4Q 2015 NAND Flash worldwide market share: Samsung 33.6%, Toshiba 18.6%, SanDisk 15.8%, Micron 13.9%

Samsung Electronics Co. the South Korean tech giant accounted for 33.6 percent of the market in the October-December period, data compiled by industry tracker DRAMeXchange showed, beating 18.6 percent posted by Japan's Toshiba Corp.

The figures compare to the third quarter, when Samsung accounted for 31.5 percent of the market, and when Toshiba, a traditional leader in the market, held 20.5 percent.

NAND flash memory products are widely used in smartphones and laptops. Compared to mobile dynamic random access memory (DRAM), flash memory can preserve data even when it has no power supply.

Over the fourth quarter, U.S.-based SanDisk Corp. and Micron Technology Inc. also took up 15.8 percent and 13.9 percent of the market, respectively. Samsung's smaller South Korean rival, SK hynix Inc., held 10.1 percent.

"Samsung was one of the few manufacturers that experienced revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2015 on account of its lead in 3D-NAND Flash development," DRAMeXchange said, adding that its products' sales also gained ground. (Press Release below)

Press Release:

TrendForce Reports NAND Flash Revenue Fell 2.3% in 4Q15 as Oversupply Led to Falling Prices.

Set against the prior quarter, the contract prices of NAND Flash memory chips fell by 9~10% in the fourth quarter of 2015 as the market experienced oversupply. Prices of eMMC and SSD products also fell by 10~11% quarterly due to shipments of OEM devices - such as smartphones, tablets and notebooks - being weaker than expected in the same period. With the price decline being greater than bit sales, the fourth-quarter revenue of the global NAND Flash industry suffered a 2.3% quarterly decrease.

“Besides facing rapidly falling prices, the manufacturers have also reached a bottleneck in their process technology migration,” said Sean Yang, research director at DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. Memory makers that are developing or producing 3D-NAND Flash are encountering yield rate issues, with Samsung being the sole exception. As the cost reduction advantage associated with technology migration diminishes, branded NAND Flash suppliers posted significant quarterly declines in both their revenues and operating margins for the fourth quarter of last year.

Samsung

Samsung was one of the few manufacturers that experienced revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2015 on account of its lead in 3D-NAND Flash development and the rising sales of its high-density eMMC, eMCP and SSD products. In the fourth quarter, Samsung’s NAND Flash business registered a quarterly bit shipment growth of 15% and a 10~15% quarterly slide in the average selling price. The memory maker thus saw a quarterly revenue growth of 4.2% as well as a slight decrease in its operating margin.

Samsung have already shipped samples of its third-generation 3D-NAND Flash to clients and will continue to focus on developing high-density eMCP. The memory maker also plans to rely on 3D-NAND Flash to help consume more its overall capacity and will be applying this technology to enterprise and client grade SSDs of higher densities. New smartphones and tablets that will be released in the first quarter of 2016 will also carry Samsung’s 14nm eMMC and eMCP products. At the same time, Samsung will ship samples of its 14nm, TLC-based products to module makers to further improve its competitive advantage in the channel market.

Toshiba

Toshiba’s NAND Flash business was affected by market oversupply as well. Compared with the prior quarter, the memory maker’s average selling price was 13~14% lower in the fourth quarter of last year. Toshiba only recently began the trial production of 3D-NAND Flash. Moreover, the Japanese memory maker has found that its 15nm process offers limited cost reduction advantage. Thus, the company’s NAND Flash business registered a decline in its operating margin for the fourth quarter.

Toshiba’s Fab 5 continues to be the center of the manufacturer’s 15nm production, which accounted for more than 60% of the manufacturer’s total NAND Flash output by the fourth quarter of 2015. The share of TLC-based memory products in Toshiba’s total output also exceeded 40% during the same quarter due to strong demand from smartphone clients. In Toshiba’s Fab 2, equipment installation is completed and the trial production of 3D-NAND Flash has begun in the first quarter of 2016. In anticipation of future 3D-NAND Flash demand, Toshiba further plans to build a new plant next to Fab 2. Construction is expected to begin in the final quarter of 2016, and the expanded facility is scheduled to begin 3D-NAND Flash production in the first half of 2018.

SanDisk

SanDisk’s product mix adjustments have paid off as client and enterprise grade SSD sales make up an increasing share of the company’s total revenue. SanDisk also saw a 10% quarterly drop in both the average selling price and the average unit cost of its NAND Flash chips in the fourth quarter of 2015. As a result, SanDisk’s gross margin reached 43% in the fourth quarter – on par with the previous quarter.

