New Venture Partners, the global venture capital firm dedicated to corporate technology spin-outs, today announced that its portfolio company, Silicon Hive, a spin-out from Philips Electronics (Philips), has been acquired by Intel Corporation (Intel). "New Venture Partners and Intel Capital never shied away from the heavy lifting involved in making Silicon Hive the success it is today".

Silicon Hive was incubated by Philips to commercialize parallel processing technology for semiconductor Systems-on-Chip (SoC). In 2007, Philips decided to spin out Silicon Hive as an independent, venture-backed company. New Venture Partners structured the transaction, transitioning the Silicon Hive business -- team, relationships, products, technology and related intellectual property -- out of Philips and into a start-up company. New Venture Partners led the Series A investment in Silicon Hive with initial participation from TVM Capital.

Philips introduced the 21.5-inch Brilliance series 226CL2 monitor. This compact full-HD (1920 x 1080) monitor uses W-LED illumination that cuts down power consumption further, from CCFL-illuminated ones. The panel supports response time of 2 ms GTG, the SmartImage feature adjusts image quality and performance depending on the content being displayed. Other specifications include dynamic contrast ratio of 20,000,000:1, and brightness of 250 cd/m². Inputs include D-Sub and DVI. It is now up for pre-order at €165.

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) today announced the finalization and release of the "Blu-ray 3D" specification. The specification, which represents the work of the leading Hollywood studios and consumer electronic and computer manufacturers, will enable the home entertainment industry to bring the 3D experience into consumers' living rooms on Blu-ray Disc, the most capable high definition home entertainment platform.

"Throughout this year, movie goers have shown an overwhelming preference for 3D when presented with the option to see a theatrical release in either 3D or 2D," said Victor Matsuda, chairman, BDA Global Promotions Committee. "We believe this demand for 3D content will carry over into the home now that we have, in Blu-ray Disc, a medium that can deliver a quality Full HD 3D experience to the living room."

The "Blu-ray 3D" specification fully leverages the technical advantages of the Blu-ray Disc format to deliver unmatched picture quality as well as uniformity and compatibility across the full range of Blu-ray 3D products, both hardware and software. Notably, the specification allows every Blu-ray 3D player and movie to deliver Full HD 1080p resolution to each eye, thereby maintaining the industry leading image quality to which Blu-ray Disc viewers are accustomed. Moreover, the specification is display agnostic, meaning that Blu-ray 3D products will deliver the 3D image to any compatible 3D display, regardless of whether that display uses LCD, Plasma or other technology and regardless of what 3D technology the display uses to deliver the image to the viewer's eyes.

Philips today introduced an LCD monitor with a unique energy-saving feature. The 22 inch Brilliance LCD with PowerSensor draws parallels with a proximity-sensor technology. It makes sure the optimal (or user-set) brightness levels are enabled only when the user is in front of it. When it finds that the user left it alone, it steps down the brightness and contrast levels by 50 percent to cut-down energy consumption. This feature is embedded in the monitor's own firmware, and doesn't require the host PC to control it. Its sensitivity is configurable, and can detect users anywhere from 30 to 120 cm (1 to 4 ft.) The PowerSensor feature aside, as a monitor, it offers a native resolution of 1680 x 1050, 1000:1 static contrast ratio, 5 ms of response time, and inputs from DVI and D-Sub. It is priced at about £170 (US $280) in the UK.

I once posted a news story on how well computer manufacturers are treating the environment according to the Greenpeace organization. Well I'm going to give you a little update on that story today. Last time Nintendo was the worst among worst when talking "green" and this year it is strengthening its position even more. From zero to eleven in being "green" (zero means worst) Nintendo scores the whooping 0. HP, Microsoft, Lenovo and Dell are next to have poor scores when it comes to preserving the world we live in. According to Greenpeace only Apple is "truly kicking the habit", maybe that's because they have an apple as their logo. Philips learned a lesson from last Greenpeace research and the company jumps from 15th to 4th place this year, well done Philips. The two best "green" manufacturers as of March 31st 2009 are Samsung and Nokia.

