2. 2—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010
Underscoring the "opportunities" that Circuit’s demise created for P.C. Richard, Richard said "we weren’t
even in Connecticut two years ago." It also allowed P.C. Richard to enter the Philadelphia market for the first time,
he said.
P.C. Richard also recently renovated its 50 other stores with new displays and fixtures, allowing it to sig-
nificantly expand the product assortment in videogames, home office, and digital imaging, Richard said. It was
only in the videogame category "in a very small way" before, with hardware but only a small amount of software
and accessories, he said. It’s now selling software "the right way" for the consoles, with about the top 100-150
game titles for all the Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony platforms, he said. It took about six months for the renova-
tions to be rolled out across all stores, he said.
The retailer talks with the videogame manufacturers, but for now it’s getting product via distributers in
that category, Richard told us. Although videogame sales have been down industrywide this year, the category
has been "a phenomenal success" for P.C. Richard so far this year, he said. It’s helping attract new customers to
its stores, including younger consumers, whereas before the retailer was "almost forcing them to go to our com-
petitors" to buy games, he said. There’s strong consumer interest for the new Kinect for Xbox 360 and Play-
Station Move motion control systems, and P.C. Richard will "of course" sell the Nintendo 3DS when it ships
next year, he said. Richard said he was just hopeful that supplies will be adequate for the coming holiday season.
There was spotty availability on the PS3 and 360 consoles for much of this year, but Wii supplies improved from
2009, he told us.
Overall TV sales are "good," but "challenging" now for the retailer, Richard said. Sales in units are up for
the category year to date, but revenue is about "flat," he said. While plasma TVs and LED-backlit LCD TVs are
doing well, CCFL-backlit LCD TV sales are "probably the most challenging" now, he said, echoing other NATM
members at the conference.
"We felt it could only help us get better by belonging to a group with retailers across the country that are in
the same business as us and face the same challenges as us," said Richard of his company’s decision to rejoin
NATM early this year. It was "not, for us, really all about buying," but instead "operational issues" including in-
stallation, advertising and finances, he said. "It’s all about sharing ideas on what was successful ... and trying to
learn from people that are doing things differently or better than us."
There was also "certainly a comfort level with" Bill Trawick, ex-P.C. Richard, being NATM’s current
president and executive director, Richard said. Trawick had been trying to convince the firm to return to NATM
for a while, the NATM head said. P.C. Richard left NATM in 1995 and started a buying group with hhgregg. But
it hasn’t been affiliated with a buying group in recent years, Richard said. Now was "the right time for us" to return
to NATM, Richard told us.
NATM Conference Notebook
"I don’t know what to say that’s positive" about business this year, Bill Trawick, NATM president and ex-
ecutive director, said in a state of NATM address at the conference Wednesday night. He predicted that next year
may end up being no better. After a promising first half, he said, "we’ve seen some softness" in TV sales in the
back half of 2010, while the appliance business has "declined dramatically" in the last 3-4 months. "It wasn’t Wal-
Mart," Target, Home Depot, the Internet, warehouse clubs or "to some extent" Best Buy who built the appliance
and CE retail business, he said. It was regional, family-owned dealers like those who are members of NATM, he
said. "I wish we could go back to those days" when Sears accounted for 45 percent of the appliance business in the
U.S. because independent retailers were still able to be profitable in the category, trying to take a piece of the 55
percent left, he said. Today, national retailers have more than 70 percent of the appliance business and it’s much
tougher for independent retailers to compete, he said. Trawick pleaded with suppliers not to "forget us," the retail-
ers "that built the business." He asked for "a level playing field" with the national dealers, who he claimed are
"destroying what we spent 100 years building" despite accounting for much of the volume sales for suppliers. The
3. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—3
scan-downs and bundles that national retailers crave might be bringing in traffic, but they are shrinking margins and
sales are slowing despite the discounts, he said. National dealers just can’t introduce and demonstrate new technol-
ogy and products to consumers as well as independent retailers like those in NATM can, he claimed. While the
independent dealers used to get new technology products first, they are now sold to all dealers right away, and be-
fore they "even land on" the selling floors of national retailers, the items are "discounted," he said. As a result, new
products like 3D TVs have "struggled," in part because consumers are buying products from national dealers and
not understanding what they’ve bought, he said. He asked suppliers to once again offer certain new products to
independent retailers first. "We have to get back to doing things that can bring some profitability," to retailers and
manufacturers, he said. "If we don’t make changes," there may be only five retailers left "down the road," he said.
