First edition of Sega FAQ blast said Sega.com is no longer selling broadband adapters, adding they were “available while supplies lasted” and “due to popular demand, they have sold out.”
Sponsors of upcoming D.I.C.E. summit Feb. 28-March 1 at Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas include Electronic Arts, Insomniac Games, Infogrames, Nintendo, Sony. Summit, run by Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), now is home of Interactive Achievement Awards show.
RIAA Pres. Hilary Rosen appealed to Internet developers to help music industry build legitimate peer-to-peer business models to distribute music online. Comments came at O'Reilly Peer-to- Peer and Web Services conference Tues. in Washington, as record companies grapple with new, unauthorized Internet distribution channels in wake of Napster settlement. “Will you join us in a legitimate market? Will you protect the incentive to create? Will you provide the same respect for artists’ creations that you deserve for your own?” Rosen asked. As in past, she conceded record industry had been slow to get music online but said it was difficult to create legitimate business model from scratch. “A lot of progress is being made and more will be done,” Rosen said.
Lexar Media will expand Memory Stick business to more than 30% of revenue by end of next year as it lessens reliance on SmartMedia technology, Chmn. John Reimer said. While Memory Stick, which Lexar sells in 8-128 MB configurations under license from Sony, now accounts for less than 2% of sales, business will grow as company starts marketing flash memory cards in first quarter 2002 manufactured in Singapore by 3rd party supplier Venture Manufacturing, Reimer said. Flash Electronics, based in Fremont, Cal., also assembled flash memory cards for Lexar in past, but Lexar moved most production to Far East to take advantage of low-cost manufacturing, Reimer said. Sony currently builds Memory Stick for Lexar, which signed licensing pact with CE giant in early 2000. As part of agreement, Sony, which has $2 million investment in Lexar, licensed latter’s flash memory controller technology.
Loudspeakers generate sound by moving air, but the latest brainstorms from 2 audio companies would have customers sucking wind to build the speaker itself. British company Ellula Sounds (www.ellula.com) licensed NXT’s flat-panel driver technology to make small, inflatable speakers. When filled with air, speakers resemble brightly colored beach balls and are meant for use with portable stereos and PCs with low-powered amplifiers. NXT flat panel produces sound that makes entire inflatable resonate. Blowups cost about $45 per pair.
In cost-cutting move owing to high-tech slowdown, Toshiba will halt semiconductor production for 2-4 days this month and next. Company said slowdown would idle 12,000 employees at 3 of 4 plants in Japan, with work force taking 10% pay cut during hiatus. Company said that besides salary outlays, it would make savings in cost of electricity to run plants.
EchoStar is confident merger with DirecTV will pass regulatory muster, CEO Charles Ergen told reporters Wed., and he expects Commission and Dept. of Justice (DoJ), which will handle antitrust review, to analyze facts thoroughly before making decision (CED Oct 30 p1). He praised action by FCC Chmn. Powell to set up committee to examine regulatory issues: “The Commission is doing the right thing to look at the deal and give it a lot of scrutiny. There is a difference” between facts and “the spin people who lost out on this deal are putting on this deal.”
FCC should require cable operators to stop blocking fully functional navigation devices for DTV, CEA said in semiannual report on cable-DTV compatibility. Nov. 6 report, following report by National Cable & Telecom Assn. (NCTA) that was filed by Oct. 31 deadline (CED Nov 1 p5), drew heated response from NCTA. CEA said lack of agreement on DTV-cable compatibility “not only suffocates the market” for DTV cable set-tops, but “also stalls the crucial transitional market for DTV receivers.”
Leading Chinese PC maker Legend Holdings had 15.4% gain in 2nd quarter pro forma profit, compared with 2000 quarter, despite cooling consumer demand. Company said earnings for July-Sept. quarter were $26 million, up from $22.4 million in 2000 period. Revenue increased 4.24% to $699 million. Legend said PC shipments for quarter were up 10% to 795,000, but it cut forecast for full-year sales to 3.13 million PCs from previous 3.7 million. Company said it maintained its 30% share of domestic market, but would pursue profitability by cutting 500 jobs, 10% of staff, by end of fiscal year in March.