19th February 2008 Archive

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Blu-ray versus upscaled DVD?

Q&A

I have a large collection of DVDs. If I was to buy a Blu-ray Disc player, will they be upgraded to HD? I also have a Panasonic up-scaler to 1080p. Is there a difference between this unit's output and Blu-ray? Lastly, what's the recommendation on the best Blu-ray to buy regards price?

Q&A 19 Feb 08:02
It's official: Toshiba surrenders to Blu-ray

Henceforth, today shall be remembered as Victory Format day

Toshiba has officially abandoned its HD DVD technology, surrendering to Sony's Blu-ray in the entertainment industry's biggest format war since VHS beat Betamax in the 1980s. The news follows yesterday's rise in the value of Toshiba shares as investors voiced their approval of the company's alleged decision to abandon the HD …

HD 19 Feb 09:17
Official: Toshiba discontinues HD DVD

No We surrender

Toshiba has abandoned HD DVD "following recent major changes in the market", it announced this morning. The company spun the failure of its favourite format as a move made to strengthen the industry. The consumer electronics giant said it will "no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders". It will …

HD 19 Feb 09:21
Elonex punts £99 Linux laptop

Eee by gum

UK PC maker Elonex will next week launch an offensive against Asus' elfin Eee PC by offering a compact Linux laptop for just £99 ($193/€132). Elonex's One: for schools and colleges That's less than half the price of a 4GB Eee PC - if you can lay your hands on one. Asus' machine is still tricky to obtain, stock watching …

PCs 19 Feb 11:19
Orange to shift the Shift

Orange has confirmed that it will exclusively offer HTC's Shift Windows Vista-running UMPC to Brits from the end of this month. HTC's Shift: comes to Orange later this month Rumours appeared earlier this month that Orange would be the first UK network operator to offer that Shift. However, the network operator's …

PCs 19 Feb 11:25
Cowon iAudio A3 personal media player

Review Watch out, Archos

There's something almost bespoke about the Cowon A3 media player, a device that seems unapologetically to have had time and money lavished on its technical ability rather than its packaging. Out of the box, the rather bluff and chunky A3 looks and feels exactly like the Cowon A2, weighing a not inconsiderable 280g for the 30GB …

Media players 19 Feb 12:02
Nvidia to unveil GeForce 9600 this week?

But top-of-the-line monster card delayed, moles claim

Nvidia's first GeForce 9-series GPU will be launched in two days' time, it has been claimed. But the anticipated 9800 GX2 will not be joining it. The 65nm GeForce 9600 GT will debut on 21 February, card maker moles have claimed by way of DigiTimes. The current GT part, the 8600, contains 32 unified shader processing engines, …

Bits 'n' Chips 19 Feb 12:03
Obituary: HD DVD 2002-2008

(Almost) Forgotten Tech No flowers, please

Toshiba's decision to end its production of HD DVD players and recorders effectively marks the death of the optical disc format once touted as the natural successor to the phenomenally popular DVD. HD DVD was born in 2002 out of the apparent unwillingness of Toshiba and a number of other DVD Forum members to back a blue-laser …

HD 19 Feb 14:03
MS showcases Red Ring of Death Xbox 360 at expo

Whoops

Microsoft executives will be a little red-faced today after an Xbox 360 on display at this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco contracted the infamous ‘Red Ring of Death’ disease. Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com The console was set-up as a demo unit in an area dedicated to …

Consoles 19 Feb 14:12
Sony to pump ¥22bn into OLED production

Fat cheque for skinny display tech

Sony will spend ¥22bn (£105m/€140m/$205m) on OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) panel production, part of its attempt to position the ultra-thin display technology as the successor to LCD. Sony's XEL-1 OLED TV: small screen, big price Sony plans to spread the cash across “middle and large size OLED panel production …

HD 19 Feb 14:24
Apple doubles iPod Shuffle song space

More storage for your clothes-clip player

Apple today refreshed its iPod Shuffle range and added a 2GB version of the miniature player. It also dropped the price of the 1GB Shuffle. Apple's iPod Shuffle: now with a 2GB capacity The company’s larger-capacity model doubles the amount of storage capacity previously available to Shuffle owners. However, don’t expect …

Media players 19 Feb 15:28
HP's Linux sub-notebook spied on web

Compaq two-one-three-three to challenge Eee

HP's going after the Eee PC with a compact laptop that sports an 8.9in display and more connectivity options than the elfin Asus machine currently offers. So says Engadget, which has posted some pics and a very basic spec. HP's Compaq 2133: like the Eee, only more shiny Image courtesy Engadget The Compaq 2133 looks like a …

PCs 19 Feb 16:44
Samsung U940 spied online

FCC documents uncover CDMA handset

Pictures and details of Samsung's US-oriented Qwerty keyboard-equipped slider handset have been revealed in documents filed with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Samsung's U940: CDMA Dubbed the U940, and supposedly codenamed 'Q-ball', the CDMA handset is strikingly similar to Samsung’s existing F700 handset …

Phones 19 Feb 21:02
Apple gives Xsan file system a sequel

In a world without Apple RAID hardware, one man stands agai...

Apple is offering the first major upgrade to its Storage Area Network (SAN) file system today, while kicking its RAID storage hardware out into the cold. Xsan2 is a Leopard Server-tailored file system that ties into several of the operating system's features. For example, iCal Server, Mail Server and Podcast Producer can use …

Storage 19 Feb 23:58