The Department of Energy will issue a rulemaking notice on set-top box energy efficiency standards, a spokeswoman said Friday. That’s now that talks lasting for most of this year for some multichannel video programming distributors to agree on voluntary guidelines broke down (CD Nov 2 p8). Stakeholders each blamed the other side for why the negotiations ended Oct. 26 at the request of advocates.
Negotiations for energy-saving commitments by cable companies for set-top boxes ended, advocates for energy efficiency who had sought rules and the cable and consumer electronics industries that had opposed them told us. They said talks ended last Friday with CEA and NCTA on one side and groups including the Appliance Standards Awareness Project and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on the other. The continuing talks had prompted the Department of Energy (DOE) to delay issuing a rulemaking on such standards until at least Oct. 1 (CD July 6 p4). The notice has not been issued, and a DOE spokeswoman had no comment.
Negotiations for energy-saving commitments by cable companies for set-top boxes ended, advocates for energy efficiency who had sought rules and the cable and consumer electronics industries that had opposed them told us. They said talks ended last Friday with CEA and NCTA on one side and groups including the Appliance Standards Awareness Project and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on the other. The continuing talks had prompted the Department of Energy (DOE) to delay issuing a rulemaking on such standards until at least Oct. 1 (CED July 6 p2). The notice still has not been issued.
"People ought to have more choice about what happens to their information” online, and companies should be altering behavior to reflect those concerns, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said during a Ford Foundation panel Tuesday. Consumers are worried about their privacy, and “if the industry doesn’t get its act together and give consumers more choice … they are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg,” he said. The FTC is going to “try to influence the rules of the road going forward,” he said, but it will “use our stick when we need to."
"People ought to have more choice about what happens to their information” online, and companies should be altering behavior to reflect those concerns, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said during a Ford Foundation panel Tuesday. Consumers are worried about their privacy, and “if the industry doesn’t get its act together and give consumers more choice … they are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg,” he said. The FTC is going to “try to influence the rules of the road going forward,” he said, but it will “use our stick when we need to."
Bang & Olufsen unveiled the latest addition to its Play product line Wednesday, a saucer-shaped single-enclosure stereo music system with AirPlay that the company hopes to sell in high-end furniture, kitchen and lifestyle stores. Bang & Olufsen launched the $2,699.99 system at the posh Trump SoHo hotel in Manhattan, where guest rooms are outfitted with BeoSystem TVs and motorized drape systems. The 480-watt circular sound system -- 2.3 feet in diameter -- packs two 3/4-inch tweeters and a pair of 3-inch midrange drivers, each powered by an integrated 80-watt Class D amplifier. The 8-inch bass-reflex bass unit, with a 160-watt amp, was designed into a convex section of the enclosure, the company said. The BeoPlay A9 will sell through Bang & Olufsen and select Apple stores when it ships in late November, Zean Nielsen, Bang & Olufsen America president, told us. The company is also targeting lifestyle stores such as Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s, hoping to appeal to customers it wouldn’t typically reach, Nielsen said. Nielsen said since the launch of the Play line, which debuted at CES in January, 60 percent of B&O’s new customers have come in through the fledgling product series, which also includes a portable powered speaker system, iPad speaker frame and shelf-mounted music system. Bang & Olufsen is “not necessarily” looking to display the new A9 system “next to a bunch of electronics,” said Nielsen, saying the company is also looking at selling through electronics retailers but “it’s not our primary focus.” The “trick” feature inside the A9, the industrial design statement B&O is known for integrating into most of its products, is a touch-controlled volume up/down wheel that traces the outline of the circular frame of the system. Users turn up and down volume and pause the music by sliding or tapping a finger along a path of raised dots on the top rear side of the enclosure. The wireless A9 system streams music using DLNA or AirPlay, relying on the smartphone or tablet used as the source device for control of tracks, station or playlist selection. Customers have a choice of grille fabric color: black, white, red, silver green and brown, and the three supporting wooden legs are available in oak, beech or teak, executives said. Rear-panel connections include mini audio, USB and Ethernet jacks, the company said.
T-Mobile USA’s proposed buy of MetroPCS is not expected to generate much opposition, as regulators take a deep dive at the FCC and Department of Justice, say officials from many of the groups that previously lined up to oppose AT&T’s failed attempt to buy T-Mobile last year and the Verizon Wireless/cable deals, which were approved by federal regulators this summer. T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile said Wednesday they signed an agreement to create what they say will be “the leading value carrier in the U.S. wireless marketplace."
FirstNet may begin implementing the proposed nationwide 700 MHz national public safety broadband network (NPSBN) as soon as 2013, the FirstNet board said at its inaugural meeting Tuesday. All 15 members praised the $7 billion initiative and talked about next steps. But multiple organizations and a new report underscore FirstNet’s challenges of funding, scheduling and exclusion, and they questioned the manner in which the federal government has handled several suspended stimulus grants.
DTS, which purchased Phorus in July, unveiled the Phorus Android-based wireless audio platform Wednesday in New York. DTS is positioning the uncompressed content distribution technology against Bluetooth and Sonos, while at the same time incorporating Bluetooth into the platform as an all-purpose solution for users who don’t have Android devices. Unlike Bluetooth, a single-room solution with a range of 30 feet, or Sonos with its proprietary mesh network platform, DTS’s Phorus Play-Fi system operates over a home’s Wi-Fi network, Dannie Lau, CEO of Play-Fi developer and DTS subsidiary Phorus, told us.
California’s VoIP bill has become wrapped up in the larger deregulation push of U.S. telcos. Several industry statements have increasingly worried consumer advocates in recent months. But an AT&T senior vice president argued the transition away from copper is a natural extension of federal policy and promotes deeper conversation on how to develop new, appropriate regulations. The state bill would cause “irreparable harm” if passed into law, The Utility Reform Network (TURN) wrote Gov. Jerry Brown. SB-1161 would prohibit the California Public Utilities Commission from regulating VoIP unless allowed by state or federal statute.