If dealers and vendors "continue on this path, we’re heading for doomsday," he warned. — Jeff Berman
Expanded Offering
MOD Seeking CE Pacts For SD Card Video Download Service
Having deployed its SD-based video download service with InMotion, MOD Systems will expand its reach
into CE with an array of external card readers targeting set-top boxes, Blu-ray players and portable devices, CEO
Anthony Bay told us.
MOD’s video download kiosks, with access to more than 3,500 movies, have launched at 27 InMotion loca-
tions in 12 airports, including in Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, Bay said. The kiosks
are linked to MOD’s servers via DSL or T1 high-speed lines and charge $3.99 for a 48-hour rental that’s good for
30 days. New releases are sold for $19.99, and back-catalog titles are $12.99, he said.
The movies can be downloaded in 2 to 2-1/2 minutes and are merchandised alongside GreenPlay USB-to-
SD card readers ($9.99), 4 GB SD cards ($29) and 8 GB SD cards packaged with a reader ($39), Bay said. MOD
has content agreements with Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount and Warner Brothers and a range of independent studios.
As MOD pushes into retail, it's "making good progress" in forging alliances with CE manufactures, Bay
said. It has previously announced partnerships with D-Link and Asustek, neither of which has fielded MOD-based
product. Kingston Digital and Transcend also make GreenPlay USB-to-Card readers. MOD is seeking pacts for
netbook, tablet and notebook PCs as well as smartphones, Bay said.
"The focus is going to more on things that plug into the TV set rather than the TV itself," Bay said. "There
is so much more velocity in set-top boxes and Blu-ray players. The majority of those things already have SD slots
and have the right microprocessors so that it’s almost a zero cost to add the technology, but it takes time."
While MOD is moving forward with InMotion and seeking other distribution channels, it ended "technical
tests" at Blockbuster and Movie Gallery’s Hollywood Video. Hollywood Video has closed its stores, while Block-
buster recently filed for bankruptcy. MOD investor NCR supplies kiosks for Blockbuster Express and the MOD’s
trial with Blockbuster in the Dallas market ended in June. "It made a lot of sense to offer somebody who is going
to be in a video rental store to get a film the opportunity to get a movie in a different way," Bay said. "It worked
pretty well from a test point of view, but that’s what it was — a test."
MOD also expects to introduce an SD Card-based music download service late this year with a New Jer-
sey retailer that Bay declined to identify. MOD’s service has access to 5 million tracks from a range of music
labels and expects there may be some stores that deploy video and music download services, he said. MOD se-
cured licensing agreements for music titles in connection with an earlier CD-burning service it developed and at
one point planned to test with Circuit City (CED Jan 12/07 p1). InMotion is interested in installing the music
service, Bay said.
4. 4—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010
While MOD’s service was once viewed as a possible upgrade to NCR’s DVD kiosks, it now uses a sepa-
rate machine and location, Bay said. MOD tested placing display screens for the download service alongside the
kiosk, but with mixed results, Bay said.
"If you look at the DVD business, it’s all about throughput and minimizing line times," Bay said. "So if
somebody is browsing for digital, it doesn’t matter if they are standing in front of one of two kiosks; they are the
only person standing in front of the DVD machine." While MOD is testing whether to install music and video
download kiosks in the same location or separately, "I don’t think anybody understands what the right mix for that
is for that yet."