SanDisk’s extensive Enterprise-SSD product lines (including SAS, SATA, and PCIe) continue to receive favorable reviews. SanDisk is now focusing on 15nm TLC-based products for the Client-SSD market and will be developing TLC-based eMMC and eMCP. The memory maker in particular will target the eMMC market. Since eMMC products are of high density and offer higher margins, SanDisk will be able to reduce the risk of getting into price wars.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, 75% of SanDisk’s NAND Flash output came from its 15nm process. The memory maker is also expanding its range of TLC-based products, so the TLC representation in the total output also reached 70% in the same period. Currently, SanDisk’s 3D-NAND development is in the trial production phase.

SK Hynix

Compared with the third quarter of 2015, SK Hynix’s fourth-quarter NAND Flash revenue fell by 9.3% to US$841 million. The South Korean memory supplier also saw a 4% bit shipment growth and a 15% slide in the average selling price. As tablet and smartphone shipments from strategic clients are expected to suffer a huge drop in the first quarter of 2016, DRAMeXchange projects SK Hynix to post a 10% quarterly decline in bit shipments as well.

With clients switching to TLC-based mobile NAND products, SK Hynix has raised the TLC ratio in its total NAND Flash output to 40%. The memory maker’s M14 fab, which is undergoing the second phase of its expansion, will be in operation in the second half of 2016 in order to meet this year’s 3D-NAND Flash demand. The mass production of 14nm TLC-based products will also begin in the same period.

Micron

Set against the previous fiscal period, Micron’s bit shipments for the first fiscal quarter of 2016 (from September to November last year) registered a 6% quarterly increase, while its average selling price dropped by 7% and unit cost fell by 6%. Micron’s revenue for the first fiscal quarter of 2016 therefore arrived at US$1.15 billion, up 1.9% from the prior fiscal quarter.

Micron currently is accelerating its efforts to make the transition to 3D-NAND Flash and have sent samples to module makers. Its newest fab in Singapore, 10X, is on schedule to begin mass producing 3D-NAND Flash in the second half of 2016. Micron’s product strategy for 3D-NAND Flash is focused on USBs and Client-SSDs. The memory maker has also developed its own brand of 3D-NAND Flash SSD products, which will be delivered to PC-OEMs for sampling this third quarter.

As for product mix, wafer and chip sales accounted for nearly 50% of Micron’s total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2015, while mobile NAND represented 15~20% and SSD brought in around 15%. The remainder came from automotive, telecommunications, and industrial memory products. However, the ratio of TLC-based products was around 10%, lower than previously expected. This was attributed to target customers showing stronger demand for MLC-based products used in Enterprise-SSDs.

Intel

Intel’s major Enterprise-SSD customers pulled inventory in advance during the third quarter. Consequently, Intel’s bit sales grew 10% quarterly in the fourth quarter of 2015. However, the oversupply in the fourth quarter resulted in a steeper decrease in the average selling price, causing Intel’s revenue fall slightly by 0.2% quarterly to US$662 million. 

The memory maker is currently carrying out the conversion of its Dalian fab in China from producing logic ICs to 3D-NAND Flash. The Dalian fab will begin doing small-batch runs of 3D-NAND Flash in the final quarter of 2016. Intel is also continuing its work on 3D XPoint. The testing of this next-generation memory technology will also begin in the fourth quarter of this year.

trendforce

The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge UNLOCKED International and USA version are now available.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge G935F 32GB Factory Unlocked GSM Smartphone International Version 

Galaxy s7 edge G935A Unlocked 32gb Black US version

Samsung Introduces World’s Largest Capacity (15.36TB) SSD

Samsung Introduces World’s Largest Capacity (15.36TB) SSD for Enterprise Storage Systems

Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, announced that it is now shipping the industry’s largest solid state drive (SSD) – the “PM1633a,” a 15.36 terabyte (TB) drive.

First revealed at the 2015 Flash Memory Summit in August, the 15.36TB SSD is based on a 12Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) interface, for use in enterprise storage systems. 

Because the PM1633a comes in a 2.5-inch form factor, enterprise storage managers can fit twice as many of the drives in a standard 19-inch, 2U rack, compared to an equivalent 3.5-inch storage drive.

