Gadgets Base

Samsung have given the plasma HDTV market some love with it’s latest 50-inch plasma offering, the Samsung PN50A550. Samsung looks set to win some of the plasma market back from Pioneer with the PN50A550. It comes from the new Samsung Series 5 range, and offers a full HD 1080p resolution, with advanced processing to improve image quality and reduce noise.

The specifications look very impressive on the Samsung PN50A550, with a very high contrast of 30,000:1 for great colors and black levels, along with 18-bit processing for smooth color grading and Samsung’s Ultra FilterBright technology. Connectivity is very good also, with three HDMI 1.3 inputs, PC VGA input, component, s-video, and USB 2.0 for photos and music playback. Cnet took a look at the PN50A550 and say, excellent picture, with highly accurate colors, very little noise, and solid processing. Unlike most HDTVs we’ve tested, the Samsung PN50A550 was able to successfully de-interlace 1080i film-based material once Film Mode was engaged.

PC connection on the PN50A550 is also very good via both the HDMI and VGA inputs, resolving all details at the perfect 1920×1080 pixel resolution.

Didn’t we just reported that eBay has given Skype until the end of this year to prove its worth and viability before they decide to sell it off or keep it? Looks like Skype is starting to shape up as it just announced that it will begin offering an unlimited international calling for $9.95 a month.

The new Skype plan will give users unlimited calling features to 34 countries worldwide including most European countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Malaysia. The new plan also includes Skype to landline and cell phone calls in Canada, China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

This new plan adds to Skype’s current $3 a month unlimited calling plans for the US and Canada, which will also be expanded to include Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey plus discounted calls to Mexico, for $5.95 a month.

Hopefully, these new plans will bolster Skype’s current situation and generate more interest to the service with the ultimate goal of convincing its mother company eBay into keeping them under its fold. But even if eBay decides to sell Skype, at least Skype could claim that it has done its best to make itself worthy of every penny that eBay has spent for its acquisition.

Read [Yahoo! News]

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eBay has given Skype one more year to prove its viability and relevance to eBay’s online auction service. Skype was acquired by eBay with the hopes of the VoIP company helping boosts its online commerce business. However, since its acquisition, Skype failed to live up to eBay’s expectation of bringing more tie-ins between Skype and eBay’s online payment system through call-billing arrangement.

Citing an interview with the Financial Times, News.com reports that eBay CEO John Donahue said that eBay is giving Skype until the end of this year to test its synergies and if the synergies are strong, eBay will keep Skype in its portfolio. For eBay, its not a question of whether Skype is generating revenue for the company but more on the question of whether Skype blends well with eBay and its other web products and services.

In fact, Skype has managed to generate around $126 million in revenues during the first quarter of this year, which is a 61-percent increase from previous year’s first quarter revenue. Profit wise, it is expected to generate $500 million and still manage to post a profit. But this seems to be not enough for eBay to keep Skype. It wants something more from the PC-to-PC calling service. And whether Skype can give what eBay wants remains to be seen. Skype has a few more months to shape up, before it finds itself lost in limbo or still with eBay’s care and comfort.

Read [CNET]

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Starbucks is furthering their partnering with Apple to offer customers free music by announcing the launch of “Pick of the Week.” At more than 7,000 Starbucks locations, the new promotional program provides customers a “world-class digital discovery experience”. Every Tuesday, Pick of the Week download cards will be handed out to coffee drinkers giving them the opportunity to hop online and download a complimentary song or music video from iTunes. Artists include Carly Simon, Duffy, Counting Crows, Adele, Sia, and Hilary McRae to name a few. Each song and music video will be handpicked by the Starbucks Entertainment team and iTunes. Once handed out, each download card will have an expiration of 60 days. The first free song to be available for download is the Counting Crows’ “Washington Square.”

This isn’t the first time the coffee giant has teamed up with Apple. Last year, Starbucks tested the digital music download idea on October 2007, which was then called “Song of the Day”. The original promotional program offered one select song for each day of the month downloadable via iTunes. The response to the program was positive, resulting in more than 6 million music downloads.

Read [Starbucks]

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by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 22nd 2008 at 1:48AM
After hitting delays already, we can’t say that this was the PlayStation Home press release we’ve been expecting. Nevertheless, Sony just announced that it is expanding the closed playstation Home beta to more users in “Fall 2008.” Kazuo Hirai, prez and ringmaster of Sony Computer Entertainment, said, “We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but we have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service.” Come on Mr Hirai, you can say it, PlayStation Home is delayed. See, that’s wasn’t so hard.

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