To pay for expansion, MOD recently completed a $6 million funding round led by NCR. MOD hasn’t
said how long the money is designed to carry the company, but it "will continue to raise capital until we reach
cash-flow breakeven," said Bay, who wouldn't say when the goal might be reached. MOD raised $35 million
in 2008 largely from NCR and Toshiba, the latter having developed a reference design with MOD. MOD has
licensed content protection technology from Toshiba, a founding member of the 4C Entity, which administers
the IP. — Mark Seavy
‘Horse Has Bolted’
‘UltraViolet’ DRM-Free ‘Fix’ Due, But Critics Ask If It Comes Too Late
LONDON — Physical entertainment media remain important, and a lack of standards has stalled the market
for legitimate digital downloads. Those were the key messages from speakers at the Futuresource Entertainment
Retailing and Supply Chain Conference this week. Some said the inertia on standards that has kept digital
downloading from taking hold may be overcome next year with the completion of a multicompany framework for
digital delivery, UltraViolet, formerly known as the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem. But opinions at the
conference varied on whether it's already too late for standardization.
"The horse has bolted" on the opportunity for standardization, argued Richard Bron of BluePrint, which is
working with giant retailer Tesco on a digital delivery system. "There cannot now be a single standard. There are
so many big companies out there who have had their own systems for the last three years that the idea of a single
standard is a myth. It is totally naïve to talk of a standard if there is more than one standard. We just have to try
and create the best consumer experience from what we have got. We are still trying to find a commercial structure.
But we now hope to see something in the next 30–60 days." There’s a gross misconception that "delivering a file
digitally is free," Bron said. The costs "may be less than physical delivery, but the costs of transcoding and storage
are significant, and higher if there is no single standard," he said.
Tim Wright, director for technology, Sony Pictures Entertainment, said it isn't too late to set a standard, if
only an umbrella platform for multiple standards that work together, as UltraViolet will try to do. UltraViolet’s
basic aim is to give consumers access to cloud-based entertainment on any device, whenever and wherever it suits
them, Wright said. That UltraViolet has more than 60 members shows there’s "common interest in making
download-to-own work," he said. Though Disney is not a member, "that does not mean Disney cannot be part of
the future ecosystem," he said.
In UltraViolet, "we have a logo and promise which will be a fix for the stalled marketplace, and enable in-
novation," Wright said. "Format wars hinder consumer adoption. Consumers have not been engaging in download
to buy because it has been too complicated. ... We will have a common vertical silo for user information. The cus-
tomer will then be able to buy from any UV retailer and play on any UV device."
5. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—5
UltraViolet will have "cross-platform DRM, with an interoperable rights locker," Wright said. "Purchased
programming will play on portables, laptops and games consoles, and stream to any DNLA device. People will be
able to make their own physical copy, too. Streaming can be online, so you can log into your UV library while you
are away. Service providers won’t be able to deviate from the basics. For instance, they can’t say ‘no streaming’
or stop people making physical copies, or limit the number of devices."
Within UltraViolet, there will be a common file format accommodating multiple DRMs, together with an
"adaptive bit rate to suit the delivery method," Wright said. The file format used will be standard H.264, with AAC
audio, using Microsoft’s Protected Interoperable File Format, he said. Wright said he couldn't give details of the
file format, but he advised conference attendees to download them from Microsoft (http://learn.iis.net/
page.aspx/685/protected-interoperable-file-format/).
According to Wright, UltraViolet has approved five DRMs: Marlin, as used on the Sony PlayStation Net-
work; Microsoft’s PlayReady; Adobe Flash Media Server; OMA 2.0 from the Open Mobile Association; and
WideVine, controlled by a privately held company in Seattle in which Cisco, Dai Nippon Printing and several ven-
ture capital firms own stakes. WideVine’s licensees include AT&T, Best Buy, Blockbuster, LoveFilm, Netflix and
Deutsche Telecom.
As for how UltraViolet will work in practice, Wright said, "We can say only that the interoperable rights
locker will give Y users access to a common file format for X devices. We can’t say what Y and X will be, but
they will be a generous offer." He predicted "open system specifications by the end of the year."
