By now Toshiba's decision to no longer develop, manufacture, or market HD DVD players and recorders is public knowledge. What's next for the company, and for consumers who bought into the format it supported? A close look at Toshiba's press release reveals some answers.
"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called next-generation format war and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," says Atsutoshi Nishida, Toshiba president and CEO.
There's irony here, for sure: After all, Toshiba forged ahead with its technology two years ago, at a time when a format war could have been averted before products went to market and consumers were dragged into the mess. Perhaps this is the company's way of apologizing for the whole debacle.
Nishida continues, "while we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped."
That Toshiba still sees the market opportunity for high-definition content is no surprise. This is a company that makes HDTVs. What will you play on those enormous HDTV screens if not high-definition content?
But will Toshiba enter the Blu-ray Disc player market? It's doubtful. In part thanks to the format war, prices have deteriorated so quickly that the margins just aren't there. Plus, the market is fast moving toward commoditization. Give it another two years, and we'll see Blu-ray Disc players being sold for under US$200.
At the same time Toshiba announced its withdrawal from HD DVD, the company said it would increase its focus on high-capacity NAND flash memory and small hard drives. Toshiba also said it would work on maximizing next-generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies.
Shortly after making its HD DVD announcement, Toshiba revealed that it has partnered with SanDisk to build a new flash memory chip factory; the companies will share the output from the factory. Toshiba is also launching another chip factory of its own for NAND flash memory.
If Toshiba could get costs down and capacities up on its portable hard drives, the company could pursue another market: high-definition recording to hard disk for DVR-like networked media players. Converged devices such as these could be attractive to network-savvy users who want everything networked throughout the home, including their high-definition content.
That said, Apple's foray into the field--Apple TV--didn't exactly get consumers humming. For Toshiba to make a go of it, the company would have to make its product easier to use and better than the solution that cable and satellite operators currently provide: high-def DVR boxes that require few cables. Toshiba could offer a premium high-definition DVR that also supports streaming media around the home network; years ago Toshiba had prototype designs for such a concept (sans the high-def). Toshiba has already dipped into media streaming with its Network NAVI interface introduced on the RD-XS54 DVD recorder a few years ago.
Toshiba says it intends to "maintain collaborative relations with the companies who joined with Toshiba in working to build up the HD DVD market, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation and major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Toshiba will study possible collaboration with these companies for future business opportunities, utilizing the many assets generated through the development of HD DVD."
Translation: The company plans to maintain good relations with its current partners.
However, this may be an oblique reference to the HDi interactivity initiative Toshiba and Microsoft began in 2007, which involved expanding the advanced interactive layer used in HD DVD media authoring. As recently as late January Microsoft was pushing its HDi technology at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. And Toshiba and Microsoft have revealed that the larger vision for HDi included a universe where multiple devices--including portable media players, servers, and content stored on the Internet--would use HDi to talk with one another.
It's quite possible that Toshiba plans to continue exploring HDi--assuming Microsoft plans to continue pursuing the technology in light of HD DVD's demise.
Melissa J. Perenson
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Apple slashes iPod shuffle price, intros 2GB version
Apple cut the price of its iPod shuffle, the least expensive of its music players, by AUD$34, and will launch an AUD$89 2GB model later this month, the company announced Tuesday.
The current iPod shuffle, a screen-less player that weighs half an ounce and sports 1GB of flash memory, debuted in September 2006 at $119. The price cut is already effective on the Apple store site.
The price point is a record low for Apple, which launched the first-generation iPod shuffle in January 2005 at US$99 for a 512MB model, US$149 for a device with 1GB of storage.
The 2GB iPod shuffle, which Apple said would be available by the end of February, will hold approximately 480 songs.
Today's announcement was the second time this month that Apple has beefed up storage in its iPod line. Two weeks ago, it added a 32GB iPod touch priced at AUD$629 to the existing lineup that featured 8GB (AUD$399) and 16GB (AUD$499) models.
