Consumer Electronics Daily News

Wattles Seeks New Circuit City Board

Mark Wattles announced today that his Wattles Capital Management, LLC has delivered a letter to Circuit City Stores, Inc. in an effort to clear the company of its current board of directors and appoint a slate he nominated earlier this week.

Wattles, who is also the owner of Ultimate Electronics, owns 6.5 percent of the shares of the Circuit City through his WCM and has grown increasingly vocal in his opposition to the current board and company direction.

WCM submitted two business proposals for consideration by shareholders at the 2008 Annual Meeting, currently scheduled to be held on June 24, and detailed its intention in a written notice to remove each member of the Circuit City board at the annual meeting other than the five directors nominated by WCM, as well as a proposal to repeal any bylaw amendments or new bylaws that the Circuit City Board may adopt without first seeking shareholder approval in the interim.\

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Dreamworks Last of the Major Studios to Dump HD DVD

After yesterday telling reporters that it was sticking with HD DVD until further notice, Dreamworks exectuvies announced today that the time has come for it to abandon the all-but-dead format for rival Blu-ray.

Dreamworks has cancelled all future planned HD DVD releases, including Bee Movie set to drop in less than two weeks, and will instead produce Blu-ray titles, Highdefdigest.com reports.

The movie studio will reportedly not have any Blu-ray titles on the market until summer.

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CEA: Success of Digital Transition Hinges on Consumer Education

The First Amendment is the cornerstone for the right to innovate and becoming increasingly important as the U.S. approaches the end of analog broadcasts, Consumer Electronics Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro said in a speech yesterday before the Media Institute in Washington, D.C. Shapiro discussed recent successes in the transition to digital television (DTV) and addressed potential challenges and attempts to thwart innovation.

“We are doing well. By the end of 2007, more than 50 percent of American households owned a digital television,” Shapiro says. “And consumers are increasingly aware of the transition and what, if anything, they need to do in order to continue enjoying free, over-the-air television.”

Citing successful partnerships with NAB and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Shapiro noted, “Our industry and government partnerships on consumer education are successful. We all joined together to found the DTV Transition Coalition which has brought together more than 200 diverse groups, all with the mission to educate consumers.”

For more information, visit www.ce.org.

HomePlug, Panasonic Plan One Step Closer to IEEE Standarization

Leading up to next week's IEEE meeting, the proposal submitted by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance together with Panasonic, continues to move towards comprehending a broad range of industry requirements which will allow the creation of an international standard for In-Home and Access powerline communication technologies.

The announcement from the alliance comes following a vote in mid-October in which the IEEE P1901 work group rejected all other proposals, leaving the HomePlug/Panasonic proposal as the only remaining proposal under consideration.

According to the alliance, the advantages of powerline communications for digital home services such as IPTV, multi-room DVR and broadband access are clear. No other multimedia networking technology can meet the high levels of coverage, performance and convenience demanded by digital services in today's networked home. As such, members of the HomePlug Alliance and Panasonic are actively working with members of the IEEE P1901 work group and outside industry stakeholders to ensure that the specifications address the broadest spectrum of the requirements.

"The HomePlug Powerline Alliance and the IEEE share the common goal of creating a single powerline standard," says Matthew Theall from Intel Corporation, who serves as President of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. "The goal of the HomePlug Alliance is to focus on working with others to create the absolute best solution for the industry by creating a single standard that will benefit consumers worldwide. We continue to make excellent progress, and we believe it is in the best interest of those involved to incorporate the interests and suggestions of all parties, large and small, as we move towards a truly ubiquitous standard."

For more information, visit www.homeplug.org or http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1901.

CEA: In-Vehicle Electronics a $12.8 Billion Market in 2008

A new study from the Consumer Electronics Association predicts that sales of in-vehicle consumer electronics will grow at a rate of 13 percent in 2008 to more than $12.8 billion.

The study, Automotive Electronics -- What Consumers Have and What They Desire, reports that the typical American spends nearly 17 hours a week in his vehicle. As a result, CEA finds that 38 percent of the driving age population intends to purchase and install an in-vehicle CE product over the next year.

"Given the amount of time that consumers are spending in their cars, it's not surprising that they're choosing to outfit their vehicles with the latest in-vehicle information and entertainment technology," says CEA Senior Manager of Industry Analysis Steve Koenig. "These are the products that make being on the road safer and more enjoyable."

At the top of the list are remote vehicle starters (15 percent), in-dash navigation systems (13 percent) and car alarms (12 percent). There are also strong purchase intentions for technologies like satellite radio, HD radio and DVD players.

Based on results from this study, consumers are actually more likely to spend money on CE products that are not permanently installed in vehicles than on permanently installed CE products. According to the association, this signals consumer desire for flexibility and multi-location use when it comes to buying CE products.

