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A More Mobile Mobile is Coming

Mobile data traffic will explode to 367 exabytes by 2020, with video driving 75% of that load - but autonomous vehicles and connected cars are quietly reshaping what mobile networks must deliver. Five defined levels of vehicle automation reveal a surprising gap: Level 3 may be too dangerous for human drivers to manage, forcing automakers to leap straight to full self-driving. The social dimension of man-machine interaction raises questions nobody has quite answered yet.

Ken Werner •
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DIY LCD TVs Laser TVs

Mirasol Finds a Home

Qualcomm's mirasol display technology spent years chasing eReaders before tablets made 'good enough' color obsolete. Now, a new generation called SMI - with improved saturation and continuous mirror positioning - has found an unlikely champion in Timex's Ironman ONE GPS+ smartwatch. Sunlight readability and ultra-low power consumption make mirasol genuinely competitive in wearables, where color fidelity matters less. Whether Timex's ambitious $399 athlete's watch succeeds could determine mirasol's entire commercial future.

Ken Werner •
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LCD TVs DRM DIY

I Have Seen the Smart Phone’s Future, and It Sings!

High-resolution audio has arrived in your pocket, and it sounds nothing like what you expect from a smartphone. Devices like the HTC One (M8) with Harman/Kardon audio and the LG G2 now pack DAC circuitry capable of decoding 192kHz/24-bit FLAC files, delivering studio-quality sound through a humble 3.5mm jack. Industry engineers, mastering legends, and record label pioneers gathered in New York to prove consumers can finally hear exactly what professionals hear in the studio.

Ken Werner •
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Laser TVs LCD TVs

Of Phablets and 4K

Predicting consumer electronics sales trends feels like shooting at a moving target. Tablet shipments are falling short of forecasts as phablets - smartphones with screens exceeding 5 inches - cannibalize demand for smaller slates. Meanwhile, 4K Ultra HD TVs are outpacing expectations, with worldwide shipments topping one million units per month and average selling prices plummeting 86% since 2012. Two seemingly separate market forces are quietly converging in ways that could reshape how manufacturers plan their next product cycles.

Pete Putman •
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LCD TVs DIY

Smart Phones: Galaxy S5 Triumphs; Amazon 3D Entices

Samsung's Galaxy S5 shattered expectations, doubling first-day sales of its predecessor and selling out across 125 countries within days. Real-world testing confirms its display performs brilliantly in direct sunlight, validating earlier lab results. Meanwhile, Amazon is preparing a mysterious smartphone featuring four front-facing cameras and rumored autostereoscopic 3D, raising compelling questions about whether the so-called FireFone can carve space in a brutally competitive market.

Ken Werner •
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LCD TVs LCoS TVs Laser TVs

Samsung Galaxy S5 has Best Cell Phone Display Ever

Samsung's Galaxy S5 earns a remarkable distinction: DisplayMate Technologies has declared its 5.1-inch OLED panel the best cell phone display ever tested. Brighter than its predecessors, boasting record-low screen reflectance, and delivering the most accurate colors ever measured on a smartphone or tablet, the GS5 raises the bar for mobile display performance in ways that demand a closer look at the data.

Ken Werner •
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LCoS TVs OLED TVs HDMI

HDTV Expert - QD Vision Co-Founder Predicts Death of OLED-TV

QD Vision co-founder and CTO Seth Coe-Sullivan argued at the SID Los Angeles Chapter conference that OLED-TV will become irrelevant within five years, citing quantum-dot-enhanced LCD backlights as capable of exceeding OLED color gamut while consuming less power than OLED panels displaying a white screen. He systematically dismantled eight pro-OLED arguments, noting that mature LCD fabs maintain yield and cost advantages over OLED manufacturing processes such as ink-jet printing and OVJP, which have proven harder to scale than anticipated. For consumers, this suggests that quantum-dot LCD televisions - already appearing in 2013 Sony and Amazon Kindle Fire HDX products - may deliver premium picture quality at lower prices than OLED alternatives.

Ken Werner •
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HDTV Expert - CES 2014: First Impressions (4K, Curved Screens, OLEDs, and All That)
LCoS TVs OLED TVs DLNA

HDTV Expert - CES 2014: First Impressions (4K, Curved Screens, OLEDs, and All That)

CES 2014 brought a wave of large-format display technology, highlighted by three manufacturers unveiling 105-inch 21:9 curved 4K LCD TVs, LG's 77-inch curved 4K OLED as the world's largest, and Vizio's 120-inch 4K LCD using Sharp's Gen 10 ASV glass from Sakai, Japan. Chinese manufacturers replicated nearly every Samsung and LG breakthrough with far less fanfare, while Panasonic's conspicuous absence of a consumer LCD lineup signals a potential exit from the TV market. For buyers, the practical takeaway is that large 4K LCDs are on track to become the standard within 2-3 years, with competitive pricing pressure accelerating from Chinese brands.

