The legal battle between Philips and Princo has been going on for as long as I can remember. While both companies have had their share of victories, the latest round has gone in favor of Philips. According to DigiTimes, a local court in Taiwan has ordered Princo to pay Philips $21.1 million for CD-R licensing.
A local court in Taiwan, on August 15, announced its judgment that Princo, a Taiwan-based maker of blank optical discs, must pay Royal Philips Electronics a total of 2.354 billion yen (US$21.1 million) for CD-R licensing. The fees are due for the period from the fourth quarter of 1997 to the fourth quarter of 1999 plus interest for delayed payment, according to Princo's filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) on August 18. Princo has decided to appeal, the company stressed.
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ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 Video Card @ InsideHW and ThinkComputers.org
Icy Dock 3.5 Inch Screwless External Enclosure @ ASE Labs
Kingston HyperX PC3-14400 2GB Memory Kit @ HardwareLogic
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2 Video Card 100251SR @ Benchmark Reviews
Super Talent PICO-C Gold 8GB USB Flash Drive @ Futurelooks
Thermaltake DuOrb Heatpipe CPU Cooler @ Bigbruin.com
TRENDnet 300Mbps Dual Band Wireless N Gigabit Router @ TweakTown Add a comment
The SATA-IO announced this week that it will be demonstrating implementations of its new SATA Revision 3.0 specification at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF). The 3.0 spec boosts transfer rates to 6 Gbits/second and offers new features such as data streaming and better power management. Best of all, the SATA-IO promises that the 3.0 spec will be backwards compatible with earlier SATA implementations.

A new specification for the popular Serial ATA storage interface will double the maximum transfer speed from three to six gigabits per second (Gb/s). This will enable large amounts of data to be moved at even faster rates, a key advantage as end-users amass ever-increasing amounts of high-resolution photos, videos, music and other multimedia files. Add a comment

AMD ATI All In Wonder HD @ HotHardware
Asus EAH 4850 TOP Videocard @ Rbmods
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Foxconn GeForce 9500 GT G96 Video Card @ Benchmark Reviews
Gigabyte EP45-DS3L & EP45T-DS3R Motherboards @ Phoronix
NZXT Cryo LX Notebook Cooler @ Virtual-Hideout
OCZ SOE Urban Elite Edition DDR3-1600 2GB Dual Channel Memory Kit @ ThinkComputers.org
Thecus N5200B PRO Five Bay NAS Network Attached Storage System @ Tweaknews.net Add a comment
Following HD DVD's defeat, Toshiba announced that it was working on new upconverting technology that could deliver picture quality near that of Blu-ray. The company has finally unveiled its XDE, or "eXtended Detail Enhancement," technology. Available in Toshiba's new XD-E500 DVD player, XDE provides upconversion from 480i/p up to 1080p and offers user selectable picture enhancement modes that bring standard DVD quality closer to the HD experience.

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Toshiba America Consumer Products, L.L.C. ("Toshiba") today announces its new video enhancement technology for DVD with the introduction of the XD-E500. XDE, or "eXtended Detail Enhancement," is more than just DVD upconversion. XDE takes DVD picture quality to a whole new level. In addition to providing upconversion from 480i/p up to 1080p, XDE offers user selectable picture enhancement modes that allow for greater detail, more vivid colors and stronger contrast that bring standard DVD quality closer to the HD experience. XDE technology lets consumers enjoy their existing DVD libraries in a whole new way. Add a comment

OCZ Technology recently announced its new OCZ Core Series V2 SATA II Solid State Drives (SSDs). Available in capacities up to 256GB, the Core V2 offers 170 MB/s read and 98 MB/s write speeds as well as an improved seek time of less than 0.2-0.3ms. OCZ's new SSDs also feature a mini-USB port which allows you to update the firmware to further enhance compatibility or performance with future platforms.
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Responding the demands of enthusiasts and high-performance mobile computing consumers, OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and computer components, today unveiled the newest addition to their industry-leading OCZ Core Series SATA II 2.5” Solid State Drives. The Core Series has established OCZ as a pioneer in the SSD market by offering consumers the benefits of solid drive technology at an affordable price. With the industry continuously shifting in this direction, OCZ strives to place its Core Series at the forefront.
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While the popularity of Blu-ray is on the rise, many consumers are still satisfied with the quality of standard DVDs. As a result, studios are having to come up with new ways to get them to go Blu-ray. According to Home Media Magazine, Paramount has launched a new promotion that will give a $10 rebate to those that upgrade select titles from DVD to Blu-ray Disc.
Paramount Home Entertainment is set to offer DVD collectors a $10 rebate when they upgrade select Paramount and DreamWorks titles to Blu-ray Disc.

Mail-in certificates will be available in the packages for Blu-ray copies of Transformers, The Godfather, Old School, Stardust, Sweeney Todd and Zodiac. To receive the $10 savings, consumers must fill out the certificate and include the proof-of-purchase tabs from both the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the title, along with the receipt for the Blu-ray version. The purchase must be made by Dec. 31, 2009, and rebate requests must be postmarked by Jan. 31, 2010.
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With its OEM contract with Asustek ending in July, Pioneer has expanded the production capacity of its two ODD factories in southern China. While Pioneer will produce its Blu-ray Disc drives in-house, DigiTimes is reporting that the company may outsource the production of older and less profitable models to manufacturers based in Taiwan.

Since the contract between Pioneer and Asustek Computer for ODM/OEM optical disc drive (ODD) production expired in July 2008, Pioneer is very likely to select one or more new ODM/OEM partners to make less profitable models, and the priority may be given to Taiwan-based makers, especially Lite-On IT and Quanta Storage, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

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ASUS Crosshair II Formula Motherboard @ InsideHW
Crucial Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 @ Rbmods
ECS GeForce 9600 GT Graphics Card @ TweakTown
Merconnet MP3 Player / FM Modulator @ Tweaknews.net
Mtron Pro 7500 32GB SATA-II SSD MSP-SATA7525 @ Benchmark Reviews
OCZ Alchemy Elixir Gaming Keyboard @ I4U
SteelSeries Iron.Lady Ikari Laser Bundle @ BCCHardware
Zalman CNPS9300-AT CPU Cooler @ Virtual-Hideout Add a comment
According to DigiTimes, Mitsubishi Chemical is planning to produce high-power (200-300mW) laser diodes. These laser diodes are a key component of the pick-up heads (PUHs) for Blu-ray Disc writers and are currently in short supply.

Japan-based Mitsubishi Chemical, in view of global short supply of Blu-ray Disc (BD) pick-up heads (PUHs), is planning to step into production of high-power (200-300mW) laser diodes (LDs), the key component of PUHs for BD burners, according to sources in the Taiwan optical disc drive (ODD) industry.

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