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DTV converter boxes aplenty, but good luck finding an antenna
NEW YORK--Louise Coleman of Brooklyn, N.Y., did everything she was supposed to do before full-power TV broadcasters in the U.S. turned off their analog TV signals and started broadcasting only in digital, but she still found herself in a Best Buy store on the DTV deadline day, Friday, buying the last amplified digital antenna on the store shelf. 
An indoor amplified HDTV antenna from RCA, which is owned by Audiovox
(Credit: Audiovox)Coleman said she had gotten her $40 coupon from the government and bought a digital converter box for her older analog TV before the first deadline for the switch to digital TV on February 17. And she even bought a new flat screen digital-ready TV for her living room to replace an old analog TV that was on its last legs. So she thought she was prepared.
But when Coleman hooked up her digital converter box to her TV using her existing antenna on the eve of the digital transition, she discovered that she could get every regular broadcast TV station except channel 2. Meanwhile, using a new TV antenna with a built-in signal amplifier attached to her digital ready flat-screen TV, she was able to get all the regular channels, plus two extra channels. So off she went to Best Buy, to pick up the very last digital TV antenna with a signal amplifier the store had in stock at a cost of $50.
"I was prepared back in February for the switch," she said. "But then when I hooked up the box last night, I realized that I wasn't getting all the channels and that I probably needed a different antenna, so here I am again."
Coleman was not alone. While much of the hoopla around the digital TV transition for the past several months has focused on whether people with older analog TVs had a digital converter box to receive digital signals, a big issue for New Yorkers on Friday when broadcasters flipped the switch to digital was finding an antenna to improve their reception.
TV antennas were in short supply in New York City Friday when full power broadcast TV stations switched to digital-only TV broadcasts.
(Credit: Marguerite Reardon CNET )By 1 p.m. EDT the Radio Shack on 23rd Street near Park Avenue had plenty of converter boxes in the store, but it was all out of antennas. The Best Buy just down the block on 23rd Street and 6th Avenue only had a few antennas left by mid-afternoon. And by 5 p.m. a Best Buy customer service representative at the store on Broadway and 62nd Street said that antennas were sold out in Manhattan. The only stores that still had them in stock were in Queens. As for converter boxes, the representative said the store still had 242 left.
Justin Barber, a spokesman for Best Buy, said that as of Friday evening, Best Buy stores across the country were meeting demand for converter boxes. He couldn't say whether other areas around the country were experiencing antenna shortages. But he said that the company had anticipated a spike in demand.
"We have been working with our antenna vendors to get additional inventory," he said. "That was definitely something we were planning for in anticipation of the DTV switch."
It's difficult to say how widespread the potential antenna shortage has been. Mark Wigfield, a spokesman for the Federal Communications Commission, said he hadn't heard that antennas were in short supply. But he said he wasn't surprised that antennas are in high demand.
"You really do need an antenna to receive digital signals," he said.
Best Buy had plenty of digital TV converter boxes on hand for last minute shoppers.
(Credit: Marguerite Reardon CNET )But Wigfield added that people may not need to rush out and buy a new antenna. They may be able to use the existing antenna they had used to get analog TV signals. But he said that whether the antenna is new or old, consumers should make sure it supports both UHF and VHF radio frequencies. VHF antennas have traditionally been the rabbit-ear antennas that receive channels 2-13. And UHF antennas have been in the shape of a circle or bow-tie. These antennas are used to tune channels 14-51. Now that broadcasters are only transmitting in digital, it's important to have an antenna that supports both VHF and UHF, since many digital signals are now being broadcast in UHF frequencies.
In addition to VHF/UHF antennas there are also amplified antennas that can be used to improve reception. In the case of Louise Coleman, the amplified antenna, helped her get all the standard TV channels offered in her area, as well as two more channels she couldn't get with analog TV.
But retailers caution consumers that no antenna is a one-size fits all solution, something Richard Savelli, of Manhattan learned the hard way. Savelli had bought a basic rabbit ear-style antenna from Radio Shack when he picked up his converter box earlier this year, but even with the new antenna he isn't able to tune in some digital TV channels. He was in Best Buy on Friday looking to buy a new antenna. But the pickings were rather slim.