Wright was conflicted as he tried to answer our questions about how UltraViolet can protect against re-
cordings made through what's called the analog hole. All the DRM systems approved for UltraViolet "have analog
output rules," he told us, alluding to the growing practice of limiting HD sound and video quality through protected
HDMI connections. "But you are correct: We are not able to tap into people’s heads. Or stop someone putting an
HD camera on a tripod and pointing it at the screen. We want a user-friendly system. UltraViolet is not about cre-
ating super-strong protection. We don’t think that is the issue. Movies will have been cammed long before they hit
the VOD window."
Retailing and Supply Chain Conference Notebook
Martin Talbot, managing director of Official Charts, which tracks U.K. music sales, noted that over the past
six years the music sector has undergone a huge transformation. More than 98 percent of singles are now sold digi-
tally, he said. But 85 percent of albums are still sold physically, he said. "One thing we see is that quality isn’t
paramount," he said. "People download MP3 and AAC files and listen on tinny inner ear headphones. The power
of inventory and catalog is important. People like to snack and cherry-pick from the long tail. Video streaming is
also growing despite the poor quality." BluePrint’s Bron added, "People are buying from iTunes at twice the price
of a better experience."
——
Commercial pirates are "fast, agile and creative, and they don’t play by a lot of rules," warned Richard
Atkinson, the former anti-piracy czar at Disney, who now runs Anti-Piracy Worldwide consulting. Pirates also
are "pretty organized," said Atkinson, who estimated losses of $126 million in theatrical and home entertainment
sales if a feature film like Disney’s Tron: Legacy falls into pirates’ hands even only a day before its theatrical
release. The film is scheduled for a Dec. 17 release in the U.S. and Canada. "It’s a myth that limiting a release
by language limits piracy," Atkinson said as he showed sample pirated clips of Cars dubbed and subtitled into
English, French and Spanish. "The pirates can do that in 24 hours," he said. "Visibly watermarking movies is
not enough, either." He used pirated clips of Wall-E to show how pirates now easily mask out time code with a
fuzzy overlay. "And all the pirate disc and download copies of Wall-e sold around the world came from just 10
source copies." — Barry Fox
6. 6—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010
Lukewarm Industry Support
New Export Control Bill Would Establish ‘Restricted’ E-Waste Category
A new e-waste export control bill that would create a new category of "restricted electronic waste" which
can’t be exported to developing countries received tepid support from the CE and recycling industries Thursday.
But environmental groups, which opposed an e-waste export bill introduced in May by the new bill’s authors,
strongly support the new measure, they said. The Responsible Electronics Recycling Act (HR-6252) by Reps.
Gene Green, D-Texas and Mike Thompson, D-Calif., is aimed at providing a framework for the EPA to monitor the
export of used electronics, the lawmakers said.
The measure has the support of Dell, Apple, Samsung, the Electronics TakeBack Coalition and the Natural
Resources Defense Council, the bill’s sponsors said. CEA is "studying the details of this bill" and looks forward
"to working with the bill sponsors to find the best approach to ensure that recycling is done responsibly," said Wal-
ter Alcorn, the group’s vice president of environmental affairs. The CE Retailers Coalition's members are studying
the bill, a spokesman said.
The Information Technology Industry Council and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries kept mum
Thursday. The bill has virtually no chance of passing this year, congressional sources said. Rep. John Carter of
Texas is the only Republican supporter, the sources said, making passage even in 2011 uncertain if control of the
House changes. The e-waste export bill that Green and Thompson introduced in May floundered after encounter-
ing opposition from recycling industry and environmental groups. A Green aide conceded that it’s highly likely
that the bill will pass this year. "But we wanted to get the ball rolling," he told us.
HR-6252 would create the restricted e-waste category in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA). Nonhazardous and working electronics products and parts would be exempt from the ban but subject to
tests to ensure they're functional before they can be exported. Restricted electronics include those that contain
CRT or CRT glass or CRT phosphor residues in any form, devices containing mercury, batteries, switches, ca-
pacitors and transformers that contain hazardous materials. Also banned would be circuit boards, printer drums
and LCD displays.
