Clearwire's Ben Wolff on nationwide WiMax

Clearwire's CEO talks about building out WiMax nationwide, finding Wimax's killer app and surviving the economic downturn.

Click for article on Computerworld

Clearwire shareholders back Sprint venture

NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Clearwire Corp (CLWR) said on Thursday its shareholders had voted to approve its proposed high-speed wireless joint venture with Sprint Nextel Corp (S) that includes an investment of $3.2 billion from cable, Web and chip partners.
Analysts had widely expected the vote, which was the last remaining hurdle for the deal, to be in favor of the venture, which will take on the Clearwire name. The venture would build a network based on WiMax, an emerging high-speed wireless technology.
Clearwire, which has the consent of the majority of its lenders, said it expects to amend and restate its credit agreements shortly to permit the deal.
In early May Clearwire and Sprint announced plans for a $14.5 billion venture that they hope would give them a head-start on AT&T Inc (T) and Verizon Wireless in developing the next generation of wireless data services.
As part of the deal, five strategic partners are investing a combined $3.2 billion in the venture. They include Intel Corp (INTC), Google Inc (GOOG), Comcast Corp (CMCSA), Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC) and Bright House Networks.
It wasn't immediately clear why shares of both Clearwire and Sprint were down sharply following the news.
Clearwire fell 23 percent to $4.46 at mid-afternoon on Nasdaq. Sprint dropped 20 percent to $1.50 on New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Sinead Carew, editing by Richard Chang)

Extra Monitors - Nanovision MIMO 7" USB

USB graphics productivity is available now in a fun new pint size package. Powered by DisplayLink technology, the Nanovision MIMO 7" USB connected and powered LCD mini monitors are a friendly and affordable way to add productivity to notebook and desktop computers.

Hitting the Korean market first, the Nanovision MIMO monitors are ideal for dedicating visual workspace to applications that are used at a glance, such as instant messaging and calendars. MIMO is also perfect for Gadgets and Widget applications like news and weather monitoring and multimedia playback such as digital TV, video conferencing, MP3s, photos and more.

"Nanovision gives you what you want, when you want it," said Hamid Farzaneh, president and CEO of DisplayLink. "Fun applications are always within view, while reserving your main screens to the productivity task at hand."

Using USB for both connectivity and power, Nanovision is able to offer MIMO at consumer price points. The 700 series starts with the UM-710 7". Priced at 130,000 South Korean Won (US $129), it supports 800x480 resolution and both landscape and portrait orientation and either mirror or extend display modes.

"By exclusively becoming a USB device, the monitor has been transformed from a PC component to a consumer electronics gadget," added Farzaneh. "And by integrating multi-function features like VoIP, DTV and Touch Panels, the interesting uses for this technology have yet to be fully realized."

The MIMO model UM-730 adds a complete videophone with 1.3M Webcam, MIC and earphone jack, and the UM-750 features a Touch Screen. Nanovision sells direct to consumers and to electronics Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). For more information about Nanovision and the MIMO mini display visit www.nanovision.co.kr

"The MIMO mini display is so versatile," concluded Farzaneh. "We can't wait to see it make its way to desks worldwide."

About DisplayLink

DisplayLink Corp. is a chip and software company that helps people to create simple connections between computers and displays -- via USB or Ethernet. Its innovations make it easy to get more visual workspace while taking less time, money and energy than competing multi-monitor solutions. Using universally accepted wired or wireless networking protocols and proprietary software compression techniques, DisplayLink technology can transmit graphically rich content between a single device and multiple displays over a network. Leading global manufacturers have integrated DisplayLink technology into an array of PC accessories including monitors, video docking stations, display adapters and projectors. More information is at www.displaylink.com.

Wolff outlines top management for "new" Clearwire

Ahead of the finalization of its joint venture with Sprint Nextel's Xohm unit, Clearwire Corp. provided details about its top management, and said its chief financial officer was leaving the company. 

In an SEC filing, Ben Wolff, Clearwire's CEO, said that Barry West would be the company's president and chief architect, and that Atish Gude would serve as the chief marketing officer of the mobile WiMAX company. In the filing, Wolff also said that CFO Jon Butler would be stepping down to "spend more time with his family."

Both West and Gude will relocate to Clearwire's offices in Seattle.

Clearwire announced in May that it was merging with Sprint's Xohm unit to create a new company, and the joint venture has received billions of dollars in capital investment from Google, Comcast, Intel and other Internet and technology power players. Wolff said he expects to have all staff positions finalized by Oct. 31.

OpenTV and Adobe Collaborate To Advance Rich Television Experiences

Integration of Adobe Flash onto OpenTV Middleware To Enable New Applications and User Interfaces

SAN JOSE, Calif. and AMSTERDAM — At IBC2008 OpenTV Corp. (Nasdaq: OPTV), a leading provider of advanced television services, and Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE), today announced that they have agreed to integrate Adobe® Flash® Lite™ software onto OpenTV middleware as an additional application environment, complementing OpenTV’s standard and HTML offerings, further enhancing Web browsing capabilities and strengthening the development of rich applications and user interfaces.

The agreement is based on a longstanding relationship between the two companies. OpenTV is also joining the Open Screen Project and will be working with Adobe and other members of the initiative to define the TV profile and Open Screen requirements to help enable great user experiences on television screens. Announced in May 2008, the Open Screen Project brings together industry leaders to deliver a consistent runtime environment across desktops, televisions and mobile devices by leveraging Adobe Flash technology and Adobe AIR™software.

