Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

We have known Panasonic as a brand for a very long time.  However, Panasonic was just that, a brand of Matsushita Electric.  Now, Matsushita Electric has changed its name to “Panasonic Corporation.”

The company has had “Matsushita” in its name since 1918.  In Japan, the brand was known as “National.” This really signals Panasonic’s understanding that consumer electronics is a global endeavor and there needs to be consistency in its brand around the world. 

The transition in Japan will be complete by March 2010.  To prove they are serious about this change, they even changed their stock symbol on the NYSE form MC to PC. 

Source [Panasonic]

With more people texting than talking on the phone, Nokia went out and bought a company that specializes in mobile messaging called OZ.  The Head of Nokia Services & Software, Niklas Savander said, “OZ’s team and technology will help Nokia to address the fast growing consumer messaging market.”

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Circuit City’s CEO, Philip J. Schoonover, announced his resignation as president and CEO and is leaving the company immediately.  Normally, when a company changes CEOs, there is a plan announced sometimes years in advance to keep the stock price afloat.  Schoonover’s departure was not part of any such plan.

New interim CEO James Marcum said what you expect a new CEO to say, “It is my mission to direct that energy towards improving our operations and strengthening our market position in order to accelerate our turnaround and deliver improved results for all of our key stakeholders.” What else is he going to say?  “I’m glad they gave me the keys to this dump?”

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While the Internet has been a valuable tool for small business owners, teleconferences remain a popular way to meet with clients, employees and colleagues. However, in today’s busy world they aren’t always easy to set up. With the increasing popularity of ultra portable notebooks and mobile broadband, the people you need to conference with are as or more likely to be out of the office than in it.

FreeConference, a service offering free audio conferences, has announced a new text messaging service that can make it easier. For just $0.45 a message, they will send a text reminder to your phone 15 minutes before your conference. Organizers can send an On Demand message to their phones which will allow them to set up a conference call from their phone quickly and easily. 

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You have probably heard about Best Buy‘s aggressive move today to grab Napster.  Clearly leveraging their position as a retail giant, Best Buy hopes to cash in on content going into those players it sells.  But there is more to it than just linear logic.  Take these for example:

It’s illegal?  I’ll buy it.

Today’s new marketing technique: build something illegal that kids love.  Get busted.  Come back a “lite” version of yourself (the kids all know your name, so why not?).  Then sell out to a big company.  It is pure genius when viewed in the rear view mirror.  It has me thinking what can I do that is illegal?

See how Apple and Netflix have a lot to lose if Best Buy plays its cards right after the break.

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It didn’t take Nokia too long to release its latest E-series phone, the E71 in the US market after announcing it last month. Being touted as the world’s slimmest QWERTY smartphone, the Nokia E71 is now available in various US retailers and at Nokia’s Flagship store in Chicago and New York. Retailing at an unsubsidized price of around $500, the E71 boasts features that make it worthy of the Nokia E-series branding.

A quick review of the specs and features of the E71 which we mentioned after the official announcement would give us a smartphone with high-speed data, Wi-Fi, A-GPS with optional turn-by-turn navigation, a 3.2-megapixel camera, full QWERTY keyboard, 3G connectivity, OVI support including Share on Ovi and Nokia Maps, easy-to-configure email features, built-in encryption technology for the device memory and an optional microSD memory card.

Throw in an integrated mobile VPN for accessing a company intranet and a lock and wipe technology for protecting corporate information and you have a Nokia phone which worthy of being an alternative to a BlackBerry handset.

Read [Nokia Press Release]

While we are seeing delays on the BlackBerry Bold being reported just about everywhere, Australian carrier Telstra has announced they will be offering it beginning in late-September.

While that timeframe is still a little while away, and still no specific release date has been announced there is a little bit of good news coming along with this announcement.

Telstra also mentioned that their business customers will be able to grab the Bold when it goes on sale for free. Those business customers will also be able to “register their interest” beginning today by visiting the Telstra website or calling 1800BUSINESS.

Read [Telstra]

Acer has just added two new families of LCD displays to their product line, the Business and also the Value series. Both series boast of Acer’s eColor Management technology, Adaptive Contrast Management, eDisplay management and are energy Star compliant. Although similar to each other when it comes to the presence of Acer’s proprietary technologies, the Business and Value LCD families also have various features which are unique to each series.

The B-series, which is available in various sizes, was designed for professionals who are looking for ergonomics, solidity and long-term productivity features in their LCD. Plus, these displays were developed to sustain extensive daily use. The B-series is available in various sizes including; the B173 and B193 which range from 17 to 24-inches in size, the 19-inch B193W, 20-inch B203W, 22-inch B223 and the 24-inch B243W. These professional looking LCDs sport an elegant black color as well as black bezel and base design. Other features of the B-series include an adjustable display and swivel angle, dual input interface, 5ms response time on all and contrast ratios ranging from 2000:1 to 3000:1. 

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Sad news for Palm Treo and Windows Mobile fans: Palm CEO Ed Colligan recently announced a $31.5 million net loss for Palm and said that “new Windows Mobile Treos” are “not coming out this quarter,” then follows it up with saying the new Windows Mobile Treo smart phone should be available by the end of this year’s summer. I like how Mr. Colligan uses the term “new Windows Mobile Treos” (note that it’s Treos, with an S) when he could actually just as easily say that the Palm Treo 800W will be having a slight delay in coming out. I almost don’t want to believe that they can’t do anything about this and release their new WinMo Treos sooner, when they know very well that they need it to salvage their flailing enterprise.

Via [IntoMobile]