A year after enactment of the measure, the EPA administrator would be required to weigh adding other
electronic gear to the restricted list. At the same time, the EPA would also identify de minimis — insignificant —
levels of hazardous materials in e-waste, which won’t pose a threat to human health or the environment. Waste that
does not contain hazardous substances in excess of those levels would be exempted from export restrictions. The
export ban would apply to all countries except OECD countries, EU member states and Liechtenstein.
The EPA would issue regulations on testing requirements to verify that used electronic gear or parts for ex-
ports are functional "for the purposes for which they are designed," the bill says. The agency also would also be
required to license exporters. Although e-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the country, the EPA has no
framework to monitor e-waste disposal and export to developing countries, the bill’s sponsors said. The U.S. gen-
erated more than 3 million tons of e-waste in 2007, they said.
"Dell bans the export of e-waste to developing countries as part of our global disposition policy, and the
ever-growing e-waste challenge makes it necessary for all recyclers to do the same," said Mark Newton, the com-
pany's director of sustainable business. The new export control bill is a "great first step in giving consumers confi-
dence that the systems they drop off for recycling will be handled responsibly," he said.
The new e-waste export measure will "stem the tide of the toxic techno-trash sent from the U.S. to develop-
ing countries around the world," said Barbara Kyle, ETBC’s national coordinator. Consumers now can’t tell
7. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—7
whether their local recycler will actually recycle their old products or dump them in the developing countries, she
said. "This bill will solve that problem, as well as create new recycling jobs here in the U.S."
In a call with reporters Thursday, Green conceded that not everyone in the industry will agree with the bill’s
restrictions on export. But he wants all stakeholders to "remain engaged" and work with the bill’s sponsors to
"close the loopholes" that are responsible for exports of e-waste to developing countries. Green said he hopes to at
least get a hearing on the bill in the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee in the lame-duck session and
"tee it up" for the next Congress. — Dinesh Kumar
Receiver Adoption 'Disappointing'
Mandated U.S. Digital Radio Switch Seen Unlikely Anytime Soon
The U.S. is unlikely to have a government-required radio transition to digital from the analog broad-
casts that still predominate — or at least at no time in the foreseeable future, some FCC and industry-engineer
panelists said Thursday. One reason there hasn't been a rapid switch by stations to HD Radio and away from
analog transmissions is that, unlike with last year's digital transition for full-power TV stations, there's never
been a "date-certain" for radio to go digital-only, said Senior Vice President Glynn Walden of CBS Radio,
with about 130 stations. "These things don't happen overnight" as occurred for TV, he said at the NAB Radio
Show in Washington.
A voluntary transition of sorts will happen whenever stations find running in both analog and HD isn't prof-
itable, Walden said. "The transition to digital would be at whatever point" that occurs, he said. "That's why we
never called for a date-certain to say we’re all going to go digital," Walden continued. "But that's not to say we can
continue on forever as the only analog media in the digital world."
"With a penetration rate at only 2 or 3 percent" for HD Radio, "we don’t have to worry about this at the
commission and I personally never will worry about this transition" in his career, said FCC veteran Peter Doyle.
"It did take FM 40 years to overtake AM in popularity," said the chief of the Media Bureau's Audio Division.
"From a regulatory perspective, this can be a very elegant shift to all-digital operations," he added: "All we have
to do from our side is merely announce we are no longer protecting analog transmissions" from interference "and
leave it to broadcasters to decide" whether and when they want to transition. That's not something the commis-
sion is considering and Doyle wasn't speaking for the FCC, he said. With HD Radio's low penetration rate
among Americans, "it's obviously a completely different set of policy issues than the digital transition presented"
for TV, Doyle said.
"On the receiver side, I've been disappointed" with HD Radio, said Walden. Things are looking up this
year with more automakers including digital radios in more cars, he said: Further movement in that direction is
"key" for any transition to occur, which would only take place "when we turn the analog off." Lawyer Gregg Skall
of Womble Carlyle, with radio-station clients, wondered about prospects for putting HD Radio chips in USB de-
vices. "I can't understand why we can't get an HD Radio there," he said: "We could be giving them away and im-
mediately expanding the universe" of digital radios.
