Broadcasters stabilize DTV signals
Back in May, we covered the digital TV (DTV) world with a look at the state of the industry (”Bleak forecast”) and a hands-on examination on the DTV experience here in the Digital Den (”Finely tuned, or finally tuned?”). We didn’t paint a pretty picture.
Today the situation hasn’t greatly improved. As In-Stat [...]
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The first installment in this project, September’s “Codec capers,” benchmarked various lossless audio-compression algorithms and provided a sneak peek at lossy compression. In that article, I promised that my subsequent December writeup (this one) would include a corresponding analysis for lossy codecs. I didn’t quite accomplish that goal, although as I write, I’m in the [...]
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Ethernet-speed WLANs come home
In “Loosely coupled” (April), I recounted my experience using a wireless LAN (WLAN) in my home. I was bullish on the technology back then and have since become even more convinced that wireless is the one LAN technology that can pervade the home. WLANs are simpler than Ethernet, powerline, or phoneline LANs [...]
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The denizens of the Digital Den update past experiments
It’s the holiday season. In an age-old tradition, newspapers and magazines are spewing forth year-end retrospective articles. Looking back over the year that was, they’re reminding you of events you hadn’t yet forgotten and telling you nothing you didn’t already know.
This is not one of those backwards-looking [...]
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Device-specific operating systems give developers and consumers room to play.
Still doubt that the brave new world of pervasive computing is upon us? Recent announcements from the likes of Ericsson, Handspring, Palm, and Motorola herald the arrival of the combined PDA/cell phone. The coming-out party for 3Com’s Audrey signals a viable attempt to spark lagging mainstream [...]
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Support makes Bluetooth look unstoppable
Despite technical and financial obstacles I’ve previously described (see “Great expectations”), Bluetooth momentum continues to build like an unstoppable force. On the enabler side, Atmel and Silicon Wave have partnered to develop a reference design for a Bluetooth PC Card. The design combines an Atmel baseband processor and a Silicon Wave [...]
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Enabling technology for the next generation
A wave of enabling technology continues to roll out in support of new cellular handsets, and even Microsoft is in on the fun. The software giant has partnered with cell-phone IC leader Texas Instruments in hopes of winning market for the Microsoft Stinger smart-phone platform in 2.5G GSM handsets. The [...]
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From home LANs to the digital den, applications abound that require highly integrated ICs to meet cost and power requisites to consumer success. The silicon industry is responding with products tailored to specific applications, such as new offerings from ESS Technology and Broadcom for Internet appliances. In both cases, the companies have combined three different [...]
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There’s a new player in the data broadcast space, and it’s garnered strategic investment from some major media players. Startup Dotcast Digital Network recently secured a round of funding totaling $60 million from Walt Disney, GE Capital, Quantum, and Worldview Technology Partners.
Dotcast joins companies such as Geocast, Wavexpress, and iBlast, all of whom are partnering [...]
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While ISPs aim to extend their reach to the TV set and satellite TV providers also gear up to provide interactive TV, some companies are targeting the cable-TV industry specifically. While they make the move to providing interactive services, cable operators are plagued by the less-than-leading-edge capabilities of installed digital set-top boxes.
To address this issue, [...]
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