CORP TALK: Various news media sources, including Sacramento Business Journal here and Reuters here, have reported that Russian-based Digital Sky Technologies is increasing its stake in Facebook Inc. with an offer to buy up to US$100 million in employee stock.

With an offer of US$14.77 a share, the Palo Alto-based social networking service’s value now stands at US$6.5 billion. DST currently owns 1.96% in Facebook as of May 2009 with its US$200 million investment.

According to the site, the offer on employee stock is based on a valuation that’s lower than the US$15 billion put on Facebook when Microsoft Corp. first invested US$240 million in the firm in 2007.

According to Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg, the DST pricetag brings the value for the service higher than the price originally considered in May 2009.

For a 103-inch Full HD plasma TV with a motorized stand and center BeoLab 10 speaker, the BeoVision 4-103 is probably the world's most expensive TV with its US$158K price tag.

SHOWCASE: The Singapore media got a treat today as premium audio systems maker Bang & Olufsen unveiled the world’s most expensive TV — a 103-inch 1920 x 1080p Full HD plasma TV called the BeoVision 4-103 at its showroom. While the price tag of S$230,000 (US$158,000) is jaw-dropping, one must first understand why.

The motorized stand is perhaps one of its most sophisticated features as it elevates the TV and swings the center loudspeaker to the front when turned on.

Basically, besides the premium tag associated with B&O, the BeoVision 4-103 is currently the only giant TV to come with an automated stand that can lift the 103-inch, 250kg behemoth at the touch of a button and also turn and tilt for optimal viewing position. The stand weighs about 250kg as well.

As the TV is lifted, the integrated BeoLab 10 center loudspeaker will emerge from underneath, moving forward until it is flushed with the front frame of the screen. When the TV goes into standby mode, the transforming effect is reversed. Each sequence takes about eighteen seconds.

The TV itself has a high-grade aluminum frame and the Beo5 remote control allows users to program control over lights, security systems, burglar alarm, etc. as part of an overall home automation solution.

Here’s a video illustrating how the BeoVision 4-103 and the motorized stand work:

Succeeding the HDR-CX12, the Sony HDR-CX520 features 64GB of internal memory while the CX500 has 32GB.

SHOWCASE: Sony Electronics Asia Pacific has unveiled two new AVCHD-based Memory Stick Handycam series camcorders with expanded internal memory to succeed the HDR-CX12. Known as the HDR-CX520 and HDR-CX500, the former houses 64GB of memory while the latter has 32GB.

The new Handycam models are equipped with Sony’s G Lens and “Exmor R” CMOS Sensor technology, and are compatible with the latest Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX (32GB). Both models feature a 3-way Shake Cancelling feature (to reduce subtle blur) based on its Advanced Optical SteadyShot (Active Mode) function. Optical SteadyShot itself provides up to 10x wider camera shake correction angle.

With Full HD video recording and 12.0 megapixel still image shots, the new Handycam series also integrated the Smile Shutter with Face Touch function and Highlight Playback feature for users to highlight scenes from movie recordings that can be automatically extracted for Face Detection, Dual Recording and Smile Shutter.

Expect both the CX520 and CX500 to be available in selected Asia Pacific countries from August 2009 (32GB Memory Stick by September 2009). No pricing info has been released yet.

CORP TALK: Google launched its Google Chrome browser some nine months ago and currently has over 30 million users. According to a blog run by the Google team, Sundar Pichai, the VP for Product Management and Linus Upson, Engineering Director for Google Chrome browser have announced a new project called the Google Chrome Operating System.

Planned as an open source, lightweight operating system, the team envisions the Chrome OS to run well on netbooks, with the idea of making it available to consumers in the second half of 2010. The OS will run on both x86 and ARM chips, using Web-based applications as the software tools of choice.

The blog also emphasized that the Google Chrome OS and Android are two separate initiatives. While Android is designed to work on devices like phones to netbooks, Chrome OS is for heavy Web users and targets netbooks to full-size desktop systems. (Editor opinions: 1)

Navin Danapal, Technical Editor, HWM Malaysia

Navin (HWM MY): This was long time coming and expected. After Google’s Android OS for the mobile space, there were experiments with Android on a netbook. Then Intel showcased Moblin (Mobile Linux) 2.0 OS to power netbooks, as how ASUS used Linux OS for their Eee PC.

From this it’s clear netbook makers want a compact OS that augurs well between the mobile and notebook/desktop platform, and that’s something that Microsoft doesn’t seem to deliver with the bloated Windows Vista and the improved Windows 7 (but still not as lean as Windows XP). (more…)

Two models holding ESET's NOD32 Smart Security 4 at the media event in Hong Kong on June 29.

CORP TALK: HWM met up with the Mr. Miroslav Trnka, Chief Executive Officer and founder of ESET and Mr. Maros Mozola, Senior Vice President International Business of ESET in Hong Kong recently, when the company launched the 4th Edition of its ESET NOD32 Smart Security Suite 4.0 to the market.

Best known for its NOD32 Antivirus software, which runs transparently in the background with little strain on system requirements, the Bratislava, Slovakia-based company (with a global distribution office in San Diego, USA) has been in Europe for 22 years and is now continuing its focus to grow within the Asia Pacific region.

UPDATE (16 July): Version 2 Singapore, the distributor of ESET products in Singapore, has notified us that the ESET Antivirus 4.0 & Smart Security 4.0 will be launched on 1 August in Singapore. The ESET NOD32 Antivirus (Standard Edition, 1-User for 1-Year) will cost S$40 while the ESET Smart Security (Standard Edition, 1-User for 1-Year) will cost S$60.

Here are some photos from the Hong Kong launch itself (held on 29 June 2009). One-on-one interview transcript to follow after the break.

(more…)