Manufacturers "have really gotten to work" on the equipment side so radio stations can use a single trans-
mitter to broadcast in both analog and digital, said Vice President Milford Smith of Greater Media, with about 25
stations. There's not now a USB device along the lines of what Skall suggested, but NAB's Fastroad technology
project is "substantially" funded and working on "an in-computer antenna for radio reception, particularly for FM
and television reception," Smith said. "It now appears there is a good design out there for an antenna that is embed-
ded in a computer." — Jonathan Make
8. 8—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010
Pandora a Model
Radio's Mobile Strategies Must Go Beyond Streaming, NAB Panelists Say
Streaming radio stations' music to Apple's iPhone, Research In Motion's BlackBerry, cellphones using
Google's Android operating system and other smartphones and wireless devices is a start for broadcasters to enter
the mobile sector, executives said. To make money there and keep terrestrial listeners when they're not at a tradi-
tional receiver, the industry must also develop applications, radio executives from Canada, the U.K. and U.S. said
Thursday. Some of the panelists at the NAB Radio Show in Washington said offering paid apps is an area that may
bear fruit — both financially and in keeping the attention of some of the biggest listeners.
"A mobile strategy is not putting yourself on the iPhone and being able to listen" to a streaming version of
the terrestrial broadcast, said Chief Operating Officer Clive Dickens of Absolute Radio, with about 2 million
weekly listeners in the U.K. Radio stations need to understand what listeners want from their consumer electronics
devices and cater to it, he said: An example is Absolute offering an app that acts as an alarm clock so users wake
up to the station, getting "some mobile time in the morning," when terrestrial listenership is usually high.
Pandora offers a model of sorts for over-the-air radio to expand to wireless devices as that company lets
users watch video related to the song that's playing, see lyrics and view the station's playlist, said Vice President
Shawn Sires of Airkast, with about 800 radio station clients. The radio industry must "proactively" build up its mo-
bile device audience, he said: "Much like the Internet in the early days" when people "wondered why no one was
clicking on it. It does have to be promoted." Airkast clients are starting to add to revenue from such endeavors and
"big-brand advertisers and interactive agencies" are participating in them, Sires said.
Pandora is transformative because it lets people know what they're listening to and allows them to save or
purchase the music, said Director Michael Yoch of NPR Digital Media. "Those types of things go a little step fur-
ther than by [just] saying we want to be ubiquitous," he said. "We have been very hot on mobile for a couple of
years now and it's part of a larger strategy to reinvent NPR." The organization hasn't experimented with paid appli-
cations because its mission is to provide free radio, Yoch said.
"If your station is streaming on an iPhone, that is not a bad start on a mobile strategy," said General Manager
David Huszar of Corus Interactive, whose broadcast unit has about 50 stations in Canada. "Simple apps can be very
effective." Broadcasters should keep in mind that when it comes to their product on CE devices, "it's not about radio as
the appliance, it's about radio as the service" and it's "encouraging to see that actually hadn’t become totally irrelevant
to our audience," Huszar said. His advice to other radio executives going mobile: "Make it easy for people to find
what we have, make it easy for people to consume it" and be available on all entertainment devices. — Jonathan Make
3D Notes
Best Buy U.K. will be the only British chain "where customers can choose and buy 3D TVs from all six
brands on the market," the company said Thursday. The products include the Philips 56-inch 21:9 3D TV launched
at last month’s IFA show in Berlin, to be sold exclusively through Best Buy when it debuts Oct. 18, the chain said.
"This is a really exciting time for U.K. consumers and the technology industry and we’re thrilled to help bring the
3D experience into our customers’ homes by offering the full range of 3D TVs available," said Harry Parmar, com-
mercial director at Best Buy U.K.
