Reg Hardware

17th March 2006 Archive

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  • Q1 laptop demand dips below vendor expectations?

    Buyers said to be awaiting Core Duo price cuts

    Demand for new notebooks slumped this quarter, reports coming out of Taiwan's contract manufacturing industry suggest, though at this stage it's unclear whether buyers are holding off from making purchases while they wait for Windows Vista, lower dual-core system prices or both. Sources cited by DigiTimes claim major vendors …

    Bits 'n' Chips 17 Mar 2006, 10:08

  • Verbatim to offer 'reincarnated floppy disk' in Europe

    Looks familiar?

    Yesterday, we reported on Memorex's disk-shaped 16MB USB Flash drive, the company's newly announced bit to bring those few remaining floppy disk users into the sold-state storage era. Today, we learn Verbatim is getting in on the act too - with exactly the same product. The company's European operation has announced …

    Gadgets and Gizmos 17 Mar 2006, 10:54

  • eSATA ExpressCard debuts

    Links fast external drives to new notebooks

    Japanese hardware company Ratoc has announced one of the first external Serial ATA (eSATA) adaptors that connect add-on hard disk drives and RAID arrays like the LaCie Two Big to a host computer using the new, notebook-oriented ExpressCard 34 format. The REX-EX30S card slots into any 34mm or 54mm ExpressCard slot, but the …

    Bits 'n' Chips 17 Mar 2006, 11:14

  • Sony names Blu-ray disc kit ship dates

    Disc player, internal drive and Vaio PCs detailed

    Sony will today begin taking pre-orders for its upcoming Blu-ray Disc player after yesterday naming the dates on which it will ship the machine and Vaio PCs that incorporate the next-generation optical disc technology. The BDP-S1 will ship in the US in July - two months after the first BD movies are set to hit US stores. …

    PCs 17 Mar 2006, 11:46

  • Warner HD DVD debut delayed

    Slipped discs

    Warner Home Video's US HD DVD roll-out will be smaller and later than previously anticipated. The home entertainment company yesterday said it would ship a mere three titles on 18 April, offering Million Dollar Baby, The Last Samurai and The Phantom of the Opera for $29 a pop. It promised 17 more HD DVDs will follow in the weeks …

    HD 17 Mar 2006, 12:25

  • Asian police target movie downloaders

    Investigations shifting from servers to clients?

    South Korean police have begun to target people who download content from P2P networks not only those who make such material available. According to local reports, Seoul Jongo law enforcement officers have questioned 57 people after monitoring download activity on at least one P2P service earlier this month. Police this week …

    Media players 17 Mar 2006, 13:59

  • Samsung SH-B022 Blu-ray Disc writer

    Preview Blu-ray finally arrives - does it live up to the hype?

    2006: the year of High Definition video, Blu-ray and HD DVD. Well, that's the way things are looking at the moment, with just about every consumer electronics manufacturer in the world jumping on the bandwagon. These technologies aren't exclusively reserved for the consumer-electronics market - they're coming to the PC as well, …

    Bits 'n' Chips 17 Mar 2006, 15:03

  • Sony unveils 20in LCD TV-monitor combo

    Movies and games and back again

    Sony will next month extend its line of dual-role displays - they operate as a TV and as a computer monitor - with a 20in widescreen HD model capable of being wall-mounted and has a 3D sound capability. The MFM-HT205 sports a 16:9 ratio 1680 x 1050 resolution LCD equipped with Sony's ErgoBright image processing system and …

    Mac 17 Mar 2006, 16:02

  • AMD falls in world chip maker rankings

    Sales down 23.3 per cent between 2005 and 2004

    Does Intel really need to worry about AMD? Not if the latest figures from market watcher iSuppli are anything to go by. The chip giant's small rival may have been justifiably touting some x86 market share gains, but Intel remains way ahead in real semiconductor market terms. According to iSuppli, Intel sold $35.466bn worth of …

    Bits 'n' Chips 17 Mar 2006, 16:11

  • Razer readies iPod dockable keyboard

    iTunes-friendly media keys included too

    Mouse maker Razer has apparently announced a keyboard with an integrated universal iPod dock - the first product of its kind, ever, the company claims. The Pro|Type Multimedia Keyboard also provides a set of media keys for controlling iTunes, along with ten macro command hot keys and a picture zoom in and out control. The …

    Media players 17 Mar 2006, 16:46