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  • Hybrid Disc Plays On Blu-ray and DVD


    Japan-based Infinity Storage Media has launched the first Blu-ray / DVD hybrid disc.

    The disc sports a single-layer of Blu-ray (25GB) on one side and a conventional dual-layer DVD (8.5GB) on the other.

    Essentially it works by having different permeable layers for DVD and Blu-ray and different thicknesses between them.

    Since the lasers penetrate to different depths, it allows either the DVD or Blu-ray to be read depending on what player the disc is on.

    Obviously, the main benefit of the hybrid is that it’s backward compatibility.

    This means that users can switch it between their Blu-ray and DVD players without the need to have two different copies.

    The Japanese market is to be the first to benefit with the release of locally-made drama Code Blue.

  • YouTube HD Videos Now In Widescreen


    After weeks of trialling its new HD capabilities YouTube has officially launched its high-def channel.

    Users clicking on the newly added "watch in HD" option will automatically see the videos play in widescreen (16:9 aspect).

    YouTube originally announced its intention to go widescreen in November following the video sharing giant’s recent decision to start hosting full-length Hollywood movies.

    As well as boosting HD content, YouTube plans to add filtering options, including the ability to search HD videos.

    The Google-owned company will also be adding three new landing pages – youtube.com/music, youtube.com/news and youtube.com/movies – with a view to simplifying categorization and search.

    With competition intensifying as the likes of Hulu showing high definition videos, the improvements suggest YouTube is responding well to the challenge.

    The changes come just as Warner Music is pulling all its music videos off YouTube because of Google’s refusal to pay more money.

  • Blu-ray Growing In Popularity – Except With Yahoo


    It’s fitting that after a roller-coaster year for Blu-ray the high-def format should end 2009 on a high AND a low.

    With sales in the US encouraging, a poll by Zogby International shows that Blu-ray players are one of the most wanted holiday gifts this season for HDTV owners.

    The players are only beaten by consumers looking for a second HDTV.

    Overall, Blu-ray players received 30 per cent of the vote, beating other popular gifts such as GPS systems, Nintendo Wii, and MP3 players.

    On a low note was the decision by Yahoo to put Blu-ray at number three in its year-end Best and Worst Tech Products list.

    A key complaint about the format was the continued high price of discs despite the plumetting cost of players.

    Yahoo also wasn’t happy with the slowness of the technology, including its lengthy boot-up time.

    The Zogby results were part of an online poll conducted between December 2-4 which polled 1,726 HDTV owners asking them which gift they would like to receive this holiday season.

    Of those who responded, 66 per cent indicated they would be purchasing titles for themselves.

    More than half the respondents (55 per cent) said they would be purchasing titles for friends and family who owned Blu-ray Disc players.

    Not surprisngly given its early sales figures, the poll also found that The Dark Knight is the most anticipated title this holiday season, followed by
    Mamma Mia, Wall-E, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Hancock.

    Reports suggest that sales of Blu-ray titles in the US and UK are picking up well.

    Figures for the UK show that sales reached 462,500 units in November, an increase of 165 per cent over the previous month.

    While final December numbers aren’t available until January, initial sales are encouraging – helped considerably by the success of The Dark Knight.

    A total of 6.5 Million units have been sold in Europe to date (up 320 per cent), with the market share expected to double next year to 6 per cent.

    So far, roughly 800,000 stand-alone Blu-ray Disc players have been sold in Europe, but that number is expected to triple for next year, up to 2.5 Million
    .

  • Nominations Open For The Outstanding HDTV Person and Product Of 2008


    With 2008 fast drawing to a close biz-news.com is seeking YOUR help in choosing outstanding candidates for the titles of Man/Woman of the Year and Product/Service of the Year.

    We would like you to nominate an individual and/or product/service that you feel has contributed greatly to the HDTV sector over the past 12 months.

    The winner will be selected from the nominations submitted by our readers – professionals and technology enthusiasts in the industry.

    Obviously, as this is a crowd-sourcing survey, we need your participation.

    Spreading word of this survey to friends and colleagues will also ensure a wider participation in the poll and will give a much more accurate result.

    If you have more than one nomination for either category you can make multiple submissions – but you can only vote once for any person or product.

    We will publish the results in early 2009 and share the raw data with the community. (Personal information about contributors will not be disclosed).

    After a year like 2008 there are plenty of good candidates – so please give it some thought and send your Man/Woman and/or Product nominations to us.

  • Memory Cards Earn Best Handset Accessory Revenue Return


    Memory cards provide the greatest revenue of all mobile phone add-ons, according ABI Research.

    This is despite cellular handset accessories such as chargers and batteries shipping far more units in what is today a USD $58 billion industry.

    Driven by the photo, audio and video demands of media-centric handsets and smartphones, these memory cards, largely from third-party suppliers such as SanDisk, will see a 17 per cent compound annual growth rate in shipments over the years to 2013.

    Industry analyst Michael Morgan said that of all accessories, memory cards deliver the best revenue return.

    "In fact, as production has outstripped demand the market is currently oversupplied, leading to a 60 per cent year-over-year fall in per-Megabyte prices," he said.

    "However, the memory capacity of the cards being sold is always increasing, and the resulting higher Megabyte volumes more than offset the decline in ASP."

    Handset makers have been putting inexpensive low-capacity cards into smartphone and media phone boxes for some time.

    Morgan said there is currently a point of friction between handset vendors and carriers: the operators want all memory cards out of the box, preferring to sell higher-capacity cards separately.

