A Japanese newspaper has reported that Toshiba will in fact market a Blu-ray player, though further details are scanty. It's not known whether it will emerge in the North American, European, Japanese, or world markets.
According to a story today in Japan's <I>Yomiuri Shimbun</I> newspaper, Toshiba will enter the Blu-ray market with players that can read BDs and DVDs by the end of this year.
Cable networks can't get enough of a soon-to-begin Comcast trial of the On Demand Online video service. It would let cable viewers access shows online for no extra cost beyond the regular subscription fee and some ads.
With Netflix signing streaming deals with everyone in sight, it was only a matter of time till Blockbuster cut a streaming deal with a major manufacturer--and Samsung is pretty major. Blockbuster streaming will come to Samsung HDTVs and Blu-ray players with the first models coming this fall.
The war among copyright holders, consumers, and other parties continues on so many fronts that it's hard for us to cover them all. Here's a smattering from the last month or so.
Let's say you've just paid $7.7 million to purchase Pirate Bay, a Swedish site popular with copyright-oblivious torrenters all over the world. What new business model would you devise to make it a legit business? How about paying people to engage in file sharing?
If it gets easier to find what you want on Netflix in the near future, you can thank a team of experts who came up with an improved search algorithm. Unless someone else can do better, Netflix is about to thank them too--to the tune of a million bucks.
Sharp has developed a new five-color LCD that, according to the company, "faithfully reproduces the real surface colors that humans are capable of perceiving."
Toshiba may be contemplating a move into Blu-ray. If it happens, the move would be quite a turnaround for the company that developed Blu-ray's superb (but ill-fated) competitor HD DVD.