"It is frustrating," he said. "Nobody told me I needed a special antenna. But cable is too expensive and I don't want to give them my money."
Figuring out exactly which antenna to use can be a big challenge. The FCC has some information on its Web site www.dtv.gov that provides some help. But most of the information on the Internet is about outside antennas. Still, Wigfield recommends that consumers check out the FCC Website and use a tool that allows people to put in their address and ZIP code to see where their local station transmitters are located and what kind of signal they can expect to get. There is also information available about the different types of antennas.
CNET Reviews associate editor Matthew Moskovciak says that the position of the antenna is often more important than the type of antenna used. He also says that newer converter boxes work much better than ones made just a few years. Moskovciak, who reviews antennas and digital converter boxes for CNET, has also been an over-the-air TV viewer for the past three years. And he says he has spent hours testing and figuring out which solution works best for getting digital TV signals in his Astoria, Queens, apartment.
What he has discovered is that an expensive amplified antenna did not perform as well in his apartment as a much cheaper HDTV UHF/VHF antenna. He uses an HDTV "silver sensor" antenna that costs around $35, versus $50 or more for an antenna with a signal amplifier. And he says that he not only gets more TV channels than he did with analog, but that the TV channels he is getting are much better quality in high definition and with surround sound.
A silver sensor HDTV antenna from Philips that is similar to the one CNET editor Matthew Moskovciak uses.
(Credit: CNET)But he adds that everyone's experience is different, and that some people living in a different part of the city or even someone in his own neighborhood or building whose apartment is facing a different direction could have an easier or a harder time getting a signal with the same equipment.
So what are consumers to do? Here are a few tips that can be used to help get you started setting up your antenna for digital reception.
• Make sure you are using an antenna that supports UHF and VHF.
• Move your antenna closer to a window. Often it's much easier to get reception from the window.
• Point the antenna in the direction where you know local TV stations are broadcasting. You may have to adjust the antenna for different channels.
• Rescan your digital converter box or tuner to find the channels in case the broadcaster has moved them.
• If you're still unable to get a signal, try a new antenna. Moskovciak recommends not buying the most expensive antenna first. Instead, he says to work your way up, trying different antennas to see which one works best. Often a less expensive antenna may work better than a more expensive one. Best Buy has a 30-day return policy, so try as many antennas as you want, and return the ones that you don't need.
"It's definitely not easy to set this up perfectly," Moskovciak said. "I've spent a lot of time getting mine set up. I have my antenna taped to the wall and pointing toward the transmitters. But I really don't watch TV all that much, so I can't justify spending another $50 a month on cable."
Who wins, loses with browser-less Windows 7
Microsoft's move to offer Windows 7 in Europe without a browser may help rivals, but it could make life more difficult for European consumers, particularly those who want to upgrade their existing machines.
As first reported earlier on Thursday by CNET News, Microsoft plans to ship Windows 7 to both PC makers and retail stores with Internet Explorer removed.
Now, most people will get Windows 7 on a new PC. Presumably, in that case, the computer maker will chose to add back Internet Explorer, include one or more rival browsers, or do both.
Indeed, that is what Microsoft itself is suggesting.
"Microsoft recommends that OEMs pre-install either
IE8 or at least one other browser of their choice before distribution," Microsoft said in a memo to PC makers that was seen by CNET News. "If you do this, your end users in the European territory should be able to access the Internet without any additional steps or inconvenience."
The real hassle comes for those who want to upgrade their existing PC to Windows 7.
Moving from
Windows Vista to Windows 7 can normally be done via an upgrade that preserves one's applications and data. However, because it removes the browser, moving to the "E" version of Windows 7 can only be done with a clean installation.
At that point, users have a system with no browser at all. So if they want
Firefox or Opera or any other browser, they have no easy way to get it. For its part, Microsoft plans to make it as easy as possible for them to get IE. It will offer it via CD-ROMs at retail stores and via FTP, an old file downloading technique that has been largely sidelined due to modern browsers.