The complete study is available free to CEA member companies. Non-members may purchase the study for $699 at www.ebrain.org. For more information, visit www.ce.org.

HP Makes Big Investment in Consumer Tech Support

HP is bolstering its technical support capabilities for consumer products, a move to streamline customer service and entice new customers with promises of faster, more effective help with the HP technology products in their homes.

According to HP, "[c]ustomer service agents from Missouri to Moscow are now equipped with state-of-the art tools to help customers quickly return to their tasks, whether printing photos or connecting online with friends."

HP's investment is focused in three areas -- new customer support infrastructure, serving customers in 132 counties and 31 languages; eight new call centers, including ones in Alabama, Missouri and Oregon and five others around the world; and support agent training pilot program and expanded availability of key technology tools.

"One of the most powerful ways to attract customers is by delivering superior tech support," says Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst, The Enderle Group. "HP's focus and the recent investment in tech support should make HP consumers very pleased, and competitors very concerned."

For more information, visit www.hp.com.

Nuvio Sues Garmin Over Trademark

The on-demand business VoIP phone service provider Nuvio Corporation has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Garmin International, Inc. for it's use of the Nuvifone name.

Filed in U.S. District Court of Kansas, Nuvio says the "Nuvio phone" moniker is widely used by the company and its telephony services, and "Nuvifone" too closely resembles the trademarked name -- especially given the possibility a VoIP service could be added to the Garmin device in the future. "Prior to filing the lawsuit, Nuvio attempted to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution with Garmin. No resolution was reached and Nuvio filed legal action to protect its rights," the company said in a statement.

"While we would have preferred to settle this without resorting to a lawsuit, we felt it was important to ensure that our customers and potential customers are not confused by someone abusing our legally protected trademark," stated Jason P. Talley, Nuvio's CEO. "Our customers commonly refer to our service as the Nuvio phone."

Garmin representatives have offered no comment on the suit.

AMD, Microsoft Partner on Windows Server 2008

AMD and Microsoft are working together on Windows Server 2008 solutions, the former announced today, including ways to optimize their respective hardware and software technologies to work together to address the demands of today's global digital economy and meet the computing requirements of businesses of all sizes.

AMD Opteron processors were designed with 64-bit computing in mind and in combination with Windows Server 2008 they deliver a powerful platform for running business solutions that can maximize productivity and profitability.

In 2002, AMD and Microsoft began a collaboration to bring the benefits of 64-bit computing to the x86 computing market. According to AMD, "this strong technology partnership continues and is driving innovations that are helping customers run more efficient and cost-effective businesses."

For more information, visit www.amd.com.

Best Buy Announces Executive Changes

Best Buy Co., Inc. announced several executive changes aimed at, "aggressively capitalizing on opportunities for growth through industry leadership and creating extraordinary customer experiences across product categories and around the globe." The appointments are effective March 2.

"As we continue to grow this enterprise, we are fortunate to be able to rely on a team of senior leaders who represent a mix of rich perspectives, deep industry experiences and understandings of our company and its unique culture," said Brian J. Dunn, Best Buy's President and COO. "These individuals have strong points of view on how to turn insights and ideas about better serving our customers into scaleable actions. I am confident that these appointments will facilitate the ongoing growth and progress of Best Buy around the world."

Michael A. Vitelli has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Customer Operating Groups, and will lead Best Buy's PC mobility, home solutions and entertainment operating groups and also will have oversight for enterprise merchandising and the company's private label business.

David Morrish was promoted to the newly-created position of Executive Vice President, Connected Digital Solutions, and will be responsible for working across Best Buy operating groups and brands to develop a business strategy and model that would allow Best Buy to further profit from new connectivity technologies.

Barry Judge is the new Chief Marketing Officer, and David Berg has been promoted from Senior Vice President to Executive Vice President, International Strategy and Corporate Development. Berg is responsible for the enterprise's mergers and acquisition activities as well as the identification and evaluation of opportunities in new geographic markets.

For more information, visit www.bestbuy.com.

Sony Expands Blu-ray Player Line

Two Players Debuting in Summer/Fall To Feature Online and Picture-in-Picture Capabilities

Sony is bringing more online content to its Blu-ray player lineup with the addition of two standalone players that will allow users to download bonus trailers and games from in-disc menus.

The players are the first from Sony since rival Toshiba-backed HD DVD bowed out of the next-generation DVD format war.

The $400 BDP-S350 from Sony will appear in summer, the company reports, and mark the company's first Blu-ray player with an Ethernet port for access to online content and networking in the home.

The BDP-S550, which is coming later in the fall with additional features, has yet to be priced by Sony.

According to the AP, both of the new players will also be the first Sony players to offer picture-in-picture playback from the Blu-ray disc, a feature that has only existed in Blu-ray format on PlayStation 3 consoles. The now-defunct HD DVD format included both the Internet connectivity and picture-in-picture as standard since launch.

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