Panasonic have revealed their plans to bring an OLED TV to market within the next 18-24 months. The company has been working on extending OLED display lifespans, with a target figure of 50,000 hours (20,000 hours more than the current average); the first TV is expected to be a 37-inch model measuring just 1-inch thick, and developed in partnership with Toshiba.
Kohjinsha have announced a new netbook, the Kohjinsha MT Series, based on the Intel Atom N270 processor and offering both an ExpressCard 34 slot and and integrated TV tuner. The MT Series has a 10.1-inch display, up to 2GB of memory and a 160GB 5,400rpm hard-drive.
After MSI confirmed the US specs for their Wind U123 netbook and larger X-Slim X320 and X340 ultraportables yesterday, we were keen to spend some hands-on time with the slick notebooks. Of the selection, the MSI X-Slim X340 is undoubtedly our favorite, but there’s plenty to recommend the others: how about 5.5hrs runtime from the 6-cell battery, or 8.5hrs from the 9-cell, on the Wind U123?
Video demo after the cut
MSI have announced full specifications for their Wind U123 netbook and X-Slim X320 & X340 ultraportable notebooks. As in Japan, the 10.2-inch U123 has the Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz processor, WWAN and a TV-tuner; meanwhile the X-Slim X320 has an Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz processor and optional 3G/WiMAX. The X-Slim X340 uses Intel’s SU3500 CULV processor.
They may look like old analog rabbit-ears antennas, but these are actually the digital-TV grasping tendrils of Archos’ Snap On TV accessory for the Archos 5 PMP. A narrow slice docking across the bottom of the touchscreen mediaplayer, the Snap On TV adds DVB-T reception to the PMP’s DVR functionality; Archos Lounge have been testing one out.
iRiver have officially released the P35 PMP, complete with a 4.3-inch WQVGA display, optional integrated WiFi b/g, 16hrs audio playback and 8hrs video playback. Three versions will be on offer, ranging from the Basic (with no DMB or WiFi, and 8GB of storage) through the DMB (which lacks WiFi but has DMB and 16GB) and finally the WiFi (which has wireless and DMB together with 16GB). iRiver have also also officially released the P7 PMP, which we caught up with at CES 2009.
The FCC has released a list [pdf link] of which US TV stations intend to shut off their analog transmissions in advance of the official June 12th date, together with a second list [pdf link] of which stations will slog it out until the very end. According to the current lists, 158 stations will transition before June 12th.
LG and Kodak have signed a deal that will see the latter’s OLED technology used in upcoming LG products, including TVs, cellphone displays and digital photo frames. The first LG devices using Kodak OLED systems are expected to reach the market by the end of 2009, according to Andrew Sculley, GM and VP of Kodak’s Display Group.
Update: Kodak have clarified that the deal was in fact signed in 2008, and that the claim of commercial products “by the end of the year” is unconfirmed.
Bang & Olufsen have announced a 40-inch LCD HDTV, the B&O BeoVision 8, complete with Full HD 1080p 1,920 x 1,080 native resolution, 3,000:1 contrast ratio, 500 nits of brightness and 6ms response time. The BeoVision 8 also includes a 100MHz picture engine for smoother fast-moving scenes and compatibility with the company’s BeoLink home integration system.
Toshiba are developing an upscaling system that will improve YouTube video quality when played on the company’s TVs. The unnamed system is currently being worked on in Japan, according to Andy Bass, Toshiba’s UK boss.
SlashGear Japan