Forrester Research analyst J.P. Gownder said that the result is something that is very unfriendly to the very consumers that the EU is allegedly trying to protect. The European Union said in January that it had reached a preliminary finding that the inclusion of a browser within Windows violated its antitrust laws.
"It's a disaster caused by poor regulatory oversight," he said."It's definitely regulation gone wild and it's not going to help the consumer."
Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, said the software maker probably made the move in an effort to avoid further regulatory action on the part of the European Union, which said in January that it believed the inclusion of a browser in Windows was a violation of European antitrust law.
"I guess Microsoft has taken the preemptive move to avoid a big fine," he said. "The EU didn't ask them to do this. They are still fighting the statement of objections."
So who benefits? Well, PC makers stand to gain, because they now have a more valuable piece of real estate to sell. In the past, they could offer deals to include rival browsers as the default on a new PC, but they were still shipping a PC with Internet Explorer. Presumably now, a browser maker could strike a deal to be the only browser on a machine.
"It certainly gives them a new placement to sell," Rosoff said. "Previously, with IE included, there wasn't as much incentive for browser makers to strike these kind of deals."
Of course, striking an exclusive deal would probably take a lot of cash. So it would seem Google, and not Opera (which brought the EU complaint), is in the best position to take advantage of the new landscape.
Gownder said he expects most new machines sold in Europe will still come with Internet Explorer, though some smaller PC makers might opt to exclude Microsoft's browser.
"It could be that there are some deals cut," Gownder said. "I would think the more typical case is that they ship with IE or IE plus one other."
As for Microsoft, Rosoff said that the company plans to offer an "Internet Pack" disc that includes not only IE, but also its Windows Live programs such as Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Messenger.
How Intuit managed to hold off Microsoft
The defeat of Microsoft Money at the hands of Intuit's Quicken marks a rare chapter in the annals of software history.
Intuit is one of the few companies to take Microsoft head-on on its home turf--packaged software--and come out on top. Even more notably, Intuit has managed to do it several times, with Quicken of course, but also with QuickBooks and TurboTax.
Of course, it was more than just Intuit's success that led to Money's demise, which CNET News first reported on Wednesday. The product was ultimately doomed by several factors, including a shift away from packaged software, the rise of Internet-based rivals like Mint.com, and a brutal economy that has forced Microsoft to scale back ambitions in several areas.
In its heyday, though, the battle between Intuit's Quicken and Microsoft's Money was a fierce one. While Quicken dominated in retail sales, Microsoft landed some key deals with banks and was able to get many computer makers to pre-load Money on new PCs.
Robbie Cape, who ran the Money business from 1999-2001 said that while the company could keep pace on the software end, it could never duplicate Intuit's marketing prowess or its dominance of the retail market.
Robbie Cape, who ran Microsoft's Money business in its heyday from 1999-2001, now runs Cozi, a Seattle-based startup.
(Credit: Cozi)
"It really has very little to do with technology," said Cape, who is now CEO of Cozi, a Seattle-based start-up. "What Intuit and Scott Cook were so formidable at was consumer marketing. He treated marketing Intuit very much the same way as one would treat marketing a bar of soap or bottle of shampoo. He made Quicken a household name. He spent outrageous dollars to get there."
Intuit spokesman Scott Gulbransen said his company simply had the better product. "Customers voted with their wallet," he said.
NPD analyst Stephen Baker said that Intuit won out because it was aggressive and built critical mass in the finance software arena, adding a number of adjacent products and dominating the retail channel.
Whatever the case, it was an epic battle that stretched on for years. Microsoft tried to buy Intuit in the mid-1990s but saw that effort halted by regulatory disapproval.
In the wake of the failed takeover bid, Microsoft doubled down in its efforts to take on Quicken. The company added a ton of partners, revamped the product's design, and tried to integrate a host of new financial planning tools.
