Prospects for a resolution to the high-definition DVD format war seemed to come into sharper focus on Monday as Best Buy (BBY) and Netflix (NFLX) separately announced plans to promote Sony's (SNE) Blu-ray format over Toshiba's HD DVD.
Best Buy, the No. 1 consumer electronics chain, said that beginning in early March it will provide more shelf space and marketing for Blu-ray players and software than it will for similar HD DVD products.
It's no great surprise, perhaps, but Cell Broadband Engine chip co-developer IBM will produce a 45nm version of the processor, paving the way for smaller, cooler-running PlayStation 3 consoles.
Originally produced using a 90nm process, Cell is currently being punched out at 65nm. That version debuted with the 40GB PS3. The 45nm version is expected to consume just a third of the power that the 90nm Cell did and less than half of that drawn by the 65nm chip, IBM indicated.
For years now I’ve been trying to define DRM and how commercial companies use it to lock consumers into a buying cycle. Finally I’ve found a definition that’s just perfect.
The definition comes from security guru Bruce Schneier:
The end of the high-definition disc war seems in sight, say industry observers, with major studio Warner Bros. jumping to the Blu-ray Disc camp and leaving the competing HD DVD format with a dwindling base of Hollywood support.
But ahead lies the real uphill battle: selling high-definition discs — in any format — to consumers who appear more than satisfied with the DVDs they've already bought over the past few years.
Large businesses are looking more closely at online backup options as a way to ease systems administration headaches and avoid security concerns linked to physical backup procedures.
Analysts said they expect corporate interest in hosted backup systems to grow as major storage vendors enter the business and work to allay user concerns about pricing and bandwidth.
Lost laptops and misplaced CDs seem to have become a near-weekly occurrence - in the past week, there'ïs been news of three lost Ministry of Defence (MoD) recruitment laptops, four court discs from the Ministry of Justice, and a sanction from the data protection watchdog for Marks & Spencer.
Apple offers MacBook Air buyers the option of purchasing the ultralight notebook with a solid-state drive instead of the more typical hard drive. But solid-state storage is so expensive that few customers are likely to go for it -- and, experts say, it won't be an affordable alternative to hard drive storage for many years.
Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua Bleill lost both his legs above the knees when a bomb exploded under his Humvee while on patrol in Iraq on October 15, 2006. He has 32 pins in his hip and a 6-inch screw holding his pelvis together.
Now, he's starting to walk again with the help of prosthetic legs outfitted with Bluetooth technology more commonly associated with hands-free cell phones.
"They're the latest and greatest," Bleill said, referring to his groundbreaking artificial legs.
Toshiba took a costly hit last week at CES when Time Warner took their partnership away from HD DVD to Blu-ray exclusively. This happened just when CES was about to take place, putting Toshiba in an awkward position. You see, Toshiba had invested a lot of capital promoting HD DVD at the world’s largest tradeshow, and all of those marketing dollars went from a serious campaign to a humorous irony with show attendees mocking HD DVD.
A supercomputer that could help answer some of science's biggest questions will be unveiled on Monday.
With the power of 12,000 desktop PCs, the mammoth machine called HECToR is the country's fastest computer and one of the most powerful in Europe.
It can make 63 million calculations each second, allowing scientists to conduct research into everything from climate change to new medicines.
The purpose-built machine is housed in 60 wardrobe-sized cabinets in the University of Edinburgh's advanced computing centre near the Scottish capital.
