LG Electronics said it will begin mass-producing mobile DTV receiver chips in June. The development will set “the stage for widespread availability to the industry for a range of new consumer electronics products,” LG said Friday. Its LG2160A chip has an automatic power-saving mode to extend battery life for viewing DTV on the go, the company said. It handles all the ATSC mobile DTV standard’s demodulating and equalization functions and outputs IP streams to enable AV decoding in compatible receivers, LG said.
Most filings in an FCC parental-control technology inquiry opposed rules and instead backed letting a wide array of industry and other groups continue to educate cable, wireless and other subscribers. A total of 19 companies, advocacy groups and coalitions opposed content blocking and filtering mandates in filings late last week to the FCC. Four filings sought task forces, changes to the V-chip system or other remedies. And 12 promoted parental-education efforts or products those making the filings are trying to sell.
Small carriers are pointing to news that AT&T is seeking an extension of its exclusivity agreement with Apple for the iPhone as evidence that the FCC should act on a Rural Cellular Association petition limiting some agreements between carriers and equipment makers. AT&T is reportedly in talks with Apple to extend for two years the deal, which was signed in 2007 and is set to expire in 2010.
Arasan Chip Systems launched Mobile Industry Processor Interface UniPro Controller IP, a layered, high-speed protocol that connects applications processors and wireless, multimedia and mobile chipsets, the company said. The offering is compliant with Specification v1.1. By adopting the layered OSI network model, UniPro can handle diverse inter-chip communication requirements of chipsets connected to the applications processor. The UniPro IP supports up to four lanes with each lane capable of data transfer of 1 Gbps. It also supports two traffic classes and end-to-end flow control.
Former Republican Rep. Chip Pickering of Mississippi is representing five cable and telecom firms in his work as a lobbyist for Capitol Resources, Senate lobbying disclosure reports show. Companies include Cbeyond, Comcast, NCTA, XO Communications and TW Telecom, said documents filed in March. General communications issues are the focus of lobbying activity, documents showed. Pickering resigned his seat at the end of last Congress. He’s also advising the Mississippi Farm Bureau. Capitol Resources is based in Jackson, Miss.
Adobe is aiming for greater use of its Flash Player multimedia Web software within mobile and other non-PC devices, Anup Murarka, director of partner development and technology strategy, said in an interview. Adobe is working with Google on Android offerings, and the DTV transition provides significant opportunities for his company, which will port Flash to TV devices, he said.
Hughes announced an agreement to develop software that will power the satellite capability in SkyTerra’s and TerreStar Network’s device chipsets. The software will enable the GMR1-3G satellite air interface standard to run side-by-side with cellular standards in a commercially available, software-defined radio chipset being developed for SkyTerra and TerreStar Networks by Infineon Technologies, they said. With the software being developed by Hughes, a single SDR chip solution can be readily programmed to operate on a variety of cellular standards, while providing satellite connectivity via the global GMR1-3G standard. SkyTerra and TerreStar both are developing integrated satellite- terrestrial communications networks and services.
The previous Congress produced a flurry of activity about online safety, and interest probably won’t let up, said speakers in a Family Online Safety Institute discussion, the first of an “Online on Wednesday” series on Capitol Hill. But there’s a good balance now between industry self- regulation and government oversight and it shouldn’t change much, they said.
Analysts predicted a gloomy future for Ultra-wideband (UWB) after the main UWB standard group WiMedia Alliance announced its disbanding late Monday. The move came after the closing down of several UWB suppliers and application firms. The standard group’s activities will be handed off to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the Wireless USB Promoter Group and the USB Implementer’s Forum.
SAN FRANCISCO -- The last barrier to over-the-top transmission of conventional TV channels -- program distribution rights -- will be swept away by business negotiations over the next few years, executives of Internet- TV box makers predicted. The dissenter among them on a TV of Tomorrow conference panel late Wednesday was Sezmi President Phil Wiser, a former chief technology officer of Sony Corp. of America. His company plans to offer a subscription service combining Internet video with licensed conventional TV channels flowing over its own national distribution network. The forecasts aligned with the executives’ technologies and business models.