CES tempting Apple-related electronics makers from Macworld

No matter Apple's plans to attend CES on its own, those accessory builders who once only attended Macworld are being offered a chance to exhibit in a special section of the larger Las Vegas show.

Jason Oxman from the Consumer Electronics Association, which manages CES, told CNET this weekend that the organization has set aside a portion of the show floor for "Apple-related" electronics.

The official doesn't name any of the firms or clarify whether any of these are dropping one trade show for another. However, he explains that the decision to launch a unique section is the result of talks regarding "2010 show participation" and that many of the companies involved have been receptive.

"We are pleased with the feedback we've received regarding this [Apple-friendly] space," Oxman says.

The news follows a troublesome Macworld Expo for its host IDG, which saw Adobe, Belkin and others pull their booths from the show late into the run-up for the San Francisco gathering. In a number of these cases the reasons for withdrawing are known to be strategic decisions unrelated to the expenses of running the booths or to the poor economy.

It also potentially signals a broader shift away from an Apple-specific presentation by both third parties and Apple itself. The Mac maker is believed by sources of AppleInsider to be attending CES itself and so would create an incentive for related companies to attend the event themselves.

Oxman declines to comment on whether or not Apple will exhibit at CES, but does observe that Apple is already a CEA member and has a "longstanding relationship" with the technology promotion group.

Apple for its part has never hinted at making such a shift and publicly claims that its withdrawal from Macworld Expo is a lessened need for trade shows.

This week in Apple: Macworld 09, MacBooks, and DRM's demise

It was a wild week in the world of Apple, as Macworld Expo '09 kicked off Tuesday with Apple's final exhibition at the show. Apple may have made waves with its withdrawal, but the week was all about announcements, like the new 17-inch MacBook Pro, Apple's major iLife and iWork software updates, and the rumors of DRM's demise that have been greatly exaggerated. Let's recap Ars' biggest Apple stories of the week.

Company may have spilled Mac mini beans. SeeFile Software says the latest version of its digital media assent management software supports "new Mac mini hardware." Oh really?

First! 14-year-old already in line for Macworld '09 keynote. The first person in line for tomorrow's Macworld keynote is a 14-year-old from Santa Barbara named Nick. The Ars team grilled Nick on his expectations for tomorrow and why he would wait almost 27 hours to see Phil Schiller on stage, and he set us straight.

Getting naked with DRM-free iTunes upgrades: the details. The iTunes Store migration to DRM-free tracks isn't due to finish until April. You might want to slow down and wait to see how this change pans out before you upgrade, though.

Apple, labels both win with DRM-free iTunes, tiered pricing. Apple has apparently crafted a compromise with the major record labels, dropping DRM and introducing tiered pricing.

First impressions of unibody 17" MacBook Pro. The Ars Macworld team had the chance to check out Apple's new unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro immediately after the keynote. Here are some photos from the Expo floor along with our initial impressions.

Whither iMac: unfulfilled keynote predictions and rumors. Although the Macworld Expo '09 keynote did bring us new iWork and iLife releases, as well as a 17" MacBook Pro, there are quite a few rumors and predictions that didn't come true.

EFF: DRM-free iTunes is good, but DRM from Apple ain't dead. The Electronic Frontier Foundation applauds Apple's move to eliminate DRM from some 10 million iTunes Store tracks within just a few months. However, the organization is reminding us that this is only one facet of DRM that Apple is involved with, and there's still a long way to go if the company wants to ditch copy protection altogether.

Time Machine Lessons: Deborking your Mac. When it comes to recovering your system or even migrating to a new machine, Time Machine can be your best friend. Here are a few lessons we learned recently.

Mac Box Set: the overlooked gem of the Keynote. The new Mac Box Set: a great deal out of an otherwise tame Macworld Expo keynote.

iLife Up to Date: when $3,000 isn't enough. Apple launches iLife Up to Date program for those of you who just can't wait for their new hardware.

Joe the Plumber: ‘I think media should be abolished’ from reporting on war.»

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka “Joe the Plumber,” is currently in Israel covering the war for the conservative site PJTV.com. When asked what he has learned from his new experiences as a journalist, Wurzelbacher said that he believes the media shouldn’t be allowed to do “reporting” on wars:

I’ll be honest with you. I don’t think journalists should be anywhere allowed war. I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what’s happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I think it’s asinine. You know, I liked back in World War I and World War II when you’d go to the theater and you’d see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for’em. Now everyone’s got an opinion and wants to downer–and down soldiers. You know, American soldiers or Israeli soldiers.

I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting. You know, war is hell. And if you’re gonna sit there and say, “Well look at this atrocity,” well you don’t know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it.

Nvidia shows off Guitar Hero III in 3D

Guitar Hero and Rock Band were two popular ways to show off whatever product or service you were hawking at CES, with every television or projector hooked up to one plastic guitar game or the other. Rhythm games were definitely this year's Wii; everyone wanted in on the action. Nvidia had a great gimmick to get people to its booth: show off Guitar Hero III in 3D.

The kids were having a blast playing at when we got there and checked it out, and the 3D effect was intelligently put together. The note charts appeared flat in front of the 3D background, so while you enjoyed the 3D graphics of the band and the crowd rocking out in the game, timing and perspective on the action game part of the screen wasn't affected.

Would this be something you'd want to set up at home? Well, you need the $200 3D glasses we discussed in an earlier post, which means it would only work on the PC version of Guitar Hero III. All in all, it makes a better demo than it does a product, but it did its job: the crowds around the booth were large, and the people had big smiles on their faces.

The SimCraft full-body moving gaming cage in action

SimCraft specializes in building dynamic, moving rigs designed to make games more immersible. We had a chance to check out its top-of-the-line model, the Apex SC 830, at CES this year and walked away impressed by the device. It may be just a fantasy for the average consumer, but that doesn't take away from the amazing experience the setup offers.
The SC 830 SimCraft in action.

The SC 830 features three degrees of freedom; 40 degrees of roll, 25 degrees of pitch, and 40 degrees of yaw. This translates into some pretty wild movement when the game really gets going. The company had the setup rigged up with three monitors and a copy of iRacing that fully supported the device's motion feedback. The video above shows just how much movement these rigs are capable of.

While the average consumer likely won't be shelling out the $40,000 for this particular unit, the SimCraft staff on site told us that the company is currently working on a collapsible model designed for a more widespread adoption with a vastly reduced price-point and a more household-friend construction. For the time being, though, we'll all just have to fantasize about having one of these at home.

CES panelists mull DTV readiness, possible delay

Politicos in Washington are clearly split over Barack Obama's call to postpone the Digital TV transition slated for February 17, and here at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (read all our CES 2009 coverage), opinions are equally divided. Panelists at a CES session on the transition voiced some serious doubts about the country's readiness for the scheduled cessation of analog broadcast next month—but had equally strong reservations about the feasibility of putting it off.

Bigger problems than coupons

Transition worries have centered on the government coupon program, meant to subsidize digital conversion boxes for those with older television sets who rely on over-the-air (OtA) broadcast signals—an estimated 17 million households. With funds for the $40 coupons running behind demand, there's already a burgeoning waiting list—a problem Emily Neilson, president and general manager of local station KLAS-TV, attributes to a political refusal to means test the problem. Many, she says, have requested the maximum two coupons per household because they could, rather than because they needed it.

But that also means that the funding shortfall may be less severe than it appears. Only about half of the coupons issued have been redeemed to date, and it's not clear how many of those will ultimately be converted. Lynn Mento, senior vice president for membership at the American Association of Retired Persons, said that the over-50 crowd is—perhaps surprisingly—transitioning at rates comparable to the population at large. Among those who haven't yet transitioned, she says, about 20 percent say they won't, "either because it's not important to them or because they can't afford to because of the economy."

Then there are... other reasons for opting out. "We did a lot of man on the street issues in Wilmington," explained Alan Miles, VP for media and telecommunications research with Barclays Capital. In the South Carolina city that recently served as a canary in the analog-free coal mine, he says "a lot of people were vehemently angry about this big-brotherish program." Many the company spoke to apparently wondered: "What are they going to do with that box when it's in my house?"

Among those who can afford it—and don't fear the spies inside their TVs—some who've requested coupons may ultimately opt to subscribe to pay satellite or cable services in lieu of purchasing a broadcast converter. "If it's true that digital signal reception is an issue, and it certainly is, a lot of households would have no choice but to subscribe to cable, and that could mean an enormous land grab by cable," said Miles. Though subscribership rates aren't showing much evidence of such a shift yet, says Miles, any such trend may be "lost in the noise" of a turbulent economy.

But what are these "digital signal reception" issues of which you speak? Neilson said that her station's live crews, which rely on over-the-air to monitor their broadcasts, have experienced trouble receiving their own signal in rocky Nevada. That's because of the so-called "cliff problem": Interference may degrade an analog signal while leaving it viewable, if fuzzy. Digital signals, however, are more likely to drop off a "cliff," from clear picture to blue screen of death. Henry Hauser, a project manager with Panasonic, called the cliff effect a "big issue"—and worried consumers would blame their expensive new television sets for the problem.

The cliffs aren't restricted to Nevada, though—Hauser noted that the New York area was likely to face similar difficulties. Miles argues that Wilmington "should have been an easy market for the transition because it's very flat and very small," with a lower proportion of residents relying on OtA than in the country as a whole. Yet viewers phoned in with a flurry of complaints, and Miles projected that if those numbers were extrapolated nationwide, the first week of the transition could see millions of such calls. "FCC and other agencies have just denied that there's an antenna issue until very recently," said Miles, who claimed his company's interviews with Wilmingtonians suggested half of those transitioning to over-the-air digital would need "something more than just a box."

That notion sparked sharp disagreement from Alan Stillwell of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology, who was watching from the audience. He blamed the troubles on a combination of consumer confusion about how to set up their antennas or boxes, and in particular on station WECT-TV, which "dropped their antenna height by half and moved closer to Wilmington." But Neilson, who is equally convinced that "it's not going to be as easy as plugging in a converter box and all is well," sprang to Miles' defense, saying complaint calls to her own station belied the FCC's confidence.