“This collaboration is significant in that it brings two market leaders together to provide the best solutions for consumers of digital television,” said Tracy Geist, OpenTV’s senior vice president of Market Development. “By combining our technologies, the authoring and development benefits of Adobe Flash with the digital TV experience and technology of OpenTV, we’re opening the door to a host of new service possibilities for operators and developers worldwide.”

“Together, Adobe and OpenTV can push the boundaries of digital TV application development and bridge the gap between various sources of content, such as Web and television,” said Gary Kovacs, vice president and general manager, of Mobile and Devices at Adobe. “By combining the rich graphical effects of Flash technology with the advanced features of OpenTV’s Core middleware, we’re enabling developers of digital television services to leverage the best technologies for the delivery of advanced services to consumers worldwide.”

Extending OpenTV middleware to support Adobe Flash technology will be yet another key platform differentiator for OpenTV’s customers, allowing them to easily combine web technologies such as HTML and Adobe Flash to deploy new, rich services faster and readily generate time-sensitive applications such as advertising and other enhanced TV applications.

Availability

The first commercial deployment of OpenTV Core2 middleware with integrated Adobe Flash support is expected to be targeted at the Japanese market in the second half of 2009.

About OpenTV

OpenTV is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced digital television solutions and is dedicated to creating and delivering compelling viewing experiences to consumers of digital content worldwide. The company’s software has been integrated in more than 111 million devices around the world, and enables enhances program guides, video-on-demand, personal video recording, enhanced television, interactive and addressable advertising and a variety of enhanced television applications. For more information, please visit www.opentv.com

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information - anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

The Story behind Google Chrome

Google Chrome is an open source web browser developed by Google (named after the user interface frame of web browsers). It builds on components from other open source software, including WebKit and Mozilla, and is aimed at improving stability, speed and security, with a simple and efficient user interface.

The beta for the Windows version is due to be released September 2, 2008. Google will host a conference press that day at 18:00 GMT. Mac OS X and Linux versions are under development and will follow the Windows version.

New LOGO

Google launches Google Video™ for Business

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) today announced Google Video™ for business, a new application in Google Apps™ for sharing video in an organization in two easy steps -- simply upload a video to Google Apps, and then invite others to view it. With Google Video for business, anyone can upload a video -- on anything ranging from executive communications to product training to trip reports -- and share it securely with individuals or the entire company. Google Video for business is now available as part of Google Apps Premier Edition at no additional cost.

"YouTube™ has enabled millions of consumers to easily capture and share video at an unprecedented level, yet corporate video has remained expensive and complicated," said Dave Girouard, president of enterprise, Google. "With Google Video for business, our customers get the ease of YouTube combined with the simple and secure sharing of Google Apps."

With Google Video for business, companies can leverage the power and intimacy of video to communicate all flavors of corporate information including:

* Leadership communications such as business updates and corporate announcements
* Training and how-to videos to share product knowledge and business expertise
* Customer insight derived from site visits, interviews, or focus groups
* Social videos that evangelize relevant activity and initiatives across an organization

"Productivity and other improvements driven by the telephone over the last hundred years, and email within the last 20, will now continue with broad use of video in the business environment," said Manesh Patel, chief information officer and senior vice president of IT, Sanmina-SCI. "Cost and complexity have until now limited the effective use of video to improve business functions. The integration of video into Google Apps, combined with continuing improvements in video devices and network infrastructure, provides significant opportunities for innovation and saving throughout our global teams."

Sharing video is as simple as clicking "browse" to find a video and "upload" to start sharing. Google Apps gives video owners multiple controls for sharing videos such as:

* share videos with individuals, groups, or the entire organization
* add descriptions and tags
* embed videos in any internal web page, including Google Sites

Viewers across the organization can:

* search for any video to which they have access
* view high-quality video from popular browsers (including Safari on iPhone)
* submit ratings, comments and additional tags
* optionally download videos for viewing offline or on portable devices

Google Video for business is available now in English to Google Apps Premier Edition accounts at no additional cost. Each Google Apps Premier Edition domain gets 3GB of Video storage per user account. Existing Premier Edition administrators can enable Google Video for business immediately from the Google Apps control panel. A version for Google Apps Education Edition customers that allows faculty and staff to upload and share videos with students will be available on September 8 for free trial until March 9, 2009, at which point it will cost $10 per user, per year.

Google Apps brings simple, powerful communication and collaboration tools to organizations. With Google Apps, users can use tools such as Gmail™ webmail service, Google Talk™ instant messaging service, Google Calendar™ calendaring service, Google Docs™ program, Google Sites™ web application, the Start Page for creating a customizable homepage, and now Google Video for business on their own domain to work together more effectively. To sign up for Google Apps or learn more, please visit www.google.com/a.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.google.com.

Google, Google Video, Google Apps, YouTube, Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Google Sites are trademarks of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.

New Palm Treo Pro

New Palm Treo Pro, a WindowsMobile device with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a slick new design. Thisbusiness-centric handset is the big brother to the super-successful PalmCentro.

How Cool is Cuil?

Technology Company Offers New Look at Search

MENLO PARK, Calif.—Cuil, a technology company pioneering a new approach to search, unveils its innovative search offering, which combines the biggest Web index with content-based relevance methods, results organized by ideas, and complete user privacy. Cuil (www.Cuil.com) has indexed 120 billion Web pages, three times more than any other search engine.




Cuil (pronounced COOL) provides organized and relevant results based on Web page content analysis. The search engine goes beyond today’s search techniques of link analysis and traffic ranking to analyze the context of each page and the concepts behind each query. It then organizes similar search results into groups and sorts them by category.

Cuil gives users a richer display of results and offers organizing features, such as tabs to clarify subjects, images to identify topics and search refining suggestions to help guide users to the results they seek.

“The Web continues to grow at a fantastic rate and other search engines are unable to keep up with it,” said Tom Costello, CEO and co-founder of Cuil. “Our significant breakthroughs in search technology have enabled us to index much more of the Internet, placing nearly the entire Web at the fingertips of every user. In addition, Cuil presents searchers with content-based results, not just popular ones, providing different and more insightful answers that illustrate the vastness and the variety of the Web.”

Cuil’s technology was developed by a team with extensive history in search. The company is led by husband-and-wife team Tom Costello and Anna Patterson. Mr. Costello researched and developed search engines at Stanford University and IBM; Ms. Patterson is best known for her
work at Google, where she was the architect of the company’s large search index and led a Web page ranking team. They refused to accept the limitations of current search technology and dedicated themselves to building a more comprehensive search engine. Together with Russell Power, Anna’s former colleague from Google, they founded Cuil to give users the opportunity to explore the Internet more fully and discover its true potential.

“Since we met at Stanford, Tom and I have shared a vision of the ideal search engine,” said Anna Patterson, President and COO of Cuil. “Our team approaches search differently. By leveraging our expertise in search architecture and relevance methods, we’ve built a more efficient yet richer search engine from the ground up. The Internet has grown and we think it’s time search did too.”

Cuil’s methods guarantee online privacy for searchers. Since the search engine ranks pages based on content instead of number of clicks, personal data collection is unnecessary, so personal search history is always private.

Summary of Cuil’s features:

• Biggest Internet search engine—Cuil has indexed 120 billion Web pages, 3x more than any other search engine
  
• Organized results—Cuil’s magazine-style layout separates results by subject and allows further search by concept or category
  
• Different results—Unlike other search engines, Cuil ranks results by the content on each page, not its popularity
  
• Complete privacy protection—Cuil does not keep any personally identifiable information on users or their search histories
  

About Cuil

Cuil (pronounced COOL) is a search engine that combines the largest Web index with content-based relevance methods, organized results, and complete user privacy. The company’s next generation approach to search is the result of proprietary breakthroughs in search architecture and ranking algorithms. Cuil’s employees have extensive experience in search, having worked at Google, IBM, eBay, AltaVista, Stanford University, the Internet Archive and other technology companies and research centers. Cuil is located in Menlo Park, California and has received series A funding from Tugboat Ventures and Greylock Partners, and series B funding from Madrone Capital Partners. Cuil derives its name from an old Irish word for knowledge, reflecting the background of co-founder and CEO, Tom Costello, who hails from Drogheda, Ireland. For more information, please visit www.cuil.com.

Contacts

Vince Sollitto, Cuil
press@cuil.com

Andrea MacLean, Manning Selvage & Lee
andrea.maclean@mslpr.com
415-293-2798

Contacts



Vince Sollitto, Cuil
press@cuil.com

Andrea MacLean, Manning Selvage & Lee
andrea.maclean@mslpr.com

American Airlines begins in-flight wi-fi trials

American Airlines began its first tests of in-flight wi-fi this week. It has installed a system called gogo, developed by Aircell, and began its first tests on Wednesday.

The service will be installed on all 15 of American’s Boeing 767-200 fleet, which mainly fly transcontinental routes in the United States.

The gogo system will give passengers access to email, the internet and VPN services through any wi-fi-enabled device when the aircraft is above an altitude of 10,000 feet.

The first service scheduled for the trial was between New York JFK and Los Angeles International and was offered free of charge. When the trial goes commercial, passengers will pay $12.95 for flights over three hours and $9.95 for short hops.

Motorola and Kodak Launch ZN5 Camera Phone

On Monday, the new MOTOZINE ZN5 camera phone was launched. This device is the result of the collaboration between phone-maker Motorola and imaging giant Kodak.



ZN5 features Kodak's Perfect Touch Technology, which will allow users to create panoramic images composed of up to three photos.

The ZN5 camera is the first comer of the Zine handset family.

It comes with five-megapixel resolution, a 4GB MicroSD card and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support. The device will be made available in the US sometime in July for the price of $507.60.

Sales of mobile phones reached 1.15 billion in 2007, market research company Gartner reported. This means a 16 percent increase from 2006, when 990.9 million phones were sold. The increase is due to the fact that technology kept evolving and consumers changed their old mobiles with new ones, looking for new features. This evolution hasn’t slown down one bit and phone sales will surely keep rising.

Last year, Motorola has lost market share, coming in third with a 14.3 percentage; other companies have had a better 2007 and recorded percentage rises: LG reached 6.8 percent, Sony Ericsson - 8.8 percent and Samsung - 13.4 percent. Nokia was declared the 2007 market leader, with a 40 percent market share and sales of about 435 million phones.

There were three new entrances in the top 10 in the last quarter of 2007: Research in Motion (RIM), ZTE and Apple. Apple launched the iPhone last June and has sold over 4 million units since then.

As new products keep on being released, there is no way of predicting how things will end up. Motorola’s new device could very well deliver the push the company is in need of.

Euro2008 Matches, Standings

Amazon Kindle: buyers rush for the iPod of ebooks

THE new generation of electronic books – ebooks – has fired a revolution even before they go on sale in Britain. Such is the sudden success in the United States of the Amazon Kindle, a reading device capable of storing 200 books, that UK buyers are bidding for them on eBay in the hope of shipping them over.

Although the US versions will not be fully operational in Britain, the Kindle is rapidly taking on the must-have aura of Apple’s iPod. After many false dawns, publishers fear the ebook could finally do to the book trade what the iPod has done to the music industry: turn it upside down.

One UK literary agent said: “It’s a tremendously exciting time. I can imagine a world where I would sell books direct from an author’s website.”

Another said: “Amazon clearly wants the Kindle to be the iPod of the book business.”

The Kindle, which is expected to go on sale in the UK later this year, has surprised US publishers and authors by how rapidly it has moved into the mainstream. Pat Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers, said: “I think people initially thought it would attract young people. But old people like it, too.”

The Kindle allows the user to increase the type size, making books easier to read for older people with impaired eyesight. When Walter Isaacson, former chairman of CNN and managing editor of Time magazine, acquired a Kindle, he soon found that his 84-year-old father and his 86-year-old father-in-law were asking for one as well as his 18-year-old daughter.

In the six months since the Kindle went on sale in the United States, it has grabbed a significant chunk of book sales. Jeffrey Bezos, founder of Amazon, said last week that the Kindle was already taking 6% of sales of books that were available in both traditional print and new electronic form.

Electronic readers of one sort or another have been around for years but the Kindle, and its rival the Sony Reader, deliver a quality and ease of use that seem to have mass appeal. The International Digital Publishing Forum, a trade group for ebook sellers, estimates that sales in March 2008 were 59% higher than in March 2007.

More than 125,000 titles are available for downloading and Simon & Schuster, the publisher, said it would add a further 5,000 titles this year.

In 2006 Harlequin Enterprises, the world’s biggest romance publisher, which sells 130m books a year, released eight titles in electronic form. Last year it decided to make all its titles available in both traditional and ebook formats.

“We blew away a lot of people’s expectations about ebooks,” said Brent Lewis, vice-president of digital and internet for Harlequin. Growing numbers of the company’s customers, he said, are reading romances on the Kindle, the Sony Reader or a mobile phone. In Japan all Harlequin’s ebooks are sold directly to customers’ mobiles.

Amazon has not decided how much ebooks for the Kindle will cost in Britain, but in America new releases and bestsellers, for example, typically cost $9.99 (£5), compared with £7.50-£10 for traditional volumes bought through the company’s website.

The Kindle, which costs $359 (£182) in America, has built-in free wireless internet connection, allowing users to download titles direct from Amazon’s website. Other firms’ readers require ebooks to be downloaded onto a computer and then transferred.

The pace of change, and Amazon’s aggressive lead, are unnerving British authors and publishers. They fear Amazon will use its dominance to squeeze them. Publishers sell books to retailers at a discount off the cover price. While 20 years ago this was about 35%-40%, Waterstone’s and Amazon now expect discounts of 50%-55%.

A pricing dispute recently led the online retailer to refuse to sell new copies of books such as Labyrinth by Kate Mosse and The 6th Target by James Patterson. The website removed its “buy now” button from about 60 books by authors of the publisher Hachette Livre UK, which also publishes Patricia Cornwell, the crime writer.

Tracy Chevalier, the historical novelist who chairs the Society of Authors, said: “What is unusual here is, Amazon is saying: ‘We are not going to sell these books.’ It’s greatly disappointing that Amazon would choose to punish authors in this way.”

Ozmo Devices Unveils the First Wi-Fi PAN Technology for Low-Power Applications

PALO ALTO, Calif - June 2, 2008 - Ozmo Devices, a developer of low-power wireless solutions, announced today that the company has developed the first low-power Wi-Fi Personal Area Network (Wi-Fi PAN) technology to bring native low-power peripheral connectivity to Wi-Fi platforms. The Ozmo solution extends the Wi-Fi functionality already existing on many platforms to include connectivity with low-power wireless peripherals such as mice and headsets. Unlike legacy WPAN technologies, Ozmo Devices' innovative approach does not require an additional radio inside the platform or a dongle to communicate with the peripheral.

Ozmo Devices' low-power Wi-Fi PAN technology includes a software driver that delivers native low-power peripheral connectivity to the platform and a highly integrated, ultra-low-power IC in the wireless peripheral that seamlessly communicates with the platform. This unique two-part approach delivers unprecedented performance and cost advantages for system developers while at the same time solving integration and interoperability problems associated with traditional approaches.

Ozmo Devices' low-power Wi-Fi PAN solution is slated for integration in high-volume Wi-Fi-enabled platforms, and major peripheral manufacturers are actively sampling the Ozmo IC for their new designs. According to Brian VanHarlingen, Senior Technologist at Belkin, Ozmo Devices is enabling a new generation of wireless peripherals that can deliver unrivaled performance and convenience. "Belkin is committed to adopting new technologies that improve the consumer experience," he commented. "Ozmo Devices' innovative, practical approach to low-power Wi-Fi PAN promises to deliver both rich functionality and convenience through previously unrealized Wi-Fi functionality. We view Ozmo's technology as offering unique value to the peripheral market, and we look forward to introducing solutions that deliver on these promises."

Introduction of Ozmo Devices' low-power Wi-Fi PAN technology is ideally timed to leverage Wi-Fi's emergence as the preeminent technology for wireless networks. Over 100 million Wi-Fi-enabled notebook computers will ship in 2008, and ABI Research forecasts that over 240 million Wi-Fi-enabled consumer electronics devices will ship in 2011. Manufacturers of portable media players and home entertainment platforms are rapidly adopting Wi-Fi in response to consumer demand for secure, reliable wireless connectivity.

Ozmo Devices was founded as H-Stream Wireless in December 2004. The company is privately held and funded by Granite Ventures, Intel Capital, and Tallwood Venture Capital. The company is led by a team of renowned semiconductor and wireless industry veterans, including President and Chief Executive Officer Dave Timm, Chief Technical Officer Katelijn Vleugels, Vice President of Engineering Mike Schwartz, and Vice President of Software Jon Edney.

