TWICE News

• CES 2009: DVD, Blu-ray Spending Slips 5.5%:DEG
  
  By Alan Wolf, January 9, 2009
  LAS VEGAS — Sales and rentals of DVDs and Blu-ray Discs fell 5.5 percent last year to $22.4 billion, approaching levels last seen in 2003 for home-entertainment software.
  
• CES 2009: 63 TV Stations Pledge Mobile DTV Support
  
  By TWICE Staff, January 9, 2009
  LAS VEGAS — International CES became a rallying point for the pending launch of Mobile DTV broadcasting.
  
• CES 2009: PCD Forecasts Unit, Dollar Growth
  
  By Joseph Palenchar, January 9, 2009
  LAS VEGAS — Personal Communications Devices (PCD), boosted its worldwide unit and dollar sales at double-digit rates in 2008 and will do so again in 2009 despite the worldwide economic slowdown, president/CEO Philip Christopher told analysts and press on Friday.
  
• CES 2009: Ed Sachs Exits Pioneer Mobile
  
  By Amy Gilroy, January 9, 2009
  LAS VEGAS — Ed Sachs, president of Pioneer's mobile business group, is leaving the company, he told his staff here at International CES, without revealing his future plans.
  
• CES 2009: Wireless In-Room, In-Home HD Video Readied
  
  By Joseph Palenchar, January 9, 2009
  LAS VEGAS — Wireless has come of age as a reliable way to replace HDMI video cables within a room and transmit HD video throughout the house, advocates of competing solutions said during a Parks Associates seminar here.
  
• Dell Unveils LED Monitors, TV Tuner For Mini
  
  By Colleen Bohen, January 9, 2009
  Round Rock, Texas — Dell today introduced its G series of LED widescreen flat-panel monitors and a USB digital TV tuner for use with its Inspiron Mini netbooks.
  
• Nikon Bows Touch-Screen Coolpix Camera
  
  By Greg Scoblete, January 9, 2009
  Las Vegas — Nikon announced a new touch-screen Coolpix digital camera at International CES, here.
  
• CES 2009: Stevie Wonder Asks For Tech Help For The Blind
  
  By Jamie Sorcher, January 9, 2009
  Las Vegas — Singer-songwriter and record producer Stevie Wonder made an impassioned plea at a press conference co-hosted by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and Sendero Group on Jan. 8, here, to ask manufacturers to bring more accessibility to their products.
  
• CES 2009: Diego Unveils Moxi HD DVR, Announces Amazon.com Partnership
  
  By Peter Suciu, January 9, 2009
  LAS VEGAS — Diego announced the consumer availability of its Moxi high-definition DVR, a premium home-entertainment system that includes no monthly fee or embedded advertising.
  
• CES 2009: Skype To Roll Out New SW Interface
  
  By TWICE Staff, January 9, 2009
  Las Vegas — VoIP provider Skype made several announcements here, including a completely redesigned software interface due in February as well as support for Android-platform cellphones.
  
• CES 2009: Polaroid, Lite-On To Offer Zink Products
  
  By TWICE Staff, January 9, 2009
  LAS VEGAS — Polaroid and Lite-On will offer products that embed Zink technology for inkless color printing.
  
• CES 2009: SanDisk Debuts Lower-Cost SSD, SlotRadio  
  
  By Greg Scoblete, January 9, 2009
  LAS VEGAS — SanDisk announced a third-generation version of its solid-state drive (SSD) targeted for notebook computers and a new SlotRadio MP3 player at its International CES press conference, here.
  
• CES 2009: NXT Debuts Sleek SoundBags
  
  By Peter Suciu, January 9, 2009
  LAS VEGAS — NXT is showing its line of SoundBags from iHome for the North American market.
  
• CES 2009: Flash Drives Merge Form and Function
  
  By TWICE Staff, January 9, 2009
  Las Vegas — Seeking to keep USB flash drives healthy amid falling flash prices, vendors have updated the style and functionality of their 2009 lineups.
  
• CES 2009: Dual Shows First PND With HD Radio
  
  By Amy Gilroy, January 9, 2009
  LAS VEGAS — Dual Electronics announced at International CES it will ship the first navigation device to receive HD Radio audio as well as traffic updates over HD Radio.
  
• CES 2009: Ford Teams With Best Buy
  
  By Amy Gilroy, January 9, 2009
  LAS VEGAS — In an unusual alliance, Best Buy’s Geek Squad will begin providing technical support for Ford radios, announced Ford president/CEO Alan Mulally at the close of his keynote address Thursday.
  
• Sears, Kmart Comps Down 7% For Dec.
  
  By Alan Wolf, January 9, 2009
  Hoffman Estates, Ill. — Comp-store sales for Sears Holdings’ Sears and Kmart units together fell 7.3 percent for the five weeks, ended Jan. 3.
  
• Best Buy Dec. Comps Down 7%
  
  By Alan Wolf, January 9, 2009
  Minneapolis — Best Buy’s domestic same-store sales fell 6.8 percent and net sales slipped 1 percent to $5.9 billion for the five weeks, ended Jan. 3.
  
• CES 2009: Disney-ABC To Step Up Interactive Television Efforts
  
  By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, January 9, 2009
  Las Vegas - ABC and its cable channels are planning to step up interactive television features, according to Disney-ABC Television Group president Anne Sweeney.
  
• Big Four Networks Don't Mind Delaying Digital Transition
  
  By John Eggerton and Marisa Guthrie -- Broadcasting & Cable, January 9, 2009
  Washington - Add Fox to the list of  networks that is OK with moving the DTV transition date if that's what it takes to successfully move viewers from analog to digital.