Avatar director James Cameron said in a speech at the Seoul Digital Forum in South Korea that 3D technology replace 2D as the standard, mainstream format for film, TV and online content in under 25 years, the AP reports.
Cameron compares the arrival of 3D to the adoption of sound and [...]

Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily

Ralph de la Vega, chief of AT&T (T) Mobility and Consumer Markets, asserted today that the U.S. leads the world in 3G subscribers, with 117 million, 18% of the world’s total, and ahead of Japan at 101 million, South Korea and Italy at 40 million each, and the U.K. at 36 million.

The AT&T exec also notes that the U.S. has twice as many Wi-Fi hotspots – 70 million – as #2 China at 36 million.

His overall point: The U.S. is the best mobile market in the world.

De La Vega made the remarks in a keynote address at the CTIA Wireless show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. De La Vega is the current CTIA chairman.

A few other tidbits from his talk:

• U.S. to spend for as much as total LTE spending in 2010, despite just 7% of world wireless customers.
• U.S. will be first country to have a widespread LTE rollout.
• U.S. smartphone sales should be 53 million in 2010, ahead of China at 25 million and Japan at 20 million. Compounded growth of 28% through 2013 is expected. (That’s an IDC forecast, by the way.)
• U.S. also leads in consumer apps downloads. In 2009, 1.167 billion in U.S., ahead of Japan at 998 million and China at 395 million.
• By 2014, U.S. should have 86 million “emerging devices” connected to the network, up 10x since 2008. That includes e-books, netbooks, notebooks, gaming consoles,
• U.S. had 34% of the world’s e-book downloads in 2009.
• There should be 412 million worldwide machine-to-machine devices connected to the net  by 2014.
• U.S. mobile workers should reach 75% by 2013 -a higher percentage than any other country.
• De La Vega says the industry is at a critical point. Spectrum leads to networks, which leads to devices, and then applications, and consumer demand…which drives need for more spectrum. A virtuous cycle. He says this works so well, that it acts like an ecosystem with each element connected to every other.
• Cisco projects 3.6 million terabytes of mobile data traffic by 2014 from 90,000 TB in 2009.
• Pew Research study says that by 2020, mobile devices will be primary Internet connection for majority of the world.
• But there are issues. For one, he says the industry needs more spectrum capacity. He says the cross-over point – when he run out of spectrum – is fast approaching. CTIA says they need 800 MHz of additional spectrum. The FCC has proposed freeing 500 MHz of new spectrum, but could take years. He says they need to take other steps now – and increase efficiencies.
• LTE  – 4G – he says can be 2.5x as efficient as HSPA – 3G – technology.
• He says they need rapid and smooth transition to LTE. But they also need to use Wi-Fi and femto cells and other complimentary technologies to redirect demand away from the core network. Wi-Fi is far cheaper over wired networks than wireless.  But he says even that is not enough…
• …So they need to improve network efficiency. Need to make sure apps and devices are making most effective use of the spectrum – like cars being more fuel efficient. He says it should be a national imperative for everyone in the ecosystem.

And that’s it.

Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily

Wonder no longer.

Just messing, they kill them.

North Korea has executed a senior official blamed for currency reforms that damaged the already ailing economy and potentially affected the succession, a news agency in South Korea reported today. Pak Nam-gi was killed by firing squad last week, said Yonhap, citing multiple sources. The Workers party chief for planning and the economy had not been seen in public since January. The 77-year-old was put to death as “a son of a bourgeois conspiring to infiltrate the ranks of revolutionaries to destroy the national economy”, the agency said.

North Korean finance chief executed for botched currency reform [The Guardian]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker