Tag: techdigest
Blu-ray film studios launch "Hollywood in Hi-Def" web site
High definition disc formats may not be the most exciting news around, but that’s not stopped companies who support either HD DVD or Blu-ray doing what they can to push their format as the best choice for consumers.
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (I think it’s all about home entertainment) have backed a new web site that aims to push Blu-ray as the best choice for watching movies.
It’s called Hollywood in Hi-Def.
Opinion: Should Apple extend their new family with touchscreen, Intel-based, OS X laden iPods?
Andy Merrett writes…
With all the furore surrounding the iPhone, rumours about the next (sixth) generation of iPod have been a little quiet.
Now that the iPhone is safely launched, in the US at least, we can once again discuss what Apple might do to keep on top of the portable music player market.
PMPToday is just one site circulating the rumour of a touchscreen iPod – coming as early as August.
DigiTimes says that the next-generation 6G iPod video will feature touch-screen panels similar to the iPhone. The reported supplier of the capacitive touch-screen panels is Taiwan-based manufacturer WinTek. WinTek has yet to make an official statement due to customer confidentiality, but sources from upstairs have confirmed the news. The estimated shipping date of the panels is late 2007.
Yes, it seems that the touchscreen device is the new, erm, non-touchscreen device. Now that Apple have pushed large touchscreens into the public gaze with their shiny iPhone, it’s not surprising that some think they should roll that out to future iPods, too.
The hardware is just one aspect of Apple’s future success. It’s rumoured that future iPods could run OS X, which might also imply they’d use Intel chips.
As far as I’m concerned, Apple’s “killer app” is becoming even clearer.
Virgin Media to offer streaming Football League matches via broadband and mobile
Virgin Media has announced that it has struck a deal with the Football League to stream match action via broadband and mobile to its customers.
It seems as if selected matches will be streamed live, while highlights will be available for a week after the transmission. The service will start ahead of the Coca Cola Championship.
DatingDirect.com partners with Vodafone to offer mobile dating service
DatingDirect.com, the UK’s largest dating service, has announced a new partnership with Vodafone to bring a mobile dating service to the Vodafone Mobile Internet service.
This will give Vodafone users complete access to the Dating Direct website, and its 3.5m active members, straight from their mobile phone.
The new service has been developed and optimised for mobile phone use, and will allow users to browse images and profiles, manage their own content, upload photos, and even sign up as a new member directly from their mobile.
Samsung R87 high definition LCD TV unveiled
Samsung is building upon the success of its R74 LCD TV range with the launch of its streamlined R87 high definition LCD television.
It uses Samsung’s Movie Plus mode which adds additional frames as required so as to output at 50Hz, cutting down on motion blur particularly during fast scenes.
Ateca Vision TV furniture with a Gallic flavour
Ateca Vision is challenging “poorly constructed, unimaginative” furniture that’s often used to plonk our LCD and plasma flat screen TVs on, by introducing a range of furniture created by one of France’s leading furniture makers.
The Ateca Monaco comes in black, red, or white, and can handle up to 60 inch screens. It is constructed from toughened glass shelves and wood, with integrated cable management to hide the mass of wires that are a necessity of modern consumer electronics.
It retails for £349.99 (42 inch) or £399.99 (60 inch).
Which? calling for insurers to cover digital downloads
Leading consumer organisation “Which?” has called for insurers to move into the 21st century and begin acknowledging customer claims for loss of digital downloads.
Its own research suggests that less than half of the insurance companies it polled will cover the loss of music, video, and other downloads due to virus or hard drive failure.
Google adds Mapplets for personalising Google Maps
Google has officially released a new feature add-on for Google Maps that will allow users to personalise maps by layering additional information on top of the basic maps. Mapplets can be used for layering hotel, fuel, and weather information…
Vauxhall launches Guide to getting a Second Life
Shameless brand promotion though it is, Vauxhall, makers of the Corsa, has teamed up with Second Life to produce a guide to the best, weird, wild, wacky, fun places to hang out in the virtual reality phenomenon.
The Corsa Guide to Getting a (Second) Life includes the top 10 places to hang out in the game, as voted for by its users. It includes the virtual Blarney Stone, Bora Bora Wavelabs, Acropolis Gardens, The Lost Gardens of Apollo, and the Bubblegum Music Factory.
T-Mobile launches Pocket Comedy TV on its mobile TV trial service
T-Mobile has announced that it’s launching Pocket Comedy TV on its trial mobile TV service. The specially designed-for-mobile TV channel from Mobix will feature a range of stand-up and TV comedy, as well as cartoons and viral comedy clips, with comedians including Ricky Gervais, Lee Evans and Jack Dee, and programmes including Father Ted and League of Gentlemen.
Though details are a little sketchy (uh ha ha), the promise is that the channel has been designed specifically with mobile users on small screens in mind – presumably rather than simply being ported from other formats – and the content is updated regularly.