“To satisfy an increasing market need for ultra-high-capacity SAS SSDs from leading enterprise storage system manufacturers, we are directing our best efforts toward meeting our customers’ SSD requests,” said Jung-bae Lee, Senior Vice President, Memory Product Planning and Application Engineering Team, Samsung Electronics. 

“We will continue to lead the industry with next-generation SSDs, using our advanced 3D V-NAND memory technology, in order to accelerate the growth of the premium memory market while delivering greater performance and efficiency to our customers.”

The unprecedented 15.36TB of data storage on a single SSD is enabled by combining 512 of Samsung’s 256Gb V-NAND memory chips. The 256Gb dies are stacked in 16 layers to form a single 512GB package, with a total of 32 NAND flash packages in the 15.36TB drive. Utilizing Samsung’s 3rd generation, 256-gigabit (Gb) V-NAND technology which stacks cell-arrays in 48 layers, the PM1633a line-up provides significant performance and reliability upgrades from its predecessor, the PM1633, which used Samsung’s 2nd generation, 32-layer, 128Gb V-NAND memory.

Samsung’s new PM1633a SSD provides the opportunity for significant improvements in the efficiency of IT system investments through its high storage capacity and exceptional performance. 

These performance gains stem from Samsung’s latest vertical NAND (V-NAND) flash technology, as well as the company’s proprietary controller and firmware technology.

The PM1633a SSD sports random read and write speeds of up to 200,000 and 32,000 IOPS respectively, and delivers sequential read and write speeds of up to 1,200MB/s. The random read IOPS performance is approximately 1,000 times that of SAS-type hard disks, while the sequential read and write speeds are over twice those of a typical SATA SSD. 

Inside the new SSD lie Samsung’s advanced controller units that support the 12Gb/s SAS interface, along with a total of 16GB of DRAM. Samsung also uses specially designed firmware that can access large amounts of high-density NAND flash concurrently.

The 15.36TB PM1633a drive supports 1 DWPD (drive writes per day), which means 15.36TB of data can be written every day on this single drive without failure, a level of reliability that will improve cost of ownership for enterprise storage systems. This drive can write from two to ten times as much data as typical SATA SSDs based on planar MLC and TLC NAND flash technologies.

Further, the drive boasts a highly dependable metadata protection mechanism in addition to featuring a data protection and restoration software tool in case of a momentary blackout, which make enterprise systems more stable and manageable.

Starting with the 15.36TB density, Samsung will provide a wide range of capacity options in its PM1633a SSD line-up – 7.68TB, 3.84TB, 1.92TB, 960-gigabyte (GB) and 480GB later this year. 

With more choices in storage capacity, Samsung is reinforcing the competitiveness in its SAS SSD line-up. The Samsung PM1633a SSD line-up is expected to rapidly become the overwhelming favorite over hard disks for enterprise storage systems.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge G935F 32GB Factory Unlocked GSM Smartphone International Version Gold.

LG's VR camera accredited by Google's Street View .

LG Electronics Inc., a latecomer to the virtual-reality (VR) segment, said Thursday its new smartphone camera that rotates 360-degrees officially connects to Google Inc.'s Street View service, announcing its full-fledged debut in the industry.

South Korea's No. 2 tech giant said it marked the first time for a smartphone maker to win such recognition from the U.S. giant.

Along with Samsung Electronics Co., LG Electronics introduced its first camera exclusively for VR content.

The LG 360 Cam comes with three microphones for surround-recording. Its 1,200mAh battery allows users to take a 70-minute video, with the micro SD card slot capable of expanding the capacity to 2 terabyte.

Google's Street View allows users to take a virtual trip to designated places displayed on its map.

Following the accreditation, users can post their LG 360 Cam videos on Google Street view without having to go through a file conversion.

The LG 360 Cam also connects to the G5 smartphone, which was showcased at the Mobile World Congress held in Spain last month. The smartphone is distinguishable from other rivals as it allows users to "add" features through the bottom, like the VR camera.

LG also introduced the LG 360 VR, its first headset for virtual-reality content. While users have to insert smartphones into the Samsung Gear VR, making the device inevitably heavier, the LG 306 VR only needs to be connected through a cable.

The LG 360 VR weighs 118 grams, while Samsung's weighs 318 grams, even without a smartphone inserted.

yonhapnews

Amazon Introduces Echo Dot and Amazon Tap, Two New Alexa-Enabled Devices

Amazon today introduced the Amazon tap and Amazon Echo Dot as part of the Echo family.