According to Dave Timm, Ozmo Devices' WPAN connectivity solution benefits platform developers, peripheral manufacturers, and users alike. "Wi-Fi has emerged as the wireless technology of choice, both at home and in the office. By leveraging the Wi-Fi chip that's already in so many mobile platforms, we're able to natively deliver wireless peripheral connectivity. Our unique low-power Wi-Fi PAN technology eliminates the interoperability and performance issues that have hindered broad adoption of traditional WPAN approaches. With Ozmo's low-power Wi-Fi PAN solution, users will enjoy the convenience of wireless operation without constantly worrying about performance, security, and battery life."

"Thanks to falling prices and improvements in basic technologies, the potential of Wi-Fi beyond its current application in enterprise, residential, and metro wireless LANs has been clear for some time," said Craig Mathias, a principal with the wireless and mobile advisory firm Farpoint Group (Ashland, MA). "Ozmo Devices' introduction of its low-power Wi-Fi PAN is a remarkable innovation that will change how users think about Wi-Fi, expanding applications and improving performance in the bargain. This is a very important new direction for Wi-Fi."

Ozmo Devices' Timm added that the company looks forward to broad adoption of its technology in applications ranging from mobile computing and communications to home entertainment.

About Ozmo Devices
Founded in December 2004 as H-Stream Wireless, Ozmo Devices is the leading provider of low-power Wi-Fi PAN solutions. Ozmo Devices extends the functionality of Wi-Fi-enabled platforms to seamlessly communicate with peripherals. Ozmo Devices' silicon solution delivers superior performance for low-power wireless peripherals like mice and headsets. Ozmo Devices is backed by top-tier venture capital firms and managed by semiconductor industry veterans. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, and has offices in the United Kingdom. For more information about Ozmo Devices, visit www.ozmodevices.com.

Clearwire, Sprint Nextel to merge wireless units

KIRKLAND, Wash. — Clearwire and Sprint Nextel are planning to merge their wireless broadband units to create a new $14.55-billion (U.S.) wireless communications company.

The new company, to be named Clearwire, will receive a $3.2-billion investment from Intel Corp., Google Inc., Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks. The investment is based on a target price of $20 per Clearwire share and will give the companies a 22 per cent stake in the new venture.

Sprint Nextel Corp. will be majority owner with a 51 per cent equity stake, while existing Clearwire shareholders will receive about 27 per cent interest.

Clearwire, which will concentrate on rolling out a mobile network based on the emerging WiMAX standard, will also receive an investment from Trilogy Equity Partners, led by U.S. wireless industry veteran John Stanton.

WiMAX promises faster download speeds than the latest networks run by cell-phone operators, and it's even seen as a potential competitor to fixed-line broadband.

Sprint and Clearwire, a startup founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, had already announced their plans to build out networks using WiMAX technology, but had been looking for outside funding.

The new company will be led by Clearwire Chief Executive Benjamin Wolff, with Sprint Chief Technology Officer Barry West serving as president. West also leads Sprint's XOHM division.

The Kirkland, Wash.-based venture will house workers from Clearwire and Sprint's XOHM unit and will have research and development and other operations located in Herndon, Va.

The deal, which has been approved by the boards of all companies involved, is expected to close during the fourth quarter.

Leading Design Strategist Lunar Design and Innovator Philm Rethink USB Flash Drives

Philm Transforms a Commodity Product into a Premium B2B Solution

San Francisco, Calif. -- Lunar Design and Philm announce their collaboration in creating premium value from the conventional USB flash drive. By combining proprietary content and best-in-class partners, Philm transforms conventional USB flash drives into a premium solution for leading companies interested in connecting powerfully with their customers.

“Our B2B product is giving Ferrari, Nestlé, Baume & Mercier, Lindt, and organizations such as the World Economic Forum and the International Olympic Committee a unique vehicle for one-to-one engagement with their stake holders, wherever they are,” says Bernard Kuemmerli, founder of Philm. “For those firms, Philm is not a USB stick – it is a new media that allows them to stay top of mind, whether their target group is online or not.”

At first sight the Philm sticks look like USB flash drives, but they behave differently in an important way. When you plug Philm into any computer, a customized navigation screen appears that gives you high-speed access to a company’s chosen content. The content can be similar to a company website with three distinct advantages. Unlike online content, Philm’s content can be very high quality, such as high definition video, because Philm is faster than viewing at clips over the internet. Second, the content is viewable whether or not the host computer is connected to the internet. And third, different from a DVD-ROM, the content is never out of date. Philm can be configured to be updatable over the internet so that price lists, evolving product specifications or personalized offers can be downloaded automatically whenever they change; the user can even give feedback or order directly from the stick. And while a DVD-ROM can lose its value after one or two viewings, the Philm stick maintains its usefulness as a flash drive for personal data. Thanks to Philm, the USB flash drive becomes a strategic communication and sales tool, allowing highly immersive and interactive communication with stakeholders.

Combining business analysis with creativity, Lunar Design founder Jeff Smith and former Bain & Company partner Bernard Kuemmerli created the unique strategy of Philm. Together they represent a perfect balance of the left brain and right brain thinking required to successfully create these paradigm-breaking business ventures.

Lunar led the development of the stick by building an unprecedented team of designers, engineers, manufacturers and software programmers. Kuemmerli fueled the business creation, using a seasoned ability to raise capital and build a network of premium customers who are now benefiting from Philm’s unique value.

