TWICE News

• Disney Consumer Products Sets Sights On Tween Market
  
  By Colleen Bohen, June 6, 2007
  New York — Disney Consumer Products is making a major push to attract tweens this holiday season, according to its global electronics VP Chris Heatherly during a holiday CE and toy press preview, here, today.
  
• Panasonic Call Center Lauded By Purdue
  
  By Greg Tarr, June 6, 2007
  Secaucus, N.J.– Panasonic’s Customer Call Center in Chesapeake, Va., including its concierge hotline, has been recognized as a certified “Center of Excellence” by the Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue University.
  
• Into Tomorrow To Broadcast From ShowStoppers Events
  
  By TWICE Staff, June 6, 2007
  Miami — Into Tomorrow, the radio network program that covers the latest in consumer electronics and technology, will broadcast from several press events produced by ShowStoppers.
  
• FCC Cites Two For DTV Tuner Violations
  
  By Greg Tarr, June 6, 2007
  Washington — The Federal Communications Commission Tuesday issued “apparent liability for forfeiture” notices to flat-panel TV manufacturers Regent USA (Maxent) and Syntax-Brillian (Olevia) for allegedly failing to comply with its ATSC tuner mandate.
  
• DECT Spec Evolves With CAT-iq
  
  By Greg Scoblete, June 6, 2007
  New York — While DECT 6.0-based cordless phones have just started penetrating the U.S. market, work is underway on the next generation of the wireless technology, promising to bring faster data speeds and new applications to the communications market.
  
• Whirlpool’s Swift Resigns; Todman Named President
  
  By Alan Wolf, June 6, 2007
  Benton Harbor, Mich. – Beleaguered Whirlpool president David Swift has resigned after running the company’s North American operations for nearly six years. He has been succeeded by the man he originally replaced, Michael Todman, who has since headed Whirlpool’s European and global businesses.
  
• Sharp Kicks Off $30 Million Ad Campaign
  
  By Greg Tarr, June 6, 2007
  New York — Sharp is kicking off one of its largest summer and fall advertising campaigns in its history, in an effort to reclaim lost market share in LCD TV, company executives told reporters at a roundtable press conference here Tuesday.
  
• Sirius Gets $250M Morgan Stanley Loan
  
  By Staff, June 5, 2007
  New York — Sirius Satellite Radio reports it has obtained a $250 million senior secured term loan commitment from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding.
  
• iSuppli: Flash Memory Wins 65% Of PMP Market
  
  By Amy Gilroy, June 5, 2007
  El Segundo, Calif. — Flash memory will overtake the portable media player (PMP) sector this year, winning 65 percent of the U.S. and worldwide markets, according to the research firm iSuppli.
  
• NPD: Younger Kids Are Using CE Products
  
  By Colleen Bohen, June 5, 2007
  Port Washington, N.Y. — Children begin using consumer electronic devices at an average age of 6.7 years old, according to findings in The NPD group’s recently released “Kids and Consumer Electronics Trends III” report.
  
• Best Buy Restructures Entertainment Business
  
  By Alan Wolf, June 5, 2007
  Minneapolis — Best Buy has reorganized its U.S. entertainment business by placing it under the auspices of executive VP Shari Ballard as it prepares to expand its digital download offering.
  
• Jobo Adds Software to Image Viewer
  
  By TWICE Staff, June 5, 2007
  Canton,Mich.— Imaging peripheral manufacturer Jobo AG will bundle presentation software with its Giga One and forthcoming Spectator portable photo viewers.
  
• AVAD Expands Initiative Offerings, Hires New Execs
  
  By Colleen Bohen, June 5, 2007
  Van Nuys, Calif. — AVAD, a distributor of home integration solutions with 37 locations nationwide, has introduced initiatives for existing partners, widening the reach of existing programs with new partnerships and has expanded its management team.
  
• Earnings Up, A/V Sales Down At Rex
  
  By Alan Wolf, June 5, 2007
  Dayton, Ohio – Rex Stores, the discount brown- and white-goods specialty chain, reported lower sales but stronger earnings during its fiscal first quarter thanks to opportunistic flat panel TV buys and solid returns on its synthetic fuel investments.
  
• DISH Adds Multiroom HD Receiver
  
  By Greg Tarr, June 5, 2007
  Englewood, Colo. — EchoStar unveiled a new HD receiver with multiroom support that will be added to its ViP set-top box line.
  
• MediaStreet Intros Bluetooth-Enabled Digital Frame
  
  By TWICE Staff, June 5, 2007
  Deer Park, N.Y. — MediaStreet will ship a Bluetooth-enabled digital photo frame to dealers this month.
  
• New Video Friendly RealPlayer Unveiled
  
  By Greg Tarr, June 5, 2007
  Carlsbad, Calif. – RealNetworks introduced a new version of its RealPlayer media player PC software that simplifies downloading video content from thousands of Web sites to one-click.
  
• Targus Debuts Five Notebook Cases
  
  by Lisa Johnston, June 5, 2007
  Anaheim, Calif. — Targus introduced five Corporate Traveler notebook cases that are designed with the frequent business traveler in mind.
  
• Toshiba Intros HD DVD-R/-RW Notebook Drive
  
  By TWICE Staff, June 5, 2007
  Tokyo — Toshiba has introduced a slim-line HD DVD-RW drive for the notebook market.
  
• TomTom Unveils User-Updatable PND
  
  By Amy Gilroy, June 5, 2007
  Concord, Mass. — TomTom introduced today a new midline personal navigation device (PND) that allows users to update maps as they go and share the changes with other users.