If you have switched mobile phone brands anytime recently, you will surely have encountered the annoyance of needing to buy a new proprietary charger, either for your wall, your car, or for your PC.
That problem will be coming to an end in Europe as of 2010, as 10 of the largest mobile phone companies have submitted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to the European Commission that means a new universal charger will be available, revolving around the Micro-USB connector.
The ten companies are: Apple, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, Research In Motion
, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Texas Instruments.
“I am very pleased that industry has found an agreement, which will make life much simpler for consumers,” adds the EC’s Gunter Verheugen, via a FAQ. “They will be able to charge mobile phones anywhere from the new common charger. This also means considerably less electronic waste because people will no longer have to throw away chargers when buying new phones.”
The FAQ does note that the MoU is only relevant to the EU however they hope the move will spread elsewhere.
“The MoU covers the territory of the EU. However, as the market for mobile phones is essentially global, the MoU should be seen as a good model for other geographical markets. The Commission is committed to sharing this approach with its trading partners, in order to extend its benefits world-wide,” adds the FAQ.
Result for: texas instruments
Texas Instruments DLP Cinema has announced that IMAX will now be using DLP Cinema projectors.
Under the new agreement, beginning in Q2 2008, any IMAX Digital projection system deployed to commercial theaters will be powered by DLP Cinema projectors.
“We are proud to work with IMAX in its development and rollout of the best digital cinema experience in the market,” said Nancy Fares, business manager for DLP Cinema Products Group. “DLP Cinema projectors are the heart of every digital 2D and 3D movie experience for traditional and now large format venues. We look forward to participating in their move to digital in the months ahead.”
Since the great box office success of The Polar Express on IMAX 3D, the format in itself has made a comeback and is resurgent revenue for the movie industry.
Heres hoping everyone moves to digital soon.
Result for: texas instruments
InFocus has announced its latest projector for the UK, the X10 which is capable of Full HD 1080p and features a 16:9 native aspect ratio as well as a contrast ratio of 2500:1 that can be increased to 7500:1 using the company’s special Active Iris lens.
The projector’s 300W lamp gets a 1200 lumens brightness rating and has an expected 2000 hours of operation. The “1.2:1 fixed lens is able to create a clear image up to nearly 17 feet, or over 200 inches. Vertical Digital Keystone Correction is adjustable up to 13 degrees. The The DarkChip1 DLP chipset was sourced from Texas Instruments and the DLP color wheel is a 7-segment unit, calibrated to the D65K color accuracy standard,” reads reports.
As is now standard, the projector will have an HDMI 1.3 input, an M1-DA port that can use DVI-D, VGA, HDMI and component video through adapters and and an RS-232 jack.
There was no word on release date but it was revealed the X10 will cost about about $4200 USD, so about the equivalent of 2100 in the UK.
