The Advanced Media Workflow Association disclosed changes in its membership, in written notifications filed with the U.S. attorney general and the FTC, said a Justice Department notice in Wednesday's Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/1ylmueC). Canon U.S.A., Swedish companies Vizrt and Kista, and John Fleming of Australia were added to the organization, while EMC, Encompass, The Weather Co., Andreas Georg Stasheit of Germany and Jone Lee of South Korea withdrew from the association, the notice said.

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) is “seeing the right trends illustrating that the marketplace is accepting” Version 1.0 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, said Danielle Kriz, director-global cybersecurity policy, in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1rpPQmz). ITI was one of several information and communications technology (ICT) sector participants that submitted comments to NIST on industry use of the framework, which the agency released in February (see 1410140173). Companies in the ICT sector “are having new conversations about cybersecurity risk management” and the market is responding with new products and services to manage cyber risks outside the sector, Kriz said. ITI said it is urging NIST to “pivot away from developing a framework or standard and focus its work on” on its Privacy Engineering Objectives and Risk Model, which is meant to address gaps in privacy-related technical best practices. “Such a resource would be useful to organizations seeking to improve how they build privacy into their information management structures,” Kriz said. ITI suggested NIST seek out additional comment on the Cybersecurity Framework in a year’s time.

Mobile phone accessory sales were a record $249 million in the two weeks following the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, said a report by NPD Group released Friday. Last year, in the two weeks following the release of the iPhone 5s and 5c, mobile phone accessory sales were $195 million, it said. “New iPhone form factors always provide a short-term boost to traffic and volume to the consumer electronics market, but it’s the accessory purchases that keep the momentum going,” said Stephen Baker, NPD vice president-industry analysis. Sales of cases primarily and accessories in general are “an excellent proxy in measuring the long-term demand for a phone,” Baker said. An NPD smartphone accessory report said 41 percent of iPhone customers say they buy accessories when they buy the phone and 58 percent buy accessories after they've left the store. Buyers also said they spend nearly double after they leave the store as they did during the initial purchase, NPD said. New iPhone releases and associated mobile accessory purchases resulting from purchases help “set the stage for a strong fourth quarter and holiday season,” Baker said.

"Futurecast,” the technology that LG, Zenith Labs and GatesAir submitted to the Advanced TV Systems Committee as their proposal for the “guts” of the next-gen ATSC 3.0 broadcast system (CED April 9 p1), will be showcased in a demonstration in the wee hours of Oct. 22 in Madison, Wisconsin, at Quincy Broadcasting’s WKOW, Futurecast’s backers said Friday. WKOW will transmit Futurecast-modulated advanced TV signals to specially designed receivers, but Futurecast transmissions can’t be received by current DTV products, and the station will be able to transmit Futurecast only from 1 to 4 a.m. that day, they said. As one of the proposed ATSC 3.0 physical layer technologies, Futurecast’s “flexible parameters allow broadcasters to mix diverse services within a single RF channel with maximum efficiency,” the backers said. Next-gen broadcasting services enabled by Futurecast “range from deep indoor handheld reception to high-speed mobile reception to Ultra HDTV for the ultimate home entertainment experience, all within a single 6 MHz TV channel,” they said.

RadioShack was running a three-day sale on audio products through Sunday, the retailer said in an email to customers Friday. Featured products included the company’s private-label branded Auvio Element earbuds with microphone for $14.99, down from $29.99; Auvio 3-foot stereo audio cables for $9.99, down from $14.99; and RadioShack 2.1 multimedia speakers marked down to $14.99 from $24.99, said the ad. Also on sale was the RadioShack Slim Portable Power Bank for $34.99, a $10 discount, it said.

The Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA) added integrator members ACT Technologies, Nashville, and Sound Xperience, Philadelphia. Both dealer member companies are experienced in design and installation of electronics systems including AV, home theater, lighting control, security, IT and home automation, HTSA said. ACT Technologies and Sound Xperience are aligned with HTSA vendors including Bowers & Wilkins, Control4, Savant and Sony, it said. HTSA also said member company Electronic Integration of Colorado has expanded operations to include the Minneapolis region through a strategic partnership with Lelch AV, St. Louis Park, Minnesota. The business will operate as Lelch AV under the direction of Roger Koehler and Alex Lelchuk, HTSA said.