“Design creativity is the anti-commodity,” said Smith. “For clients like SanDisk, we have seen how design can be used to differentiate products from their competitors’ offering and command extra value. The SanDisk Cruzer Contour, for instance, is one of our designs that uses exquisite material choices and pays special attention to the physical behavior of the device to get a higher price at retail. In the case of Philm, our experience in design creativity meant we could build an all-star team – experts in design and engineering and manufacturing – who put together a product delivering a new media experience that increases the value of a USB stick tenfold.”

About Lunar Design

Lunar creates winning consumer, technology and medical products that make a difference to its clients’ stakeholders, brands and markets. With a portfolio of highly successful products that have generated tens of billions of dollars in sales, Lunar has consistently held a spot among the top 5 award-winning industrial design firms for the last 10 years, according to Business Week magazine. Founded in 1984, Lunar provides full-service product development with offices in California, Hong Kong, and Europe. Lunar’s current and past clients include Apple Computer, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft Corporation, Motorola, Philips, Oral-B, Palm, Pepsi, and Sony.

About PHILM

Philm is a trademark with patents pending around the world belonging to T’emogique, Inc, a company with headquarters in Palo Alto, California, and organizational units in Switzerland and Canada. The company has the intention of adding bottom line results to their clients by improving their one-to-one communication towards stakeholders through interactive media that work online as well as off-line.


For press information contact:
Amy Cunha
amy@bigpicpr.com
415-626-3333

What's Next in Tech

Slingbox - Watch your TV anywhere

Clearwire, Sprint resume talks

Wireless Internet provider Clearwire Corp. and cellular operator Sprint Nextel Corp. have reportedly restarted talks to combine their high-speed wireless WiMax networks.

Sprint and Clearwire are discussing a joint venture that would attract funding from Intel Corp., a major backer of WiMax technology, which promises faster wireless Web connection speeds for laptops and cell phones than mobile operators' third-generation networks.

The companies have also approached Google Inc. and Best Buy Inc. about financing, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Sprint has started rolling out its WiMax network in some markets and has said it wants to reach 100 million U.S. consumers by the end of this year.

Helen Chung, a Clearwire spokeswoman, declined to comment on the report. A Sprint spokesman did not immediately return a call and an e-mail for comment.

The companies' first attempt to forge a WiMax partnership ended in November, sending shares of the much smaller Clearwire down more than 40 percent in the ensuing weeks. Since then, the companies have discussed a plan to spin off Sprint's WiMax unit, called Xohm, and merge it with Clearwire, according to the report.

Clearwire operates pre-WiMax networks in 46 U.S. markets, including Seattle, Syracuse, N.Y., and Duluth, Minn. The Seattle-based company, founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, is testing a full-fledged WiMax network in Portland, Ore.

Shares of Clearwire skyrocketed $2.43, or 19.5 percent, to $14.88 in afternoon trading, while Sprint's stock jumped 78 cents, or 7.8 percent, to $10.75.

DoCoMo disbands WiMAX partnership

Following its failure to secure a chunk of WiMAX spectrum in December, leading Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has dissolved its wireless broadband partnership with ACCA Wireless.

Network technology firm ACCA had entered into a strategic partnership with DoCoMo last summer, for the purpose of securing a license to provide broadband wireless services based on mobile WiMAX technology.

But Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications granted the two available broadband wireless service licenses to rival operator KDDI and PHS operator Willcom, rendering the DoCoMo partnership no longer relevant.

KDDI and WIllcom are set to launch WiMAX services in 2009 and may also lease out spectrum to other parties interested in offering WiMAX services.

MacBook Air - a Guided Tour

OpenTV and Auction Network Announce Deal

OpenTV Participate(TM) Solution to power first-ever Internet and TV network devoted to the auction industry in the US

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- OpenTV Corp. , a leading provider of solutions for the delivery of advanced television and cross-platform interactive services, announced today that Auction Network, the first-ever US television network devoted to the auction industry, has chosen the OpenTV Participate solution to power its live Internet auction business and upcoming television launch.

Auction Network, whose programming will feature televised and live auctions ranging from thoroughbred horse sales in Kentucky to Ozzy Osbourne's celebrity auction to wine auctions from around the world, will use OpenTV Participate to handle all auction transactions, allowing viewers to interact in real-time with television programming via Web, IVR voice telephony, portable devices and, in the future, set-top boxes. Auction Network delivers the thrill and excitement of live auction programming with the interactivity to make it easy to view items, place bids and become the high bidder, even if the auction is on the other side of the world.

"Auction Network has a unique and exciting vision that fully embraces many of the new concepts OpenTV has been developing in our enterprise product strategy for broadcasters," said Ben Bennett, OpenTV's Chief Operating Officer. "One of the most important concepts, in our view, is the absolute pre-requisite for broadcasters to have a direct two-way relationship with their viewers -- Auction Network is a wonderful example of that capability."

"With Auction Network launching as a 24/7 streaming Internet Network rapidly migrating to live TV, the biggest challenge we faced was seamless integration of traditional and new media broadcast technologies with customer interaction and data aggregation," said Pam McKissick, Auction Network's Chief Executive Officer. "OpenTV Participate allows us to do that without over-complicating our daily operations. We have found that OpenTV Participate is a visionary, second-generation system that dramatically alleviates issues our cutting edge broadcast network might face."

OpenTV Participate's powerful servers enable unlimited concurrent auctions to be set up using simple wizard-based auction logic that supports more than 17 types of auction events. OpenTV Participate's fully integrated scheduling and studio console applications will give auction clerks, production staff and auctioneers live auction data providing dynamic TV programming, originated in studios and on location, with real-time viewer participation and instant business analysis.

