samsung

Move Over, U.S. Government: Panasonic Investing $1B in Green Technology

Ariel Schwartz — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:37:25 -0500

Ideo Reimagines the Lowly Thermostat

Tim McKeough — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:00:00 -0500

What happens when a couple of designers from one of the most influential design firms on earth take a break from working for clients like Kraft Foods and Samsung to experiment in pure future gazing? You get a concept product like Blow, a minimalist thermostat that you control with your lungs. If the room is too cold, you breathe at the device with your mouth open, as if you were warming your hands in the winter, and the heat comes on. Too hot? Blow with a pursed mouth, as if you were cooling a bowl of soup, to turn on the air-conditioning.

Solar Power With Style

Paul Hochman — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Solar energy got hot in the 1980s. The economic sting of the oil embargo was still fresh and the air was thick with tax credits, so Innovation Nation put on its thinking cap and began harvesting the resources that were literally falling from the sky: the 1,366 watts of solar energy that constantly rain down on every sunny square meter of earth. Smelling opportunity in those free-flowing photons, huge companies jumped into the sun business.

Nokia Sues Samsung, Philips for Price-Fixing

Stephanie Schomer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:45:07 -0500

Nokia is suing 11 LCD manufacturers--including Toshiba, Sharp, Philips, Samsung, and LG Display--for price-fixing. It alleges that from 1996 to 2006, these companies artificially inflated the prices of the displays Nokia uses in its products.

An Entrepreneur's View of South Korea

Francine Hardaway — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:38:44 -0500

Danny has been an entrepreneurship student of mine, and later a mentee, if there is such a word. He started his business in college, and used it to put himself through school and travel the world. This year, he put it on hold to take a job with a salary for once, but he hasn't given up his love for seeing the world or his entrepreneurial way of looking at the world. Notice how he interprets Korea:

An Entrepreneur's View of South Korea

Francine Hardaway — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:38:16 -0500

Samsung UN55B7000 Television - Unearthing The Facts

Stuart Whittle — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:49:40 -0500

Samsung UN55B7000's LED Hdtv line-up possesses extreme vibrant contrast ratios, on account of the new LED light source. It also combines some pioneering traits to ease the movement blur and vision judder, which often plague LCD High definition tvs when showing high-speed movement.

Bada, Samsung's New Open-Source Operating System: What's the Beef?

Addy Dugdale — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:25:43 -0500

This week's big mobile news is the launch of bada, Samsung's own-brand operating system. In the few days since the news hit, however, there's been an awful lot of rumors, disinformation, misinformation and general blather. Does the world really need another OS? Well, that's not the point, really.

Bright Ideas: 8 Great Solar Gadgets

Paul Hochman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:24:59 -0400

Samsung Raises Hardware Bar With Super-Fast Android Phone

Chris Dannen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:59:47 -0400

Smartphones have taught us to get excited over software--apps and OSes--but Samsung's new Android phone, the Moment, is all about hardware.

Undead Tech: the Wrist-Mounted Cell Phone

Chris Dannen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:17:46 -0400

Glamour shots of this concept cell-phone wristwatch have been bouncing between design blogs, and Samsung announced recently that it would release a real-life analog in Europe by the fourth quarter of this year. But the wrist-mounted communications device has real roots--and I'm not talking about Dick Tracy.

Samsung Ditches Middleman, Brings Blockbuster, Amazon Content to TVs

Kit Eaton — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:09:13 -0400

Web-streaming TV is a tech on the upswing, and old hands like Netflix and Blockbuster are grabbing on quick. Now Samsung's joining in too, cutting out the set-top box middleman and bringing streaming content directly to your TV.

Samsung's 12-Megapixel Digital Camera Also Makes Phone Calls

Kit Eaton — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:22:10 -0400

Back in February, rumors of a 12-megapixel Samsung smartphone surfaced. I was totally down on the device, worried about how badly the idea could go wrong. Now the SCH-W880's surfaced, and it appears to have allayed nearly all my fears.

Should We Buy the RAZR Instead of the iPhone Based on Levels of Radiation?

Ariel Schwartz — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:21:03 -0400

Most of us have heard about the myriad studies done over the past few years that claim cell phone use leads to a marked increase in salivary gland and brain tumors.

Samsung's TouchWiz App Development Kit Hobbles Into the Light

Kit Eaton — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:27:43 -0400

Samsung's a big player in the smartphone game, some might say surprisingly so since it's not really grappled the whole smartphone apps-equals-success meme. Until now that is: Its TouchWiz software development kit is out. And it's... odd.

Is Sprint's Biodegradable Phone Really Green?

Ariel Schwartz — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:03:18 -0400

Bits and pieces of sustainable cell phone manufacturing are slowly coming together. First came the solar-powered phones, and now Sprint and Samsung are unveiling a biodegradable handset that is 80% recyclable and comes with a 40% corn-based plastic cover.

Five Truths About Design Awards

Gadi Amit — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:36:34 -0400

With the International Design Forum Hannover (iF), red dot Design Awards, I.D. Magazine's Annual Design Review, and the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) award winners released in the last few weeks, we have ended the industrial design award season for the year.

Big Awards for the Year's Best Industrial Design

Cliff Kuang — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:13:55 -0400

Each year, the Industrial Designers Society of America sponsors one of the largest design competitions in the world, IDEA. For designers--and in particular American designers--it's a major feather in the cap (Europeans tend to focus on the Red Dot Awards).

Samsung Unveils Gesture-Sensing Hologram, but It's Not World's First

Cliff Kuang — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:22:33 -0400

Samsung Follows in Wal-Mart's Footsteps With Multibillion Dollar Green Investment

Ariel Schwartz — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:16:43 -0400

Less than a week after Wal-Mart announced plans to build a massive "Sustainability Index" for every product it sells, Samsung has announced its own sustainability plan: a $4.3 billion investment to cut carbon emissions by 50% over four years and build environmentally-friendly products.

Twitter and Facebook Come to FiOS TV, but Verizon's Still Just a Widget Wannabe

Kit Eaton — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:23:31 -0400

Verizon's just added something to FiOS that's either a blessing or a curse for Twitter addicts--a live feed of your Twitter account that'll appear on your TV over the show you're watching, part of a new Widget Bazaar that also includes a Facebook app.

Solar Powered Cell Phones Can't Stand the Heat

Ariel Schwartz — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:51:23 -0400

Samsung Blue Earth: The World's First Solar-Powered Touchscreen Phone in Action

Ariel Schwartz — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:42:58 -0400

Samsung first announced the impending arrival of the Blue Earth, the first solar-powered touchscreen phone, this past February. CNET Asia had the enviable opportunity to check out the Blue Earth in person at CommunicAsia. The verdict? Blue Earth is sleek, attractive, and aside form the presence a solar panel, much like any other smart phone.

LG to Release 3 Android Phones, Vying for Market Share

Clay Dillow — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:55:44 -0400

The economic crisis put the brakes on just about everything, but LG Electronics said today it sees blue skies in the mobile device market despite the global slump and will launch three Android-powered phones this year. LG, the third-largest mobile phone maker by shipments, thinks it will seize 10% market share in 2009 and will overtake Samsung for the number two spot by 2012.

iCopycats: Apple Does Not Equal Good Design

Robert Brunner — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:19:32 -0400

Now that I have your attention with that bit of blasphemy in the title, let me explain.