Panasonic, Philips and Sony are currently working with other Blu-ray Disc patent holders to establish a one-stop-shop license for Blu-ray Disc products. This license, which covers essential patents for Blu-ray Disc, DVD and CD, will be introduced in the middle of this year. The license program will be offered by a new independent licensing company that will be based in the United States with branch offices in Asia, Europe and Latin America. The CEO of the new license company will be Mr. Gerald Rosenthal, former head of IP at IBM and more recently CEO of Open Invention Network. "By establishing a new licensing entity that offers a single license for Blu-ray Disc products at attractive rates, I am confident that it will foster the growth of the Blu-ray Disc market and serve the interest of all companies participating in this market, be it as licensee or licensor." said Mr. Rosenthal.

The latest edition of Greenpeace's quarterly Guide to Greener Electronics published yesterday, revealed that Nintendo, Microsoft and Philips completely fail to show any environmental credentials when it comes to e-waste. The Guide ranks companies according to their policies and practices on toxic chemicals and takeback. Along with mobile phone and personal computer companies, the latest report adds the biggest makers of TVs and games consoles. Old TVs are a large part of e-waste and the games console market is one of the fastest growing in consumer electronics according to Greenpeace.

Nintendo has the dubious honour of being the first company to score 0/10 in the guide. Microsoft did little better, scoring only 2.7. Philips is the lowest TV-maker scoring only 2.

Philips today launched its new range of multimedia LCD displays, with a suite of advanced features that deliver sharp images and fast response times for playing games and watching movies. The new LCDs range from 17-inches to 22-inches, including four widescreen models. Some models come with SmartImage technology and the innovative Philips PerfecTune feature. The new Philips product introductions include:

• 17" - 170C8
• 19" - 190C8
• 19" widescreen - 190CW8
• 20" widescreen - 200CW8
• 22" widescreen - 220CW8, 220XW8

LG Philips has recently applied for a patent on a bendable OLED screen technology which would use oil and water to produce images. Current flexible OLED displays get hotter than the plastic substrate thus making manufacture difficult and expensive. This new process with oil and water that the company is developing doesn't have that problem. The opaque oil floats on the water and obscure a colored surface beneath when an electric charge was applied to the field it would reveal the surface and change the color of the pixel.

Philips and Swarovski joined up forces to manufacture the new Active Crystals. These high-end USB memory keys and earphones are designed with Swarovski crystals. This alliance combines Philips technology with Swarovski's expertise in creating fashion crystal jewellery and handbags collections to produce meaningful fashionable accessories for women.

This week Lite-On IT Corporation and Royal Philips Electronics announced that the joint venture between the two companies will officially take shape on May 1 of this year. The joint venture between the two companies will focus on the manufacturing and marketing of optical storage drives. Under the new agreement between Lite-On and Philips, the new venture will be called Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions (PLDS). The European Commission has fully approved of the new venture as of April 2.

PLDS will be effective in Europe from 1st of May 2007. Lite-On IT BV, the European head office of Lite-On IT Corporation, will continue to provide the same service to its customers under the new flag of PLDS. The company will handle sales, marketing, service, finance and logistics of Optical Disc Drives (ODD). PLDS will continue to sell ODD under the brand names Lite-On and HP

Today at CES 2007, Philips Electronics has been demonstrating its new 3D technology, along with its 2D to 3D conversion software. Using some two-dimensional high-definition commercials that are set to be released soon as an example, Philips' latest 3D software will examine a 2D image and convert it into a 3D image according to the depth that it will be assigned, with lighter colours being further forward. The company's 3D displays work using WOWvx technology will allow them to deliver three-dimensional images without the need for special glasses to filter the light. Philips has even developed a software suit aimed at commercial users which will allow them to easily create their own 3D custom content, with the intention for these displays to be used in shopping malls and restaurants.