    "The challenge for mobile operators is that subsidizing handset accessories means losing some of the high margins that they earn through the sales of these products," he said.

    "But subsidies also mean that many more subscribers will have handset accessories such as memory cards, and will be more likely to use mobile music services or download songs, leading to higher data ARPUs for operators."

  • Toshiba Announces First 512GB SSD


    The rush to release the first Terabyte SSD continues with Toshiba’s announcement of a 2.5-inch 512GB NAND-based model.

    Market analysts expect SSDs will account for 10 per cent of the market for notebook computer storage by 2010, and 25 per cent by 2012.

    Toshiba also announced a family of fast read/write SSDs built around the 43-nanometer multi-level cell (MLC) NAND used in the 512GB.

    The drives are intended for notebooks, gaming and home-entertainment systems.

    They include capacities of 64GB, 128GB and 256GB and come in 1.8-inch or 2.5-in drive enclosures, or as flash modules.

    No price was announced for the 512GB SSD but it is expected to go on sale by the second quarter of 2009.

    Toshiba will be presented the new additions at next month’s CES in Las Vegas.

  • Western Digital Makes Cut-backs As Demand Weakens


    Western Digital is to cut 2,500 jobs, or about 5 per cent of its global work force, and will reduce executive pay as a result of the global economic situation.

    Citing weakening demand for its products, the hard drive maker the company now expects fiscal second-quarter sales of USD $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion, with a "consequent reduction in operating results."

    Western Digital said demand for the current quarter is "significantly below" what it expected when it issued revenue guidance in October.

    Previously it sales outlook was USD $2.03 billion to $2.15 billion.

    The company plans to reduce compensation by an unspecified amount for its executive officers, board of directors and senior management.

    Manufacturing operations will cease from December 20 through January 1 and manufacturing hours will be reduced by 20 per cent through employee attrition and reduction in the use of temporary workers and overtime shifts.

    It is also closing one of its three hard drive factories in Thailand and will close or sell one of two facilities in Malaysia.

    The measures, expected to be completed by the end of March, are expected to save about USD $150 million a year. Western Digital expects to take related charges of USD $150 million in the fiscal second and third quarters.

  • Jaxtr Gambles On Free Mobile Calling


    Jaxtr has launched a new service called FreeConnect that allows subscribers to talk to each other for free on their mobile phones.

    The VoIP startup’s CEO, Bahman Koohestani, said he expected the service to attract new members, some of who will switch to the more convenient and feature rich premium services offered by Jaxtr.

    The free calls ploy has been used beforeby other VoIP companies – among them Rebtel and AOL – but has never proven to be a great success.

    A drawback to FreeConnect is its complexity. All users have to be members of Jaxtr.

    To make a call, the number has to be entered into Jaxtr, which then provides a local number for the caller to use.

    This is then dialled on the cell phone and Jaxtr sends an SMS message to the person being called with a number that’s local for them.

    They then dial this number and the two callers can then have a free mobile call for as long as they like.

    While the call set-up is long-winded, once doen the same local numbers can be used again in the future.

    What Jaxtr is hoping is that sufficient numbers of callers will tire of the process and make their calls on Jaxtr’s paid service.

    Koohestani insists that FreeConnect will not just be available for a trial period.

    That remains to be seen, especially as Jaxtr will incur overhead costs for the FreeConnect service.

    In June, the company completed a USD $10 million funding round but then had to lay off 13 staff.

    Its CEO Konstantin Guericke then resigned and Koohestani (VP Engineering) stepped up to be interim CEO.

  • Nimbuzz Strikes Deal With Spice Mobile


    Nimbuzz has agreed a distribution deal with Indian telecoms company Spice Mobiles.

    As a result Spice Mobile handsets will now have the Nimbuzz application pre-installed.

    Nimbuzz is a mobile instant messaging, (geo) presence and VoIP provider whose software allows users to chat, message and send files on the go.

    The deal also includes Spice Mobiles becoming a major distribution partner to join Nimbuzz’s global Manufacturer Affiliate Program.

    Spice Mobiles has approximately 25,000 retail outlets.

    Nimbuzz CEO, Evert-Jaap Lugt, said they had subscribers in over 200 countries and were growing at a rate of 20,000 new users per day.

    Nimbuzz CEO Evert_Jaap Lugt

    The Spice Mobiles deal is a global contract. In addition to India, pre-installed Spice Mobiles devices will be sold in other APAC territories.

    "This deal ensures significant market penetration for Nimbuzz across the APAC territories and we will be working closely with Spice Mobiles to encourage future shipment of new handsets,” said Lugt.

    Gartner expects India’s mobile user base of around 300 million to reach 737 million by 2012.

    Price Waterhouse Coopers reports the Indian mobile VAS market will reach USD $2 billion by the end of 2008 and expect it to account for 18 per cent of operator revenue by 2010.

    Spice Mobiles CEO, Kunal Ahooja, said the Indian market was experiencing soaring mobile usage and penetration.

  • Vyke Launches Mobile VoIP For Blackberry


    Vyke has released a beta version of its Mobile VoIP software and service for Blackberry devices using RIM software.

    The addition of the Blackberry software now means Vyke’s VoIP solution is available on the three most used mobile operating systems in the enterprise market – Symbian, Windows Mobile and RIM.

    Vyke says its Blackberry solution is unique as it uses a variation of VoIP which enables users to make VoIP calls over the Vyke network at any time their phone has GSM coverage, not only when the phone is in range of Wi-Fi or 3G mobile data coverage.

    The software supports most Blackberry devices dating back as far as 2003.