Industry Notes
The Wireless USB Promoter Group said it completed the Wireless USB 1.1 specification, clearing the
way for product developers to bring the next generation of Wireless USB products to market. Performance
9. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2010 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY—9
boosts are said to include UWB upper band support for frequencies of 6 GHz and above, and optimized power
efficiency due to lower idle power requirements and improved battery life. Support for UWB, a part of the spec-
trum that is less regulated worldwide, enables manufacturers to sell a single device around the world rather than
having to configure individual devices to meet spectrum requirements for different countries, a spokesman for
the group told us. He said new usage models "are bound to emerge" as a result of the announcement. The tech-
nology is expected to appear in 9 to 12 months in products such as adapters that connect PCs to TVs, he said.
The spec also includes support for Near Field Communication (NFC) and proximity-based associations that are
said to make Wireless USB easier to install and use. USB 1.1 is backward-compatible with Wireless USB prod-
ucts currently in use, the group said.
——
The five largest cable operators have deployed more than 498,000 CableCARDs for use in retail devices,
the NCTA said in a regular report to the FCC. Add in the next five largest incumbent operators and the total was
531,000, it said. The 10 operators have deployed more than 22.7 million leased boxes fitted with CableCARDs, the
association said.
——
The FCC should achieve its two-way set-top box goals by “defining required functionality ... rather than
by mandating a single physical connector or interface protocol,” Texas Instruments executives told Media Bureau
officials, an ex parte notice said. In separate meetings with the bureau, Public Knowledge advocates sought provi-
sions in future CableCARD rules to set up a streamlined complaint process and require self-installation options for
any cable subscriber who needs a CableCARD for a device bought at retail, another notice showed. Comcast told
an aide to Commissioner Robert McDowell that the industry is working on improvements to the tuning adapter that
lets one-way CableCARD devices get switched digital programming, another notice said. The improvements
would allow the adapters to support four video streams, it said.
Companies
Sherwood scrapped plans for its iPod/iPhone-docking iNet20 tabletop radio ($249) as it seeks to upgrade
the eight-inch digital phone frame that came with it, Vice President Gary Graning said. The system was designed
to stream Rhapsody and Napster services and was to double as a digital photo frame. The iNet20 was to deliver
2x10 watts. "It was a nice piece, but it didn’t do enough screen-wise with touch or video support," Graning said.
"We wanted to upgrade the screen and there were some cost issues with the original commitment." Sherwood also
dropped NetBoxx ($650), but will revive it in late 2011 at lower prices, Graning said. NetBoxx combined a 7.1-
channel AV receiver with three HDMI 1.3 connectors with an Internet media streamer so that in addition to linking
to CE products, it could retrieve audio, photos and video off the Internet for playback on a TV. It could support up
to 720p video. "We abandoned that at the present time because of the change in models, but the response to it was
gratifying," Graning said. — MS
——
Sony introduced a pair of in-dash navigation systems using technology from TomTom. The XNV-
770BT, with a 7-inch widescreen display, and the 6.1-inch XNV-660BT come pre-loaded with TomTom’s map
database of U.S. and Canada roads, Sony said. Buyers get one free year of map upgrades, the company said.
Features include TomTom's IQ Routes, which evaluates route options and makes recommendations based on
time of day and actual traffic speeds rather than posted speed limits, Advanced Lane Guidance that uses graph-
ics to show drivers which lane to take, and MapShare, which enables users to correct maps and incorporate
changes made by other drivers through computer software. Quick GPSfix uses stored software downloads
with GPS satellite positions to calculate vehicle location even in areas with weak signals, a TomTom spokes-
woman said. The systems have rear USB-1 wire connections for hook up to portable music players, Bluetooth
connectivity and deliver multi-channel sound playback via Sony's Center Speaker Organizer that's said to cre-
ate virtual 5.1 channel surround sound throughout the car. Sony’s SensMe feature is said to create custom mu-
sic playlists and radio channels from a connected music library. The XNV-770BT ($1,300) and XNV-660BT
A/V ($1,000) are due in November.
