EPA again delayed releasing the first draft of its Energy Star Version 8.0 TV spec for another month to mid- or late-February, Verena Radulovic, Energy Star product manager at the agency, emailed us last week. EPA had hoped to release the first draft in early December, but delayed releasing it until after the holidays (see 1612050055). As for the latest snag, “we have been evaluating stakeholder feedback and ideas during this time and thus have been delayed,” Radulovic told us. EPA’s goal remains finalizing the V8.0 spec in mid-2017 and putting it into effect in early 2018, she said.
Samsung is seeking trademark protection for the “8-Point Battery Safety Check" nomenclature it used last week to describe the safety protocol it put in place to prevent a repeat of the Galaxy Note7 fiasco (see 1701230048). Patent and Trademark Office records show Samsung applied to register the term Jan. 23, the same day it called a Seoul news conference to announce the checklist protocol it said would address device safety "from the component level to the assembly and shipment of devices." The company “has a bona fide intention, and is entitled, to use the mark in commerce on or in connection with the identified goods/services,” said the application. It lists mobile phones as a category of product that could carry the trademark, but also a range of other consumer goods, including TVs, tablets and wireless headsets.
Fitbit shares closed 16 percent lower Monday to a new record low of $6.06 after the company reported it will cut 6 percent of its global workforce -- about 110 employees -- to account for losses and lower than expected sales for 2016's holiday quarter. Fitbit expects its Q4 sales to come in at a range of between $572 million and $580 million, compared with a forecast of $725 million to $750 million, when it reports actual results Feb. 22, the company said in a Monday announcement. It expects to incur a Q4 net loss of up to 56 cents a share compared with a previously forecast net profit of up to 18 cents, it said. Nevertheless, Fitbit’s management is “confident this performance is not reflective of the value of our brand, market-leading platform, and company’s long-term potential,” CEO James Park said in a statement. “We believe Fitbit is in a unique position to stimulate new areas of demand by leveraging the data we collect to deliver a more personalized experience while developing upgraded versions of existing products and launching additional products to expand into new categories.” Softness in “overall demand” for wearables and activity trackers was among the factors Fitbit cited in early November when it forecast that revenue growth in its holiday quarter would top out at only 5 percent (see 1611030051). That revelation sent the shares plunging 33.6 percent to what then were record lows for the 17-month-old stock. At $572 million, the lowest end of its new 2016 guidance, sales for Fitbit's Q4 would actually incur a 20 percent decline from the $711.6 million in sales in 2015's holiday quarter.
President Donald Trump’s immigration executive order Friday blocking citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days awakened an outcry in the tech industry over the weekend. The order "hurts our nation -- both morally and economically -- and runs counter to our country's long-standing values,” CTA President Gary Shapiro said in a Sunday statement. CTA understands the president’s “superseding role” in protecting the U.S. from terrorism, Shapiro said. But "blocking access en masse of employees of U.S. companies who are lawful visa and green card holders based on religion or national origin raises constitutional issues.”
The A/341 document on ATSC 3.0 video and high dynamic range will go out in a matter of days for a four-week ATSC membership ballot that, if approved, will elevate the document to the status of a proposed standard, ATSC President Mark Richer told us Thursday. But that hardly will close the door on the contentious HDR saga at ATSC 3.0. Richer said up to five technology “amendments” to A/341 will be floated to the ATSC membership in the next few weeks.
ATSC's Technology Group 3, which supervises the framing of ATSC 3.0, approved a ballot this week that would elevate the A/341 document on ATSC 3.0 video and high dynamic range to the status of a proposed standard, ATSC President Mark Richer emailed us Thursday through a spokesman. "The document includes support for HLG and PQ transfer functions,“ Richer said of the competing hybrid log-gamma and perceptual quantization approaches to HDR. It was Richer's first known public acknowledgement that ATSC 3.0 will support both HDR technologies.
THX denied withdrawing from the UHD Alliance, notwithstanding Dec. 22 written notifications to the contrary that the alliance sent the FTC and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, according to a notice in Tuesday’s Federal Register from DOJ’s Antitrust Division. OPPO Digital, which used CES to announce its second-generation Ultra HD Blu-ray player, recently joined the alliance, the same notice said. The notifications were required to extend antitrust protections to UHD Alliance members under the 1993 National Cooperative Research and Production Act, it said. "THX didn't withdraw from the UHD Alliance and is still a member," THX spokeswoman Nyrie McKenzie emailed us Tuesday. “Membership renewal just happened to align with the timing of THX’s recent acquisition” by Razer, McKenzie said. “Rather than renewing membership under Oldco, THX established new membership under Newco. Minor technicalities but still very much involved with UHD Alliance.”
Voice integration in consumer tech products was “the big hit” of CES, and “a big theme,” not just in wireless speakers, but also “in a whole host of devices, including refrigerators, even,” said Sarah Carroll, director of Futuresource Consulting, on a Friday webinar on the show's key "takeaways." Futuresource is forecasting “strong growth” in voice integration as a “device and smart home control interface,” Carroll said.
The ATSC 3.0 suite of standards will have “future extensibility” to support an upgrade to 8K resolution, ATSC President Mark Richer emailed us Tuesday through a spokesman. ATSC 3.0's H.265 video codec “can be extended to support delivery of 8K video,” Richer said. ATSC 3.0 also “incorporates a number of other mechanisms for future extensibility, including the “flexible boot strap signal” in the standard’s physical layer and the internet protocol layer, he said. “These and other features of 3.0 could be used to signal the presence and parameters of the 8K transmission to new receivers.” ATSC 3.0's framers for years have positioned 8K as “within the realm” of where the standard ultimately would “evolve to” (see 1404080061). As an issue, 8K jumped in importance at CES with the multitude of 8K TV prototypes showcased on the main show floor and analyst projections that 8K product would make it to market soon (see 1701090053).
There’s “nothing formal” in the works “at this time” within the Blu-ray Disc Association to upgrade the Ultra HD Blu-ray format for 8K resolution, Ron Martin, vice president and director of the Panasonic Hollywood Lab, emailed us Monday. But “several member companies have been monitoring it,” Martin said of 8K TVs, which saw an unusually large showcasing of prototypes at CES amid forecasts that products soon will reach the commercial market (see 1701090053). Specifications for the Ultra HD Blu-ray format were completed in May 2015 and stipulated resolutions up to 3840x2160 (see 1505120025). Martin is one of BDA’s top technical experts and was the vice chairman of its U.S. promotions committee (see 1510130055).