("Be Your Man," Seattle Folk-Rockers Ivan & Alyosha, from their lastest release "All The Times We Had.") 2013

Specifications:

Size	Amazon Tap: 6.2" x 2.6" x 2.6" (159 mm x 66 mm x 66 mm); Charging Cradle: 0.6" x 2.6" x 2.6" (15 mm x 66 mm x 66 mm)
Weight	Amazon Tap: 16.6 oz. (470 grams); Charging Cradle: 3.8 oz. (109 grams) Actual size and weight may vary by manufacturing process
Battery Life	Up to 9 hours of continuous playback. Battery life will vary based on device settings, usage, and environmental factors. Actual results may vary.
Wi-Fi Connectivity	Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or mobile hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard with support for WEP, WPA, and WPA2 security using password authentication
Bluetooth Connectivity	Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) support for audio streaming from your mobile device to Amazon Tap.  Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) for voice control of connected mobile devices. Media control over AVRCP is not supported for Mac OS X devices.
Audio	Dual 1.5-inch drivers and dual passive radiators for bass extension
System Requirements	Amazon Tap comes ready to connect to your home Wi-Fi. The Alexa App is compatible with Fire OS, Android, and iOS devices and also accessible via your web browser. Certain skills and services may require subscription or other fees. When tethering to a mobile device hotspot, standard data rates may apply.
Warranty and Service	1-year limited warranty and service included. Optional 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year extended warranty available for U.S. customers sold separately. Use of Amazon Tap is subject to the terms found here.
Included in the Box	Amazon Tap, Charging Cradle, microUSB cable and adapter, and quick start guide

Echo Dot 

ESize	1.5" x 3.3" x 3.3" (38 mm x 84 mm x 84 mm)
Weight	8.8 oz. (250 grams) Actual size and weight may vary by manufacturing process
Wi-Fi Connectivity	Dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi (MIMO) for faster streaming and fewer dropped connections than standard Wi-Fi. Supports 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networks. Does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks.
Bluetooth Connectivity	Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) support for audio streaming from your mobile device to Echo Dot or from Echo Dot to your bluetooth speaker. Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) for voice control of connected mobile devices. Hands-free voice control is not supported for Mac OS X devices. Bluetooth speakers requiring PIN codes are not supported.
Audio	Built-in speaker for voice feedback when not connected to external speakers
System Requirements	Echo Dot comes ready to connect to your home Wi-Fi. The Alexa App is compatible with Fire OS, Android, and iOS devices and also accessible via your web browser. Certain skills and services may require subscription or other fees.
Warranty and Service	1-year limited warranty and service included. Use of Echo Dot is subject to the terms found here.
Included in the Box	Echo Dot, 3.5 mm audio cable (4 ft.), power adapter (9W), USB charging cable, and Quick Start Guide P

Press Release:

—Amazon today announced two new Alexa-enabled devices: Echo Dot and Amazon Tap.

Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice controlled device that uses the same far-field voice recognition as Echo. Directly connect Echo Dot to speakers with an audio cable or via Bluetooth, and add voice-control to your home stereo system. Plus, with its small built-in speaker, you can place Echo Dot in the bedroom and use it as a smart alarm clock, or in any room as a voice assistant to control smart home devices and more. Echo Dot is available for $89.99 exclusively for Prime members through Alexa Voice Shopping. To order an Echo Dot, existing Echo and Fire TV customers can just say “Alexa, order an Echo Dot.” Learn more about Echo Dot and see a video at www.amazon.com/echodot.

Amazon Tap is an Alexa-enabled portable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker that offers rich, full-range sound. Just tap the microphone button and ask for music, hear the news, search for information, order a pizza, and more with the Alexa Voice Service. Amazon Tap has dual stereo speakers with Dolby processing that provide crisp vocals, extended bass response, and 360° omni-directional audio. Amazon Tap is available for pre-order today for $129.99. Learn more about Amazon Tap and see a video at www.amazon.com/amazontap.

Amazon.com
Media Relations
206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr

Echo Dot

Amazon Tap link

Surface Pro 4 Type Cover with Fingerprint ID available for pre-order in 26 new markets

Press Release:

It’s been a great year for Windows, and it’s clear that people and businesses are excited about Windows 10. We’ve heard from a lot of customers that they really love the convenience and security of Windows Hello, which allows them to log into their device with just a look or a touch. Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 are equipped with Windows Hello cameras, but a lot of our Surface Pro 3 customers want to use this feature as well.

