-angle LCD technology. The actual technology reportedly is either In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology or Advanced-Fringe Field Switching (AFFS) technology. LG Display holds the patent for IPS, while Hydis Technology Co.—a subsidiary of Prime View International—holds the patent on the AFFS technology. Japan’s Epson is also providing panels, while Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is a potential future supplier.

The next most expensive component is the capacitive touch screen assembly. The supplier of the assembly is Wintek Corp. Other makers of such assemblies include Sintek Photronic Corp., TPK Solutions Inc., Touch International and Young Fast Optoelectronics Co. Ltd., but none of those companies currently supply to the iPad, iSuppli believes.

On the support electronics side are the touch screen microcontroller and multitouch controller Integrated Circuits (ICs) from Broadcom Corp. and the touch screen driver from Texas Instruments Inc. Other suppliers for touch screen controllers not specific to the iPad include Synaptics, Cypress Semiconductor Corp., and Atmel Corp.

Interestingly, the fact that three separate ICs are used to support the touch screen display indicates that the design is in its early stages, and suggests that future integration into a single device is possible and desirable. Future versions of the iPad are likely to use a single-chip solution for supporting the touch screen functionality, creating opportunities for suppliers that can offer such products.

“The iPad brings a new competitive dynamic that focuses on which companies will supply and control the value of the UI—and which firms will become commoditized in the relentless push to drive down prices,” Lidow said. “Display companies could shift their R&D priorities to develop touch and UI intelligence into their products, grabbing value from other UI components and protecting them from being commoditized. Intellectual-Property-savvy semiconductor suppliers could do the same. During the next five years this will become one of the most important battlegrounds in the electronics value chain.”

Battery Charge
While the battery is not usually considered part of the UI, in the iPad it plays a critical role in supporting the user experience. With the iPad heavily focused on mobility, a long battery life is critical, as iPhone users know.

“The weakest link in the iPhone is the battery life,” said Andrew Rassweiler, director and principal analyst, teardown services manager, for iSuppli. “With the iPad, Apple has rethought design priorities to ensure long battery life and serviceability. The bulk of the iPad is designed to accommodate the battery pack, which was also designed to be easily removed and replaced, although not by consumers.”

The thickness of the iPad is largely determined by the size of the display module and battery packs combined, Rassweiler noted. The battery, priced at $23.75, represents more than 9 percent of the iPad’s total bill-of-materials cost. In the iPad torn down by iSuppli, the battery cells were supplied by Amperex Technology and the pack provided by Dynapack. iSuppli expects other suppliers of tablet-type products to emulate the iPad’s battery-centric approach.

Processor Concerns
In the UI-focused, content-consumption-oriented iPad, the microprocessor plays a lesser role than it does in conventional notebook PCs. However, the iPad’s design demands a highly integrated microprocessor that emphasizes lower power consumption and small space usage.

The microprocessor, combining an A4 processor core and a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), was designed by P.A. Semi—which was acquired by Apple in 2008—and carries an estimated cost of $19.50.

“The processor in the iPad is not a PC microprocessor,” Rassweiler noted. “This is, as we understand it, an ARM-core based processor that is different from—and not trying to compete with—for example, Intel’s Atom microprocessor. This is a totally different architecture that comes as more of an extension of the iPhone/iPod line, rather than as an extension of Apple’s computer line-up, which is entirely Intel-based at this point.”

While the A4 lacks a custom development tailor-designed by, and made only for, Apple, it provides a much smaller physical footprint than Atom architecture does.

Know-how in integrated silicon for mobile platforms is now in hot demand because of the iPad’s design and may be behind several developments in the news lately.

These developments include Google’s recent announcement of its acquisition of Agnilux, a start-up founded by P.A. Semi professionals who left when that fabless chip designer was acquired by Apple in 2008. Agnilux Intellectual Property (IP) could find its way into a pending Google tablet PC. Apple this week also reportedly purchased Intrinsity, a privately owned ARM chip design firm.

Some competitors of the iPad are also likely to adopt ARM-Core based designs, such as the TEGRA chip line by Nvidia, or the OMAP processors by TI.

Labels:

Solar Thermal: The Other Solar Energy Tweet

Market to expand by more than 37 times by 2014.

While most of the focus in the solar world is on Photovoltaic (PV) power, the fastest-growing segment of the solar market is actually the solar thermal market, which will expand by a factor of 37 from 2009 to 2014, compared to just a sixfold rise for PV during the same period, according to iSuppli Corp.

Solar thermal, or Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), is undergoing a boom, as newly installed capacity explodes. Annual global CSP installations are projected to reach 10.8 Gigawatts (GW) in 2014, up from just 0.29GW in 2009. In contrast, PV installations will amount to 45.2GW in 2014, up from 7.0GW in 2009.

