Can be found on the back of this section r- twit luitllHUlWj IVcb site fcr rccre cf ths Internet, new prcct3 and help and advice. Look for the technology link on your newspaper's home page MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2002 DemocratandChronicle.com -irv uemocratanaunronicie.com Business people )) 2002 INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW For more on the stories in this section, click on "Technology" at DemocratandChronicle.com Net music a factor in falling CD prices fell MJIPJ pomp I nSi- CSS GANNETT NEWS SERVICE you think some of today's technology is neat, wait until you see what's on the way. More than 100,000 industry watchers got a sneak peek at upcoming gadgets, giz Get Olympics preview on Net Sure television will cover all of the big events at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, but Web sites add background and depth to those reports. More Web sites, Page 2E in on hid i re -J; I I Cellular Phone CES PHOTO More than 100,000 people attended this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. mos and other gear at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, which wrapped up recently in Las Vegas.
To bring you a glimpse of the hundreds of companies and thousands of products that dominated the 1.2-million square feet of exhibition space, USA TODAY'S Edward C. Baig, Jefferson Graham and Mike Snider filed reports on some of the neatest electronic wizardry in five areas: Televisions and video Mobile computing and communications Digital entertainment centers Digital imaging Satellite-based navigation and location systems Learn about some of the hottest emerging products in each category, when they will be available and how much they're supposed to cost. And, most important, find out how each product might change the way you compute, communicate and have fun in 2002 and BY GREG WRIGHT GANNETT NEWS SERVICE Is illegal music swapping on the Web helping to lower CD prices at retailers? The answer is yes and no, depending on whom you ask. The bonanza of free, pirated music on the Web has forced some retailers to reduce prices of some CDs by as much as 40 percent, according to analysts, but at least one retailer, Tower Records, said the Internet has nothing to do with recent CD bargains. In order to jump-start slow sales, retailers have been pressing Sony Music Entertainment and other music labels to discount prices on CDs that are 6 months old instead of waiting the usual two years, Tower Records chief operating officer Stan Goman in Sacramento, Calif, said.
This would bring the music industry in line with the publishing industry, which releases discounted paperback editions of hardcover books a few months after the first edition is sold, he said. "I don't think this has anything to do with downloading music for free," said Goman, who added that Sony price reductions since November have allowed Tower and other retailers to sell CDs for $9.99 to $11.99. But whether they admit it or not, the popularity of free music downloading sites such as MusicCity (www.musiccity.com) and KaZaA (www.kazaa.com) is prompting music labels and retailers to make CD prices more affordable, said Van Baker, a vice president at research firm Gartner in San Jose, Calif. For instance, BMG Music in December cut prices on 1 6 CDs released in Malaysia by 30 percent to battle music piracy, according to the New Straits Times newspaper there. However, officials at BMG Entertainment in New York City said they knew of no similar price reduction for U.S.-released CDs.
Retailers are cutting prices on less popular artists or older releases to around $9.99, although CDs of popular artists continue to sell for as high as 1 7, Baker said. "I don't know if the recording industry has made across-the-board cuts but I think there is some evidence of price cutting of some of the old catalog stuff" he said. There also is evidence Internet music piracy is hurting music in See 3-D images on your PC Put on these special glasses from TDV and you'll be able to look at 3-D images downloaded from the Web that literally pop out of your PC screen. Televisions and video gear: Slim designs, lower prices More new products, Page 3E USA TODAY Those sexy, thin television monitors have become even more eye-catching as they get larger "and" smaller and somewhat less expen sive. Fujitsu, Panasonic, Samsung and Zenith, among others, plan to offer wide-screen plasma displays that stretch 60 inches diagonal and larger while staying less than 4 or 5 inch i i The new TVs are not only thin.
LCD TVs are so light that Sharp is adding handles to its Aquos LCD models so they can be carried from room to room. The 30-inch, 45-pound wide-screen display (due in June, no price set) also can be mounted on a wall or placed on a stand. "We're giving them more options to put televisions in places they never thought of before," said Sharp's Bob Scaglione, like placing it on a dresser in the bedroom. Thin isn't just for TV monitors; components are going flat, too. Panasonic has two DVD players and a matching receiver due this summer, that are only 1 .7 inches high each.
Both DVD units play discs with MP3 and Windows Media music files. "People are running out of space," said Panasonic's Mike Aguilar. "Thin products are an '31 Nick for sets that are "flat, slim and wide," said Philips CEO Larry Blanford. At the large end are Fujitsu's 61 -inch plasma monitor for $25,000 (out this month) and Zenith's $20,000, 60-inch plasma screen TV (due by summer). Samsung showed what it calls the largest plasma screen, at 63 inches, for $25,000 (due by June), and a 40-inch flat monitor that uses a liquid-crystal display, or LCD, like a giant laptop screen (about $12,000, targeted for summer).
