Sun

1) APPLE WIRELESS MIGHTY MOUSE, $79.

We’ve always found the freedom provided by a wireless mouse was the freedom to accidentally drop it in our wastepaper basket, but that’s just us. Others have been hankering after a wireless version the multi-button Mighty Mouse for some time now, wondering what has been taking Apple so long to cough it up. This Bluetooth 2.0- based mouse comes with four independently programmable buttons so that users can do all sorts of neat things like call up Dashboard or Spotlight instantly. It automatically switches to low power mode during inactivity.

2) SONY TAV-L1 ALL-IN-ONE HOME THEATRE SYSTEM, $4,000 US.

The Sony TAV-L1 might seen a touch pricey for what is essentially a 32-inch LCD flat panel HDTV in a motorized housing, but heck, it does look kind of neat and it has everything you’ll need for great sound. The components of the audio system, including an individual slot-loading DVD player, are housed in the motorized unit that, when you push smartly on that remote, lowers itself to reveal the 1366×768 resolution screen. Other elements of the audio system include two vibration cancelling sub-woofers and a digital amplifier.

3) PENTAX OPTIO S7, ABOUT $300 U.S., AVAILABLE IN SEPTEMBER.

Another one of those ideal trip cameras, although priced less than most in this category, the new Optio S7 comes with face recognition technology (it knows a face when it sees one) and ISOs automatically adjusted as high as 1600 so you can shoot in lower light or catch the action at sporting events. Comes with a 3x optical zoom, a 2.5-inch LCD monitor and 23 megs of internal memory just in case you run out of space on your digital card and absolutely have to have that final photo of the day.

4) STANLEY FATMAX TRULASER DISTANCE MEASURER TLM100, $160.

It’s one thing to sort of know how far away something is and quite another to know the distance for sure. This new device from Stanley has an accuracy at 100 feet of plus or minus 1/4 of an inch. It’s range is two to 100 feet. Now, if you have bigger places to measure then you might want to go to the TLM200 and TLM300 models ($400 and $550.00 respectively).

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Smaller manufacturers stuck with too many flat-panel screens as expected World Cup frenzy fizzles

Yuri Kageyama
Sun

TOKYO — Makers of slim TVs are struggling with higher inventories, but the extent of the problem depends on each company’s position in the market: Smaller names are facing a glut of flat-panel screens while most of the top players say they’re playing catch-up to avoid shortages.

The contrasting fates underline how some companies have successfully jockeyed to gain an edge in liquid-crystal-display TVs by strengthening their brands and exercising control over the production of flat panels used in their sets.

Both brand and control over production helped when this summer’s World Cup failed to generate as much demand as had been expected. Electronics makers had timed the introduction of new sets to the matches, and retailers launched aggressive campaigns to sell new TVs.

Sony Corp. and Sharp Corp. of Japan as well as South Korea’s Samsung Electronics fared well while AU Optronics Corp. of Taiwan and LG Electronics of South Korea struggled. The Netherlands’ Royal Philips Electronics NV, which has an LCD panel partnership with LG, also stumbled.

“There were winners and losers — depending on the manufacturer,” said Yoshio Tamura, senior vice president of the research firm DisplaySearch Japan.

Tamura pointed to Sony, Sharp and Samsung as examples of companies that have greater control over the panels that are a key — and very expensive — component of a TV set. They can raise or lower production to meet demand as well as fine-tune their sets to offer more fashionable features.

Those high-end features also reinforce the brand and allow the big names to charge higher prices.

“What it boils down to is brand power,” said Toshiaki Nishimura, senior analyst at Yasuda Asset Management Co. in Tokyo, adding that TVs such as Sharp’s Aquos and Sony’s Bravia command greater global respect than those from Philips and other manufacturers.

Despite the World Cup woes, analysts expect about 40 million LCDs to ship this year.

Although prices are dropping on flat-panel TVs, they’re still steep compared with the cathode-ray-tube models. And buyers spending a couple of thousand of dollars on a 40-inch or larger TV, aren’t about to snatch up just anything, said Mikio Katayama, who oversees Sharp’s LCD business.

Last week, the Osaka-based manufacturer said it will start up its second LCD plant two months ahead of schedule, to stay ahead of rivals for year-end shopping.

Sharp expects to sell six million LCD TVs worldwide in fiscal 2006, and Katayama is hoping to grab as much as about 30 per cent of the U.S. market in 40-inch TVs during Christmas.

Sharp, which saw its April-June quarter profit soar 23 per cent to $209 million US, sold nearly 1.13 million LCD TVs worldwide during that period, up 50 per cent from 755,000 LCD TVs the same period the previous year. Sharp expects to sell six million LCD TVs worldwide during the fiscal year ending March 2007, up from four million in the fiscal year that ended March 31.

