Mark Fleischmann

Dish Network subscribers: How would you like to enjoy your home satellite feed anywhere in the world as long as you have a broadband connection? You can do that now that the Dish Network has introduced the ViP922 SlingLoaded HD DVR receiver.

The future of HD DVD and Blu-ray is neither boom or bust, according to The State of Home Video (11th Edition) from Kagan Data Services. Kagan sees the two new formats together grabbing 13.9 percent of the market by 2009, 53.7 by 2012, and 68.7 by 2015: "The first wave of high-definition DVD homes will consist primarily of those homes with non-dedicated players, such as PS3, Xbox 360 and PCs.... We estimate the balance will shift in 2009 as dedicated player prices drop and the dust from the format war has settled." However, revenue growth in hard-copy software will be slowed by downloads, Kagan said, citing CinemaNow. Meanwhile, obstacles to the long-awaited combi player have continued to fall, most recently with NEC's announcement of a video processing chip that handles both formats at no extra cost. Ricoh had already announced a pickup lens that reads the disc at two depths, to accommodate the differing demands of each format. With NEC shipping the new part in 2007, we might see a combi by the end of that year. Maybe. But don't hold your breath waiting for a recorder.

So-called "smart meters" have built-in vulnerabilities that may let hackers steal electricity from you, inflating your power bill.

D&M Holdings will pare its six brands down to four, eliminating Snell Acoustics, a well known speaker brand, and Escient, maker of media servers. Denon, Marantz, McIntosh Labs, and Boston Acoustics will continue in the D&M family.