Gregg Keizer
The current iPod shuffle, a screen-less player that weighs half an ounce and sports 1GB of flash memory, debuted in September 2006 at $119. The price cut is already effective on the Apple store site.
The price point is a record low for Apple, which launched the first-generation iPod shuffle in January 2005 at US$99 for a 512MB model, US$149 for a device with 1GB of storage.
The 2GB iPod shuffle, which Apple said would be available by the end of February, will hold approximately 480 songs.
Today's announcement was the second time this month that Apple has beefed up storage in its iPod line. Two weeks ago, it added a 32GB iPod touch priced at AUD$629 to the existing lineup that featured 8GB (AUD$399) and 16GB (AUD$499) models.
Gregg Keizer
Intel introduces 8-core 'Skulltrail' for gamers
Chip giant Intel Tuesday launched its latest processor platform aimed at computer game enthusiasts, an eight processing-core platform that includes a choice of multi-card graphics from either ATI or Nvidia.
The new platform, formerly code-named "Skulltrail," is now being introduced as the Intel Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform. It includes two quad-core microprocessors for a total of eight-processing engines and is aimed at desktop PCs.
Computer game lovers are typically willing to pay more for performance than the average user because the graphics quality, capability and speed of games is highly tied to the quality of components in a PC.
This system is built to allow users to pay for as much performance as they want.
A single quad-core processor, the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX9975, costs US$1,499, while the mainboard developed for the system, the Intel Desktop Board D5400XS, runs at US$649. So, a user willing to pay for two of the quad-core processors would pony up US$2,998 for the processors alone, a total of US$3,647 for the two processors and mainboard together, and would then still have the choice of buying multiple graphics cards - not to mention the rest of the PC and peripherals.
The components are all available now.
Gamers will gain great performance for their money. The QX9775 processors each carry four cores running at 3.2GHz, carry 12M bytes of L2 cache and a 1600MHz system bus. Intel also removed its overclocking protection system from the processors to let gamers run on overspeed if they so choose -- but the company warns that altering the clock frequency or voltage can reduce the life of the system and processor, as well as cause other potential system damage.
"Intel has not tested, and does not warranty, the operation of the processor beyond its specifications," it said in a statement.
The company is launching Skulltrail at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, which runs through Friday, in order to attract attention to the platform from developers working in 3-D animation, digital audio and high-definition video in games. Game software developers normally enjoy using as much of a system's potential as possible when writing their software code.
Several PC manufacturers that cater to the gaming market will launch desktop systems using Skulltrail over the next 30 days, including Voodoo, Velocity Micro, Vigor Gaming, Armari, Boxx Tech, Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest and Maingear, Intel said.
Dan Nystedt
The new platform, formerly code-named "Skulltrail," is now being introduced as the Intel Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform. It includes two quad-core microprocessors for a total of eight-processing engines and is aimed at desktop PCs.
Computer game lovers are typically willing to pay more for performance than the average user because the graphics quality, capability and speed of games is highly tied to the quality of components in a PC.
This system is built to allow users to pay for as much performance as they want.
A single quad-core processor, the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX9975, costs US$1,499, while the mainboard developed for the system, the Intel Desktop Board D5400XS, runs at US$649. So, a user willing to pay for two of the quad-core processors would pony up US$2,998 for the processors alone, a total of US$3,647 for the two processors and mainboard together, and would then still have the choice of buying multiple graphics cards - not to mention the rest of the PC and peripherals.
The components are all available now.
Gamers will gain great performance for their money. The QX9775 processors each carry four cores running at 3.2GHz, carry 12M bytes of L2 cache and a 1600MHz system bus. Intel also removed its overclocking protection system from the processors to let gamers run on overspeed if they so choose -- but the company warns that altering the clock frequency or voltage can reduce the life of the system and processor, as well as cause other potential system damage.
"Intel has not tested, and does not warranty, the operation of the processor beyond its specifications," it said in a statement.
The company is launching Skulltrail at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, which runs through Friday, in order to attract attention to the platform from developers working in 3-D animation, digital audio and high-definition video in games. Game software developers normally enjoy using as much of a system's potential as possible when writing their software code.