Sony, which has struggled to restore profitability in its TV operations after falling behind Sharp and others, is making a comeback.

“To watch poor quality images on a large screen is probably hard to take for a lot of consumers,” said Sony senior vice-president Takao Yuhara. “I think consumers understand what the Bravia brand stands for.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Back up data, use tracking device, Absolute Software says

Marke Andrews
Sun

A Vancouver company specializing in computer theft recovery and data protection advises travellers to the United Kingdom who must check in their laptops with their luggage to back up data before boarding and invest in tracking and recovery software.

Absolute Software, whose Computrace technology is embedded in laptops made by Lenovo, Dell, HP, Gateway and Fujitsu, have issued suggestions for travellers who are no longer allowed to use computers on flights to and from Britain.

All electronics have been banned from carry-on luggage after last week’s arrest of terrorist suspects who were planning to use the devices to trigger explosions on passenger airplanes bound for the United States. So far, Great Britain is alone in the ban, but other nations may follow the suit, including Canada and the U.S.

The tips issued by Absolute Software advise travellers to:

– Pack laptops in inconspicuous pieces of luggage to foil potential thieves.

– Lock the luggage.

– Pad computers with foam or bubble wrap.

– Shut down computers before transporting them.

– Keep the computer’s name and serial number with you, and back up data before travelling.

– Use complex or encrypted passwords to prevent thieves from accessing sensitive data.

– Carry portable storage devices such as memory sticks, zip drives and thumb drives.

– Invest in recovery and theft-tracking software and in data protection technology which wipes out the hard drive remotely should a computer be stolen.

“If a computer is missing, we can track it over the Internet and get it back with help from law enforcement,” says John Livingston, president and CEO of Absolute Software, adding that his company has nine individuals who handle specific theft cases.

In February 2005, Lenovo embedded Computrace into their laptop machines, and was followed by Gateway last July, HP in October, Dell in November and Fujitsu this past February.

Customers would have to subscribe to a service to trace their missing hardware.

“The customer needs to activate it similar to the way they activate anti-virus subscription,” says Livingston, of his company’s subscription service. “The customer activates the subscription, and then we begin to track the notebook, and if it goes missing or gets lost, we can recover it.”

– – –

Absolute Software enjoyed a record fiscal fourth quarter, according to figures it released Tuesday.

Sales contracts were up 66 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2005, totalling $8.4 million. Over the year, sales for the fiscal year are up 70 per cent over 2005.

Revenue was up from $2.3 million in last year’s fiscal fourth quarter to $3.4 million this year, a gain of 43 per cent. Cash flow increased 304 per cent, from $0.3 million to $1.3 million.

The company’s paid subscriber base increased from 440,000 on June 30, 2005, to 700,000 on June 30, 2006.

Livingston says the growing number of privacy bills, like California’s Senate Bill 1386, have helped Absolute Software’s bottom line.

“Alongside us building the market, computer security protection regulatory compliance concerns have really gained momentum in the United States with privacy bills,” says Livingston. “California Bill 1386 says that if you have third-party customer, employee or patient data, you have a legal responsibility to ensure that the data is properly protected.”

Livingston says the company’s work force has grown by almost 50 per cent in the past year, from 76 to 113.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

SET AN EXAMPLE: Cut to the chase and summarize, expert suggests

Donna Nebenzahl
Province

I took a couple of weeks off recently — and there were more than 300 e-mails waiting when I returned.

A list that long, no matter how many are duds, means a bunch of stressful hours deleting, answering queries or running around trying to figure out those answers.

Doesn’t matter that I’ve left an “out-of-office” reply on my e-mail. Unlike the “out-of-office” phone reply, which gives the person calling the opportunity to hang up, this one shows up only after the message is sent.

What’s the point of that?

Add to that the ease of sending e-mails for every little thing, and it’s no wonder we’re overwhelmed by this — yet another — supposed time-saver.

Consultant Stever Robbins was struggling with an even heavier burden — up to 100 bona fide e-mails daily — when he decided to do something about it.

Head of his own career-building company and a contributor on management issues to the Harvard Business School newsletter, Robbins describes himself as an “overwhelm wimp” — someone who really can’t handle being run ragged by e-mails and cellphones.

“Taming e-mails,” Robbins says, “means training senders to put the burden of quality back on themselves.”

The best way to start — naturally, since nothing works better than a good example — is with the e-mails that we send.

The first place to make the change is in the subject line of the e-mail, Robbins suggests.

Use it to summarize, not describe, so that the reader gets the full context of the message.

His example of a bad subject line, “Deadline discussion,” would be replaced with “Recommend we ship product April 25.”

Cut to the chase, in other words.

If you’re responding to a previous e-mail, Robbins suggests starting the message with enough information about the previous discussion to orient the reader.

And if you’re sending a response to a bunch of people, he suggests marking out each person with care.