Cape said the pinnacle of its effort came in 2000 when Wall Street Journal reviewer Walt Mossberg gave Microsoft Money the edge over Quicken in his review.
However, even with some positive reviews, Money never managed to overtake Quicken and Microsoft's product has been on the wane for some time. The clear sign that the end might be near came last year, when Microsoft announced it would stop annually updating the product and would shift to an online-only sales model as opposed to also offering the product at retail stores.
"The writing was kind of on the wall," Gulbransen said.
Baker says Microsoft's inability to make a viable business out of the online-only sales model shows that a Web-based sales approach isn't enough to keep all consumer software alive.
"While the retail packaged software market is tough it is not easier to be online only," Baker said. "Your audience is much more limited and (the) potential customer base is much smaller when you go to the cloud. That business model is not a panacea when you are in a struggling market."
Still up in the air is another Microsoft product that aimed to take on Intuit but fell short--Microsoft's small business accounting product. It was launched amid some fanfare in September 2005, but struggled to make inroads in a field dominated by Intuit's Quickbooks. Microsoft discontinued boxed sales of the product and last year made it available for free download as Office Accounting Express 2009 for free download.
A modest payoff from Money
As for Money, while it was never the dominant player, it did break some technical ground for Microsoft. It was one of the first programs at Microsoft to merge Internet content directly into a desktop application and it was also among the first PC-based programs to include advertising directly from a CD.
In many ways, Money was the precursor to Microsoft's "software plus services" strategy, in which the company posits that desktop software won't be replaced by online options, but will rather lead to hybrid products.
Scott Cook founded Intuit in 1983. He's now chairs the executive committee.
(Credit: Intuit)
Indeed, when Microsoft was plotting the future of its consumer software lines earlier this decade, it often pointed to Money as the archetype of how advertising and online content could merge with locally run code to form the hybrid application of the future. In a series of ThinkWeek papers seen by CNET News, Microsoft researchers argued that the company might need to even take things further and make many of its desktop products free, tapping advertising to support their development.
Of course, the question that lingers is what went wrong with Money. Was it that the strategy itself was wrong? Was Microsoft just too far behind, or did the company just not go far enough. Microsoft never opted to make Money entirely free, though it did offer a $20 Money Essentials product and included it in one of the Microsoft Works bundles often included on new PCs.
For his part, Cape moved on from Microsoft in 2001 and now runs Cozi, whose online tool aims to help families juggle a busy calendar. Cape said he learned a lot from working on Microsoft Money. Chief among those lessons was that user experience matters.
"Managing your family logistics and your family calendar is about as fun as managing your personal finances," Cape said. "It's not exciting. What we've done at Cozi, which is very much like what we tried very hard to do on Money, is to take that mundane, ho-hum experience and not only make it fun but also make it beautiful."
As for Microsoft and Intuit, the longtime rivals are now working together--building a tool that will allow Money users to move their information over to Quicken.
"We're working with Intuit to help develop a file conversion process that will help Money customers more easily convert their existing data files to Quicken," Microsoft director Adam Sohn said. "Both Intuit and Microsoft hope this will be ready to go for the new release of Quicken this fall."
Intuit says it is happy to have the business.
"We look it as an opportunity to show Microsoft Money customers what they have been missing...over the years," Gulbransen said.
Lakers slide by Magic in OT, snare 2-0 advantage in Finals
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lucky to have a second chance, the Los Angeles Lakers grabbed it.
Kobe Bryant and Co. held on and are in control of the NBA Finals — just barely.
Orlando rookie Courtney Lee missed a potential winning layup as regulation ended, giving Los Angeles another shot it didn't waste. Pau Gasol scored seven points in overtime as the Lakers, so dominant in the series opener, survived with a 101-96 win over the Magic in Game 2 on Sunday night.
GAME 2 REPORT: Lakers 101, Magic 96 (OT)
"There is a sense of relief because they played very well," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "There's no doubt they had every opportunity or chance to win."
