Logitech International says that a weak market is to blame for slow sales, rather than competition from Microsoft.

The company recently announced a lower-than-expected profit of $25.6 million for the first quarter, down from $30.1 million. It blamed the drop on a steep fall in webcam sales.

Webcam sales were particularly disappointing in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region, where the market was much slower than expected, it said.

The company’s chief executive, Guerrino de Luca, claimed that poor sales in the first quarter were not due to increased competition from Microsoft.

"We would never underestimate a competitor like Microsoft. Our view is that a slowdown in the market is responsible for the slump in webcam sales," Mr de Luca said in an interview with the AFX newswire.

Leading liquid-crystal display (LCD) TV manufacturer Sharp says that the average price of large models will fall by around 25 per cent this year - as a result of increased competition.

Sharp recently reported that its earnings over the first quarter increased by 1.4 per cent thanks to sales of its Aquos televisions, thus joining Samsung and LG in announcing increased profits.

"The price of LCD TVs in the 40-inch category, currently about $2,600 to $2,700, will fall to less than $2,000 by the end of this year,” Toshihiko Hirobe, deputy general manager of Sharp’s large-sized LCD TV business, is quoted by Bloomberg as saying.

In the 30-inch category, prices are "hitting bottom" he added.

Mr Hirobe went on to say that he thought the competition between LCD and plasma TVs was now firmly weighted in LCD’s favour.

"In Japan, the competition is almost over, with the LCD industry the winner,” Mr Hirobe commented.

"In the U.S., full high-definition LCD TVs will gain a big market share and there will be no room for plasma TVs," he added.

Samsung has announced the release of a new eight megapixel digital camera i85 with PMP functionality that acts as a multi-purpose camera.

It has a 3.0-inch high-resolution LCD screen, NV lens, 5x optical zoom, a one centimetre super macro focus and 1/2,000 second shutter speed.

An external SDHC/SD card, with a guaranteed maximum of 4GB, and a 256MB of internal memory are also included. The PMP functionality allows users to experience movies, music videos, and television shows.

When in PMP mode, videos, as well as MP3 audio files can be played - and it supports WAV, MP3, MPEG, AVI, MOV, WMV and ASF video files after conversion via bundled software.

"At Samsung, we take great pride in setting new standards when it comes to technology as well as our ability to give consumers new ways to integrate their lifestyles with their electronics," Stewart Henderson, vice president of marketing at Samsung Opto-Electronics America, commented.

"Essentially a lifestyle accessory for the tech savvy, the i85 gives users the ability to shed the various gadgets that they would typically take with them on a daily basis, such as their MP3 players or video cameras, and simply carry one device.

"And with the World Tour Guide function, which we first launched with the L74 Wide earlier this year, the i85 puts a host of valuable travel information and must-see sites right in the palm of the user’s hand."

UK firm Blue Tree Services is offering a child tracking service by which parents can monitor the location of their children continuously with four-metre accuracy.

The service costs £19.95 per month.

Children are equipped with a lightweight BlueRanger GPS tracking device, which then lets parents keep an eye on he position of their child on a personalised mapping system. Office workers could make sure their children were safe from the comfort of their office - as the system can be accessed through the internet, on a PDA or by using a mobile phone.

"We have seen a huge demand for this product from across all sectors of society," Mike Smuts, managing director of Blue Tree Services, said.

"It is good to know that parents can allow their children a little more freedom and at the same time manage their independence.

"The BlueRanger GPS tracking system allows them to constantly review the location and wellbeing of their child, and be alerted if something is wrong."

The UK’s largest mobile phone company, O2 has been forced to drop its mobile internet service, because of a lack of customer interest.

O2 has 546,000 subscribers to its i-mode service in the UK and Ireland - but this still represents a miserly three per cent of its 18 million-strong customer base in these two markets.

i-mode, developed by Japanese mobile giant NTT DoCoMo, was meant to be the driving force behind the push to get phone owners in the UK to use lucrative services other than simply texting and making calls.

It allows people to use tailored internet services such as looking for a weather forecast or booking cinema tickets while on the move.

O2 signed a deal with DoCoMo to bring the service to the UK, after it enjoyed phenomenal success in Japan, acquiring 45 million subscribers on the Pacific island.

But it has blamed a lack of suitable handsets on poor take-up ratios.

"The service has proven to be successful with rich content and high satisfaction amongst users.

