Sony, HP get behind an open format for digital audio
Hewlett-Packard and Sony announced they will work together to develop a new generation of Digital Audio Tapes, called DAT 320, which will be built on an open standard so that other companies are able to contribute.
Although the two companies are collaborating to create the Digital Data Storage (DDS) standard, they both have plans to offer DAT 320 tape drives and cartridges that will eventually compete against one another. The Sony and HP products will have the same speed and capacity, though it's likely their firmware will be different, even though the drives will be interchangeable.
Sony announces $399 80 GB PlayStation 3
When early reports said Microsoft was dropping its Xbox 360 price, fans of Sony immediately began to speculate on a sympathetic price drop for PS3. While not a price cut per se, Sony today announced something similar.
At the E3 conference in Los Angeles this afternoon, Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Jack Tretton hosted the company's press conference where he announced that in September, an 80 GB Playstation3 Core unit will be made available for $399.
Apple to face off against Psystar in court
After three months of silence following the release of the Mac clone by Psystar in April, the Cupertino company sued the company over copyright infringement.
The suit was filed July 3 in the US District Court for the district of Northern California, San Francisco. Initial filings for the case are due in October, while a case management conference is scheduled for October 22, court documents indicate. Judge James Larson has been assigned to the case.
Maybe the sixth time's the charm: Podcast syndicator Odeo relaunches again
After one roller-coaster ride of a start, online media service Odeo has once again relaunched its Web site, this time adding several new features developers hope will finally help it finds its market.
Specifically created to cater to content syndicated by RSS feeds, Odeo presents viewers with a video and audio catalog ranging from boxing and mixed martial arts, to cooking and home gardening videos.
EU looks to address cross-border texting charges
Frustrated by lack of action among Europe's cellular carriers, the European Commission said Tuesday it would move to mandate lower prices for intra-European texting.
An average of €0.29 ($0.46 USD) is charged for messages, virtually unchanged since February when the EC first asked for a voluntary price drop at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
EBay prevails in counterfeit sales dispute
Yesterday, eBay secured an important legal victory after New York District Judge Richard Sullivan ruled the online auction service actually did do enough to thwart the sale of counterfeit jewelry.
The battle between Tiffany and eBay started four years ago in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, and has ended with a decision stating it's the responsibility of manufacturers to police counterfeit goods sold through eBay.
Animal Crossing: the new Wii communications platform?
In Nintendo's E3 keynote this morning, the official announcement of Animal Crossing: City Folk brought with it some unexpected functionality that the Wii had been lacking up to now: voice chat and native SMS/e-mail interactivity.
Animal Crossing: City Folk is the third in Nintendo's series of nonviolent, task-oriented, real-time games set in a fictitious village populated by anthropomorphic animals. Nintendo expects to release it before the end of 2008.
Warner begins aggressive Blu-ray Disc pricing strategy
The home video arm of the studio will cut the prices it charges retailers to order its titles in the holiday quarter, which translates to significant savings for consumers.
With Blu-ray player prices likely to sink further in anticipation of the holiday buying season, and a weakening economy cutting down on consumer spending overall, Warner Home Video's decision to cut its wholesale prices for Blu-ray movie titles may make sense.
D-Link's DivX Connected comes home
Oftentimes, it's difficult to qualify enthusiast-class hardware when it's just plain buggy, especially early in its lifecycle. Such was the case with D-Link's DSM-330 DivX Connected box, a digital media extender with wireless HD streaming.
D-Link's DivX Connected began its life as GejBox, and evolved into what we have today. At CES earlier this year, we looked at the device, and saw a promising future in it for DivX fans.
Sony launches four Centrino 2-based Vaio notebooks
At a press event last night, Sony launched four new Intel Centrino 2-based Vaio laptop PCs, including an entry-level model -- the Vaio SR -- and the Vaio Z, the first notebook PC from Sony to be configurable with a Blu-ray disc drive.
NEW YORK (BetaNews) -- Sony is now taking orders for the new Vaio Series Z, FW, BZ, and SR notebooks online and in Sony Style stores, said Nobuyasu Nozawa, senior product manager, in a meeting with BetaNews at the press launch. The new models support HDMI for HD "video in," he said. All of them use cylindrical battery technology, too. Shipment is expected the first week in August.
Microsoft still pushes Xbox 360 as all-in-one entertainment solution
Yesterday's announcement of the "New Xbox Experience" was just another step toward Microsoft's almost almost four-year-old goal of making the Xbox 360 the home's TV, movie, music and gaming center.
The Xbox 360 was launched in 2005 with Xbox Live capability, but it wasn't until 2006 when the real push for the 360 to be "more than a console" began. After increasing the size of Live games, and scrapping the HD DVD aspect of the home entertainment unit, Xbox Live experienced a growth surge.
Payoff time for Intel: The Centrino 2 platform goes live
What Intel has been calling its "tick-tock" cadence almost lost its "tock." But what was expected to be a June release ended up being July, giving partners plenty of time to build up Centrino 2 inventories in time for back-to-school.
After a delay of what ended up being only a handful of weeks, Intel's Centrino 2 mobile technology platform is now debuting worldwide. It's based on the company's 45 nm "Penryn" generation processors unveiled earlier this year, including the all-new Core 2 Duo T9400; and the new Mobile GM45 Express chipset, which boosts the memory bus speed up past the 1 GHz mark.
YouTube agrees to share viewer data, without IDs and IPs
Litigants trying to get data on what the video site's users were watching have backed off somewhat, although YouTube will still have to share some data with Viacom.
Plaintiffs Viacom and a class-action group led by the Football Association of England agreed to accept a watered-down version of YouTube's viewer logs. That version will not include the IP addresses nor the YouTube usernames of the viewers.
Microsoft: Both sides in Yahoo / Icahn spat have it wrong
What was already a two-way lack-of-meeting of the minds after Microsoft's last efforts to acquire all or part of Yahoo, has evolved into a colossal three-way misunderstanding, as evidenced by Microsoft's statement this afternoon.
In one of the more bizarre responses in a three-way merger deal fracas since the Viacom/Paramount/Blockbuster deal of the early 1990s, a Microsoft statement this afternoon -- ostensibly to refute some of the details described in a Yahoo statement early Sunday morning -- also manages to separate Microsoft's point of view from that of financier Carl Icahn. Specifically, the statement characterizes Icahn as exacerbating a deal that Microsoft was trying to put together at the request of Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock, not the other way around.
New Garmin GPS loses its buttons in the wilderness
As adventurers head further into the wilderness, GPS maker Garmin launched a new line of handheld GPS devices designed for outdoor, fitness and marine enthusiasts, including one that's both buttonless and waterproof.
The Oregon line is the predecessor successor to the Colorado line of GPS units, with several key improvements added for adventurers. This new waterproof GPS unit has become buttonless -- a major difference between the Oregon line and Colorado line, with Garmin choosing a touch screen interface.
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