Pete Putman •
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Laser TVs LCD TVs DIY

Smartphones vs. Digital Cameras: The Death Knell?

Digital camera shipments have declined worldwide for three straight years, and the slide is accelerating. Canon reports SLR sales fell for the first time in 2013, while point-and-shoot shipments collapsed 40% in a single year. Nikon's defensive marketing fliers and desperate rebate deals tell the real story: smartphones are winning the convenience war, and no amount of megapixel comparisons can reverse that tide. The economics of this battle reveal something broader about how consumers make purchasing decisions.

Ken Werner •
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LCD TVs Mobile HD Laser TVs

HDTV Expert - Smartphones vs. Digital Cameras: The Death Knell?

Digital camera shipments fell for a third consecutive year, with CIPA data showing a 19 percent drop in worldwide camera shipments in August 2013 and point-and-shoot volumes down 40 percent year-over-year by late 2012, while even Canon's DSLR segment declined for the first time. Nikon's D3200, a 24.2-megapixel DSLR capable of 1080p/60 video at $497, illustrates how flagship specs now compete directly against smartphone convenience at a fraction of the cost. For consumers, the calculus increasingly favors smartphones that combine adequate image quality with instant social sharing, portability, and multifunctionality over dedicated cameras.

Pete Putman •
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HDMI LCD TVs

HDTV Expert - There's a New QD Maker in Town

Quantum Materials Corp. (QMC) is entering the quantum dot display market with tetrapod-shaped QDs that offer a 20nm FWHM emission spectrum, roughly half the width of conventional spherical QDs produced by rivals QD Vision and Nanosys. Using a patented microfluidic continuous-flow reactor derived from Rice University technology, a single unit can produce 100 kg of tetrapod QDs per day, addressing the throughput limitations of colloidal batch processes. For display manufacturers, this combination of narrower emission peaks and scalable production could enable wider color gamut LCDs at competitive cost, with QMC targeting a commercial product launch in 2014.

Ken Werner •
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Market Trends & Analysis Plasma TVs IPTV

HDTV Expert - It's "Fade To Black" for Plasma and Projectors in Japan

Panasonic's exit from plasma TV production by March 2014 marks a broader collapse for Japanese display manufacturing, as plasma held only 5.7% global market share in FY2012 compared to LCD's dominant 87.3%. Chinese manufacturers are accelerating the pressure, with CSOT's 110-inch 4K panels and sub-$40-per-diagonal-inch LCD pricing reshaping both consumer and commercial AV markets. Mitsubishi Electric Visual Solutions has already withdrawn from the projector market entirely, and Sharp faces similar pressure, signaling that front projection and niche display technologies are losing ground to large-format LCD screens.

Pete Putman •
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Laser TVs Market Trends & Analysis 4K Ultra HD

HDTV Expert - Who ARE Those Guys?

Chinese LCD TV manufacturers like BOE Technology and TCL are rapidly gaining market share in the 4K UHDTV segment, with BOE posting an 8.9 percent operating margin and CSOT achieving 9.6 percent in Q2 2013, outpacing LG Display's 5.6 percent. Global 4K TV shipments multiplied 20 times in roughly a year, driven largely by China's 28 percent year-over-year TV shipment growth. For consumers, this competitive pressure is already collapsing 4K pricing from roughly $300 per diagonal inch in 2012 to around $90-$100 today.

Pete Putman •
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HDMI LCD TVs

HDTV Expert - Display Panels in the News

LG Display unveiled the world's slimmest Full HD smartphone panel at 2.2mm thick with a 5.2-inch diagonal, achieving 535 nits peak luminance and a 3.74:1 ambient contrast ratio at 10,000 lux, making it potentially readable in direct sunlight. Sharp's IGZO backplane technology is gaining momentum, with rumors of Apple adoption in H1 2014 and a new $2.84 billion joint venture with China Electronics Corp. targeting 7.2 million panels per month. Quantum-dot-enhanced backlights for Ultra HD wide color gamut TVs are also emerging as a competitive differentiator, with Innolux reportedly pursuing Toshiba and Panasonic supply deals.

Ken Werner •
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HDTV Expert - LCD Always Wins
HDMI LCD TVs LCoS TVs

HDTV Expert - LCD Always Wins

Quantum-dot-enhanced backlights, already available in Sony's Triluminous TVs using QD Vision's Color IQ optical element, deliver OLED-like color gamut at a price premium estimated around $300 per set. At SID Display Week 2013, 3M also announced volume production of its Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF), targeting small to medium-size screens including potential 1920x1080 smartphone panels. These developments suggest LCD could close the image quality gap with OLED-TV before large-screen OLED manufacturing yields become commercially viable, potentially repeating the historical pattern of LCD neutralizing rival display technologies.

Ken Werner •
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