Daily Marauder

TECHNOLOGY

Microsoft announced earnings class=”snap_preview_icon”> yesterday for the third quarter. Overall revenues for the quarter came in at $15 billion, growing a decent 9 percent annually. But its net profits of $4.37 billion rose only 1.9 percent. As usual, Microsoft’s stability came from is Windows client, server, and Office businesses. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/23/microsofts-chugs-along-in-the-third-quarter-but-its-online-business-is-sucking-wind 10/23)

Just in time for the holidays, Logitech will begin offering in December a premiere edition of its wireless guitar controller, which will be compatible with all “Guitar Hero” games on PlayStation 3 and “Guitar Hero World Tour” for PlayStation 2. The faux instrument, which will retail for $250, has a wooden neck, rosewood fingerboard and metal frets for extra authenticity. Digital Trends (10/23)

Slumps in its major divisions cost Samsung in the third quarter even though revenue rose 15% from a year earlier as the company reported its worst quarter for net income in three years. The company’s largest profit center, its semiconductor business, performed poorly and profits also tightened on its cell phone and flat-panel units as Samsung’s investor-relations chief warned of “even more challenging” days ahead in the fourth quarter. ClipSyndicate/Bloomberg (10/24) , The Wall Street Journal (10/24)

Retail consumer-electronics sales fell only a slighter amount last month than a year earlier, according to The NPD Group, which said flat-panel TVs, D-SLR cameras and notebook computers enjoyed solid growth in September. NPD Group said that the 2% drop in sales was an encouraging sign to the CE industry and that high-ticket items were continuing to support the industry. TWICE (10/23)

An MIT project is testing an in-car sensor technology that would help curtail traffic delays by improving the timeliness of receiving real-time data. The CarTel project, which uses a Wi-Fi network to transport the information to an MIT Web server, has installed sensors on 50 cars in the Boston area. Popular Science (10/23)

Multitaskers take note: AVerMedia has introduced the AVerTV Hybrid TVBox 11, a device that, among other things, allows users to watch their favorite HDTV shows on a computer monitor while working on other tasks. The system can go into picture-within-a-picture mode, be viewed in various sizes, pause live TV and set parental controls. Electronista (10/23)

Audi of America has announced that beginning in the 2011 model year, HD Radio will be standard equipment in many of its vehicles. TWICE (10/23) , Radio Ink (10/22)