OpenTV Participate's modular solution also enables Auction Network to manage viewer registration, billing, fulfillment, accounts, customer care, loyalty schemes, and marketing using a single back-office application. With its state of the art CRM and marketing modules, and cross-platform data aggregation, OpenTV Participate will provide Auction Network with flexible business reporting, deep insight into customer behavior, global business analysis and instant communication with consumers at the touch of a button. In addition, the product can provide added-value content such as trivia, sponsor messages and interactive and targeted advertising.

About OpenTV

OpenTV is one of the world's leading providers of solutions for the delivery of digital and interactive television. The company's software has been integrated in more than 96 million digital set-top boxes and digital televisions around the world, and enables enhanced program guides, video-on-demand, personal video recording, enhanced television, interactive shopping, interactive and addressable advertising, games and a variety of consumer care and communication applications. For more information, please visit http://www.opentv.com

EXPERIENCE HOLLYWOOD MEGA-HITS LIKE NEVER BEFORE

D-Box Motion Code Technology To Be Featured on Two "Must Have"
Blu-ray Disc Titles From Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

INDEPENDENCE DAY and I, ROBOT Debut on BD with D-BOX March 11

LAS VEGAS - CES Booth South 1 20659 - January 9, 2008 - D-BOX Technologies (TSX-V:
DBO.A) today announced that Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's Blu-ray disc
releases of INDEPENDENCE DAY and I, ROBOT, available March 11, 2008, will feature DBOX's
award-winning motion code technology.

With D-BOX, viewers can get right into the action of their favorite films in a way they never
thought possible. Every FRAME in INDEPENDENCE DAY and I, ROBOT has been encoded
by the motion artists at the D-BOXTM motion editing studio, from the most subtle to the most
explosive. Viewers equipped with a D-BOX integrated motion system will actually feel the rush
of flight, the torque of speed and bumps in the road, and virtually every pulse in these two science fiction action thrillers.

"We are thrilled to continue this work with Fox and help movie-viewers experience these
amazing Blu-ray titles in a whole new way," said Claude Mc Master, President and Chief
Executive Officer, D-BOX Technologies. "A Blu-ray home entertainment system that includes DBOX's integrated motion system is really the ultimate in in-home cinematic experiences for
movie lovers."

In addition to the upcoming releases of INDEPENDENCE DAY and I, ROBOT, Fox has
previously released several of its high profile Blu-ray Disc titles with the D-BOX Motion Code
including the recent top-selling releases of FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER
SURFER and LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD.

"D-BOX offers viewers a truly immersive home entertainment experience perfectly suited to the action in INDEPENDENCE DAY and I,ROBOT," stated Danny Kaye, Executive Vice
President, Global Research & Technology Strategy, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

"We believe motion technology could be the wave of the future and is a complement to Blu-ray's
superior picture and audio quality and advanced interactivity."

About D-BOX Technologies

D-BOX Technologies designs and manufactures high-technology motion systems destined
mainly for the entertainment industry. Its unique, patented technology uses motion codes
specifically programmed for each film, TV program or video game, resulting in motion that is

OpenTV Selected by TrueVisions UBC for PVR Launch

Thailand's leading digital pay-TV operator to offer personal video recording services powered by OpenTV Core2(TM), OpenTV PVR2(TM)

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- OpenTV Corp. , a leading provider of solutions for the delivery of advanced digital television and cross-platform interactive services, announced today that TrueVisions UBC, Thailand's leading digital pay-TV operator, has selected OpenTV's middleware solution to enable and power their new PVR services.

"OpenTV is very excited to have been selected by TrueVisions UBC to enable a wide array of PVR functionalities and power a strong offering of new services," said Mike Ivanchenko, OpenTV's Senior Vice President of Sales. "This new deployment further strengthens OpenTV's position as the provider of choice for middleware solutions and reinforces our vision of an integrated digital world where consumers have easy access to meaningful and targeted content."

TrueVisions UBC will be offering standard definition personal video recorders by Humax integrated with OpenTV Core2 and OpenTV PVR2 solutions, in combination with Irdeto's content security for digital TV. OpenTV's advanced platform will provide TrueVisions UBC subscribers with a range of interactive TV content, PVR services and will allow for mobile and Web management of their PVR services. The EPG, PVR applications, and interactive TV services were developed by TrueVisions UBC and integrated seamlessly with OpenTV's platform.

"OpenTV has been a key partner in our efforts to offer compelling and advanced services to better enable our customers' lifestyle to enjoy television and other value added services," said Ongard Prapakamol, Chief Commercial Officer for TrueVisions UBC. "Their solutions enable us to fulfill our product strategy in providing a well integrated PVR with a highly intuitive user experience and compelling interactive TV services like football live score, games, and much more exciting services to come."

TrueVisions UBC's PVR services are currently in final testing and are expected to launch early 2008.

About OpenTV

OpenTV is one of the world's leading providers of solutions for the delivery of digital and interactive television. The company's software has been integrated in more than 96 million digital set-top boxes and digital televisions around the world, and enables enhanced program guides, video-on-demand, personal video recording, enhanced television, interactive shopping, interactive and addressable advertising, games and a variety of consumer care and communication applications. For more information, please visit http://www.opentv.com.

About True Visions Plc.

TrueVisions UBC, a subsidiary of True Corporation Plc, is the largest subscription-based television provider in Thailand. TrueVisions provides a superior-quality signal through its CAtv and DStv networks. TrueVisions is committed to delivering globally-popular programming on 82 high-quality channels, including infotainment, knowledge, news, sports, and entertainment content. TrueVisions boasts a wide selection of home entertainment as well as impressive after sale service. TrueVisions offer its subscribers the Platinum Package, Gold Package, Silver Package, True Knowledge Package, and 38 channel convergence package known as TrueLife Free View. And now TrueVisions also offers a new buy-through package from HBO, Discovery and Disney.

