PICTURES: Penny-Sized Bluetooth Adapter is World’s Smallest
PICTURES: Penny-Sized Bluetooth Adapter is World’s Smallest
HD DVD Losing Its Arsenal in Japan [Format Wars]
The HD-DVD troopers are surely fighting the losing battle, as new research from Japan details a surge in Blu-Ray player ownership. The study surveyed buying trends from 2,300 electronic stores across Japan, and the statistics showed that next-generation DVD-unit sales rocketed from 6.1% in October to 20% in November and December. As the next-generation players have a higher price point, they managed to account for some 35% of the total DVD player market value. However, Blu-Ray walked home with the largest market share of the two.
Blu-Ray made up 90% of all next-generation DVD player sales. Now, we aren’t mathematicians, but that is a hell of a lot. In fact, it is so much, looking at this image now actually leaves a ferrous-like taste in our mouths, due to its shocking, 90% increased, ironic eye candy status. [Japan Today; image via Picasa Online]
HBO on Broadband: All-You-Can-Eat Movie and TV Downloads [Hbo]
If you had just three fewer hoops to jump through for HBO on Broadband, it’d be an amazing service. So, if you have Time Warner in Wisconsin, HBO on Demand and Roadrunner broadband (and Windows), you can download to your PC as much as you want from a catalog of 600 shows and movies they’ll throw up every month, plus there’s a live feed of HBO on the East Coast. Awesome right?
But then we’ve got the DRM/studio content restrictions: No transfer to portable devices or burning, and content automatically withers off of your computer when it hits the expiration date in 4-12 weeks. Better than the iTunes timeframe nonetheless. And that whole Roadrunner requirement, it’s totally literal, as in you can only pick up new content while connected to Roadrunner.
On the upside, you can register up to five computers per household, and you’ve got features like series passes that auto-download within five minutes of a show airing on TV. Since the file size runs about 1.2GB for a two-hour flick, the res is probably pretty close to what iTunes offers. Besides, it’s free, and you can’t beat that. [DVD Dossier via Engadget]