Microsoft denies Blu-ray drive rumors, while Toshiba eats $1 billion
In an interview with Reuters, Microsoft shot down claims by Sony that the companies were in discussion to bring a Blu-ray drive to the Xbox 360. Meanwhile, Toshiba is expected to take a nearly $1 billion loss for abandoning HD DVD.
Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for the Xbox 360, said the company was focusing on digital distribution of entertainment through Xbox Live now that no more content is being produced for HD DVD. Microsoft halted production of its HD DVD add-on and discounted remaining units last month.
Microsoft's IE architect: IE8 is what we've been building up to
FROM MIX 08 - For Internet Explorer platform architect Chris Wilson, IE8 is more than just a new version. It's the realization of an effort that began with IE7 to build the best Web browser for both developers and consumers.
"IE7 was the start to IE8," Wilson told BetaNews this afternoon in Las Vegas. It's not a secret that Microsoft largely abandoned its browser after IE6 and rebuilt the development team from scratch for IE7. Although it brought a number of much-needed improvements, version 7 was only a stepping stone for the company on the road to IE8.
Steve Ballmer on Google, Yahoo, Apple and more
FROM MIX 08 - In his Thursday afternoon keynote at MIX, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sat down for a one-on-one chat with former Apple employee and Alltop co-founder Guy Kawasaki. We've condensed the discussion down to the key points.
- Current status of the Yahoo deal: "We've made an offer! It's out there baby."
Circuit City gives HD DVD buyers more time to return players
Saying it wants to take care of its customers, Circuit City announced Thursday that it would extend its standard 30-day return policy to 90 days for buyers of HD DVD players.
Toshiba disclosed last month it would stop producing HD DVD players, effectively ending the high-definition format war that it was waging against Sony for the past three years. Although early adopters of HD DVD knew there was a risk that Blu-ray would come out on top, it wasn't until January -- when Warner Bros. went Blu-ray exclusive -- that Sony gained the advantage.
Silverlight 2 Beta 1 debuts with the hope of dynamic language support
FROM MIX 08 - While Silverlight was first sprung upon the public as a distributed graphics program for the Web, Microsoft is now expanding it as many thought it might, into an all-purpose, Web-based, cross-platform extension of the .NET Framework.
At one level, it's the dream of distributed software developers of decades ago: a rich programming environment with too many controls to list all in one page, the capacity to deploy applications cross-platform, and the flexibility for the logic to use the programming language of the developer's choice. We knew things were headed this way; we were just never certain of when.
Expression Studio 2 beta adds PHP, Silverlight 1.0 support
FROM MIX 08 - While Silverlight and Internet Explorer 8 are getting the most attention at MIX this year, Microsoft's Expression Studio also received an update. Version 2.0 of the suite is now in beta.
Expression Studio was first announced at MIX 06 and version 1.0 began shipping at last year's MIX 07. The tools were largely created to help companies build applications that take advantage of the new Windows Presentation Foundation found in Windows Vista.
Live from the MIX 08 keynote with Ray Ozzie, IE8, Silverlight 2
FROM MIX 08 We're in Las Vegas for Microsoft's third annual MIX 08 conference, where the Redmond company is expected to provide the first look at Internet Explorer 8. Read on as we cover the opening keynote with Ray Ozzie as it happens.
9:30am PT - The keynote is set to begin momentarily. Ray Ozzie takes the stage, makes a joke about Yahoo.
DreamWorks not yet ready to support Blu-ray
While the high-definition format war may be over, those Blu-ray owners wanting to buy Shrek and Bee Movie are out of luck for the time being.
DreamWorks Animation said yesterday it still had an exclusive deal with Toshiba to distribute its movies on HD DVD, and until Toshiba gave it the go-ahead, it would not begin offering movies in Blu-ray. DreamWorks will be releasing Bee Movie in March on HD DVD.
Apple beats Best Buy, Target in music sales; only behind Wal-Mart
With music sales on its iTunes Store continuing to grow and sales of physical CDs continuing to fall, Apple has become the second largest music retailer in the United States, only trailing retail giant Wal-Mart.
The number-two position was bestowed on Apple by research firm NPD Group, which counted the music sold during 2007. Because iTunes sells music as individual tracks while stores like Wal-Mart do not, the firm counted every 12 tracks as a single CD sold.
HD DVD add-on for Xbox 360 now only $50
After announcing it is being discontinued, Microsoft is offering the HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 for under $50 - an amazing deal or a waste of cash depending on where you stand.
While HD DVD will no longer continue as a format after Toshiba's withdrawal, and no new movies will be released, there are over 500 titles already available at discount prices. That could make the $50 investment very worthwhile, especially with Blu-ray players priced at least 6 times higher.
For 1.3 million HD DVD customers, what's next?
Toshiba and Microsoft have no Blu-ray plans
With the news early Tuesday that Toshiba is ending the next generation optical disc war by pulling the plug on HD DVD, the manufacturer said it has no plans to support or manufacture Blu-ray players. Likewise, Microsoft said it has no plans to announce.
The companies, who were the sole hardware vendors for HD DVD, are clearly going to be re-evaluating their position on the matter, but at this time they are not ready to shake hands with Sony. Microsoft on Monday said Toshiba's decision will have little impact on the Xbox 360, because games are what drive console sales. In January, Microsoft told BetaNews that it could certainly build an external Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360 if the market conditions made sense.
Microsoft says possible end of HD DVD won't impact Xbox 360
No matter what Toshiba decides to do about HD DVD, Microsoft says the decision will have little bearing on the Xbox 360 game console, for which the Redmond company sells and HD DVD add-on.
Microsoft had aligned behind HD DVD from the beginning. The company helped create the HDi interactivity platform used by the format, and offered an external player hooked to its flagship game console. Sony, in contrast, built a Blu-ray player into the PlayStation 3 and used the format for its game discs.
Toshiba denies rumors; HD DVD not dead yet
Despite reports to the contrary spreading like wildfire around blogs and mainstream news sources Monday, Toshiba said it has not made any decision to halt production of HD DVD players, while acknowledging it is evaluating its strategy moving forward.
The hubbub over HD DVD's demise began on Friday, when a brief article published in Hollywood Reporter cited an anonymous source claiming that Toshiba was making plans to exit the HD DVD business, spelling an end to the format that has been locked in a bitter war with Sony's Blu-ray format. Reuters spread the story around the world due to its syndication agreement with the Hollywood paper.
Wal-Mart won't stock HD DVD movies, players past June
Following in the footsteps of Netflix and Best Buy publicly siding with Blu-ray in the next-generation DVD format war, Wal-Mart announced Friday it will no longer be stocking HD DVD players or movies by June.
The decision was announced on Wal-Mart's Check Out blog by retail buyer Susan Chronister who is "excited" that it will make her job easier.
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