Those prices may seem stratospheric, but some typical 42-inch flat screen sets have been inching down to less than $6,000, which makes them merely extravagant. Competition and manufacturing expertise are pushing costs down: "The technology has matured," said Daeje Chin, president of Samsung's digital media division. I Francesco es deep. (The most common plasma screen size today is 42 inches). Philips is going the other way with a 32-inch plasma set, ready to hang on a wall or place on a pedestal, for it's due out in July.
Consumers are looking Local computer guru answers your questions Page 4E Philips 32-inch plasma TV sits on a pedestal or hangs from a wall. It costs $6,000. Coverage continues on Page 2E Concept PC makers say bye to beige bOK dustry profits. More than 5 percent of 748 people aged 16 to 40 said they held off on buying at least one CD in the last year because they could get thetnusic off' the Web for a fully functional footrest. The Ottoman is just one of dozens of designs being developed by small, young companies like SOZO, Yeong Yang Technology of Taiwan (www.yeongyang.de), and the Velocity Group of Anderson Design in Famiington, Conn.
(WWW.an-dersondesign.com), to name a few. free, according to a 2001 Edison you eventually find on your desktop or under your feet. The young engineers at San Francisco-based SOZO Design (www.sozodesign.com) thought the PC needed to be put somewhere a bit less reverent than the desktop, so they built the Ottoman PC, a fully functional computer built into perimental machines aimed at combining creativity, utility and occasionally some sex appeal. Like most outrageous fashion, the vast majority of these creations will never make it into the living room as is. But that's not to say that aspects of these highly inspired creations won't carry on in something BY JOHN YAUKEY GANNETT NEWS SERVICE Believe it or not, geekdom has its own haute couture.
In an attempt to crank up the style and viability of the old beige box, computer makers and designers are developing what they call concept PCs original, often highly ex Media Research study. HI i That figure jumped to 23 percent for 16- to 24-year-olds, the study said. Out-of-tovuners taking online visit get a screenful Buying a home in cyberspace Chris and Becky Ashby, a Glendale, couple relied on the Web and Net-sawy real estate agents to help buy a home while living in Germany. Page 4E If you're at point A and want to know about point you need Web site C. If point is Rochester and Steve Orr DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE point A is everywhere else in the world, then is www.visitrochester.com.
Anyway, the Greater Roches ter Visitors Association, whose section contained a list of the most commonly searched-for terms on Google last year. All of them made sense except for the cryptic "loft story." After wasting several hours of my life, I can now offer a full report: Loft Story was a reality TV show in France featuring attractive young people in risque settings. The show and related Web site (which is gone) seem to remain immensely popular in France, but I could find virtually nothing about it in English. C'est la vie. Stee Chr's column appears here even Momiav.
He can be reached at (716) 258-2386 or by e-mail at sorrDemocratandChronicle.com. convention and visitors bureaus. Though the video images are small, they're quality work and make Rochester look about as good as it possibly can look. If the goal is to put our best foot forward to potential visitors from Nebraska or Georgia, the videos might just do the trick. About 5,200 people visited the Web site the week of Jan.
6, a figure that might have been plumped up a little by traffic drawn by the Coldrush publicity. Most visits were brief, according to tracking statistics compiled by the association, but about 750 of those folks stayed at least six minutes. On another topic altogether, last week's e-Technology scrutiny. It was a publicity gold mine. So it is a good thing that the association has a newly redesigned, hyped-up Web site.
I haven't always looked kindly on Web sites that promote Rochester, have even dogged a few of them, because they've often seemed unsubstantial. Visitrochester.com has a lot of meat on its bones, though. The site has an attractive enough opening page (though that "river runs through it" line is a tad stale) and it offers all sorts of helpful lists and links for both visitors and professional meeting planners. More interesting, at least to me, was the collection of stream- NEXT WEEK IN job it is to draw unsuspecting outlanders here and keep them as long as possible, is basking in the glow of success at present. It has helped launch Coldrush, the effort to persuade people that they can have as much fun in Gore-Tex as in silk.
ing videos to of them made about the region in general for the visitors association and eight more made about "advertisers" such as the Susan B. Anthony House and Seneca Park Zoo. The videos (as well as the Web site itself) were produced by Zephyr Marketing, a firm in San Diego, that specializes in multimedia work for When you buy something on the Web, companies collect information about you. Most explain how the data are used in a privacy policy, which most users don't read. Then came the trucking of snow from Buffalo so that Coldrush could go on as scheduled and the ensuing intense media -fliiiiitnll 11 In ft 1 ft M- m.
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