samsung

Samsung: Water-powered cell phones by 2010

Samsung has developed a new kind of cell phone battery that's powered by water and is aiming to bring it to market by 2010.

Here's how it works: When the handset is switched on, reaction between metal and water in the phone produce hydrogen gas. This is then channeled to the fuel cell, where it reacts with oxygen in the air to generate power.

Samsung says the new battery could last for up to 10 hours. Based on four hours of use daily on average, the hydrogen cartridge would have to be replaced about every five days.

The … Read more

Samsung chief indicted on tax evasion charges

Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee was indicted on charges of evading taxes on billions of dollars he hid in stock accounts under the names of his aides, The New York Times is reporting.

He also faces criminal charges of breach of trust, stemming from his involvement in arranging for company subsidiaries "to sell stock to his son" at "unfairly low prices" to help his son "take over management control," The Times says. Lee was cleared, however, of more serious allegations he starting a slush fund worth $215 million used to bribe prosecutors, judges, and other public officials.… Read more

Now on the runway in Milan: The Armani TV

Open memo to our bosses: Crave needs to schedule an expense-account trip to Milan.

Last week we wrote of a Fujitsu laptop made of cedar that was showing at the Salone Internazionale Del Mobile exhibition (that's "International Furniture Fair" to you Philistines out there). And now we learn that Samsung and Armani--which have already collaborated to produced the designer's exclusive phone, of course--have debuted a jointly marketed HDTV at the event yesterday.

The LCD features 1080p resolution, 100Hz technology, and "a special 4-mode lighted power switch that customizes the display of the two companies' logosRead more

The iPhone is a 'MID' with many ARMs

The iPhone is a mobile Internet device. Just in case you forgot, ARM wants to remind you that before the Intel Atom processor there was the iPhone and its handful of ARM processors. Yeah, it's a MID too.

Listening to Intel, a casual observer might believe that the world's largest chipmaker is single-handedly creating the class of tiny devices called mobile Internet devices or MIDs.

But ARM processors have been powering small, low-power devices since 1985. There was the Psion series of handhelds, the Apple Newton, Nintendo DS, and, today, products like the Microsoft Zune. All used or … Read more

IBM: Faster, not hotter, 32-nanometer chips coming

Chips in 2009 will run faster but not necessarily hotter. That's the gist of what IBM, along with its joint development partners such as Samsung Electronics and Toshiba, announced Monday.

The IBM alliance is using "high-k/metal gate" technology to achieve this, the same category of process technology that Intel currently uses in its 45-nanometer processors. The alliance says it is seeing performance improvements of up to 35 percent over 45nm technology at the same "operating voltage" or power levels.

This allows alliance chipmakers such as Samsung, Toshiba, and Freescale Semiconductor (formerly an arm of … Read more

HP, California team up to battle greenhouse gas evildoers

Not to be outdone by Samsung, Hewlett-Packard has joined forces with the state of California to put an end to those that would dare to own non-HP printers that, if unchecked, would annually bombard our landfills with tons and tons of print cartridges.

Similar to the Samsung printerectomy, HP will provide an incentive program to state agencies willing to purchase, guess what, HP printers and HP printers alone. After that, it's all about the green as outdated printers get refreshed with new ones, old cartridges get refilled with new ones, and everyone is happy (especially HP).

This is all … Read more

CTIA 2008: Cream of the crop

Every year at CTIA we dole out praise for those companies that are deserving. CNET's cream of the crop awards recognize the best of the show in four categories: best cell phone, best smartphone, best accessory, and best service. Though the 2008 CTIA wasn't the most exciting on record, we still saw some pretty cool things in Las Vegas. And without further ado, here they are.

Best cell phone: Samsung Instinct In some ways this wasn't a tough choice because so few cell phones were officially unveiled at CTIA. But even if it was facing a more … Read more

Samsung chief questioned over corruption

Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee appeared before South Korean special prosecutors to answer questions about his company's alleged bribery of public officials, according to the BBC.

Samsung is being investigated for starting a slush fund worth $215 million used to bribe prosecutors, judges, and other public officials. The company denies the accusation, which was made by former company lawyer Kim Yong-Chul.

The chairman's wife, Hong Ra-Hee, who is the director of the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, was also questioned by prosecutors earlier this week. She was asked whether she used money from the fund in question to buy … Read more

Laptop package makes a fashion statement

The laptop bag has spawned an entire fashion industry unto itself, so some retailers are taking the marketing concept a step further by selling matching sets of computers and cases together. The strategy could be questionable in the hands of the wrong design team, but one U.K.-based online retailer seems to have done it right.

21st Century Diva--whose motto is "Stylish IT for Women"--has bundled an attractive red Samsung Q45 with a matching "Chili Pepper" designer bag, which by itself usually retails for more than $250, according to Shiny Shiny. The 12.… Read more

Hands-on with the Samsung SGH-G810

Two months ago at the GSMA World Congress, Samsung unveiled the SGH-G810. We weren't able to handle it then, but here at CTIA we finally got to play touch and feel.

A 5-megapixel camera phone and an upgrade to the Samsung SGH-G800, the SGH-810 is a bulky slider phone in shiny silver. As expected, it's heavy on the camera features with an autofocus, a 3x optical zoom, and a xenon flash and it looks like a standalone shooter when viewed from behind. The large, full-color screen is lovely, and the controls and keypad buttons were pretty easy to … Read more