|  Oct 16, 2005

Last week Apple concurrently announced a new iPod digital music player that can play digital video as well as audio, and iTunes 6.0, which enables users to purchase and download music videos and TV shows from the iTunes Music Store (iTMS.

 |  Oct 13, 2005

The strange and twisting-turning saga of the next-generation optical disc format war just got stranger with reports that China announced plans to develop and launch its own next –generation DVD format in 2008, seemingly placing China's massive manufacturing infrastructure at odds with the emerging Blu-ray and HD DVD standards.

 |  Oct 09, 2005

Over the years we've seen many home theater companies attempt to rekindle memories of Hollywood's grand, but nearly forgotten ballyhoo past (some of which would make even the great William Castle jealous). Several companies make devices that will shake, rattle, and roll your chair during passages with loud, deep bass. We've even seen subwoofers said to originate from research projects aiming to imitate the low frequency groans that elephants use to communicate to each other through dense brush.

 |  Oct 06, 2005

In a surprising about-face Paramount Home Entertainment announced early this week that it intends to release its films on Blu-ray Disc. As confusing as this announcement makes the current format war in general, what's perhaps more confusing is that the studio ostensibly still plans to release films in the HD DVD format as well as Blu-ray in spite of the fact that all parties involved seem to agree that two formats will simply confuse consumers, perhaps to the point that they won't buy into either format.

 |  Oct 02, 2005

Twenty members of Congress signed a letter sent to House of Representatives Internet and commerce panel chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) requesting that a federal law be drafted to legalize the use of the broadcast flag. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the members of Congress who signed the letter argue the broadcast flag is necessary to safeguard digital content from Internet piracy.

 |  Sep 28, 2005

Intel and Microsoft announced Monday that they have joined the HD DVD Promotion Group, citing the Toshiba-led format's "unique advantages, including PC and connected device interoperability and an easy, affordable transition to high definition for consumers."

 |  Sep 25, 2005

Verizon began taking orders late last week for its FiOS fiber optic TV service, beginning a rollout that will cost the telecommunications company billions and have it competing directly with cable and satellite operators for your TV subscription dollars.

 |  Sep 22, 2005

Consumer electronics giant Sony today announced a major restructuring that will cut 10,000 jobs from its global work force, close nearly a dozen manufacturing plants and will downsize or terminate as many as 15 unprofitable business categories.

 |  Sep 19, 2005

Federal lawmakers believe the response to hurricane Katrina was hampered by communication problems among public safety personnel and are pushing for legislation to speed up the transition to Digital TV, which will free up precious analog spectrum for emergency responders.

 |  Sep 15, 2005

What a difference nine months can make. At CES 2005 in January the HD-DVD group hosted a gala event at a posh Vegas strip nightclub to unveil its plan to be the first HD disc format to market with the most- Toshiba said they’d have a $999 player in the fourth quarter of 2005 and representatives from major studios such as Warner, Paramount, and Universal strode to the podium amid swirling lights and pledged their support for the format to the tune of 90 HD-DVD titles at launch. All the elements seemed in place for a strong pre-emptive strike against Blu-ray, which has yet to announce a US launch date of either hardware or pre-packaged movie titles. The splashy 2005 holiday season launch was to be one of HD-DVD’s key advantages over the rival Blu-ray Disc format.

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