In the video-game business, the stakes are high. So, the Big Three have detailed road maps and five-year plans. A new console usually remains unchanged for at least a few Christmases, save for possible software updates and minor technical variations. However, this isn't the case with the Xbox 360. After only a record 17 months in its original incarnation, it has transformed into the Xbox 360 Elite, with two noteworthy hardware upgrades plus a fresh style.
A coalition of small cable operators is urging Congress to let them provide free analog cable service following the switchover to digital television broadcasting. That should make the DTV transition painless for owners of old-fashioned analog TVs, right? But there's a catch. The cable ops want a waiver on the retransmission fees that they'd otherwise have to pay broadcasters in exchange for carrying network signals.
Flat panels. Everyone, it seems, wants a flat panel television these days. Not to hang on the wall mind you—studies show that most buyers use them on a stand—but because they're, well, <I>cool</I>.
Hot on the heels of my Bruce Springsteen post last week comes word that his new album with the E Street Band, due October 2 on CD, will appear on LP a full week earlier, on September 25. Why? Because the cutoff date for albums to be eligible for...
You may recall that, in his review of the Sly and the Family Stone boxed set The Collection, Steve Simels wrote the following: "For reasons I find unfathomable, Epic/Legacy chose not to include a remastered version of Greatest Hits in the...
Well, so much for being on vacation. Yes, your intrepid editor here has been attempting to get some time away from the AV rat race, but, in the words of the immortal Michael Corleone (cue the deep, gravelly voice), "they pull me back in."
Are you tired of relentless celebrity "news" coverage? Had you had enough of their drug 'n' alcohol problems, fender benders, public meltdowns, legal woes, spells in the slammer, and unburied corpses? Turns out you have plenty of company.
Just when it seemed like the Blu-ray camp was starting to gain an upper hand in the high-res DVD format war, HD DVD scored a major coup. But did the industry shoot itself in the foot again? Paramount Home Entertainment announced this week that all...
According to one industry source with whom I spoke recently, the odd communication problem reported on in <I>Part 1</I>, below, is an artifact of CEC. CEC is a new feature offered by many manufacturers that allows the user to control various components through their HDMI connections. Often, these operations are automated.