She also highlighted the problem of small, low power stations that will continue to broadcast on analog when their larger cousins have gone all-digital. Many of the converter boxes on the market aren't equipped with a receiver for analog passthrough, and many of the consumers trudging out to the store with their coupons in hand may not know to ask for it.

To delay or not to delay, that is the question

You might think these concerns put Neilson squarely in the camp of those pushing for a delay, but she argues that the difficulties associated with putting off the transition would be at least as great. She noted that especially for smaller stations, the costs of running two simultaneous transmitters—including monthly bills for power alone running into the thousands of dollars—were a significant burden. Moreover, broadcasters had adjusted their programming schedules to accommodate the transition, pushing back the traditional February ratings "sweeps" that drive advertising decisions. "Everything is going to be about May now," she said. "If it gets delayed, what is Nielsen going to do?" Whenever the deadline is set, she argued, there will be particular regional problems that can't be predicted in advance: Better to push ahead, leaving a single "nightlight" analog station in each area broadcasting transition information and emergency announcements.

Panasonic's Hauser agreed. "We've been regulated to be compliant, so we're ready," he said. "We feel it would be better just to end the confusion. People who are going to delay are going to delay until you turn it off and they don't get a picture."

Brian Dietz, vice president for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, expressed diplomatic indifference: "If it's February 17th, we're fine with that. If they want to push it back, we're fine with that too. We'll continue to support it whenever the date is." He did note, however, that NCTA has been approached by the incoming Obama administration to help assemble a national call center to deal with any transitional glitches.

It was the AARP's Mento who voiced the clearest support for a delay, noting that her organization has seen an uptick in calls from members as February draws near. "We think it would be good to have the time to create a contingency plan," she said, "because I don't think anyone believes we have a truly effective contingency plan for the transition date." She also saw some value in having the transition occur in the spring or summer, given the potential antenna issues: "We don't like our members up on roofs in wintry months."

India installs new Satyam board, senior execs in jail

The Indian government installed a new board at Satyam Computer Services Ltd on Sunday as authorities stepped up efforts to limit the damage from a fraud that has become India's biggest corporate scandal.

The three-member board will meet at Satyam headquarters in the southern city of Hyderabad at about 0400 GMT on Monday to lay out a roadmap for restoring confidence of clients and staff following revelations of a massive accounting fraud.

"There are a number of priorities we have to work on," said Housing Development Finance Corp Chairman Deepak Parekh, who was earlier named one of three members on the board.

"Restoring confidence is the main job, the first job we have, apart from restating the accounts."

The other members are Kiran Karnik, former president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies, a technology lobbying group, and C. Achutan, a former official of the regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

The chairman of the board will be selected by its three members, Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta said.

"These three members will chart the future course of action for the time being," Gupta told a news conference in New Delhi.

New York-listed Satyam welcomed the reconstitution of the board, saying it would ensure the outsourcer's continued operations, help maintain customer confidence and staff morale, and restore investor trust.

"This is a vital stabilising development for Satyam, and it marks the beginning of a new chapter in the company's history," a company spokeswoman said. "It is the best news we've received in the past four weeks."

The accounting fraud at Satyam was revealed by its chairman and founder Ramalinga Raju last Wednesday. Its stock has since been battered and its valuation plunged to $330 million at Friday's market close, down from more than $7 billion six months ago.

The scandal has cast a cloud over foreign investment in Asia's third-largest economy and over its once-booming outsourcing sector, which posted stunning sales growth for years and lavished investors with handsome returns.

BACK ON THE RAILS

Stand-in Chief Executive Ram Mynampati said on Thursday the scandal had pushed Satyam, which specialises in business software and back-office services, into a crisis of unimaginable proportions and that liquidity was not very encouraging.

"The aim of the board will be to ensure continuity of business and confidence of clients as clients always gets concerned with such incidents," Karnik told television channel NDTV Profit. "Satyam will be back on the rails."

Analysts said the quick move to name new board members was a step in the right direction.

"I think it's a first good move towards restoring client confidence," said Sudin Apte, country head of market research firm Forrester. "But we still have a long way to go."

Meanwhile, police stepped up their investigation, having charged founder chairman Raju and his brother Rama Raju with criminal conspiracy and forgery on Friday after Ramalinga Raju said profits had been falsified for years and quit.

In a five-page letter sent to stock exchange authorities last week, Raju admitted about $1 billion, or 94 percent of the cash and bank balances on Satyam's books at end-September, did not exist.

The brothers are being held in jail, along with Satyam Chief Financial Officer Vadlamani Srinivas, after they were taken into judicial custody until Jan. 23.

Police raided the residences of the arrested executives in Hyderabad on Sunday as part of the investigation, V.S.K. Kaumudi, Inspector General of Police, told Reuters.

Minister Gupta said the government would soon make a decision on appointing additional board members.

Several securities fraud class-action lawsuits have been filed in the United States on behalf of investors who bought Satyam American Depository Receipts (ADRs) in the last five years.

(For full Satyam coverage, click [ID:nBOM394323] ) (Writing by Sumeet Chatterjee; Additional reporting by Surojit Gupta, Bappa Majumdar and Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by Michael Roddy)