By doing this, he says, you can “ask yourself why you’re sending to each recipient and let them know at the start of the message what they should do with it.”

In order to get things done, it’s necessary to make action requests clear, Robbins says.

“Summarize action items at the end of a message so everyone can read them at one glance,” he says.

And if you want to reach someone quickly, don’t assume they’ll see your e-mail right away. If they’re as snowed under as many of us are, chances are the best move is to pick up the phone.

The other side of the coin, of course, is how to read your own e-mails efficiently. Robbins suggests checking e-mail at defined times each day, maybe two or three times.

“When it’s e-mail-processing time, however, shut the office door, turn off the phone and blast through the messages,” he says.

To keep unnecessary e-mails at bay, Robbins offers the example of the CEO who charges staff members $5 from their budgets for each e-mail she receives.

Other methods he suggests are keeping answers so brief that senders realize you won’t be indulging them with long answers, and sometimes even ignoring e-mails so people realize the only way to get their message to you is to talk about it face-to-face.

Remember that.

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

Astrid Wendlandt
Sun

PARIS — In the evolution of electronic companions, first came the speaking doll, then the Tamagotchi virtual pet, then Sony’s short-lived AIBO dog.

Now, it could be the dawn of the Wi-Fi rabbit era.

The plastic bunny with ears like TV antennae can read out e-mails and mobile phone text messages, tell children to go to bed, alert one to a stock collapse and give traffic updates by receiving Internet feeds via a wireless Wi-Fi network.

The bunny, which stands nine inches tall and has a white cone-like body that lights up when it speaks, is called Nabaztag, which means rabbit in Armenian, its creator’s mother tongue. It can also wiggle its ears and sing songs.

“If I send a text message to my wife and she is busy cooking, she will hear it without having to check her mobile,” said a Paris-based telecoms analyst at an international brokerage, who did not wish to be named.

French entrepreneur Rafi Haladjian, who conceived the idea, says the rabbit sometimes carries more sway over children than their parents and can help men who have misbehaved win forgiveness from angry partners.

“It is sad, but true,” he said.

Nabaztag costs 115 euros ($165 Cdn) in France, 80 pounds ($170) in Britain and $168 in the United States. It is made in Shenzhen, China.

Since its market debut last year, 50,000 Nabaztags have been sold in France, Britain, Belgium and Switzerland, and Haladjian hopes to sell 150,000 by the end of this year.

The businessman is now looking to conquer the United States, where he only has a tiny presence, and is gearing up for the December holiday shopping season.

Last December, Haladjian appeared on CNN for three minutes and received 350,000 online information requests.

“The only problem was that we had zero bunnies, we had sold them all already and we had not even started selling them in the United States yet,” he said.

The rabbit is made by French company Violet, 55 percent owned by Haladjian and 30 percent by Banexi Ventures, a private equity arm of French bank BNP Paribas.

Paul Jackson, an analyst at research house Forrester, is among several analysts who predict the Nabaztag will find favour among the well-heeled and technology-savvy as it benefits from the spread of Wi-Fi networks around the globe. Wi-Fi technology is the latest must-have in many mass-market consumer goods, from mobile phones to personal digital assistants, laptops and TV set-top boxes.

Nabaztag, which performs basic tasks, relies on relatively simple technology — Wi-Fi and online software and filters.

Analysts say one of the reasons Sony’s AIBO dog was discontinued this year was that its technology was too complex and the robotic animal too pricey.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Sun

1) ELEKSEN PORTABLE FABRIC KEYBOARD, ABOUT $85.

Let’s say you have a smartphone and you just hate using your thumbs to type out messages in your hotel room on the tiny keyboard and, yet, you don’t want to be trying to fit even a stiff folding keyboard in your travel bag. Fret no longer, road warrior, now there’s a keyboard that rolls up into a compact package that you can store in the same pocket you dump your rumpled shirts. Just don’t try to iron it.

2) KODAK EASYSHARE P712 7.1 MEGAPIXEL DIGITAL CAMERA, $600.

Kodak is championing the P712 as a camera worthy of the digital-camera user who has already gone through one or two models and is looking for something with a little more depth. Certainly the auto-focus is good and quick and, combined with the stabilized 12x lens is just what most people need for the quick-shooting situation families often find themselves in. (That lens, by the way, is equivalent to 36 to 432 mm in a 35mm film camera.) If you want, the P712 even allows for shooting in RAW, for those who really care about their printed photos.

3) PANASONIC LUMIX DMC-FZ50K 10.1 MEGAPIXEL DIGITAL CAMERA, $800, AVAILABLE IN SEPTEMBER.

If you’re not quite ready to make the leap to a digital SLR, then there are some good offerings in what can still be point-and-shoot models (if you must abuse them) but allow for plenty of room for creativity. This model, with its optical image stabilizer, features a 12x optical zoom — the equivalent to a 35 mm to 420 mm lens on a 25 mm film camera. It also offers Panasonic’s Intelligent ISO Control technology that cuts back of image blur. Noise levels are kept in check, says Panasonic, allowing you to shoot as high as 1600 ISO.

4) SONY BLU-RAY DISC DRIVE BURNER, $900.

If you’re reading this then we know you’re one of those fabled early adopters willing to shell out any amount to stay ahead of the crowd, knowing that what you buy today is likely to be a fifth of the cost two years from now. So, here it is, the first ever 1080p Blu-Ray Disc rewritable drive that allows you to burn disks that support up to 50 gigabytes of data on either write-once or rewriteable discs. Of course you’ll also already have a Blu-ray player.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Touch screen is not quite the stuff of Click, but integration of home electronics is in demand

Allison Lampert
Sun

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Sun

1) Canon Pixma ip6700D photo printer, $380, available in October.

If you own a Canon digital camera (and that’s a lot of Canadians) then this top-of-the-line photo printer has some advantages. The upcoming six-colour ip6700D’s Canon-to-Canon connection allows users to brighten faces, print shooting information on the print or even print a 35-image (or less) contact sheet direct from the camera controls, without a PC. The printer has a 3.5-inch colour LCD screen, smart LED equipped ink tanks and an advanced paper handling system. Other new printers in the line are the ip6320D ($230); the ip1700 ($100) and the ip300 ($80).

2) Sony Micro Vault Tiny four gigabyte storage medium, $290, available in September.

Just a half-inch wide and an inch in length, the various Sony Micro Vault Tinys — ranging in size from 256 megabytes up to the latest one at four gigabytes — are a remarkably portable way of carrying your data. A major advantage is that the Tiny uses a program called Virtual Expander that uses compression (and automatic decompression) to allow storage of up to three times as much data as drives of the same size. The drives — the lower capacity ones are available now — come with a clip-on carry case.

3) Griffin TuneCenter, $149 US.

Complete with a 14-button remote, the TuneCenter allows users to turn their iPod into a home media centre. All you have to do is doc your iPod into the TuneCenter and it lets you use your TV and stereo for viewing photos, watching video and listening to either the tunes in your library or to Internet radio. You can display iPod playlists on your TV screen. And, hey, if you have an iPod that stores your photos or plays videos then you can watch them on your TV screen as well.

4) Xerox WorkCentre 4118 multifunction device, starts at $1,000.

If you’ve got small office, and you’re looking for a way of doing copying, printing, scanning and faxing then the WorkCentre 4118 might just meet your needs. It prints at 18 pages a minute and has two configurations, the 4118P copies and prints, while the 4118X also has faxing and colour scanning. Both machines have copying features like ID Card Copy that allow copying of both sides of a document on to a single side of the page. The WorkCentre 4118 also comes with Ominipage SE 4.0 software, which converts copied items into editable electronic documents.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Perer Wilson
Sun

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Richmond, Victoria businesses settle for a total of $31,279

Peter Wilson
Sun

Two British Columbia companies have agreed to pay a total of $31,279 to settle claims that they used unlicensed software on their computers.

The heftiest amount, $18,799, was levied against Richmond’s Brican Systems Corp., which provides marketing and educational tools for chiropractors and optometrists, according to the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft and the Business Software Alliance.

A self-audit at Brican found it had more copies of Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec programs installed on its computers than it had licences to support, said CAAST and the United States-based BSA.

Victoria’s online learning content and applications provider eTraffic Solutions agreed to pay $12,500 after a self-audit found that it was using more copies of Microsoft and Symantec programs on its computers than it had licences for.

These settlements came as part of $250,000 in total fines levied on 11 companies across Canada — nine of them in Ontario and Alberta.

BSA’s senior enforcement attorney David Majors said in an interview that the British Columbia cases are the result of tips received at the CAAST hotline (1-800-263-9700) or online at CAAST.org.

“In the majority of these cases, if we’re going to proceed we will have the CAAST attorneys contact the company and request that they do a self-audit to find what they have installed on their computers and what kind of licenses they own and compare that,” said Majors.

He added that CAAST sees many cases in which the use of the unlicensed software is inadvertent.

“They could grow rapidly and then they just don’t go out and purchase the licences they need,” said Major.

“For example, they would get one copy of a program and install it across the board and they would have new computers coming online all the time.

“But there certainly are cases where it’s not inadvertent.”

The bottom line, said Major, is that a settlement has been reached.

“In these cases, the companies cooperated with us, they’ve done the audit and we’ve come to an agreement.”

Majors said the penalties are negotiated on a case-by-case basis depending on the amount of unlicensed software.

He said 33 per cent of all software installed on corporate computers in Canada is believed to be pirated.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006