Collecting the Sun
PV employs arrays of cells that convert the sun’s radiation into direct current electricity. On the other hand, solar thermal uses mirrors to reflect the sun’s heat energy onto collectors filled with fluids or gases. This energy is then used to heat water and, in turn, drive a steam turbine to generate electricity. One type, the dish system, doesn’t use steam turbine but rather a Stirling engine that creates mechanical motion to operate an electrical generator.

The most popular type is a parabolic trough version that heats a tube of synthetic oil, which is pumped through a heat exchanger to create water steam that drives a turbine electricity generator. Other types include a tower configuration with flat mirrors that reflect to a central tower collector as well as versions that use a Fresnel lens to amplify the sun’s effect. Another type called a chimney doesn’t use water or fluids but employs convection air currents to suck air in through turbine fans at the bottom of a tower surrounded by a greenhouse-like apron of glass.

CSP plants also are beginning to store the sun’s heat energy for release to steam generators at night. Forms of molten salt and graphite lead the list of storage alternatives for slowly releasing heat.

The CSP Market vs. Tower and Dish Technology
The market for CSP is currently limited, with two countries--the United States and Spain—dominating project deployments so far. About 10 projects are online at present, but by the end of 2011 the number of projects will grow to 40 with another 100 in the planning phase from 30 vendors. North Africa, China, and Australia are the next high-growth regions.

CSP stakeholders also believe 2010 is the year when the technology could really gain traction in the market, even though companies are looking at land rights acquisitions—which progress on a much slower scale than technology evolution—while also examining water use, wildlife impact and power transmission issues that could prove to be bottlenecks for some countries, including the United States.

Parabolic CSP might be the dominant approach at the moment, but iSuppli believes tower and dish technology will catch up in the next few years.

Recent Tour
An example of the CSP model is The Nevada Solar One facility, which is majority owned and operated by Acciona, responsible for generating enough electricity to power 14,000 homes in the Las Vegas area. The plant, the biggest solar facility in the world when it opened in 2007, can produce up to 75 Megawatts (MW). It is built on 400 acres and employs 182,000 mirrors that heat oil-based liquid to more than 750 degrees Fahrenheit. The liquid’s heat is then transferred to steam and drives a turbine system, which is supplied by Siemens.
If more of these facilities crop up, and should the timetable for CSP be on target, another technology in the move to green energy may be at hand—one that could reduce the market’s dependency on traditional methods of generating electricity.

Labels:

The Rise and Fall of UMG Tweet

Lower-quality polysilicon faces a tough road ahead.

The price differential has narrowed in 2010 between 6N semiconductor-grade Upgraded Metallurgical Silicon (UMG) and Fluidized Bed Reactor (FBR) material, a competing technology of 9N semiconductor grade, to the point where wafer and cell manufacturers can now afford to buy the higher-quality polysilicon because the efficiency boost at the cell and module levels is justified.

FBR, in particular, has made significant steps forward, with Renewable Energy Corp. and MEMC Corp successfully bringing this technology to production scale while offering 9N quality. While in the past FBR has been hard to reach production scale—requiring expertise not found in many solar companies—the technology brings to the market a low energy requirement on production relative to the incumbent technology, which reduces costs.

With polysilicon capacity growing to 122,000 metric tons in 2009—and forecasted to rise to 180,000 metric tons in 2010—a major market shift has begun in terms of the top players and the type of polysilicon product that is being purchased, leaving UMG on the short end of the stick.

The Rise of UMG
Before 2006, most of the polysilicon available for solar use was recycled from semiconductor wafer operations such as those run by foundries operated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC). The use of recycled polysilicon was required because of severe capacity constraints in the market.

This created an opportunity for companies to focus on creating this lower-grade polysilicon, which would not require the money or expertise needed for a semiconductor-grade 9N solution.

With prices rising throughout 2006 and 2007, the business case for UMG was sound with players touting 6N quality polysilicon and displaying roadmaps to get to 9N in the foreseeable future. However, as capacity rose to 66,000 metric tons by 2008, up from 39,000 metric tons in 2006, supply was catching up to demand.

The Fall of UMG
As 2008 came to an end, there was significant turmoil in the market when solar demand collapsed in the Spanish market. As many downstream players cut production, this affected the polysilicon market significantly, which until then had been the bottleneck in the industry, driving prices up to more than $400/kg in mid 2008.

As pricing plummeted through 2009, the price gap between 9N Siemens and FBR solutions and 6N UMG narrowed to the point where wafer and cell manufacturers could afford to buy the higher-quality polysilicon as it justified the efficiency boost at the cell and module levels.

Labels: