Albis Technologies  announced that it has signed a deal to supply its new SceneGate set-top box to 022 Télégenève SA - naxoo .

The new hybrid (IP/DVB-C) and multimedia SceneGate set-top box will allow naxoo to bring full modularity to market with features such as an external hard drive for PVR, multi-rooming capabilities with UPnP network connection and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth dongle for wireless functionalities. In addition, with 3D capabilities and high quality HD the SceneGate set-top box is one of the most advanced available today.

Albis Technologies has integrated technology from Zappware, its software partner, into the SceneGate set-top box providing enhanced functionality through the iView Flux solution.

Axial Vector Energy Corp. may be one of the first green energy companies to have bridged the gap between the $3.4 billion smart grid energy program announced by the U.S. Department of Energy and home appliances when the Company unveiled its product which controls individual home appliances more efficiently using Bluetooth technology.

Dubbed the Genius Box, the appliance networking system monitors home appliances during peak hours to optimize their use. Axial Vector claims the Green Energy Genius Box is the "first of its kind in the world," but here in the United States AXVC may have struck gold.

Through the Recovery Act, the Obama administration had budgeted $3.4 billion in energy grants that were jointly announced by the U.S. Department of Energy and Treasury Department earlier this year. Nationwide, utilities are gearing up for updating and construction of smart grids to better manage the delivery of power during peak periods.

The Smart Grid Grant Program is the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history.

In March, one hundred private companies, utilities, manufacturers, cities and other partners had already signed up to receive funding through that Recovery Act-funded program. Yet Axial Vector Energy Corp. is the first to produce a networking system that bridges the gap between the Smart Grid system and home appliances -- without the aid of funding from the U.S. government -- though AXVC is gearing up to apply.

While AXVC sees strong demand for its Bluetooth networking appliance green energy product the Company is not overlooking the federal grant program either, having announced in late May that it had retained Washington, D.C.-based Liebman & Associates to help secure federal and state clean energy funding.

Liebman & Associates is one of the leading renewable energy lobbyists in Washington, D.C. and according to Axial Vector, has secured "$800 million from federal and state governments supporting clean energy projects" in the last year alone.

Axial Vector Chairman, Mr. Samuel Higgins, said the Genius Box is an "off the shelf network control box ready for home use now." Higgins stated that AXVC also expects to generate high margins, though he did not forecast sales figures.

From its annual All Hands Meeting in Seattle, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) unveiled more information about its forthcoming Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.0, with the hallmark feature of low energy technology. Bluetooth v4.0, expected to be brought to market by the end of Q2, will feature a powerful low energy mode designed to enable expansion of the technology in m-health, sports and fitness, security and home entertainment scenarios where button-cell battery devices proliferate.

Bluetooth v4.0 is like three specifications in one – Classic Bluetooth technology, Bluetooth low energy technology, and Bluetooth High Speed technology– all which can be combined or used separately in different devices according to their functionality. For example, sensors like those in pedometers and glucose monitors will run only low energy technology, thus saving power, cost and space within the device. Watches will take advantage of both low energy technology while collecting data from fitness sensors on the body as well as Classic Bluetooth technology when sending that information to a PC, or separately displaying caller ID information when wirelessly connected to a mobile phone. Mobile phones and PCs, which support the widest range of uses, will utilize the full package with Classic, low energy and high speed technology running side by side.

As with previous versions of the specification, the range of the Bluetooth v4.0 radio may be optimized according to application. The majority of Bluetooth devices on the market today include the basic 30 foot, or 10 meter, range of the Classic Bluetooth radio, but there is no limit imposed by the Specification. With Bluetooth v4.0, manufacturers may choose to optimize range to 200 feet and beyond, particularly for in-home sensor applications where longer range is a necessity.

Availability
The specification for Bluetooth v4.0 with the hallmark feature of low energy technology was first introduced in December 2009. Samples of sensors utilizing this specification are available from some silicon manufacturers today. Integration of Bluetooth low energy wireless technology within the Bluetooth specification will be completed before June 30, 2010. Upon completion, mobile phone and PC manufacturers may enhance their Bluetooth product offerings with support for Bluetooth low energy wireless technology. End-user devices with Bluetooth v4.0 are expected to reach the market in late 2010 or early 2011.

Are you there?
Bluetooth proximity applications enable detection of devices in proximity to another device or location. This capability can be used for a variety of applications ranging from security applications (unlocking doors, logging on and off your computer) to “convenience applications” such as keeping track of keys or using a mobile phone to avoid losing an object or device.  While global statistics on lost mobile phones are uncertain, estimates show that in average one mobile phone is lost or stolen every three minutes in the US alone.

Keep track of “things”
Innovative new Bluetooth applications promise to dramatically reduce the costs related to loss or ‘forget’ rates of small devices such as mobile phones and keys.  “Imagine how much easier mornings would be if you never misplaced your keys again”, said Anders Edlund, EMEA marketing director for the Bluetooth SIG.  Edlund continued, “ While lost keys are a hassle, a lost mobile phone can be a financial impact for both consumers and businesses.  The cost of physically replacing a phone can be easily measured in hard dollars, but the lost productivity when simply forgetting a phone at home or the loss of data for a business can have significant soft cost.” 

Products such as the SonyEricsson Watch MBW-200, which will buzz once you are out of range from the phone and devices such as the ZOMM today enable device tracking and proximity solutions.  With the launch of Bluetooth low energy technology in 2010, it is anticipated that many more products will be coming to market, making life easier for consumers. With Bluetooth low energy technology the mobile phone will both be secured and will now also function as the key to enabling many other personal, proximity applications.

Security/door lock application
The idea of using the mobile phone to open doors and allow entry has existed for many years. In Scandinavia, this application is being used in thousands of homes for one very special application: home health care. Along with providing great savings for care givers and added security for the care takers, the application is also significantly reducing the environmental burden.  The Phoniro system removes the need to store physical keys in a central location and instead uses the mobile phone a key. The in-home module is simply and unobtrusively added to the existing lock and, with a battery life of years, it can be almost forgotten. Similar applications are currently used in many other countries.

Plantronics simplified its growing Unified Communications (UC) portfolio and introduced new audio solutions that help IT departments deploy UC quickly and keep costs down . The new solutions, including a USB desk phone, premium corded headsets and wireless DECT (TM) headsets, deliver brilliant audio, unmatched quality and ease of use across all work environments.

The Plantronics Unified Communications product portfolio is now organized into the following product families:
Blackwire (TM), Calisto (R), Savi (TM) and Plantronics Voyager (R) UC. The simplified product families are designed for easy IT decision making. Many products provide full call control functions for UC applications from partners including Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Skype.

Simplifying UC Deployments
The new Plantronics Unified Communications product families give IT departments a single trusted vendor for a wide variety of audio solutions. From executives in the corner office to mobile sales teams to knowledge workers around campus or in the office, Plantronics’ breadth of product options enable clear, reliable conversations across an array of environments. Equally important, the audio solutions are easy to use and install, so IT departments aren’t burdened with support requests.

Plantronics Blackwire: Corded USB Wideband Headsets
Designed for in-office and mobile PC-based conversations, the Blackwire family includes the new Blackwire 420, a foldable headset designed for a mobile worker which can lay flat next to a laptop for portability. It has in-line controls for volume, answer/end and mute. Installation is easy via USB plug-and-play connectivity. The Blackwire line includes five headsets with wideband audio, call control and noise canceling microphones in both mono and stereo.

Plantronics Calisto: Wideband USB Phones
The Calisto family includes the new Plantronics Calisto 540, an Optimized for Microsoft Office Communicator deskphone. The Calisto 540 is ideal for stationary workers who primarily use the PC for voice conversations and want the familiarity of a desk phone. The Calisto family of products also includes a USB speakerphone and a handset.

Plantronics Savi: Wireless DECT USB Wideband Headsets
The Savi family includes new binaural and monaural headband versions of the award-winning Savi Office product. The Savi family of products is designed for knowledge workers who use both a deskphone and the PC for making calls and want the freedom of mobility with the clear audio quality. Savi Office enables inoffice professionals to listen to any PC-based audio such as music players, streaming audio and video, webinars and podcasts, and make calls via the desk phone or PC with a simple press of a button. With Savi Office portfolio, IT departments looking to standardize with one headset system can now offer users a choice in wearing styles.

Plantronics Voyager UC: Bluetooth (R) USB Wideband Headset
For mobile professionals, Voyager PRO UC, introduced in November 2009, combines Plantronics’ awardwinning Voyager PRO Bluetooth headset with a plug-and-play Bluetooth USB adapter to deliver richer wideband audio on softphones along with Voyager PRO’s superior noise and wind cancellation on both mobile phones and softphones. The Plantronics Voyager PRO UC headset supports multipoint technology that allows users to switch between their mobile phone calls and PC calls with the touch of a button. Pricing and Availability

Texas Instruments has unveiled a chip that incorporates GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth with an FM transmitter and receiver.

The WiLink 7.0 chip, announced on Tuesday, supports 802.11n, the latest and fastest version of Wi-Fi. It also supports both Bluetooth low-energy and Bluetooth 3.0 specifications.

"As the first company to put the power of GPS, WLAN, Bluetooth, and FM technologies on a single chip, we are excited to have solved some of the market's most complex co-existence challenges," TI wireless connectivity chief Haviv Ilan said in a statement. "With its ability to support simultaneous use of all four radios, the WiLink 7.0 solution will truly revolutionise the way people interact with their devices and connect to the larger world."

WiLink 7.0 will be shown at next week's Mobile World Congress. According to TI, manufacturers are looking at the chip and will be incorporating it into devices by the end of the year.

Audio design engineering companies APTX, Bang & Olufsen ICEpower, and Bluegiga Technologies have collaborated to produce an integrated module reference design and evaluation kit for speaker OEMs seeking to upgrade existing passive products to wireless active systems.

This module concept combines Class D amplification from Bang & Olufsen ICEpower A/S (Lyngby, Denmark), a wireless interface from Bluegiga Technologies Oy (Espoo, Finland), and audio coding software from APTX (Belfast, Northern Ireland).

The collaboration has produced an evaluation kit with proven hardware and firmware which can accelerated new product development and support the market shift to wireless and active loudspeaker systems.

ICEpower has raised the power-efficiency of the amplifier and power supply from the 50 to 70 percent found in traditional analog designs, to 80 to 95 percent thanks to advance Class D techniques.

Bluegiga supplies the WT32 Bluetooth audio module which integrates a 2.4GHz radio, DSP, battery charger, stereo apt-X audio coding, and antenna. The WT32 offers full support for the latest 2.1 + EDR standard via Bluegiga iWRAP firmware.

With Grande Specchio, Parrot and Martin Szekely thought bigger in developing a photo frame equipped with a 10.4 inch high resolution LCD screen.
The control interface of the frame has been conceived to be both very intuitive and elegant. A trackball and almost unnoticeable tactile buttons make it easy to
surf in the menu and to select pictures.

The Grande Specchio also has a position sensor to automatically rotate the photos on landscape or portrait mode and an eco-sensor to automatically switch-off the frame when there is no more light indoor. A wall fixation is also provided.

With Grande Specchio, Parrot sticks to the original idea of Martin Szekely: a High Tech mirror connected to the internet.
The Grande Specchio

uses the Google Android™ operating system to connect to the web. To wander in the cyber world or to abandon oneself to the poetry of Internet,

Parrot developed two software: People and Holidays.

People, for a never-ending slide show of faces of the world. People randomly looks for portraits of unknown persons on the web. Men, women, children’ faces from all over the world, from all nations, instantly appear on the frame and disappear, endlessly…

Holidays, for a never-ending journey.
Once you have chosen a place on Google™ Maps, Holidays joins the closest beach and follow it up, flying over it like a bird. Moreover, Holidays searches pictures on
the Internet which have been taken from these beaches: sunsets, cliffs, kids’ games, coastal villages… As many invitations for a break…

Magnify your pictures
An open window on the cyber world The Grande Specchio is a bundle of networks protocols accessible via Wi-Fi to:
Be informed: web services platforms Windows Live™ FrameIt and FrameChannel ® are installed on the frame to receive information (weather forecast, economic or financial news, road traffic, sports scores…) via RSS feeds.
Exchange: a Pop3 and Imap e-mail client enables you to give an e-mail address to the frame in order to send it photos.
Share: you can share your photos with your online community via photo sharing websites (Picasa™, Flick’r®)
Transfer: Microsoft network client enables you to drag-and-drop photos from your PC or Mac® directly to the frame.

The Grande Specchio certainly offers the most comprehensive connectivity: USB, SD, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth have been harnessed at the most.
Its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections enable to transfer photos from almost any digital devices: PC, Mac® and mobile phone. The slots for SD card and USB port, gracefully concealed, enable to benefit from a large memory in the Grande Specchio. The USB connection also enables to pick up photos from your iPhone® easily.