Analysts: Studios will gain from HD DVD's exit, but consumers' won't
Consumers would really have been better off right now with Toshiba's HD DVD format for high definition video than with Sony's Blu-ray approach, a principal analyst at ABI Research told BetaNews today.
Big film studios will gain from Toshiba's exit from the high definition (HD) disk market, although not as much as they'd like -- and consumers won't benefit at all, at least initially, according to analysts at market research firm ABI Research.
Endless reboots force suspension of Vista SP1 updates
The reason it's called "beta testing" is to anticipate and isolate problems. But a big problem reported by some -- not all -- Vista SP1 testers is causing Microsoft to take a step back.
The regular update cycle for testers of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 was suspended yesterday afternoon, following multiple reports of downloaders discovering their automatically updating computers stuck in an endless cycle of reboots. This would mark the second time in two months that pockets of testers reported such a problem.
Sony taps Ensequence to deal with BD-J complexity
After many developers had already spurned Blu-ray Java (BD-J) in favor of HDi, the XML-based interactivity layer for HD DVD, the outcome of the format war is now forcing reluctant developers to accept the winner's methodology.
With the timing perhaps not coincidental, a deal was struck today between Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and interactive content developer Ensequence. The deal involves Sony Pictures reselling Ensequence's on-Q Create suite to Blu-ray partners for use on their discs.
Is your outdoor antenna ready for DTV?
Today, the Consumer Electronics Association and the National Association of Broadcasters announced upgrades to Antennaweb.org, aimed at telling the consumer whether his TV antenna (remember those?) is ready for the DTV transition.
The broadcast television switch, according to FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, needs to be presented in a more coherent fashion so consumers will no longer be confused. A recent FCC study showed that awareness of the transition reached just under 80% in January 2008, compared to 38% of the prior year. However, getting the message out is still not enough. 34 million over-the-air television viewers need more information to prevent what Adelstein referred to as "confusion that could turn into widespread panic."
Universal, Amazon hop on Blu-ray bandwagon as HD DVD prices fall
In a move that's about as surprising as the sun rising each day, Universal Studios said it would start to release titles on Blu-ray. Meanwhile, Amazon said it will give preferred placement to Blu-ray over HD DVD.
With Toshiba halting production of HD DVD players, the format is all but finished moving forward. Universal president Craig Kornblau said it's now clear what direction the industry must head to push adoption of next-generation optical discs.
Microsoft to give students free pro development tools
In a move to generate interest among high school and college students in technology, design, math, science, and engineering, Microsoft launched a new initiative yesterday, saying it would give away its key development software to students.
Calling the new initiative "Dreamspark," Microsoft will offer students full educational licenses for Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, Expression Studio, Windows Server Standard Edition, and SQL Server 2005. These are not the Express editions, which were already free, but the complete packages.
The starting gun sounds for the .ASIA domain landrush
Home networks plus devices don't equal multimedia networking
Although multimedia devices are clearly out there in households today -- and so are home networks -- multimedia home networking isn't exactly commonplace yet, observed analysts at In-Stat, concurring with views expressed by some other analyst firms, as well.
Network-capable multimedia devices already in place inside homes include game consoles along with Windows Media Player-enabled PCs, media servers, digital media receivers/players, and digital media adapters, according to Joyce Putscher, an In-Stat analyst.
After HD DVD: Who benefits, and what happens next?
With HD DVD out of the way, BetaNews sat down with Krishna Chander of iSuppli and Michelle Abraham of In-Stat to discuss the future of high-definition discs.
Toshiba's surrender in the two-year long next-generation disc war has finally put an end to what has seemed to be a never-ending stream of back-and-forth between two groups of technology and content producers, over concepts and features with very little to distinguish themselves from one another.
Verizon, AT&T announce unlimited calling plans
Verizon Wireless today anounced an unlimited flat rate voice plan, which was followed only hours later by AT&T unveiling a similar plan.
Verizon's Plan costs $99 per month for unlimited calling to anyone in the US, with no long distance or roaming charges, plus an additional $1.99 per MB HTML browsing charge, for all tiers of the plan except the top tier.
Analyst: Music CDs will give way to digital downloads by 2012
HD DVD isn't the only optical disc format that's heading into decline right now. Audio-formatted CDs will find themselves one-upped by digital music by 2012, according to a Forrester report issued today.
Digital music will soon produce more sales than music CDs, says today's new Forrester Research report, which yields similar numbers to those released by JupiterMedia last fall. But where Jupiter analyst Mark Best thinks there'll always be some market for CDs, Forrester's James L. McQuivey plays up the roles of DRM-free music and social networks in digital music downloads.
UN agency: Submarine data pipeline cuts may be sabotage
Sabotage is now being discussed as one possible explanation for the numerous cuts which took place two weeks ago on undersea data pipelines serving much of the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an agency of the UN, says that sabotage cannot be ruled out as a possible cause yet, and that investigations are continuing. Many have remarked that the total of five cuts made to different cables simultaneously in different locations seems unlikely to be a simple coincidence.
Sprint's 'Push to Talk' can now send e-mail, photos and contacts
Nextel's iDEN technologies are not being wasted by Sprint, as the company has expanded the Push-to-Talk (PTT) service to include many new features.
Sprint has expanded its Nextel Direct Connect to allow customers that have a compatible device to engage in new features mapped to the direct connect button.
For 1.3 million HD DVD customers, what's next?
Centro on AT&T: Palm tries again
AT&T is now offering Palm's budget-priced Centro, but is a small price tag enough to break through in what is becoming the preferred carrier for smartphone users?
Palm has been struggling lately, recently settling a class action lawsuit filed by Treo owners faced with repeatedly failing hardware, closing down its retail stores, and seeing an overall unfavorable 2007.
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