Watch Amazon.com

Amazon.com

2008 Facebook Predictions

1. Facebook will break the 125 Million User Watermark
2. There will be over 37,000 Different Facebook Applications
3. Facebook will license it’s platform to 3 Major Social Networking Sites
4. Facebook will Partner with a Major Media Outlet to bring unique Multi-Media content to Facebook (or create their own)
5. Facebook will be the top social networking site in over 13 countries
6. Facebook will announce Facebook Platform 2 which will blow away how we think of social connections and add more robust features
7. Facebook will acquire 2 “widget companies”
8. Facebook will become the most commonly used standard for social widget/app development (Not Google’s Open Social)
9. You will no longer have to install an application to use it on Facebook
10. Facebooks unified payment system will bring the beginnings of ecommerce to a social ecosystem that generates over 300 Million in transactions.
11. Facebook will launch an Advertising Network for application developers that delivers higher value to consumers and application owners (revenue).
12. Facebook will hit 400+ Million in Revenue
13. Facebook will have 400 Applications from Brands in the ecosystem (70% will suck and get no traction because they don’t understand social networks and how to touch users in that environment)

2008 The Year of Widget Growth

Seemingly overnight, everyone is in love with widgets.

Consumers love the tiny software applications that let them share music, photos and videos, and even throw virtual sheep at one another, on social networks. And social networks love widgets because they help boost traffic and ad revenue on their sites.

On Facebook alone, users have installed nearly 13,000 widgets approximately 765 million times, according to Adonomics, a Web site that tracks widgets on the social network. Adonomics estimates the combined value of these widgets to be $374 million. There are also rumors that major media companies, notably News Corp. (nyse: NWS - news - people ), want to add developers to their stable of properties.

As a result, the number of individual hackers and companies that develop widgets has mushroomed to an estimated 100,000 worldwide, begging the question of whether the sector is in a bubble. Industry experts, however, say the concern is misplaced--for now--and that the fast ramp up is no different from what has happened in past generations of software development.

"It's too early to call it a bubble or a success," says Ross Levinsohn, the former News Corp. executive who oversaw the company's celebrated acquisition of MySpace. "You're really talking about the last six months as the real beginning of the growth of applications. It's just the beginning of what we're going to see over the next 12 to 18 months."

David Weiden, a partner at Khosla Ventures, which has invested in widget companies Slide and iLike, says a modest number of developers--about 20--received venture funding in 2007. He says investors are much more prudent now, and want to avoid the bubble conditions of a decade ago. "If there were widget companies that are public and have no revenue, I would say that's a financial bubble," Weiden says.

Slide founder Max Levchin likens the flurry of activity to the 1980s software-development boom. "It's very similar to shareware and freeware," says Levchin, who also co-founded online payment system PayPal. But widget development is a lot faster, he says. "It's like the 1980s played out in half a year."

The widget sector kicked into high gear last May when Facebook created an open platform for developers. Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) followed suit in November, announcing its own platform, OpenSocial. Applications for OpenSocial, however, have not been released yet, and development is said to be slow.

Jia Shen, co-founder of widget company RockYou!, says widget development is similar to Web site development, and thus, widgets are being valued the same way. "The metrics are about reach and not about how much money they're making," Shen says.

But unlike the dot-coms of old, many widgets are making money, mostly through advertising. Shen declined to discuss RockYou!'s revenues, but said that widget shops with just a few developers are raking in $80,000 a month in ad revenues.

Shen also says that some widgets have the potential to morph into full-fledged Web sites that can generate even more revenue. "There's been a lot of criticism of the applications as toys," he says. "One of our applications was Zombie, a goofy application that lets users ‘bite' friends virtually. After awhile people got bored with it, so we built it into a full-fledged game with virtual goods."

Indeed, corporations are viewing widgets less as frivolous gadgets, and more as business tools to boost traffic and ad revenue on their sites. "Six months ago, the thought of someone altering his or her homepage to incorporate someone else's widget into their brand [was considered] dilutive," says Jay Adelson, chief executive of social network Digg. "There's been an acceptance by traditional media that widgets give them some reciprocal benefit. In 2008, you'll see traditional brands that have controlled every element of their page open up."

To meet rising demand, developer shops are adding engineers and working round the clock to make new and better widgets. Flixster, which says its movie-review widgets have been installed on Facebook more than 13 million times and is also developing applications for Google's OpenSocial, has doubled its engineering staff to 12 since November.

But competition for engineering talent is fierce. "Most people have several options," says Flixster Chief Executive Joe Greenstein. "We pay reasonable salaries and give people generous stock options, but do we have to compete with the relatively high salaries from Google and Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people )? Yes."

Digg's Adelson says he has resorted to looking outside Silicon Valley for engineers. "We are trying like mad to hire more engineers," he says. "It's really, really hard. I pretty much have to import people from other states."

Levinsohn, now a partner at venture firm Velocity Interactive Group, says 2008 will be a big year for media-company acquisitions of Web 2.0 companies. In 2007, just a few tiny widget shops were absorbed by bigger ones, such as Slide. "There are a lot of good ideas that could benefit from big media," Levinsohn says. "You have a lot of companies that hit a wall and can't get beyond a certain level. They need the infrastructure and distribution of a large company."

Still, widget developers know they can't all be winners. "Not all the developers will survive," or get acquired, says Slide's Levchin. "I can look back to the '80s playbook and know what's going to happen."

Widget Wave
Bubbling Widget Growth
Wendy Tanaka, 01.02.08, 12:01 AM ET