On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

Samsung smart TVs get a change in software through a multi-year partnership with Yahoo-- the Yahoo Broadcast Interactivity platform finds a home in the 2012 Samsung smart TV lineup.

SoundPrint automatic content recognition (ACR) technology powers the Yahoo TV platform, and will be integrated in the Samsung SyncPlus platform.

The Yahoo technology allows for interactive content during programming, with features such as trivia, program statistics and games. It also allows the use of smartphones or tablets as surrogate remotes for the viewing and sharing of additional interactive content.

So far the updated features will be available to Samsung TVs in the US as a firmware update, but neither company mention availability in EMEA regions as yet.

Go Yahoo and Samsung Form Multi-Year Partnership to Deliver Interactive TV

HP will not make a smartphone on 2013, Meg Whitman says at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo 2012-- instead, the company is "more concerned about the pads."

However HP should take on smartphones from 2014 onward, since Whitman also claims "...we've got to, I believe, have the full array of devices." Whitman gives no further details on the future smartphone plans, meaning the OS of HP choice (webOS? Windows Phone? Android?) remains a mystery.

Whitman already mentioned HP has mobile plans last September in an interview with Fox Business.

Will HP enter the smartphone race too late? Perhaps, but then again one can never really guess which route the crazy smartphone market will take...

Edifier goes for punctuation with the e10 Exclaim PC speakers-- a 2.0 channel system with an interesting design similar to the exclamation mark.

Each Exclaim speaker carries an internal amplifier with (combined) 36W RMS of power driving 6 internal active speakers, while 2 passive radiators in the midrange/tweeter housings raise efficiency and dynamic range.

A further 2 supplementary passive radiators augment deep bass and woofer performance.

The speakers also include full integral DSP and DRC providing what Edifier says is "superb tonal balance" with minimum distortion. Connection to any device comes through included 3.5mm aux cable.

Go Edifier e10 Exclaim Speakers

Private equity firm OpCapita officially puts Comet into administration, handing the ailing 236-store business to restructuring specialist Deloitte.

Next up for OpCapita is the "urgent process" of finding a suitable buyer for the retailer. In the meantime, all Comet shops will continue to trade and pay employees, even if the Comet website is currently out of action.

The retailer also suspended gift vouchers and refunds on faulty goods, much to the ire of customers-to-be. A firesale of remaining Comet store stock is also in the works.

"Our immediate priorities are to stabilise the business, fully assess its financial position, and begin an urgent process to seek a suitable buyer which would also preserve jobs," Deloitte joint administrator Neville Kahn says. Among the factors pushing Comet to the brink are suppliers unwilling to provide Comet with credit for the holiday season stock-up.

Deloitte also blames the failure on the lack of first-time home-buyers, a key customer segment for the retailer.

Less than a year ago OpCapita bought Comet for "an aggregate consideration of £2." It also received a dowry worth a tidy £50 million from former owners Kesa, who also kept the liability of paying out the Comet Benefit Pension Scheme.

Go Deloitte Appointed Administrators to Comet