consumer

Consumer electronics trade group wants startups... badly

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has launched a new membership category to try and bring more startups into the consumer electronics fold.

The CEA -- which represents thousands of consumer electronics firms -- has created the new $95 membership category as a means of "fostering innovation" in a stagnant economy.

Regular membership fees begin at $850 per year and can go as high as $40,000, depending on a company's annual revenues. Membership includes free registration for the Consumer Electronics Show.

The trade association says it can better serve both "new and established" companies with … Read more

Report tags top consumer trends for 2013

Cloud computing is one of the main trends to keep an eye on in 2013, according to a new report from Ericsson.

The electronics firm's "Ten Hot Consumer Trends 2013" report (PDF) suggests that not only is cloud computing becoming increasingly important in our daily lives, but young people's use of the Internet will drive new businesses and products in the coming year.

The most important technological trend is cloud computing. More than 50 percent of tablet users and 40 percent of smartphone users in the U.S., Japan, Australia, and Sweden subscribe to these kinds … Read more

AT&T yet again the worst-rated carrier in U.S.

More bad news for AT&T.

Consumer Reports has released its annual carrier ratings. And just as it had in the last two years, AT&T landed in last place, far behind the top major carrier in the roundup, Verizon Wireless.

Verizon Wireless fared somewhat well in the study, earning relatively strong marks on voice and data. The only bright spot in AT&T's review was its 4G LTE network, which actually beat out its chief competitor in this year's study.

Sprint and T-Mobile USA landed between Verizon and AT&T.

For its part, … Read more

Judge OKs $22.5M fine against Google for Safari tracking

It's looking like Google may have to soon cough up the $22.5 million fine it agreed to pay in order to settle Federal Trade Commission claims that it illegally bypassed user privacy settings in Apple's Safari Web browser.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston approved the fine in San Francisco federal court late Friday, according to the Associated Press. This is the largest penalty the FTC has ever levied against a single company.

Google and the FTC reached the settlement agreement in August when the Web giant agreed to pay $22.5 million on charges that it &… Read more

Papa John's pizza up against $250M lawsuit for text spam

What looked like an easy shortcut to earn some extra cash could now ending up costing Papa John's millions. The pizza chain is being targeted in a $250 million class-action lawsuit in which customers allege that Papa John's sent out hundreds of thousands of illegal text messages.

"After I ordered from Papa John's, my telephone started beeping with text messages advertising pizza specials," one of the plaintiffs in the case Erin Chutich said in a statement. "Papa John's never asked permission to send me text message advertisements."

Apparently, in 2010, Papa John'… Read more

Holiday season may be merry for electronics bargain hunters

It may be a very merry holiday season for consumers seeking big bargains on electronics.

IHS iSuppli, a market research firm, says consumer-electronics companies will likely make "extremely steep" price cuts to attract buyers during the key holiday selling season.

That means the consumer-electronics industry is going to post only "scant" 1.3 percent revenue growth this year, according to IHS, but consumers may be getting some pretty great deals.

Buyers have largely been cautious with spending because of worries about the weak global economy, but companies are hoping attractive prices will help boost demand.

Here'… Read more

We like the cloud! We really, really like it! Or so says IHS

Consumer cloud-based services are turning out to be one of the biggest hits of 2012, based on a new report from market intelligence firm IHS iSuppli.

The number of personal subscriptions to online storage services is set to surpass previous projections. The number of subscriptions worldwide already toppled 375 million within the first half of 2012. The original forecast for the entire calendar year was just 500 million.

Subscriptions to cloud services -- free or paid -- are expected to jump even higher to 625 million globally in 2013.

But considering the pace already seen in 2012 and the growing … Read more

iPhone 5 is a 'winner,' says Consumer Reports

The iPhone 5 is among the best smartphones on the market, at least in the eyes of Consumer Reports.

Putting the new phone through the paces, CR was impressed with the larger 4-inch display, the thinner and lighter body, 4G LTE access, and "a host of innovative features." Those factors all pushed the iPhone 5 high in the ratings, beating the iPhone 4S as well as a host of Android phones.

Consumer Reports found improvements in Siri, as well as the camera. With the exception of the 41-megapixel camera on the Nokia 808, the iPhone 5's camera … Read more

Intel shows off personal cloud for consumers, small business

SAN FRANCISCO--Intel is getting into the personal cloud storage game with the introduction of its own Atom processor-based storage solutions aimed towards both consumers and small businesses.

Essentially, these are network-attached storage appliances powered by either the Intel Atom D2550 or D2500 processors for securing, backing up and sharing content through the cloud. The cloud technology comes in through an exposed HTML IP address (with a secure log-in), and the end user can access that IP address either through a regular desktop browser or it can look like a drive.

Intel said it has been focused on developing reference architectures … Read more