TWICE News

• News Corp. Eyes e-Readers
  
  By Amy Gilroy, April 3, 2009
  New York — News Corp. confirmed it may join the e-reader fray.
  
• Alpine, Clarion Implement 30% Cuts
  
  By Amy Gilroy, April 3, 2009
  Tokyo — Car audio and electronics suppliers Alpine Electronics and Clarion plan to cut global expenses by a third due to a weak outlook for car sales, said the Nikkei.
  
• Sony Restructures Consumer Sales, Marketing Operations
  
  By Steve Smith, April 3, 2009
  Updated! San Diego — Sony Electronics has restructured its consumer sales and marketing operations with Jay Vandenbree, president of Sony Consumer Sales, electing to leave the company.
  
• Ritz Camera Closing 300 Stores
  
  By TWICE Staff, April 3, 2009
  Woodland Hills, Calif. — Ritz Camera Centers will shut 40 percent of its stores nationwide as part of a court-supervised bankruptcy reorganization.
  
• Best Buy Recalls Combustible TV, Power Source
  
  By Alan Wolf, April 3, 2009
  Minneapolis — Best Buy has voluntarily recalled a private-label LCD TV and portable power source due to possible fire hazards.
  
• Real Promoting New Model For Cellular Music Downloads
  
  By Joseph Palenchar, April 3, 2009
  Las Vegas — A new business model launched in Asia by RealNetworks to download music over-the-air to cellphones has made the leap to Western Europe, signaling the potential for an eventual U.S. migration.
  
• RealDVD Software Gets Next Court Date
  
  By Joseph Palenchar, April 3, 2009
  Las Vegas — RealNetworks gets its next chance to defend the lawfulness of its RealDVD software package on April 24 before a U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco, company chairman/CEO Rob Glaser told TWICE.
  
• SonyEricsson Cyber-shot Selection To Shoot Up
  
  By Joseph Palenchar, April 3, 2009
  Las Vegas — SonyEricsson plans to expand its Cyber-shot camera phone lineup this year with at least one and possibly three new 3G W-CDMA models packed with megapixels.
  
• Pentax Launches DSC Instant-Rebate Program
  
  By Greg Tarr, April 3, 2009
  Golden, Colo. — Pentax launched Friday an instant-rebate program on select digital cameras.
  
• Amazon Adds VuNow HD IPTV Set-Top Device
  
  By Greg Tarr, April 2, 2009
  Mountain View, Calif. — Verismo Networks said its VuNow HD PoD system, which searches for and gathers Internet videos for display directly on TV screens, has just gone on sale through Amazon.com.
  
• DEG Reports DVD Industry 'Green' Milestones
  
  By TWICE Staff, April 2, 2009
  Los Angeles — The Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) said Thursday that “green” efforts among home-video studios have generated an 11 percent carbon footprint reduction in production of DVDs across all studios between 2006 and mid-2008, resulting in a savings of 130,000 tons of CO2.
  
• BMW 7 Series Ranked Most Tech-Advanced
  
  By Amy Gilroy, April 2, 2009
  El Segundo, Calif. — BMW’s 7 series was ranked by iSuppli as the world’s most technologically advanced new vehicle in 2009, receiving the highest ranking to date because of new features including local Google Internet search capability.
  
• Study Launched To Boost HD Radio Signal
  
  By Amy Gilroy, April 2, 2009
  Washington — The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is undertaking a study on how to improve HD Radio coverage without interfering with analog FM stations.
  
• Sony's Compact HD Camcorder Targets Travelers
  
  By Greg Tarr, April 2, 2009
  San Diego — Sony unveiled Thursday a compact, easy-to-use high-definition camcorder designed for travelers.
  
• Logitech CFO Resigns
  
  By TWICE Staff, April 2, 2009
  Fremont, Calif.— Logitech International announced the resignation of Mark J. Hawkins, finance and information technology senior VP and chief financial officer, effective April 24.
  
• Wireless Industry Looks Beyond Phones, Voice At CTIA Show
  
  By Joseph Palenchar, April 2, 2009
  
  Las Vegas — The U.S. wireless industry will drive future growth in the face of high cellphone-penetration rates if it delivers innovative smartphone applications and embeds wireless in products ranging from consumer electronics to road sensors, industry executives stressed during the CTIA Wireless convention here.
  
• Olympus Bows Entry d-SLR With Creative Filters
  
  By Greg Tarr, April 1, 2009
  Center Valley, Pa. — Olympus Tuesday unveiled its latest entry-level d-SLR camera, incorporating Live View shooting mode and three art filters.
  
• Best Buy, Wal-Mart Top CE Chains: Survey
  
  By Steve Smith, April 1, 2009
  Columbus, Ohio - Best Buy continues to be the store shopped most often for over one-third, 34.9 percent, of consumers for electronics, according to BIGresearch’s March 2009 Retail Ratings Report.
  
• Economy Pushing Netbook Adoption
  
  By Doug Olenick, April 1, 2009
  Austin, Texas — In an odd twist, the struggling economy will prove to be a positive for netbook sales this year, according to DisplaySearch.
  
• BlackBerry App Store Launches
  
  By Amy Gilroy, April 1, 2009
  Waterloo, Ontario — Research in Motion launched an “App Store” for BlackBerry phones, with an initial 1,000 smartphone applications slated to post this week.