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Shadowy Spy Group Building Dossiers On Internet Users For Feds Project Vigilant: New Face of Total Information Awareness Goes Public Paul Joseph Watson www.infowars.com Monday, August 2, 2010 An organization that tracks 250 million IP addresses a day has been developing portfolios on Internet users and handing the information to US federal agencies as the latest incarnation of the supposedly defunct Total Information Awareness spy program is revealed. A group calling itself Project Vigilant went public at yesterday’s Defcon security conference in an effort to add more recruits to its 600 member strong cyber spy force. The outfit announced that it had been tracking “Internet villains” for no less than 14 years and handing the information to federal authorities as part of a massive intelligence gathering program. However, the target of one such investigation did not fall into the category of cyber criminals — “terrorists, drug cartels, mobsters” — that the group claims to be fighting. The organization “encouraged one of its “volunteers”, researcher Adrian Lamo, to inform the federal government about the alleged source of a controversial video of civilian deaths in Iraq leaked to whistle-blower site Wikileaks in April,” reports Forbes. Project Vigilant director Chet Uber used Lamo’s friendship with Bradley Manning, the former US Army intelligence analyst who allegedly released the classified video, to out Manning, who now faces criminal charges. Uber told Lamo that it was …

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Media group urges ‘self-examination’ after hostage crisis
A media group has called on members of the media to examine how they have covered the bloody hostage-taking incident in Manila last Monday that resulted to the death of eight hostages, all of them tourists from Hong Kong.

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Advance Media Group News – (Reuters) – Television manufacturers are banking on 3D TVs for their next sales boost, with sets capable of adding that extra visual dimension expected to hit U.S. store shelves in force by the middle of 2010.

Top TV makers including Sony Corp, Panasonic Corp, LC Electronics Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd will feature 3D screen advances at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, hoping the new technology will be as big a boost for the industry as the transition to color TVs from black and white.

But investors think it is still too early to put money on 3D. It took a decade for the cost of color TVs to fall enough to win acceptance in the United States, noted Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Japan’s Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

“TV makers want more for 3D than they can get,” he said. “Plus, neither Samsung, Sony, Panasonic or LG has gained the technological advantage. Until that outcome becomes clear, I’m not investing,” he said.

Many consumers have only just unboxed new high-definition television screens, making them unwilling to spend on upgrading again any time soon, analysts said.

There are only a few 3D TVs in the market today, with a 42-inch set selling for about $1,000 and a 50-inch set selling for more than $2,000. A 42-inch HD LCD TV costs about $600-700.

The need for special 3D glasses and the lack of live sports and entertainment events in 3D may keep people from adopting the technology outside the cinema, analysts say.

While Walt Disney Co’s ESPN and Discovery Communications Inc both announced plans for 3D programing, analysts say most 3D video will come from disc since TV networks have acquired little of the infrastructure needed to broadcast in 3D.

“A major impediment — beyond making sure everybody has glasses — is making sure there is something interesting to watch,” added Paul Gagnon, director of North American TV research at DisplaySearch. “It’s not going to have the breadth of content that high definition has right now. It will take years to build that up.”

Gagnon estimates some 1 million 3D television sets will ship worldwide in 2010, a sliver of a total TV market that is expected to top 200 million units.

DisplaySearch sees a total of 9 million units of 3D TVs shipped in 2012.

Advance Media Group News – BIG BET 3D is a big bet for a television industry looking for the next big thing after millions of households over the past five years bought flat-screen TVs for the living room, bedroom, and even kitchen and bathroom.

LCD TV sales are still strong, but profits are shrinking fast as prices for the TVs drop. DisplaySearch projects LCD TV revenues to decline about 6 percent in 2009 due to discounting and the rise of discount retail channels, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc, as TV suppliers.

A tight supply of panels is also causing an extra drag on money-losing Sony while denting profits at Samsung and LG’s TV operations.

In Las Vegas on Wednesday, TV makers lined up to tout their latest 3D projects and products.

As a maker of TVs, blu-ray video players and the PlayStation 3 game console, Sony could show at CES the ways that the Japanese conglomerate’s many arms can join around 3D.

Sony introduced its first high-definition 3D TVs — 38 models ranging from 22-inch to giant 60-inch models with Wi-Fi for connecting to broadband home networks.

But even Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer was unclear on when 3D TV would hit its stride.

“We do have 3D cameras, and 3D video games, 3D content and Imageworks that does 3D for other studios. So we have a lot of different disparate assets, lots of beads on the necklace,” Stringer told Reuters in December.

“The question is: ‘Is the necklace going to add up to something concrete and profitable?’” he added. “We won’t know for a little while.”

Samsung on Wednesday said it would develop thinner, more power-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) 3D TVs to boost its existing line-up.

Toshiba Corp unveiled on Wednesday its ZX900 series CELL TV, which promises to convert two-dimensional images into 3D in real time, so users can watch everything from sports to video games and previously recorded shows in 3D.

The Cell system boasts 143 times the processing power available in current TV models and still requires users to wear glasses to watch images in 3D.

Toshiba’s CELL TV, which is expected to hit U.S. stores in the fall, is likely to retail at a price close to the $10,000 it sells for in Japan.

Panasonic, the biggest maker of plasma TVs, is especially hungry for a slice of the 3D pie, hoping that the lower cost of adapting plasma TVs to 3D would yield higher margins.

The company announced a tie-up with top U.S. satellite provider DirecTV to launch three high-definition 3D TV channels by June to try and jumpstart demand for 3D TVs and content.

But before seeking a savior in 3D, TV makers need to cut costs and fight to win in emerging economies, if they are to compete at all, Akino and other investors said.

(Editing by Tiffany Wu, Matthew Lewis, Steve Orlofsky and Richard Chang)

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By James Niccolai IDG News Service – Discovery Communications and ESPN both are launching 3D television networks in the U.S., hoping to move the technology out of theaters and into the living room.

The announcements were made Tuesday ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where 3D TV is expected to be one of the big themes.

Advance Media Group News – Discovery said it is forming a joint venture company with Sony and IMAX to deliver the service. It will be a dedicated, 24-hour channel that shows movies, nature programs and other content that lends itself well to 3D.

Separately, ESPN said it will show at least 85 sports events this year on its new ESPN 3D channel, according to a statement. It will start with the first 2010 FIFA World Cup match on June 11, between South Africa and Mexico, and include up to 25 other World Cup matches. The company said it has been testing the service for two years.

Some are already calling this year’s show the “3D CES.” Big electronics vendors such as Sony, LG Electronics and Panasonic are expected to show 3D-enabled TVs and Blu-ray players that should make it into stores later this year.

Advance Media Group News – The electronics makers are looking to 3D as a way to encourage consumers to upgrade to new televisions, and they are positioning it as a more dramatic leap forward than the move from standard quality to high-definition television. They hope the James Cameron 3D film “Avatar” will spur wider interest in the technology.

But it’s unclear whether consumers who recently bought HDTVs and next-generation DVD players will be willing to fork out again soon for new equipment.

“It seems presumptuous to assume people are going to throw out their HDTVs to buy 3D TVs after only a year or two,” said Michael Stroud, CEO of the iHollywood Forum, in a panel discussion about 3D TV at the recent Digital Living Room conference in Silicon Valley.

Some see the need for consumers to wear special 3D glasses as another potential stumbling block for 3D in homes.

Still, the industry is acting confident that the viewing experience will be impressive enough to get people on board. “It is clear to us that consumers will always migrate to a better and richer entertainment experience,” Sony Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer said in a statement announcing the Discovery service.

Discovery, which owns the Discovery Channel and 12 other TV networks in the U.S., will deliver the joint venture’s 3D channel. Sony and IMAX will license television rights to 3D movies and other content and provide advertising and sales support. IMAX will also promote the service in its theaters and provide “image enhancement and 3D technologies.”

The Discovery service will launch initially in the U.S., but the companies said they will explore taking it overseas. They didn’t provide a launch date in their statement, but reports said the service will begin in 2011.

There have also been reports, citing unnamed sources, that DirectTV plans to launch a 3D HDTV channel in the U.S. early this year.

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Internet Capital Group Inc. Reports Operating Results (10-Q)
By 10qk. Internet Capital Group Inc. ( ICGE ) filed Quarterly Report for the period ended 2010-06-30. Read more » »

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