Samsung Media Player

Samsung on Thursday made its latest push into into the smart TV market with a new "Smart Media Player" that lets users access both apps and live cable content.

The product, model No. GX-SM530CF, includes more than 100 smart TV apps such as Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, VUDU, and YouTube. It also allows viewers to access live cable content without having to pay the expensive monthly rental fees associated with a cable box.

The media player will retail for $149.99 and will be available October 23.
 
Samsung noted that the Smart Media Player supports content from major cable providers. As long as the cable company uses CableCard technology, the box will be compatible, a Samsung spokesman said. Customers can rent a CableCard from their cable provider and insert it into the device, providing access to local channels and content.

Time Warner Cable, for one, rents its CableCards for $2.50 a month, the cable provider noted.
While the box works with cable, it does have some limitations. It doesn't offer on-demand or DVR capabilities, a Samsung spokesman said. Lack of access to a cable company's on-demand video channels is a problem that has plagued third-party CableCard devices like TiVo.

MSFT Win 8.1

When I logged onto the Store app on my travel laptop tonight I was offered the option to download the Win8.1 "upgrade". It's downloading now and I'll follow up with my impressions.

Reduced Orders for the iPhone 5C

The iFruit company has reduced orders for its lower-end iPhone 5C, people familiar with the situation said, fueling concerns about weaker-than-expected consumer demand and the company's pricing strategy

Apple last month began selling its two new iPhone models in 11 markets, including the U.S. and China. Much of the consumer attention focused on the company's high-end iPhone 5S—which offers faster chips and more features, including a fingerprint sensor—but is about $100 more expensive than the 5C. Demand for the new, gold-colored 5S was particularly high early on, causing the company to increase orders for that model.

Apple told its two assemblers, Taiwan-based Pegatron Corp. and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., that it would cut this quarter's orders for the iPhone 5C, the people familiar with the situation said. Pegatron, which analysts said assembles two-thirds of iPhone 5Cs, was told the order would be cut by less than 20%, a person familiar with the matter said. Hon Hai, which assembles the remaining 5Cs, was told the order would be cut by a third, two people familiar with the matter said.

A component supplier was notified that the order for iPhone 5C parts would be cut 50%, a person familiar with the matter said. Analysts said that could signal that device shipments would slow next year or that assemblers would reduce their inventories.

Cloud Backups

By Robert Sanborn

Backing up your files in the cloud is getting more and more popular with a ton of offerings available.  Unless you are just backing up a few files and documents, cloud backup can be very slow because it really depends on how fast you are connected to the outside world. If you are among 4+ million people still using dial up, you will just have to wait. DSL users are also going to have a long slow go of it and with the wide variety of “high speed” internet connections out there, you also may find it is too slow for backing up your computer.  And my initial reaction is so what. 

Full image backups of a computer work great if you are going to just replace a crashed hard drive. Something else goes wrong with that computer and likely is not, you will be replacing it with a new computer and that full image backup becomes worthless. So, does that mean you need two sets of backup strategies? Maybe so. I am using cloud strategies more and more for things I want to share with my notebook, smart phone, and other portable and connected devices that I use. For that, it works great and you can use any of the big three of Google Cloud, Microsoft Skydrive, or Apple’s iCloud. For around 5 gig of storage, they won’t cost you a cent.

For a more automated backup strategy, look at either SugarSync www.sugarsync.com or SafeSync https://www.safesync.com from Trend Micro. Both are very highly rated.

MSFT Revenues

Microsoft will probably report better than expected Windows revenue when it issues its third-quarter earnings numbers on Oct. 24, according to estimates of PC shipments this week by research firm IDC.

By IDC's estimate, personal computer makers shipped about 81.6 million systems in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, or about 7.6% fewer than in the same period the year before. That number was slightly less than an earlier forecast by the Framingham, Mass. research company, which had changed its projections several times but finally settled on a 9.5% contraction for the quarter.

IDC credited some of the unanticipated uptick to increased purchases of new systems by businesses hustling to eradicate Windows XP before the support plug's pulled next April, with the remainder accounted for by OEMs filling their supply pipelines with machines for the holiday sales season.

The "XP-Effect" was "nothing crazy, nothing great," acknowledged Rajani Singh, an IDC analyst, in an interview Thursday. But it helped. "XP is bringing some volume," she asserted. "It moved the numbers upward a little bit."

PC Sales Aren't as Bad as Expected

Microsoft will probably report better than expected Windows revenue when it issues its third-quarter earnings numbers on Oct. 24, according to estimates of PC shipments this week by research firm IDC.

By IDC's estimate, personal computer makers shipped about 81.6 million systems in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, or about 7.6% fewer than in the same period the year before. That number was slightly less than an earlier forecast by the Framingham, Mass. research company, which had changed its projections several times but finally settled on a 9.5% contraction for the quarter.

IDC credited some of the unanticipated uptick to increased purchases of new systems by businesses hustling to eradicate Windows XP before the support plug's pulled next April, with the remainder accounted for by OEMs filling their supply pipelines with machines for the holiday sales season.

The "XP-Effect" was "nothing crazy, nothing great," acknowledged Rajani Singh, an IDC analyst, in an interview Thursday. But it helped. "XP is bringing some volume," she asserted. "It moved the numbers upward a little bit."

Acoustic Research MVP Wireless Speaker Review

By George Harding

It’s nice to have a way to play your music with good volume, clarity and decent bass response. The MVP wireless speaker is one such.

This is a unit that is over a foot tall, has an attractive grill on the front and has a handle on top to make carrying easy. It has a 2-inch tweeter and a 3-inch woofer and can produce up to 5 watt output.

The good part is that you can play your music wirelessly in a couple of ways. The easiest is to use Bluetooth to pair your phone and the speaker. Then the sound comes out of the speaker instead of your phone.

What a difference! The sound is loud if you want it to be, distortion-free and w the kind of bass response you expect from a desktop system.

The other way to play is to use the 3.5 mm connector stowed in the back of the speaker to connect to your phone or MP3 device. This isn’t quite as convenient, but works just as well.

The speaker comes with a power cord for connection to a wall socket. Or, if you want better portability, you can install 6 AA batteries in it.

It comes with a coupon for a Skinit, a decal that attaches to the speaker. You can use the coupon to get a Skinit for just about any school or team, to brighten up the speaker

One other feature is a compartment in the back of the speaker where you can store you phone or MP3 player safely.

This is a nice unit that is useful, attractive and weather-proof. It has a one year warranty.

Price about $100

www.acoustic-research.com