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Los Angeles Lakers | Kobe Bryant | Orlando Magic | Phil Jackson | Dwight Howard | Stan Van Gundy | Pau Gasol | Lamar Odom | Rashard Lewis | Derek Fisher
If Orlando doesn't come back and win a game in the series, Lee's miss may go down as one of the biggest tough-luck stories in Finals history.
He had a chance to give the Magic its first Finals win, but misfired.
"We missed it. I don't know what else to say," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We executed well, Hedo (Turkoglu) made a great pass. I'm not trying to be a pain ... Hedo made a great pass and he just missed it."
Orlando may not get a better shot to beat the Lakers.
"We blew a lot of assignments tonight — a lot of assignments — and we still managed to get a win," Bryant said.
When it was finally over, Derek Fisher and the Lakers jogged to the locker room, smiling and high-fiving fans along the way.
Turkoglu trudged through the tunnel dejected, a towel hanging from his head.
Bryant scored 29 points, Gasol added 24 and 10 rebounds and Lamar Odom 19 points for the Lakers, who won Game 1 by 25 but needed 53 minutes to put away the Magic.
Rashard Lewis scored 34 — 18 in the second quarter alone — and Dwight Howard had 17 points and 16 rebounds for Orlando.
Game 3 is Tuesday night at Orlando's Amway Arena, which will be hosting a Finals game for the first time since June 9, 1995.
With the score tied at 88-88 in regulation, Lee missed the first of two late-game shots when he drove the lane and missed a contested layup with 10.5 seconds remaining.
The Lakers called time with 9.1 seconds to play, and after Odom caught the inbounds pass, he quickly gave it to Bryant, who drove into a crowd. Bryant attempted an off-balance 12-footer, but his shot was blocked from behind by Turkoglu with 1.8 seconds left.
The horn sounded, the clock expired to zeros and Jack Nicholson and the star-studded Staples Center crowd braced for overtime.
But the officials huddled at the scorer's table and decided to put 0.6 seconds back on the clock because Turkoglu grabbed the ball land called timeout.
Turkoglu couldn't find anyone open and was forced to call a timeout. On the Magic's second attempt, Lee got free on a perfectly executed play and caught Turkoglu's long lob pass as he neared the left side of the basket. But with 7-foot Gasol closing in on him, Lee's shot caromed off the backboard and front of the rim.
Howard dunked in the miss as Lee put his hands behind his head in disbelief and began a long walk back to the bench as his teammates tried to console him.
So close. So far.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
2 bodies, ticket and backpack found in Air France probe
PARIS (AP) — Searchers found two bodies and a briefcase containing a ticket for Air France Flight 447 in the Atlantic Ocean close to where the jetliner is believed to have crashed, a Brazil military official said Saturday.
The two male bodies were recovered Saturday morning about 45 miles south of where Air France Flight 447 emitted its last signals — roughly 400 miles northeast of the Fernando de Noronha islands off Brazil's northern coast.
Brazilian air force spokesman Col. Jorge Amaral said an Air France ticket was found inside a leather briefcase.
"It was confirmed with Air France that the ticket number corresponds to a passenger on the flight," he said.
Admiral Edison Lawrence said the bodies were being transported to the Fernando de Noronha islands for identification. A backpack with a vaccination card also was recovered.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Air France
The French agency investigating the disaster, meanwhile, said airspeed instruments on the plane were not replaced as the maker recommended before it disappeared in turbulent weather nearly a week ago.
The French accident investigation agency, BEA, found the plane received inconsistent airspeed readings from different instruments as it struggled in a massive thunderstorm on its flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people aboard.
Airbus had recommended that all its airline customers replace speed-measuring instruments known as Pitot tubes on the A330, the model used for Flight 447, said Paul-Louis Arslanian, the head of the agency.
Air France issued details about the monitors Saturday, hours after the French agency investigating the disaster of Flight 447 said the instruments were not replaced before the plane crashed last week en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
The airline acknowledged that speed monitors on its Airbus planes have proven faulty, icing up at high altitude, and that recommendations to change them were first made in September 2007.
Air France said it began replacing the monitors on the Airbus A330 model on April 27.