In October, we announced the Surface Pro 4 Type Cover with Fingerprint ID, which allows you to log in with your fingerprint on your Surface Pro 4 or Surface Pro 3. Today, we’re pleased to announce that the Surface Pro 4 Type Cover with Fingerprint ID is now available for pre-order through MicrosoftStore.com, Surface partner retailers and Authorized Device Resellers in 26 additional markets, including Austria, Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

The Surface Pro 4 Type Cover with Fingerprint ID is the next generation of Type Cover, offering the same premium features as the Surface Pro 4 Type Cover, including the redesigned mechanical keyboard with optimal key spacing for fast and fluid typing, and an enlarged glass trackpad for precision control and navigation. The Fingerprint ID feature gives you with the added benefit of a fingerprint scanner for Windows Hello support.

We love the Surface Pro 4 Type Cover with Fingerprint ID for what it brings to both the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Pro 3—better typing and more security to instantly upgrade any device. Pre-order yours today!

– Surface Team.

Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Type Cover with Fingerprint ID (Black)

The Samsung Galaxy S7 G930F 32GB Factory Unlocked GSM Gold, Black, Silver, White are now available.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 is now available for pre-order (Deliveries March 11) as Samsung Galaxy S7 G930F 32GB Factory Unlocked GSM Smartphone International Version No Warranty (Gold) also in Black, Silver and White right here:

Notice: The offer doesn`t include the free Gear VR just the smartphone. 

The combo promotion is only available through USA carriers.

Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 edge Super AMOLED display surpassed the Note 5 Display performance.

Samsung unveiled its latest flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S7 with a 5.1" 2560x1440 (577 PPI) Super AMOLED and the S7 Edge that has a curved 5.5" 2560x1440 (535 PPI) flexibleSuper AMOLED display. According to DisplayMate, Samsung continues to improve its OLED displays, and its new Super AMOLED displays are the best ones ever tested on a mobile device, surpassing the Super AMOLED used in the Note 5.

"The GS7 display (5.1", 2560x1440, 577 PPI) is actually quite similar to the display used in the Galaxy S6, but with some significant improvements - the maximum brightness is 24% higher, and the contrast and contrast under high ambient light has also been significantly improved. 

The Galaxy S7 also introduces two important display enhancements. First us is a new personalized automatic brightness control that learns and remembers the display brightness settings that you set for various ambient light levels. 

The second improvement is the new Always-On Display mode that draws very little power and is quite useful. Finally, it turned out that this is one of the few displays that can be viewed with polarized sunglasses in both the portrait and landscape orientations. 

This is no surprise at this stage, but the performance of the flexible OLED display used in the GS7 edge is pretty much similar to the glass-based OLED of the GS7. Of course the GS7 offers a large display (5.5" vs 5.1") with the same resolution (lower PPI)."

Samsung have high hopes for the new phones, especially the S7 Edge, and According to reports from Korea, Samsung Display secured the capacity to produce 9 million flexible OLEDs per month for the S7 Edge at the A2 and A3 flexible OLED lines - which means that Samsung will pretty much use all its flexible OLED capacity for the new phones. Samsung seem to have learned from its mistake with the S6 and S6 Edge. 

Samsung estimated that most consumers will prefer the cheaper (by $100) regular S6, but in reality most consumers (75%) wanted to buy the prettier S6 Edge - and Samsung did not manage to supply enough phones. Samsung hurried to operate the new A3 flexible OLED line, but did not manage to do so in time.

New reports suggest that Samsung is discussing a large investment (around $3 billion US) into a new OLED TV panel fab, and Samsung Display recently confirmed that it is still developing large-sized OLED panels.

According to the reports, Samsung Electronics aims to release OLED TVs to the market by 2018. Samsung Display will start ordering equipment soon, if it wants to meet that deadline.

Samsung Galaxy S7 G930F 32GB Factory Unlocked GSM Smartphone International Version 

If you would like to read all the Galaxy S7/S7 edge OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out, please visit: DisplayMate

Displaymate via oledinfo

LG webOS TV is world's first AllJoyn Certified IoT smart TV

According to telecompaper, Spanish wireless testing specialist AT4 Wireless has announced that Certification Testing for the first wave of ‘AllJoyn Certified’ products has been successfully performed. According to AT4, the LG webOS TV from LG Electronics is the first consumer electronics’ device in compliance with IoT AllJoyn Certified program.