Several PC manufacturers that cater to the gaming market will launch desktop systems using Skulltrail over the next 30 days, including Voodoo, Velocity Micro, Vigor Gaming, Armari, Boxx Tech, Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest and Maingear, Intel said.
Dan Nystedt
UK gov't mulls banning illegal downloaders from Internet
The UK government is considering cutting off Internet access for web users who illegally download music, movies and other digital media.
According to leaked to the Times newspaper, the UK government is currently working on legislation that would require Internet carriers to take responsibility for any pirated content transmitted over their networks. According to the drafts obtained by the Times, all ISPs will be required to institute a "three strikes" policy against any users who are caught pirating copyrighted material over their networks.
Each first offense will require a written warning sent from the ISP via e-mail, while a second offense will mandate a suspension of the user's account. Third offenses will result in termination of user accounts, the Times reports, thus effectively banning illegal downloaders from having Web access.
, British ISPs have been conducting behind-the-scenes talks with the entertainment industry and the government over cracking down on Internet piracy for over a year. The British Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA), a trade group for UK ISPs, has told the that if its members are required to cut off service to alleged Web pirates, then it wants the recording industry to underwrite the cost of lawsuits brought on by users who were wrongfully disconnected from service.
Similar legislation aimed at curbing illegal downloading is also in the works in France. According to the , the French government is currently working on a bill that would require ISPs to send warning letters to illegal downloaders for their first two offenses, and to cut off their service for a third offense.
ISPs in the United States bear no legal responsibility for the legality of the content that goes through their networks, and thus have no obligations to filter or screen user content. However, this doesn't prevent American carriers from voluntarily taking more responsibility for what gets sent over their networks.
For instance, James Cicconi, AT&T's senior vice president for external & legal affairs, made waves when he said his company was working with the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America to implement a digital-fingerprinting scheme and would detect and filter out copyrighted material from its network.
This announcement led to speculation that such a scheme could jeopardize AT&T's legal immunity from transmitting copyrighted material. According to U.S. law, (
carriers can only maintain their liability as long as "the transmission [of copyrighted content] is carried out through an automatic technical process without selection of the material by the service provider" or if "the material is transmitted through the system or network without modification of its content."
Brad Reed
According to leaked to the Times newspaper, the UK government is currently working on legislation that would require Internet carriers to take responsibility for any pirated content transmitted over their networks. According to the drafts obtained by the Times, all ISPs will be required to institute a "three strikes" policy against any users who are caught pirating copyrighted material over their networks.
Each first offense will require a written warning sent from the ISP via e-mail, while a second offense will mandate a suspension of the user's account. Third offenses will result in termination of user accounts, the Times reports, thus effectively banning illegal downloaders from having Web access.
, British ISPs have been conducting behind-the-scenes talks with the entertainment industry and the government over cracking down on Internet piracy for over a year. The British Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA), a trade group for UK ISPs, has told the that if its members are required to cut off service to alleged Web pirates, then it wants the recording industry to underwrite the cost of lawsuits brought on by users who were wrongfully disconnected from service.
Similar legislation aimed at curbing illegal downloading is also in the works in France. According to the , the French government is currently working on a bill that would require ISPs to send warning letters to illegal downloaders for their first two offenses, and to cut off their service for a third offense.
ISPs in the United States bear no legal responsibility for the legality of the content that goes through their networks, and thus have no obligations to filter or screen user content. However, this doesn't prevent American carriers from voluntarily taking more responsibility for what gets sent over their networks.
For instance, James Cicconi, AT&T's senior vice president for external & legal affairs, made waves when he said his company was working with the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America to implement a digital-fingerprinting scheme and would detect and filter out copyrighted material from its network.
This announcement led to speculation that such a scheme could jeopardize AT&T's legal immunity from transmitting copyrighted material. According to U.S. law, (
carriers can only maintain their liability as long as "the transmission [of copyrighted content] is carried out through an automatic technical process without selection of the material by the service provider" or if "the material is transmitted through the system or network without modification of its content."
Brad Reed
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