Not putting a cap on the amount of population served that a broadcaster can lose as a result of the incentive auction repacking “would be a plain violation of the Spectrum Act,” said NAB in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn Oct. 7, according to an ex parte filing posted online Friday in docket 12-268 (http://bit.ly/1yWXSgi). FCC predictions that TV stations after the auction will receive no more than 2 percent interference are “underestimates” NAB said. “For some reason, the staff elected not to take into account that more than half of all stations will move, and thus arrived at a smaller per station percentage,” said NAB. If the commission stands by that figure, it should institute a 2 percent cap, NAB said, though NAB has previously asked for a 1 percent cap, the ex parte filing said. The FCC should “foster confidence” among broadcasters by “providing them the certainty they need through capping the amount of new losses in population served they can receive,” NAB said.

Android Wear smartphone owners will soon be able to control music from the iHeartRadio streaming app from their wrists, iHeartMedia said Thursday. Users who sync an Android Wear smartphone -- including the Samsung Gear Live, Moto 360 and LG G Watch -- with a compatible Android phone will be able to access the iHeartRadio app via voice activation, iHeartMedia said. Features that will be available through Android Wear integration, effective Oct. 15, include voice search, access to favorites, customized recommendations and a thumbs up/thumbs down feature, the company said. IHeartRadio also has announced integrations with Amazon’s Fire Phone, Amazon’s Fire TV, Android Auto, Apple’s CarPlay, Chromecast, Qualcomm’s AllPlay, Samsung’s Gear 2 Smartwatch and auto partnerships with AT&T Drive, General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Subaru and Volvo, iHeartMedia said.

Consumer Electronics Daily won’t be published Monday, Oct. 13, in observance of the federal Columbus Day holiday. Our next issue will be dated Tuesday, Oct. 14. Beginning with the Wednesday, Oct. 15, issue, the publication will be sent through our new system, which adds useful navigation features to the PDF and links from the daily headline email to our new website at www.consumerelectronicsdaily.com. We will be sending a personal password to you next Tuesday, Oct. 14, for website access. Please contact your account representative at 800-771-9202 or sales@warren-news.com if you don’t receive your issue next Tuesday evening or need any other assistance.

Growth in PC shipments in North America and Western Europe in Q3 was offset by a drop in emerging markets shipments, according to preliminary data from Gartner. Worldwide PC shipments reached 79.4 million units in Q3, slipping 0.5 percent from the year-ago quarter, it said. But positive results in mature markets -- including a 4.2 percent bump in the U.S. to 16.6 million units -- for the quarter could signal a “gradual recovery for the PC industry,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. Consumers’ attention is “slowly going back to PC purchases” following mainstream consumer adoption of tablets that has peaked at 40-50 percent, Kitagawa said. Weakness in emerging markets reflects “saturation in selected consumer segments where they can afford PCs,” she said. Hewlett-Packard continued as the No. 1 PC brand in the U.S. in Q3 on shipments of 4.6 million, representing 27.8 percent market share, Gartner said. Dell came in second at 3.8 million shipments for 24.1 percent share followed by Apple at 2.4 million shipments and 14.3 percent share. Lenovo’s share slipped from 10.6 percent in Q3 2013 to 10.5 percent in Q3 2014 while shipments rose 3.2 percent to 1.7 million units, Gartner said. Toshiba lost a percentage point of market share to 6.1 percent as shipments declined nearly 10 percent in the quarter, Gartner said. Back-to-school season in the U.S. “was not exceptional,” Kitagawa said, but holiday season sales should be buoyed by “affordable touch-based laptops, price drops of thin and light laptops, and 2-in-1 hybrid laptops.” In emerging markets, consumers who don’t have PCs will likely buy low-priced tablets, resulting in slower growth in PC shipments, Kitagawa said. For the first time, Gartner said, the total of the top five PC vendors’ market share reached two-thirds of worldwide PC shipments, with all five showing stronger growth than the industry average. At No. 1, Lenovo grew its worldwide share to 19.8 percent in Q3 from 17.7 percent in the year-ago quarter on shipments of 15.7 million units. HP followed with shipments of 14.2 million, representing 17.9 percent market share and Dell at 10.2 million units with share of 12.8 percent, Gartner said. Acer shipped 6.8 million PCs in Q3 representing 8.6 percent market share, while Asus came in with 7.3 percent share on shipments of 5.8 million units, it said. Companies making up the “other” category posted shipments of 27 million for 33.6 percent share, it said.