Pitot monitors are used to measure aerodynamic speed.
An Air France statement said icing of the monitors at high altitude has led to loss of needed flying information.
Arslanian cautioned that it is too early to draw conclusions about the role of Pitot tubes in the crash, saying that "it does not mean that without replacing the Pitots that the A330 was dangerous."
He told a news conference at the agency's headquarters near Paris that the crash of Flight 447 does not mean similar planes are unsafe, adding that he told family members not to worry about flying.
Airbus had made the recommendation for "a number of reasons," he said.
The finds could potentially establish a more precise search area for the crucial black box flight recorders that could tell investigators why the jet crashed, although Brazilian authorities refused to comment on implications for the search.
Investigators have been searching a zone of several hundred square miles for debris. A blue plane seat with a serial number on it has been recovered — but officials were still trying to confirm with Air France that it was a seat belonging to Flight 477.
The investigation is increasingly focused on whether external instruments may have iced over, confusing speed sensors and leading computers to set the plane's speed too fast or slow — a potentially deadly mistake in severe turbulence.
Pitot tubes, protruding from the wing or fuselage of a plane, feed airspeed sensors and are heated to prevent icing. A blocked or malfunctioning Pitot tube could cause an airspeed sensor to malfunction and cause the computer controlling the plane to accelerate or decelerate in a potentially dangerous way.
Air France has already replaced the Pitots on another Airbus model, the 320, after its pilots reported similar problems with the instrument, according to an Air France air safety report filed by pilots in January and obtained by The Associated Press.
The report followed an incident in which an Air France flight from Tokyo to Paris reported problems with its airspeed indicators similar to those believed to have been encountered by Flight 447. In that case, the Pitot tubes were found to have been blocked by ice.
"Following similar problems frequently encountered on the A320 fleet, preventative actions have already been decided and applied," the safety report says. The Pitots on all Air France's A320s were retrofitted with new Pitots "less susceptible to these weather conditions."
The same report says Air France decided to increase the inspection frequency for its A330 and A340 jets' Pitot tubes, but that it had been waiting for a recommendation from Airbus before installing new Pitots.
As they try to locate the wreckage, investigators are relying on 24 messages the plane sent automatically during the last minutes of the flight.
The signals show the plane's autopilot was not on, officials said, but it was not clear if the autopilot had been switched off by the pilots or had stopped working because it received conflicting airspeed readings.
The flight disappeared nearly four hours after takeoff, killing all on board. It was Air France's deadliest plane crash and the world's worst commercial air accident since 2001.
The head of France's weather forecasting agency, Alain Ratier, said weather conditions at the time of the flight were not exceptional for the time of the year and region, which is known for violent stormy weather.
On Thursday, European plane maker Airbus sent an advisory to all operators of the A330 reminding them of how to handle the plane in conditions similar to those experienced by Flight 447.
Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board, said that advisory and the Air France memo about replacing flight-speed instruments "certainly raises questions about whether the Pitot tubes, which are critical to the pilot's understanding of what's going on, were operating effectively."
Arslanian said it is vital to locate a small beacon called a "pinger" that should be attached to the cockpit voice and data recorders, now presumed to be deep in the Atlantic.
"We have no guarantee that the pinger is attached to the recorders," he said.
Holding up a pinger in the palm of his hand, he said: "This is what we are looking for in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean."
Currents could have scattered debris far along the ocean floor, he said.
President Obama said at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy Saturday that the United States had authorized all of the U.S. government's resources to help investigate the crash.
BEA head Arslanian said U.S. forces have lent the agency acoustic systems that will be fitted to two naval vessels. France's Emeraude submarine and other high-tech equipment from French marine research institute Ifremer are also being sent to the region.
The submarine, to arrive next week, will try to detect signals from the black boxes, said military spokesman Christophe Prazuck.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The two male bodies were recovered Saturday morning about 45 miles south of where Air France Flight 447 emitted its last signals — roughly 400 miles northeast of the Fernando de Noronha islands off Brazil's northern coast.
