"If you are sitting on your couch you can just use your voice to control your TV, set-top box, cable-box or whatever," Vlingo's Chris Barnett told AFP as the Consumer Electronics Show got underway in Las Vegas.

"The TV will talk back to you in Virtual Assistant mode; ask what you want to see and drill down into what you are looking for," he continued, providing a demonstration. "It is like Apple's Siri, only for your TV, only better."

Apple built sassy Siri personal assistants into iPhone 4S models released in October.

Siri artificial intelligence software was derived from research conducted to make computers more intuitive at understanding and working with soldiers in action.

Siri understands context so people can speak naturally when asking it questions.

It helps make calls, send text messages or email, schedule meetings and reminders, make notes, find local businesses, and get directions. Siri will even perform mathematical calculations if asked.

Vlingo said its Virtual Assistant software lets people tell televisions what they want it to do or find.

Viewers could ask assistants to find shows with particular actors or in preferred genres, or tell televisions to record or rent specific films or television programs.

Microphones will be built into televisions or, more likely, remote controls to let Vlingo software listen to viewers, according to Barnett.

Some television makers are expected to let people chat with Vlingo virtual assistants using smartphone "apps" or build microphones into screens.

The software could also tap into microphones in accessories such as Kinect for Xbox 360 videogame consoles.

"The Vlingo Virtual Assistant for TV is designed to modernize that thing your grandfather once called a 'remote control'," Barnett said.

"Everyone deserves their own assistant and Vlingo will make this a reality on TVs this year."

Massachussetts-based Vlingo, which is being bought by speech recognition specialty firm Nuance, said that it has deals with major electronics makers to put the software into television hardware to be released this year.

It did not disclose names of companies, citing confidentiality agreements.

With a 5.3 inch (13.46-centimeter) touchscreen, the Galaxy Note is considerably wider than most smartphones on the market today.

Apple's latest iPhone, the 4S, for example, has a 3.5-inch (8.85-centimeter) display.

In an announcement on the eve of the giant Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Samsung said it will partner with AT&T to sell the Galaxy Note in the United States and it will run on the US telecom carrier's 4G network.

The Galaxy Note, which Samsung describes as a "new category of smartphone," went on sale in Asia and Europe in October. Exact pricing and availability for the US market were not announced.

The Galaxy Note comes with a stylus, called the "S pen," which is housed inside the device and which can be used to write notes on the screen as one would on a piece of paper.

Handwritten notes from the S Pen can also be captured by the device and shared with others.

Samsung is touting the larger, high-resolution screen of the Galaxy Note as superior to standard smartphones for viewing videos, surfing the Web, running applications or reading electronic books.

The Galaxy Note, which is powered by Google's Android software, also comes with front- and rear-facing cameras.

Kodak restructures amid bankruptcy battle
Washington (AFP) Jan 10, 2012 - US photography giant Eastman Kodak, fighting to keep bankruptcy at bay, announced Tuesday a major restructuring to speed up its transformation into a digital company.

Kodak said it had reduced three segments into two on January 1: one focused on the general public and the other on professionals.

Kodak said the new business structure was "designed to increase productivity, reduce cost and accelerate its transformation into a digital company that delivers sustainable profitability and creates value for its stakeholders."

The move involves a reshuffling of top posts in the venerable US company, founded in the late 19th century.

"As we complete Kodak's transformation to a digital company, our future markets will be very different from our past, and we need to organize ourselves in keeping with that evolution," Antonio Perez, Kodak's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

Investors cheered the news of Kodak's restructuring, sending shares 30.4 percent higher to 52 cents in midday New York trade.

The company did not mention its dire financial difficulties that have spurred speculation it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection soon.

A week ago the New York Stock Exchange told the company, once one of the fabled Dow Jones industrial Average's 30 blue-chip stocks, that it faces delisting from the exchange if it cannot get its stock price back above $1.00 level.

In its heyday, in 1996, Rochester, New York-based company's shares topped $80 -- just at the outset of the digital photo revolution that eventually replaced the need for consumers to buy Kodak film, once a virtual monopoly in the US market.