"However, a limited range of devices has restricted its growth and we don’t see that changing … We will continue to manage and serve any existing UK i-mode customers until July 2009," O2 said in a statement

A man in the US recently watched on in horror as a burglar ransacked his home, while he was miles surveying the scene through a webcam.

Thomas Arline has a webcam surveillance system installed at his home in East Orange County, Florida, and he is able to watch it from where he works near the 70,000 capacity Citrus Bowl stadium in Orlando.

His motion sensor cameras sent him an email alert, notifying him that an intruder might have entered his property. He then logged on and looked through his webcam as an as-of-yet unidentified man ransack his house, go through his wife’s clothing and even make off with several pillows.

"I seen him outside. I seen him get in, then I made the decision to call 911," Mr Arline told Florida news channel wftv.com.

"During this whole thing, I got a little crowd behind me of the guys in the office. They’re saying, "Wow, it does look like he’s got the laptop now."

Responding to two lawsuits brought against it by HP, Acer has launched a counterclaim against its US competitor.

Laptop and PC manufacturer Acer is enjoying brisk growth at the moment, with shipments in the US up by 163.8 per cent year-on-year in the most recent quarter, figures from market research company IDC show.

HP recently filed two lawsuits against Acer, alleging that the Taiwanese manufacturer infringed on ten patents belonging to it and relating to PCs. HP is looking for treble damages for intentional violation added to payment of its legal fees. It is also looking for jury trials and hopes to block Acer PC imports to the US.

But Acer has filed a counterclaim, saying that HP infringed on its antenna and DVD-ROM head technology patents.

The claims and counterclaims come at a time when Acer is making significant gains in the US market and has become the fastest growing PC manufacturer out of the top ten firms. Many analysts say that HP’s actions are a response to Acer’s threatening growth.

HD DVD player sales in the US went up markedly in the second quarter of 2007 - with disc sales also enjoying equivalent growth, a new study from the North American HD DVD Promotional Group claims.

The group is a conglomerate of companies backing the HD DVD disc format against its competitor Blu-ray. Its figures assert that sales of the rival Blu-ray player fell by 27 per cent in the second quarter, compared to first quarter totals.

Blu-ray disc sales were also down by five per cent, the HD group said.

The HD DVD Promotional Group says that its figures are based on Nielsen Netratings, sales data from studios and NPD reports. Figures from the group have been consistently challenged by Blu-ray fans, however - as they do not include sales of Sony’s PlayStation 3, which comes with a Blu-ray player embedded.

"The numbers are clear - HD DVD is steadily gaining momentum and market share," Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group, commented.

"With HD DVD CE players now at [suggested retail] prices starting at $299 and with strong marketing campaigns around new HD DVD titles with web-enabled interactive features, we are continuing to raise the bar for the consumer experience."

HP says that its new software platform for HP server and storage management, HP Systems and Insight Manager (SIM), can lower costs by as much as 34 per cent.

A study, carried out by research firm IDC and financed by HP, says that savings of $35,000 per 100 users are possible over a three-year period, representing cost reduction of over 33 per cent and return-on-investment of 468 per cent.

The research claimed that unplanned server downtime was reduced by 77 per cent through the introduction of HP SIM.

"As the industry’s server management benchmark, HP SIM is helping customers improve business outcomes every day," said Scott Farrand, vice president of industry standard server software at HP.

"With the new management capabilities for HP SIM, HP customers can better control their energy-related costs, accelerate growth and mitigate risks."

The company also has announced that power capping and collaborative remote management capabilities have been added to HP Insight Control - the "unified infrastructure management portfolio for HP ProLiant and BladeSystem servers".

HP has resolved a patent infringement lawsuit regarding cartridges for its inkjet printers.

The company had brought a lawsuit against German InkTec GmbH Zentrale and PCE Group, claiming that they had infringed on a patent regarding inks used in the refilling of certain inkjet cartridges.

In its original action, HP said that certain ink refill kits sold by InkTec and distributed by PCE Group had broken two patents on ink formulation.

Both InkTec and the PCE Group have "acknowledged the validity of the HP patents in suit and admitted to infringement", HP claimed. The two companies have agreed to withdraw the offending products in Germany and other countries where the patent is held and will pay HP an undisclosed sum in damages.

"HP will continue to invest in technology that benefits customers and to vigorously protect this investment," Michael Hoffmann, senior vice president of supplies, imaging and printing group at HP, commented.

"We’re pleased to have resolved this matter quickly without extensive litigation and will continue to monitor InkTec and others for possible patent infringement as part of our ongoing worldwide testing and enforcement efforts."