philips

Editors' note: The chart doesn't list every streaming-media service available on each manufacturer's TVs; for the sake of simplicity, we chose those we considered most important.

Today, many TVs are able to connect directly to the Internet. A few of them include QWERTY keyboard remotes and actual Web browsers, but most lack these PC-like extras. Instead they're designed around a "walled garden" of apps like Facebook, Picasa, and casual games; streaming services like Netflix and Pandora; and an interface meant to be browsed using one thumb and a standard TV remote. Increasingly, they also offer app stores with paid and free apps as well as, in one case so far, actual shopping. … Read more

As good picture quality is expensive to implement and difficult to explain, manufacturers seeking to differentiate between scads of televisions are turning to increasingly esoteric extras like passive or active 3D, 120Hz/240Hz/480Hz, QWERTY remote controls, and laundry lists of streaming video services. Philips has a new one: Wi-Fi MediaConnect. The feature, available on the PFL5706/F7 series reviewed here, enables the TV to display whatever's on the screen of a laptop PC that's running special software, without a wired connection between the two.

When it works the system functions well, but after our initial "Wow, … Read more

The CEA had its yearly line show earlier this week and we spent a little time in the Philips booth checking out several new audio products the company intends to release this year, including a handful of AirPlay-enabled speakers.

In case you don't know what AirPlay is, it's a wireless-streaming feature found on your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or any Mac or Windows PC running iTunes (see "10 things you need to know about AirPlay" for more info). Right now you can only stream video to your TV using Apple TV but lots of AirPlay-enabled speakers … Read more

The cost of efficient yet pricey LED light bulbs could fall by 50 percent in the next five years, according to the top Philips Lighting executive in the U.S.

Because of the efficiency and other features LED lighting offers, Philips Lighting is rapidly pushing into LEDs for both commercial and residential lighting, Zia Eftekhar, the CEO of Philips Lighting North America, said today in an interview from the LightFair industry conference in Philadelphia. The company projects that by 2015, 50 percent of its sales will be from LED lighting. It projects that figure would grow to 75 percent by 2020, a rate that's higher than the rest of the lighting industry, he said.

To bulk up its competence in LED lighting, Philips has acquired a few companies, including Color Kinetics and Lumileds. Yesterday, Philips Lighting said that its EnduraLED A21 bulb, designed to replace a 75-watt incandescent bulb, will be available in the fourth quarter this year for a price between $40 and $45.

The EnduraLED A21, which consumes 17 watts, offers energy savings and is projected to last 25,000 hours, or 25 times longer than an incandescent bulb. Over the life of the bulb, those savings make LEDs a better deal financially than incandescent lights, said Eftekhar.

Because residential LED bulbs are still relatively new, the price will fall as manufacturing volumes ramp up and the technology improves, he said.

"Take a look at what happened in commercial areas where the prices for outdoor LED lighting fell by 50 percent. If you asked me would those types of savings be a reasonable projection for (all LED lighting) over the next five years, my answer would immediately be 'Yes,'" Eftekhar said. … Read more

Philips is introducing an LED bulb that gives off as much light as a 75-watt incandescent bulb and consume 17 watts of power.

The lighting giant said today that the EnduraLED A21 will be available in the fourth quarter for a price expected to be between $40 and $45. It will show off the bulb tomorrow at the LightFair lighting conference, where many LED lighting announcements are expected.

The EnduraLED A21 will be the first general-purpose LED bulb to give off as much light as a 75-watt incandescent bulb, according to Philips. It will be rated at 1,100 lumens and an efficiency of almost 65 lumens per watt.

The bulb itself roughly resembles a crown, a design meant to give off light evenly. LED light sources give off directional light, making them very good at downlights or spotlights, but now manufacturers are designing bulbs to disperse light more in all directions.

The bulb will have a rated life of 25,000 hours, or about 17 years with four hours of daily use. The color rendering index, a measure of light quality, is 80 and the color temperature is 2,700, or a warmer yellow light meant to be similar to incandescents.

Philips last year started selling a 60-watt equivalent LED bulb with the same design and LED light sources, which is available through Home Depot for $39.97. It uses 12.5 watts.

Lighting manufacturers are seeking to boost the brightness and light quality of LEDs to make them attractive alternatives to incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs. The prices for LED bulbs are much higher but are expected to drop over time.

Philips said that over its lifetime, an EnduraLED A21 could save a home or business $160. There are about 90 million 75-watt incandescent bulbs sold every year in the U.S., and switching to LEDs would eliminate the carbon emissions of almost 1 million cars, according to Philips. … Read more

Apple sues Samsung, Samsung sues Apple, the Army uses Android in the battle field, and we get a tour of the latest round of Android Tablets. Join Justin Eckhouse and guest hosts Eric Franklin and JT Tabencki as they dive into the world of Android.

News Stories

Apple sues Samsung for ‘copying’ smartphones, tablets http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20055033-248.html

Samsung countersues Apple over iPhone, iPad http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/22/us-samsung-apple-idUSTRE73L0DG20110422

Android phones record user-locations … Read more

Attention Android fans who wouldn't be caught dead with an iPod Touch. Philips is breathing some new life into its GoGear line of MP3 and portable media players by introducing the Connect, a new Android 2.3 device.

Due out in September with pricing starting at $179 (8GB), the GoGear Connect is chasing after the same Android-loving customer as the Samsung Galaxy Player. Most importantly, the device will come with Google's suite of mobile apps, including a fully stocked Android Market.

Fickle listeners will also appreciate the inclusion of Philips' own sound-isolating earphones, and FullSound audio enhancement. The … Read more

After continuing losses, Royal Philips is giving up a majority stake in its television business.

According to the company, Hong Kong-based TPV Technology will own 70 percent of the television operation, while Philips will own the remaining 30 percent. The joint venture will handle design, manufacturing, distribution, and sales of new Philips sets around the world, except for in China, India, the U.S., Canada, and a few other countries, the companies said. TPV Technology will have no right to the operations in the excluded countries.

"The partnership will help create the scale and focus needed for our Television … Read more

Nothing succeeds like success. This maxim could be tweaked for the iPad 2 to nothing sells like success. That's the opinion of a consumer behavior expert who looked at how the chronically sold out iPad 2 works on the buyer's psyche.

People crave what they can't get--another maxim that applies here. Consumers would happily pay up front to reserve an iPad 2 at their local store. But they can't. Apple isn't doing the reservation thing this time. So, they wait in long lines (which, by the way, are still forming early every morning at Apple … Read more