Panasonic intros visual comms system

Panasonic could not have timed the introduction of its new Panasonic KX-VC500 HD Visual Communications Solution videoconferencing system any better, says TMCNet.

To be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, it may offer financial and, in the wake of added air travel security procedures resulting from the botched bombing of Flight 253, personal relief that firms suffer from expensive and environment-damaging business travel.

Panasonic says the product, which will be widely available in spring 2010, will “dramatically enhance the distance collaboration capabilities afforded by conventional video conferencing systems, providing businesses and institutions with a genuinely viable alternative to business travel”.

Public interest groups have called on federal authorities to investigate a plan by the largest cable, satellite and phone companies that threatens the future of Web-based video, reports The Huffington Post.

'TV Everywhere' gets programmers like TNT, TBS and CBS to keep their content offline unless a viewer also pays for TV through a traditional company like Comcast or AT&T (phone companies are starting to offer TV service, too).

TV Everywhere is designed to protect the current cable TV subscription model and block competition from upstart online video ventures like Vuze, Roku and Hulu. Cable giant Comcast just became the first company to introduce TV Everywhere under the brand 'Fancast Xfinity', and the other dominant cable, satellite and phone companies have announced plans to follow suit.

Stereoscopic 3D crazes have already come and gone (twice), but there are six favorable signs that this time 3D is here to stay, and three warning signs it may fail again, writes Smarter Technology.

Favorable signs include the fact that TVs, PCs and game consoles embrace 3D. Sony already leads the industry with its professional video cameras for shooting 3D, and will bring 3D into living rooms in 2010, with 3D models of its Bravia LCD TVs, Blu-ray discs, PlayStation 3 and VAIO laptops.

At this week's Consumer Electronics Show (7 to 10 January), 3D TVs will also be shown by Panasonic, Mitsubishi, LG Electronics, Samsung and others.