AT4 wireless has been recently selected as the Authorized Laboratory for new AllJoyn Certified Program. AT4 reports it has successfully performed the required conformance and real world interoperability testing for the end products and software components which are part of the first wave of products allowed to show AllJoyn Certified mark. 

LG webOS TV from LG Electronics is part of this group of products, becoming the first Smart TV AllJoyn Certified.

AllJoyn Certification on LG webOS TV ensures that this LG product interoperates in an AllJoyn ecosystem with other AllJoyn devices, being able to be configured and controlled, display notifications etc, thus enabling the IoT.

allseenalliance

GameFly Video Game Streaming coming to LG Smart TVs With webOS

LG Electronics USA today announced the addition of GameFly - the leading console game subscription service - to LG's webOS-enabled Smart TVs. The GameFly Streaming App will launch in late April and will enable U.S. consumers to access GameFly's premium console gaming content on LG OLED and LCD/LED TVs featuring LG's simple and fast webOS Smart TV platform.

LG Teams Up with GameFly to Bring Video Game Streaming to LG Smart TVs With webOS

Compatibility with GameFly Streaming App Will Enable U.S. Gamers to Enjoy Cloud-Based Console Game Streaming at Accessible Prices.

LG Electronics USA today announced the addition of GameFly – the leading console game subscription service – to LG's webOS-enabled Smart TVs. The GameFly Streaming App will launch in late April and will enable U.S. consumers to access GameFly's premium console gaming content on LG OLED and LCD/LED TVs featuring LG's simple and fast webOS Smart TV platform.

"The addition of GameFly to the extensive variety of content options, including leading video and music applications, available on LG Smart TVs further enhances the LG Smart TV experience," said David VanderWaal, vice president of marketing, LG Electronics USA. "LG Smart TV owners will have the ability to stream high-quality video games right to their TV and enjoy a next-gen console-like experience in the comfort of their home."

LG will provide access to the GameFly Streaming App on the company's 2016 Smart TV models featuring webOS 3.0 and 2015 Smart TV models featuring webOS 2.0 by adding the application as part of a software update in late April. The gaming content service utilizes remote cloud servers, which stream console video games over the Internet to Smart TVs and other media devices. GameFly's service will eliminate the hassle of purchasing and setting up multiple consoles and enable LG Smart TV owners to play video games at a fraction of the cost. Users will need only to turn on their TV to access the GameFly Streaming App on webOS's intuitive menu, plug in a gamepad and they are instantly immersed in hours of quality games.

With the new gaming application available at a low monthly price, LG Smart TV users will be able to enjoy GameFly Streaming packs, which bundle popular action games such as Tomb Raider: Game of the Year Edition, Batman: Arkham Origins, F.E.A.R. 3, Darksiders and Red Faction Armageddon. GameFly's library also includes Lego Batman 3, Pacman Championship Edition and WRC4 for families.

GameFly's recommended gamepads include the Logitech F310, the Logitech F710 and the Xbox wired controller.

*Wireless Internet connection required and sold separately. Agreement to smart TV terms and conditions required to use certain smart features.

About LG Electronics USA LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $49 billionglobal force and technology leader in home appliances, consumer electronics and mobile communications. LG Electronics, a proud 2015 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, sells a range of stylish and innovative home appliances, home entertainment products, mobile phones, commercial displays, air conditioning systems and solar energy solutions in the United States, all under LG's "Life's Good" marketing theme. For more news and information on LG Electronics, please visit www.LG.com.

NASA to design quiet supersonic planes for passenger travel. Video.

Supersonic passenger travel is one step closer to reality with NASA's preliminary design of a low boom flight demonstrator aircraft. (NASA)

NASA is giving Lockheed Martin about $20 million in a preliminary design contract to demonstrate a “low boom” aircraft.

When planes exceed the speed of sound — 767.269 mph — they generate what NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden described as an “annoying boom” at a news conference Monday. Because of this, supersonic flight is generally prohibited over the United States. 

NASA envisions a plane that emits a quieter sonic boom, more like a subtle thump. If supersonic flights were quiet enough to be allowed widely, the appeal of shorter flight times would likely be appealing to travelers.

“We will be able to achieve the full potential of revolutionary technology and designs that lift aviation to the next level of flying higher, safer and faster,” said Jaiwon Shin, NASA’s association administrator for aeronautics research.

There have been other efforts at supersonic flight since the sound barrier was first broken in 1947, but none have taken hold.

WP