Lenovo Eyes Packard Bell
Lenovo is in discussion with an independent third party in relation to a proposed acquisition of Packard Bell. Lenovo stated that it is currently continuing negotiation with the independent third party and undertaking certain necessary inquiries with third parties and/or government bodies in preparation for the entering into of definitive agreements for such an acquisition. The company emphasized that at this time “the proposed acquisition may or may not materialize.”
Packard Bell is a maker of computers, peripherals and home electronics. Since 2004 the company has also been manufacturing media products for television and wireless networking. Packard Bell is a popular brand in Europe and Lenovo hopes to tap into Packard Bell’s European channels as part of the PC maker’s effort to expand its business outside China and North America.
LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards
If you’re interested in bringing Linux into your ICT environment, then consider the winners of the LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards which were presented at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. The LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards are divided into 13 product categories, including a “Best of Show,” that represent major areas of innovation in the Linux and Open Source community. Unicon Systems, Inc.’s “System on Display,” won Best of Show.
• Best Security Solution: Untangle: Untangle Gateway Platform. Finalists: Blue Lane Technologies, Inc.; Blue Lane Virtual Shield and Centrify Corporation; Centrify DirectAudit.
• Most Innovative Hardware Solution: Rackable Systems; Concentro. Finalists: Appro International; Appro 4P XtremeWorkstation and Bivio Networks; Bivio 7000.
• Best System Management Tool: Hyperic; Hyperic HQ 3.1. Finalists: Splunk, Inc.; Splunk 3.0 and The OpenNMS Project; OpenNMS.
• Best Integration Solution: Openbravo; Openbravo ERP. Finalists: Centeris Corporation; Centeris Likewise Identity and Novacoast Inc.; Voice RD Q2.
• Best Clustering Solution: SteelEye Technology: LifeKeeper Protection Suite for VMware Infrastructure 3. Finalists: Coyote Popint Systems; Aral Cluster Platform and HP; HP Scalable Visualization Array.
• Best Database Solution: EnterpriseDB Corporation; EnterpriseDB Advanced Server 8.2. Finalists: Jaspersoft; JasperSoft Business Intelligence Suite Professional Edition and Oracle; Oracle Database 11g.
• Best Desktop Solution: Canonical, Ltd.; Ubuntu 7.08. Finalists: EmperorLinux Inc.; Rhino D830 w/EVDO and NoMachine; NX Server.
• Best Grid Computing Solution: ServePath; Grid Series Internet Hosting Platform. Finalists: EnterpriseDB; GridSQL for EnterpriseDB Advanced Server and ServePath; GoGrid.
• Best Application Development Tool: Coverity: Scan.Coverity.com. Finalists: CentricCRM; Team Elements and Concurrent: NightStar 4.1.
• Best Messaging Solution: Kerio Technologies Inc.: Kerio MailServer 6.4. Finalists: Novell; GroupWise 7 SP2 (Linux on the client and server) and StrongMail Systems; StrongMail.
• Best Mobility Solution: Trolltech; Qtopia Greenphone SDK. Finalists: Kerio Technologies Inc.; Kerio MailServer 6.4 and Unicon Systems, Inc.; System on Display.
• Best Virtualization Solution: Scalent Systems; Scalent V/OE. Finalists: 3Leaf Systems; V-8000 Virtual I/O Server and FastScale Technology; FastScale Composer Suite.
Release of Annie Lennox Video
Yesterday, Amazon.com and Arista Records released the exclusive, worldwide premiere of the new Annie Lennox video “Dark Road” on www.amazon.com. For 48 hours, fans around the world will get their first and only look at the new video online at Amazon.com. “Dark Road” is the first track to be released off Lennox’s upcoming album “Songs of Mass Destruction.”
Over the course of her career, Lennox, 52, has won four Grammy awards as well as an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award. The album, “Songs of Mass Destruction,” will be released on Oct. 2, 2007.
More Vendors Shipping Sub-$50 Handsets
More than a dozen handset vendors will be shipping sub-$50 models by 2008. The ultra low cost handset (ULCH) marketplace is currently dominated by Motorola and Nokia, but Samsung, LG, and Sony Ericsson are showing increasing interest and other smaller vendors including ZTE, Kyocera, Huawei, Haier, Sagem, Ningbo Bird, Philips, and Rose Telecom are also beginning to address the market.
Some vendors have begun addressing the ULCH market by forming exclusive handset deals with operators, allowing them to save substantial marketing and distribution costs. For example, ZTE and Rose Telecom have been providing ultra low cost handsets to Reliance Communications, the largest CDMA operator in India. Huawei is providing low-cost CDMA handsets to China Unicom and ZTE, and also has agreements with Vodafone for providing low cost handsets.
ABI Research expects that by 2011, almost one out of every four handsets shipped globally will be an ultra low cost handset. The research shows that India will be the biggest market in the next five years, growing from a little over nine million handsets in 2006 to more than 116 million handsets in 2011.
Nokia N95 European Media Phone 2007-08
The Nokia N95 multimedia computer has been voted “The European Media Phone of the Year 2007-2008” by the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA), a European association for consumer electronics. The judging panel cited Nokia N95 features such as GPS, 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and MPEG4 video capture of up to 30 fps. EISA also highlighted the device’s data access of up to 3.5 Mb/s, advanced web browser, Wi-Fi, microSD slot and audio reproduction of multiple audio formats.
Online Gallery Displays Best of Pentax
Pentax Imaging Company (Pentax) has created an online gallery, www.pentaxphotogallery.com, to give Pentax shooters around the world the opportunity to be represented and share their photography.
“For decades, Pentax collected the best images captured with our cameras and published the work annually in an historical, coffee table-type book collection,” said Ned Bunnell, VP Marketing, Pentax. “Now we are taking things in a new direction with the Pentax Photo Gallery that offers 24/7/365 virtual access to the best photography captured by Pentax photographers.”
Unlike most photo sharing websites, www.pentaxphotogallery.com is an original website that was designed exclusively for Pentaxians. Pentax photographers may submit work for display and become part of an online photography community that reflects a collaborative archive of talent. Biographies of each photographer help reveal the personalities behind each lens.
With limitless virtual capacity, the PENTAX gallery already showcases more than 2,500 images submitted by more than 300 artists. Photographers range from 16 to 80 years of age and hail from more than 40 countries. The site features a search engine that locates images according to camera bodies and individual lenses, as well as photographer and subject category.
