Rebecca Day

Portable devices with HDMI outputs are creating a market for thinner, more flexible HDMI cables. That’s the message technology company Red Mere is pushing with its “smart” active technology used in products from Monster, Vizio, RadioShack, PNY and Samsung. On a press swing through New York Tuesday, Red Mere founder Peter Smyth said the company hopes to create awareness among consumers that they can unleash audio and video from their portable devices for playback on TV in a very manageable way. Smyth told us the company has a single-cable solution in the works for “mirroring” the iPad 2 and iPhone 4 displays on an HDTV, without the need for the $39 dongle Apple sells today to connect its device to a standard HDMI cable. Smyth wouldn’t name marketing partners for the device, but said it will be in stores this summer.

As momentum builds toward a future of passive TV, Panasonic met with journalists in Manhattan Tuesday to show off the capabilities of its top-tier plasma 3D products. Recent IHS iSuppli data forecasting passive TV to surpass active-shutter technology by 2015, news out of China that TCL plans to release a 71-inch passive TV based on an AUO panel this August, and film director James Cameron’s comments at NAB that passive TV’s dominance is the next threshold in home 3D TV adoption, did little to mitigate Panasonic execs’ enthusiasm for their latest active-shutter technology 3D sets.

A drop-off in deployment of 3D cinemas worldwide and a decrease in PC licensing revenue led to lower fiscal Q2 profit for Dolby Labs, the company said on its earnings call. For the second quarter, Dolby reported net income of $82.1 million, down from $85.9 million in Q2 2010. Revenue was $250 million, up from $243.4 million for second quarter 2010, Dolby said.

With Barnes & Noble characteristically mum on details about its impending May 24 announcement of a new e-reader, tech bloggers were left to speculate on what form the next Nook will take. The Wall Street Journal predicted a “more powerful combination tablet and e-reader” that might run Honeycomb, the Android 3.0 tablet operating system. CNET opined B&N will replace its $149 Nook e-ink reader, which it said, “has had major trouble competing with the third-generation Kindle in recent months.” PC Magazine suggested Barnes & Noble could be “changing course” and doing something “more complicated than a Nook hardware upgrade,” involving e-Ink’s Pearl display technology that would resemble Sony’s Reader Pocket Edition. The company told analysts Wednesday that it’s releasing a new e-reader May 24, and followed with an 8-K filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. In response to our questions about product details and which product the new reader might replace, Barnes & Noble spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating said the company is not disclosing any additional information beyond its 8-K at this time. Regarding our questions about version 1.2 software updates for the Nook Color, which began late last month in a controlled rollout, Keating said, “We have noted that the update was available for manual download beginning on April 25 and the over-the-air updates were rolling out in the weeks following the announcement. It’s customary for software updates to roll out over time,” she said, adding that the company will not provide further details on timing. When our Nook Color had not been updated by Tuesday, a process that Barnes & Noble says will be done automatically to Nook Color devices with a Wi-Fi connection, we attempted a manual update following instructions on the Barnes & Noble website. After performing the download, we encountered an error message and then had to re-boot without loading the update when the keyboard locked. Although an item posted on the Barnes & Noble Facebook page Monday encourages users who are having trouble doing a manual upgrade to call tech support for assistance, we weren’t offered assistance when we called and were referred back to the website for online instructions. The tech support rep said we should expect the automatic update “either this week or next.” Many frustrations were reported on the Nook Facebook page, with various owners aggravated by not having received the update and trying to do it manually. Additional complaints covered lack of technical support for the manual upgrades, slower Internet connection following the update, paucity of apps, device crashes while playing games and inability to access Android Market apps. Some users, including those who had successfully received assistance, reported no problems with their upgrades and were pleased with the results. Brianna Partin, who said she worked for Barnes & Noble, advised Nook Color users to go to their local Barnes & Noble store to have a “bookseller update it for you. We are more than happy to do that for our customers.” Regarding postings about upgrade difficulties, Keating told us, “I think what you're seeing on Nook Facebook are postings from early last week when the Nook Color 1.2 software update caused a small number of Nook Color devices to revert to factory settings.” Barnes & Noble “immediately identified and addressed the issue,” she said. “Customers can re-register their devices with their Barnes & Noble account, then reload their previously purchased content to their device,” she said. .

In what would be a major turnaround following disappointing 3D TV sales in 2010, worldwide shipments of 3D TVs are forecast to jump 463 percent in 2011 to 23.4 million, said data from IHS iSuppli. Driving the growth are TV price declines, increasing availability of content and a “pronounced” change in marketing and promotion strategies, IHS said. IHS termed the growth projections “startling” for the “much-publicized technology,” and said another year of triple-digit growth is expected in 2012. Shipments are expected to reach 54.2 million units in 2012, IHS said.

The Internet refrigerator isn’t new, but consumer acceptance of the concept is shifting, said Eric Anderson, vice president of product and content solutions at Samsung, who credits the smartphone with easing consumers into a comfort zone of app culture. Samsung is due to launch the $3,499 RF4289 Internet refrigerator this month, but rather than trumpeting Jetsonsesque features like bar code scanners that communicate with the local grocery stores -- as some early Internet refrigerators promised -- Samsung is promoting the appliance as an extension of its DLNA-based “All Share” technology and app store.

Growth company-wide at Garmin fueled Q1 2011 profit of $96 million on sales of $508 million, compared with net income of $37 million and revenue of $431 million in Q1 2010, company executives said during an earnings call Wednesday. Sales in the automotive/mobile segment were up 20 percent to $265 million, driven by OEM business and sales of remaining mobile handset inventory, following the company’s decision last year to exit the handset market in the face of increasing competition from smartphones and in-dash units.

The percentage of U.S. homes with a TV set has dropped from 98.9 percent to 96.7 percent year over year, according to Nielsen’s 2012 Advance/Preliminary TV Household Universe Estimate, which includes 2010 Census data, Nielsen said Tuesday. Among the contributing factors to the drop in TV households, Nielsen said, was the DTV transition, after which consumers couldn’t receive digital TV broadcasts without a digital tuner or converter box. TV penetration first dipped after the transition and didn’t rebound over time, it said. Cost of TV ownership also contributed to the drop, as lower-income, rural homes were hit hardest by the weak economy, Nielsen said.

Different performance characteristics of active-shutter and passive film-pattern retarder (FPR) glasses affect the overall 3D viewing experience, confirmed results from a study released Monday by international certification organization TCO Development. The study was the first step in TCO’s investigation into the need for a TCO certification for 3D, said Niclas Rydell, product and certification director. “As a certification body with a long history in the field of visual ergonomics for displays, it is important for TCO Development to evaluate the visual ergonomics of these new technologies and to assess any possible impacts on the user experience.”

After “extensive” testing of video game rentals, Coinstar said in its Q1 earnings call it will expand video game rentals on June 17 from 5,000 test locations to 21,000 Redbox locations nationwide for $2 daily. Calling video game potential “significant,” CEO Paul Davis said last week that games will attract new customers and give existing ones “yet another reason” to visit a Redbox kiosk. He cited NPD data that videogame software sales totaled $9.3 billion in 2010 and said company research shows many consumers want to “try before they buy.” Coinstar Chief Financial Officer Scott Di Valerio said in March that videogames are typically less than 10 percent of a kiosk’s titles, and the assortment varies by region depending on which videogame console is more popular in a given area (CED March 11 p2).