tvs

Luminus Devices, a company that wants to change the lighting systems in digital TVs and in buildings, has raised $72 million in its latest round of funding.

The company, which grew out of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, makes the Phlatlight LED (light-emitting diode), a type of LED that combines some of the qualities of both LEDs and lasers. The Phlat in Phlatlight stands for "photonic lattice structures." Basically, the lattice creates a situation where light can be precisely controlled (like a laser). The Phlatlight also can extract large amounts of light per watt, like an … Read more

SAN DIEGO--Steve Jobs said people "don't read anymore."

Karl McGoldrick hopes the visionary Apple CEO is actually wrong for once.

That's because McGoldrick is the CEO of Netherlands-based Polymer Vision, the only company that right now is working on making e-books in a form that's actually close to traditional books--ones that are mobile, bendable, and, above all, readable.

But the device, called Readius, is not just an e-book reader--it receives e-mail, text messages, and RSS feeds, makes phone calls, and keeps calendar and contact information--in addition to downloading books and newspapers wirelessly.

It caused quite … Read more

Update:This blog has been corrected to reflect that the total flat-panel display business value represents global sales.

SAN DIEGO--This year could be a turning point for the flat-panel TV industry, as it decides how it will face the dual threats of market saturation and rapidly declining prices.

The total flat-panel display business in the worldwide in 2007 was $102 billion, up from $11 billion in 1998, according to DisplaySearch. And while that growth is encouraging, it's not necessarily good news for all sectors of the market.

One of the success stories is the rise of LCD (liquid crystal … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Though times may be tough for other TV manufacturers, Sony says it isn't feeling a thing yet in its electronics division here in the U.S.

At a press briefing with reporters here Wednesday evening, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow said that despite indications of a weakening U.S. economy, all is well with the Japanese electronics giant.

"I don't think consumers buying consumer electronics yet feel that," Glasgow said. "Sony did particularly well during the holidays. It was the best in the history of Sony Electronics in the U.S."

A boon … Read more

Pioneer plans to let someone else make its plasma TV panels, according to several reports.

Reuters reported Tuesday that the company will cease production of its own plasma panels because that portion of its business continues to lose money. The company will still sell plasma sets, but plans to get its plasma panels from Matsushita, parent company of Panasonic, the Nikkei business daily reported. Panasonic is the biggest plasma TV vendor in the world, shipping nearly 40 percent of all plasma displays, while Pioneer ranks fifth, shipping just over 6 percent of plasmas worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2007, … Read more

Sony is suddenly in unfamiliar territory. And that's not a bad thing.

The consumer electronics company, which has long put a premium on quality over TV volumes, was the leader in LCD televisions shipped in North America during the fourth quarter. At an almost 13 percent unit share, it's a fairly dramatic leap for the company, which jumped from fourth place to first in the space of one quarter.

Sony entered the last year with caution, saying that flat-panel TV prices were dropping too fast, but ended on a decidedly different note.

Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow seemed … Read more

As if reality were too mundane for you, many of the vendors at this year's CES would like to sell you a chair that vibrates in synch with your home theater system, a ultra-thin Hi-Def TVs that defies reality in terms of fidelity, clarity and color and now, televisions that attempt to be 3-D. Not satisfied? How about high-definition cameras? While I can't show you a picture of what 3-D TV image looks like, it's nowhere as cool as you may think.

LAS VEGAS--Samsung has been one of the big backers of rear-projection TVs, but its interest is waning.

"Over time, that (projection TV) will probably go away," S.I. Lee, Samsung's senior vice president of marketing for digital media, said at the Consumer Electronics Show here.

That could be a death knell for the format. Other companies, most notably Hitachi and Sony, have already killed their projection TV lines.

"We were interested in the business until the end of last year," said Makato Ebata, CEO of the consumer business group at Hitachi.

Projection TVs, which blast … Read more

Every year, TV manufacturers trot out gargantuan screens. And in response, people ask, "Does anyone really buy these things?"

The answer is yes, but they aren't in your ordinary income brackets, says Jeff Samuels, a spokesman for Panasonic.

Panasonic has sold hundreds of its 100-inch plasma TVs, despite much head-scratching among analysts and the press when they came out. Mark Cuban, the billionaire Dancing with the Stars contestant and Dallas Mavericks owner, bought one. A couple of NBA teams have put them in their stadiums.

Hotels and airports also have a fondness for these things.

So when … Read more