NewsScan Daily, 27 January 2005 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 27 January 2005 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Adobe Seeks to Shape a New Future
        Shakeout in Consumer Electronics Forecast
        Sony's PlayStation Portable to Double as Music Player
        PC Makers Hope Mac Mini Sparks Big Interest in Little PCs
        Most Identity Theft Occurs Offline

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Honorary Subscriber: Marshall McLuhan

ADOBE SEEKS TO SHAPE A NEW FUTURE
      Adobe Systems COO Shantanu Narayan sees some major opportunities 
glimmering in Adobe's future: "On the creative professional side, there is 
still a lot of room to allow people to use more of our products… Video is a 
very compelling media and we think that over the next couple of years, all 
the creative professionals will look to extend their information to video." 
In addition to video, Narayan is intrigued by the number of alternative 
devices such as cell phones and PDAs connected to the Internet. "How are 
people going to consume information on that? How are people going to create 
information for these devices?... How do you create a campaign that a 
company can then use across print and web and even these small phones that 
people are going to access it on? The new devices on which this information 
is going to be consumed are going to be another paradigm change." Narayan 
also sees RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and the blossoming of blogging as 
another major shift in information channeling. "We are going from 'one to 
many' publishing to 'one to few,'" says Narayan, who adds that the 
challenge for Adobe is to enable people to use these new media creatively 
but also efficiently. (The Pfeiffer Report 27 Jan 2005)
<http://pfeifferreport.com/trends/trend_interview1.html>

SHAKEOUT IN CONSUMER ELECTRONICS FORECAST
      Experts are predicting a major shakeout in the consumer electronics 
industry, similar to the one computer makers endured two decades ago. 
Hordes of upstart rivals, plummeting prices and a host of new technologies 
are pummeling profits at industry stalwarts such as Sony, Pioneer and 
Philips Electronics. "We're seeing price depreciation that would have been 
unimaginable in the past," says Sony chief strategy officer Katsumi Ihara. 
"What's behind it is that with the switch to digital components, anyone can 
make them and there aren't compelling ways to distinguish one's products." 
In an effort to cope with the onslaught of mass look-alikes, the big 
electronic makers have scrambled to control the few key components that 
still yield reasonable profit margins, such as flat-panel displays. That, 
in turn, has led to a debilitating supply glut, with LCD prices falling 40% 
since last summer. The result has been a refocusing on the part of Philips 
and Thomson SA of France, which are now placing more emphasis on medical 
equipment and broadcasting gear, respectively. Meanwhile, Sony and Samsung 
are finding new life in cooperative ventures, teaming up to build the 
world's largest LCD panel factory. Hitachi, Toshiba and Matsushita are 
following suit, with an LCD plant that will open next year. The bottom line 
will be good for consumers, however, as electronics manufacturers struggle 
to churn out innovative products at ever-lower prices. (Wall Street Journal 
27 Jan 2005)
<http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110676809779336933,00.html> (sub req'd)

SONY'S PLAYSTATION PORTABLE TO DOUBLE AS MUSIC PLAYER
      Sony is upping the ante in the music player market with the 
introduction of its latest contender -- the PlayStation Portable. The 
company plans to incorporate a delivery mechanism in the handheld game 
device that initially will be used for downloading video game levels and 
software updates, but by summer it plans to extend its offerings to music 
as well. And given the PSP's high-end graphics, the media giant might 
eventually expand to video downloads, say some analysts. (The Register 27 
Jan 2005)
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/27/sony_psp_music_service/>

PC MAKERS HOPE MAC MINI SPARKS BIG INTEREST IN LITTLE PCs
      Computer makers have big hopes for small computers, sparked by the 
initial buzz over Apple's new Mac Mini, which hit the shelves last 
Saturday. "I love the product. I think it's beautiful," says Hewlett 
Packard marketing VP Tom Anderson. "If it started a trend of small 
(desktops)… I'd be very happy about that. It would be a reason for someone 
to consider a desktop." Anderson's view reflects that of most desktop 
makers, who saw laptop sales soar 26% in the 2004 holiday season alone, 
according to preliminary data from the NPD Group. "People who are adding to 
their home inventory (of PCs) are going to want something different. Most 
people don't have two great big TVs. They've usually got one big one and 
the kids might have one and maybe there's a 13-inch in the kitchen. People 
try to fit the value to the task that product is going to perform. I think 
more and more you'll see PCs have that effect," says NPD analyst Steve 
Baker. The emerging trend has HP considering revival of its ePC, a small 
desktop aimed at businesses that was retired in 2002 after the Compaq 
merger. Meanwhile, Dell says it already makes a mini-PC, the Dimension 
4700C, which is significantly smaller than its standard Dimension 4700 mini 
tower. The trick is squeezing all of the standard components into the 
smaller package, says HP's Anderson. Even charging as little as $50 more 
for the ePC than its standard-size PCs turned consumers away. (CNet 
News.com 27 Jan 2005)
<http://news.com.com/Will+Mac+Mini+spur+petite-PC+revolution/2100-1042_3-5551940.html>

MOST IDENTITY THEFT OCCURS OFFLINE
      Despite growing concerns over online fraud, a new study conducted by 
the Better Business Bureau and Javelin Research finds that most cases of 
identity theft can be traced to a lost or stolen wallet or checkbook, 
rather than vulnerable online financial data. Computer crimes make up just 
12% of all ID fraud cases in which the origin is known, and half of those 
are attributed to spyware that sneaks onto computers and steals private 
information. (AP 27 Jan 2005)
<http://apnews.excite.com/article/20050127/D87SE8NO0.html>

*****

FLASH CARD
      "The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image 
of a global village." (Marshall McLuhan)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: MARSHALL MCLUHAN
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the Canadian writer and teacher 
Herbert Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), whose famous aphorism "The medium is 
the message" summarized his view of the potent influence of television, 
computers, and other electronic disseminators of information in shaping 
styles of thinking and thought, whether in sociology, art, science, or 
religion. (In one of his later books he provided an alternative version of 
his aphorism: "The medium is the massage.") McLuhan is the person who made 
the whole notion of "media" a central focus of contemporary study.
      McLuhan was associated with St. Michael's College of the University 
of Toronto from 1946 until his death in 1980. He became full professor of 
English literature there in 1952 and from 1963 was director of the 
university's Centre for Culture and Technology. He was also associated with 
Fordham University in New York.
      McLuhan's critical view of 20th-century society's self-transformation 
made him one of the popular prophetic voices of his time. His books include 
"The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man," "The Gutenberg Galaxy," 
and, most notably, the seminal "Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man."

[To find a library copy of "Understanding Media," visit RLG's RedLightGreen 
service at 
<http://www.redlightgreen.com/ucwprod/servlet/ucw.servlets.UCWController?ACTION=EDITION&WORKID=18952331&> 
-- or to purchase a copy of "The Essential McLuhan" visit: 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465019951/newsscancom/ref=nosim> 
Note: We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy 
programs.]

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