Lenovo Plans to Embed Cingular WWAN in ThinkPads

Lenovo will begin embedding wide area network capabilities into its ThinkPad enabling built-in access to the Cingular BroadbandConnect service without needing a separate PC card. Through this agreement, ThinkPad notebooks will be preconfigured for BroadbandConnect, which delivers average mobile downlink speeds between 400- 700 Kbps.http://www.lenovo.com/http://www.cingular.com/newsr...

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Walt Disney Expands iTunes Video Listings

The Walt Disney Company will offer additional programming from ESPN and ABC Sports, ABC Entertainment and Touchstone Television, ABC Family, ABC News, Buena Vista Television, Disney Channel, and SOAPnet, as well as content produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation on the iTunes Music Store.Each episode is priced at $1.99.Additionally, free, ad-supported video podcasts from ABC News will be available, including daily segments from "Good Morning America" and the "World News Tonight" webcast, as well as ABC News Now's "Money Minute," "Medical Minute"...

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Freescale Launches 'Cable-Free USB' Initiative with UWB

Freescale Semiconductor launched a Cable-Free USB initiative, powered by its Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology and aimed at enabling USB 2.0 functionality with a wireless connection. Cable-Free USB leverages the existing USB 2.0 specification. It does not require consumers to upgrade or replace their hardware, install software or new drivers. Additionally, Cable-Free USB can be embedded into next-generation products, eliminating the need for an external adapter while still retaining true USB functionality.Belkin and Gefen are using Freescale's Cable-Free...

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DIRECTV 2Go Targets Portable Media Players

DIRECTV 2GO introduced a new DIRECTV 2Go service that will allow DIRECTV customers to transfer programming content from their DIRECTV Plus DVR to a variety of portable media players. Supporting DIRECTV specific audio and video formats, the service will enable customers to connect a DIRECTV compatible portable media player directly to DIRECTV receivers. DIRECTV 2Go devices will also display DIRECTV content in a separate menu area with a DIRECTV-branded user interface.DIRECTV plans to launch the DIRECTV 2Go service in 2006.http://www.directv....

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Skype Adds Gear from Creative, D-Link, IPEVO, Kodak, Netgear, Panasonic, and VTech

At CES, Skype announced seven deals with consumer electronics companies, including:Creative Skype Internet PhonePLUS - a standalone phone that enables anyone to make free Skype calls over the Internet without a PC connectionD-Link Skype USB Phone Adapter (DPH-50U) - a Skype phone adapter that enables the use of Skype on a traditional phoneIPEVO Fly-1 Cordless Handset and Xing Speakerphone - PC and Mac compatible IPEVO Fly-1 cordless Skype USB handset...

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Starz Launches Subscription Movie Download Service

Starz Entertainment Group LLC (SEG) introduced VONGO -- a new video download application and service for broadband that delivers movies and other video content over the Internet for playback on Windows-based PCs, laptops, and select portable media devices, as well as on a TV.Vongo subscribers will have unlimited access to more than 1,000 movies and video selections, as well as a live, streaming Starz TV channel, for a monthly cost of $9.99. Members may download movie and video selections to three eligible devices of their choice per account, allowing...

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Cornice Offers 8GB and 10 GB Micro HDD for Mobile Devices

Cornice introduced two micro hard drives, available in 8- and 10-gigabytes, designed for consumer electronics (CE) devices, such as audio/video players, mobile phones and personal storage devices.The company said its Dragon series drives are 40% smaller than its predecessor Storage Elements, as well as current competitive drives. Cornice also decreased the power of Dragon by half, and now represents only 5% of the total battery consumption within a typical MP3 player system.Cornice expects to have the microdrives available in volume quantities...

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AT&T Launches its New Branding Campaign

The new AT&T launched a multifaceted, yearlong campaign to strengthen its fabled brand. The campaign includes advertising, presence in marketing promotional initiatives, and sponsorships, which include AT&T's recently announced Official Telecommunication Services partnership with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams.At the heart of the brand campaign is a new tag line to complement the revitalized AT&T logo: "Your World. Delivered." In addition to the new tag line, the ads also feature the hit song "All Around the World" by the popular...

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1394 Trade Association and Pulse~LINK Demo Bi-Directional HDTV Streaming over Coax

Pulse~LINK and the 1394 Trade Association will demonstrate the first bi-directional video streaming of 1394 S400 over coax featuring 400Mbps of application layer throughput at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The demonstration, which will be held in the High-Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance (HANA) booth, will showcase how Pulse~LINK's CWave-On-Coax and the 1394TA's S400 interface provide a whole-home distribution capability that can run over pre-existing in-home coax cable and co-exist with legacy cable and satellite...

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AMC-23 Satellite to Offer TransPacific Broadband Capability

The AMERICOM-23 (AMC-23) satellite of SES AMERICOM was succesfully launched on 28-Dec-2005 aboard an International Launch Services Proton/Breeze M launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan). An advanced, high-powered hybrid C/Ku-band satellite, AMC-23 can deliver and receive signals from California to Bangladesh, from as far north as Alaska in the U.S. and as far south as Australia and New Zealand, and all points in between. The spacecraft will serve local, transcontinental and transoceanic customers across the Pacific region. The...

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Alereon and Samyoung Develop UWB Modules for Mobile Devices

Alereon and Samyoung Electronics announced a partnership to develop ultra-compact modules based on Alereon's AL4000 series of ultrawideband solutions for WiMedia and Certified Wireless USB applications. The first in a series of modules developed by Samyoung is a Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) module design based on the WiMedia PHY 1.0 specification, supporting all data rates up to 480 Mbps.  Using Alereon's AL4100 RF Transceiver and AL4200 BaseBand Processor (BBP), this highly integrated 15mm x 20mm x 2.5mm module includes all components...

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Baumgartl Selected as CEO of Siemens Communications

Siemens Communications named Berndt Baumgartl as its new President and CEO, replacing Andy Mattes who is leaving the company. Baumgartl joined Siemens AG in Munich, Germany in July of 1986, where he held management positions in the Defense Electronics Group until late 1993. He then transitioned into the Mobile Networks business unit of Siemens, helping the company succeed in the challenging Scandinavian market. Most recently, he assumed leadership of all Siemens' wireless infrastructure, mobile phones and wireless modules business for the North...

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Nortel Achieves HSDPA Rates of 3.6 Mbps

Nortel and Option have completed live HSDPA data card calls at rates of 3.6 Mbps. The test calls were carried out on commercial HSDPA network equipment at Nortel's research campus in Chateaufort, France.The series of calls are the first data card calls to demonstrate downlink speed of 3.6 Mbps, at HSDPA category 6 using 16 QAM modulation. A laptop fitted with an Option 3.6 HSDPA datacard based on QUALCOMM core MSM 6280 technology and commercial HSDPA network equipment from Nortel were used to achieve the download speeds.The calls included successful...

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