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Sharp has expanded its Professional LCD Monitors with the launch of the TL Professional LCD Monitor Line. LCD’s in this product line will have a full 1920 x 1080 2-megapixel high-definition resolution display. To kick off the launch the product line, Sharp has released the 52-inch TL-M5200 and the 46-inch TL-M4600.

Both of these LCD’s give out a high image quality, features and performance which are perfect for teleconferencing, CAD/Simulation, digital signage, corporate, educational, training, hospitality, sports arenas, entertainment and house-of worship. In addition these LCD’s are also easy to install with their lightweight cabinet design, and even come equipped with RJ-45 LAN Control for network connectivity. Other features of these two new LCD’s include Advanced Super View panel, 1500:1 (TL-M4600) and 2000:1 (TL-M5200) contrast ratios, advanced signal processing, an HDCP compatible HDMI input, and a built-in web browser.

The Sharp TL-M4600 and TL-M5200 LCD’s retail for $4,995 and $3,995 at all Sharp retail outlets.

Via [Akihabara News]

Sprint Nextel has announced that it will close 125 of its retail stores, eliminate over 4,000 3rd party distribution points, and cut 4,000 jobs. Company officials say they expect the cuts to be complete by June. The job cuts affect most departments, including sales, marketing, product and development, network, information technology, finance, human resources, legal and communications but will not be extended to the customer service or repair departments. Sprint, the third largest provider, has been struggling to compete with Verizon and AT&T since it’s botched merger with Nextel two years ago and lost 683,000 subscribers last quarter. Sprint says the moves will save $700 to $800 million a year.

Read[The Washington Post]

After a long wait the iPhone has gone corporate. The offer is fairly simple and does not offer much over getting the iPhone as an individual, except that your local IT department can now just call their usual AT&T business representative. The pricing and the plans will remain the same as an individual purchase and still require a 2-year agreement.

The details are as follows:

• $45 per month for unlimited data, visual voicemail and 200 SMS messages, $55 for 1,500 SMS messages, $65 for unlimited SMS messages.
• For an extra $25 per month you can add a 20MB monthly data plan that is good for 29 countries, $60 per month increases that limit to 50MB.
• Activate by March 31, 2008 and qualified accounts will receive a service credit of $25 per month that is good through December 31, 2008.

While this could be good news for those looking to convince their IT department to get them a company issued iPhone, I am still not convinced the iPhone will be a BlackBerry replacement in the business market.

Via [9to5Mac]

Asus has officially split into three separate companies with each having their specialty. Instead of just being Asus, they will also have Pegatron and Unihan. Asus will handle their own branded notebooks and computers, Pegatron will handle the motherboards and PC related products while Unihan will handle all chassis and non-PC manufacturing.

According to reports the transition will be seamless, however the employees will all be starting fresh when it comes to their pension fund, which I am sure was not the best news for them. They did however pay out those employees with current pension plans before making them start from scratch. One employee was optimistic about the transition stating that he thinks “you will see more ASUS notebooks in the U.S. from now on.”

Sounds like it will be a good move, at least when it comes to US based customers.

Via [DailyTech]

When the labels Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, Sega, Electronic Arts, and Atari are thrown out; the first thing to most likely follow are fanboys, gamers, and 1337 (techie slang for elite, with each number acting as a letter.) A gigantic industry with profits marking in the billions has come from video games and electronic entertainment. To be a gamer or a geek is no longer a derogatory nomenclature, and has become a highstyle fad. While all the products, spanning from cute little educational games to large violent bloodbaths, all come across to the consumer as pure digital fun; one has to wonder how it seems behind the scenes.

With the consumer end out in the open, a few curious gamers decided to find out what happens on the corporate end. Here is where a new gaming industry watchdog site comes in. GameWatch.org, opening in April of 2006, has taken the responsibility of watching the industry that profits on our enjoyment of visual dings and dongs. Their main target being the treatment of employees in large corporations, GameWatch so far supports a forum with open discussions of the going-ons in the game industry. Anyone curious about issues from within the VR mammoths can link through GW to a number of union sites, other discussion forums, and possibly even break into the business with employment site links available.

Check it out [GameWatch]