Brazilian air force spokesman Col. Jorge Amaral said an Air France ticket was found inside a leather briefcase.
"It was confirmed with Air France that the ticket number corresponds to a passenger on the flight," he said.
Admiral Edison Lawrence said the bodies were being transported to the Fernando de Noronha islands for identification. A backpack with a vaccination card also was recovered.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Air France
The French agency investigating the disaster, meanwhile, said airspeed instruments on the plane were not replaced as the maker recommended before it disappeared in turbulent weather nearly a week ago.
The French accident investigation agency, BEA, found the plane received inconsistent airspeed readings from different instruments as it struggled in a massive thunderstorm on its flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people aboard.
Airbus had recommended that all its airline customers replace speed-measuring instruments known as Pitot tubes on the A330, the model used for Flight 447, said Paul-Louis Arslanian, the head of the agency.
Air France issued details about the monitors Saturday, hours after the French agency investigating the disaster of Flight 447 said the instruments were not replaced before the plane crashed last week en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
The airline acknowledged that speed monitors on its Airbus planes have proven faulty, icing up at high altitude, and that recommendations to change them were first made in September 2007.
Air France said it began replacing the monitors on the Airbus A330 model on April 27.
Pitot monitors are used to measure aerodynamic speed.
An Air France statement said icing of the monitors at high altitude has led to loss of needed flying information.
Arslanian cautioned that it is too early to draw conclusions about the role of Pitot tubes in the crash, saying that "it does not mean that without replacing the Pitots that the A330 was dangerous."
He told a news conference at the agency's headquarters near Paris that the crash of Flight 447 does not mean similar planes are unsafe, adding that he told family members not to worry about flying.
Airbus had made the recommendation for "a number of reasons," he said.
The finds could potentially establish a more precise search area for the crucial black box flight recorders that could tell investigators why the jet crashed, although Brazilian authorities refused to comment on implications for the search.
Investigators have been searching a zone of several hundred square miles for debris. A blue plane seat with a serial number on it has been recovered — but officials were still trying to confirm with Air France that it was a seat belonging to Flight 477.
The investigation is increasingly focused on whether external instruments may have iced over, confusing speed sensors and leading computers to set the plane's speed too fast or slow — a potentially deadly mistake in severe turbulence.
Pitot tubes, protruding from the wing or fuselage of a plane, feed airspeed sensors and are heated to prevent icing. A blocked or malfunctioning Pitot tube could cause an airspeed sensor to malfunction and cause the computer controlling the plane to accelerate or decelerate in a potentially dangerous way.
Air France has already replaced the Pitots on another Airbus model, the 320, after its pilots reported similar problems with the instrument, according to an Air France air safety report filed by pilots in January and obtained by The Associated Press.
The report followed an incident in which an Air France flight from Tokyo to Paris reported problems with its airspeed indicators similar to those believed to have been encountered by Flight 447. In that case, the Pitot tubes were found to have been blocked by ice.
"Following similar problems frequently encountered on the A320 fleet, preventative actions have already been decided and applied," the safety report says. The Pitots on all Air France's A320s were retrofitted with new Pitots "less susceptible to these weather conditions."
The same report says Air France decided to increase the inspection frequency for its A330 and A340 jets' Pitot tubes, but that it had been waiting for a recommendation from Airbus before installing new Pitots.
As they try to locate the wreckage, investigators are relying on 24 messages the plane sent automatically during the last minutes of the flight.
The signals show the plane's autopilot was not on, officials said, but it was not clear if the autopilot had been switched off by the pilots or had stopped working because it received conflicting airspeed readings.
The flight disappeared nearly four hours after takeoff, killing all on board. It was Air France's deadliest plane crash and the world's worst commercial air accident since 2001.
The head of France's weather forecasting agency, Alain Ratier, said weather conditions at the time of the flight were not exceptional for the time of the year and region, which is known for violent stormy weather.
On Thursday, European plane maker Airbus sent an advisory to all operators of the A330 reminding them of how to handle the plane in conditions similar to those experienced by Flight 447.
Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board, said that advisory and the Air France memo about replacing flight-speed instruments "certainly raises questions about whether the Pitot tubes, which are critical to the pilot's understanding of what's going on, were operating effectively."
Arslanian said it is vital to locate a small beacon called a "pinger" that should be attached to the cockpit voice and data recorders, now presumed to be deep in the Atlantic.
"We have no guarantee that the pinger is attached to the recorders," he said.
Holding up a pinger in the palm of his hand, he said: "This is what we are looking for in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean."
Currents could have scattered debris far along the ocean floor, he said.
President Obama said at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy Saturday that the United States had authorized all of the U.S. government's resources to help investigate the crash.
BEA head Arslanian said U.S. forces have lent the agency acoustic systems that will be fitted to two naval vessels. France's Emeraude submarine and other high-tech equipment from French marine research institute Ifremer are also being sent to the region.
The submarine, to arrive next week, will try to detect signals from the black boxes, said military spokesman Christophe Prazuck.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Obama calls for new start between U.S., Muslim world
CAIRO — In a speech he called a first step toward changing U.S.-Muslim relations, President Obama on Thursday called on Muslims, Jews and Christians around the world to cast aside fear and mistrust in the name of a safer, more prosperous future.
In a speech delivered at Cairo University, Obama sought to challenge stereotypes after a decade of violence and misunderstanding in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"I have come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world — one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive," he told an audience of dignitaries, students and journalists.
THE OVAL: Obama speaks in Cairo
MORE ON SPEECH: President's team cast wide net
TEXT: Read Obama's speech
He offered no new policy prescription on the key areas of discord: Arab-Israeli peace, the war in Afghanistan and Iran's nuclear ambitions. And he acknowledged as much.
"No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point," he said. "But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other, to learn from each other, to respect one another; and to seek common ground."
The only disruption during the speech came when someone from the audience shouted, "We love you." Obama did not respond as he often does at home with, "I love you back." He smiled and said, "Thank you."
U.S.-MUSLIM RELATIONS: Obama plans to reach out
Security was tight on campus and along the streets in and out of the usually chaotic city. Armed police stood on the sidewalks along miles and miles of road, spaced only about 20 feet apart.
On his way to the speech, Obama met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and visited the Sultan Hassan Mosque, one of the largest in the Islamic world, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Afterward, he conducted a roundtable interview with journalists from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Palestinian territories, Malaysia and Indonesia.
His speech was broadcast around the world and sent out via Twitter and several social-networking sites in what the White House described as its most ambitious effort to date to distribute its message.
At the university, Obama went over several key areas that, he said, have contributed to the misunderstanding and distrust that has marked U.S.-Muslim relations for years:
• On violent extremists, he offered a vigorous defense of his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan while promising that the U.S. does not intend to stay.
"America is not — and never will be — at war with Islam," Obama said. "We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security … it is my first duty as president to protect the American people."
With respect to the troop buildup, he said: "Make no mistake: We do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan. We seek no military bases there. It is agonizing for America to lose our young men and women. It is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict. We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can. But that is not yet the case."
• On the Arab-Israeli conflict, he urged both sides to follow through on their commitments and reiterated his support for a two-state solution.
He passionately reinforced the United States' bond with Israel and cautioned against the kind of heated rhetoric that has inflamed passions in the past.
"Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust," he said. "Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed — more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction — or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews — is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve."
He also highlighted the suffering of the Palestinians.
"It is also undeniable that the Palestinian people — Muslims and Christians — have suffered in pursuit of a homeland," he said. "For more than 60 years they have endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations — large and small — that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own."
• On Iran's nuclear ambitions, Obama said the world has reached "a decisive point."
Preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, he said, "is not simply about America's interests. It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a hugely dangerous path. "
• On the promotion of democracy, Obama acknowledged the controversy of the U.S. role in Iraq. "Let me be clear," he said. "No system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other."
In a stark contrast in tone from Bush administration officials, Obama said: "America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election. But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose.
" Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere."