Audio News for August 29, 2006

U.S. Housing Slump Affecting Asian Stocks – Investors in Asian stocks are concerned about the falling off of new-home sales and the climbing number of unsold homes in the U.S., since it is the biggest export market for goods from Asia. Asian stocks have been on the longest losing streak in six weeks, affecting investments in Toyota and Taiwan’s largest electronics firm, Hon Hai Precision. A spokesman said “People may feel uncertain about corporate earnings, mainly because of the weakness in U.S. economic indicators.”

European Electronics Editorial Group Honors LG Electronics – EISA (European Imaging and Sound Association) is the largest editorial multimedia organization in Europe.  At IFA Berlin, opening September 1 – the world’s largest consumer electronics trade show – the EISA will make awards to three products from LG Electronics. The awards honor advanced technology, desirable features, good ergonomics and expression of design and the best value for money. First of the three is LG’s plasma TV, the 42PC1RR, which has a built-in Digital Video Recorder (DVR) – said to be the first with an integrated pause function. Next is the LG  wall-mounted DLP projector and third is the firm’s DVR RH200MHS Digital Video Recorder, with a 250 GB hard disk.

Digital Deck Launches In CompUSA Stores – Digital Deck makes a platform for managing and accessing entertainment content thruout the connected home. Using Windows XP software it provides a simple television interface to access live TV, DVRs, VCRs, DVDs, PC media and products such as iTunes and TiVo in every connected (not wireless) room in the home. The system comes with media connectors and service and will initially be shown in 20 CompUSA stores across the U.S.

Home Entertainment Server with 1.2 Terabyte Capacity – Another firm active in the hot area of providing solutions to accessing entertainment and information in the home is Interact-TV, whose new TeraTelly Model GS1250 has a massive 1.2 Terabytes of digital media storage in a compact device designed for any audio cabinet or entertainment center.  In spite of the British-sounding model name, the company is based in Colorado. The media server includes DVD and CD archiving plus instant access to weather, financial data and movie listings. The media library may be shared with any networked media adapters or PCs across a home network, whether wired or wireless, and can be managed from any web browser. The TeraTelly features simple setup and a trackball remote to access its features from the TV screen. It is based on the EOS Linux media platform. Users can store about 250 DVDs and still have room for thousands of music CDs and digital photos, with the ability to search their entire media library from the comfort of their couch. The huge storage capability allows audiophiles to use the highest bit rate for best preservation of the source material.