Blu-ray Disc is quickly gaining popularity in Japan. According to PC World, shipments of Blu-ray players and recorders hit a record 122,000 units in June. The demand is expected to be even higher for the month of July due to the mid-year bonus that Japanese workers receive as well as the Olympic games in August. Add a comment
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With the U.S. economy on a downhill slide, you'd think that consumers would be cutting back on their home entertainment spending. Surprisingly, that's not the case. According to Video Business, consumers generated more than $10 billion in DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales during the first half of 2008. Of this, Blu-ray accounted for more than $200 million, up nearly 300% from 2007.
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Amazon launched a beta version of its new video on demand service this week. Aptly named Amazon Video on Demand, the service lets customers watch any of the 40,000 movies and television programs immediately after ordering them. There is no need to wait for the entire video to download, as with Amazon's existing Unbox service or Apple's iTunes.

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Sony announced this week that its next-generation Blu-ray Disc player is now available at retailers across the country. The BDP-S350 supports BonusView (picture-in-picture) and is BD-Live ready. Sony plans to release a firmware update that will enable BD-Live later this year.
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SanDisk recently announced its new SanDisk SD WORM (Write Once Read Many) memory card. Developed for professional uses such as police investigations, court testimony and electronic voting, the SanDisk SD WORM card prevents data from being altered or deleted once it has been record. The card can also be read in any standard SD slot and has an archival life of 100 years. Add a comment
Toshiba sent out a press release earlier today, announcing its new line of high performance 2.5-inch hard disk drives. These new drives offer a 7,200rpm rotation speed, 8MB buffer and 3.0Gbit/s Serial ATA interface. Toshiba has also reduced the seek noise of the 400GB MK4058GSX by 2dB for near silent operation.

Toshiba Corporation today announced a new line-up of high performance 2.5-inch HDDs, including a low-noise flagship model that boosts areal density to 477Mbit/mm2 (308Gbpsi) to achieve a capacity of 400GB on just two platters, plus five drives that bring new levels of performance and 7,200rpm rotational speeds to the company’s full range of storage capacities.

Mass production of the 400GB MK4058GSX will start from September, targeting notebook PC and consumer electronic applications. Mass production of the 7,200rpm drives will start in August. The line-up includes the 320GB MK3254GSY and models with 80, 120, 160 and 250GB capacities.
If you'd like to read more, Toshiba's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Super Talent announced this week that it has started to ship its new 24-carat gold plated USB drive, the Pico-C Gold. While smaller than an SD card, this Pico-C Gold offers 8GB of storage and support for 200X (30MB/sec) transfer speeds.

Super Talent Technology, aleading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules,today announced the PICO-C Gold, a 24-carat gold plated, water resistantUSB drive that weighs less than a nickel (~4.7 grams), is smaller than anSD card, and can store over 2,000 MP3 songs.

Super Talent uses chip-on-board (COB) technology to squeeze 8GB ofFlash into an impressively small 31.3mm x 12.4mm x 3.4mm gold plated steelcase. The Pico-C Gold is shock resistant, water resistant, and supports upto 200X (30MB/sec) transfer speeds. The Pico-C Gold includes a sturdy goldchain, and looks more like a fashion accessory than a high performanceFlash drive.
The 8GB Pico-C Gold drive will be available this week from NewBiiz and NewEgg for under $40. If you'd like to read more, Super Talent's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Sony made a number of announcements at E3 this week. Along with a new 80GB PlayStation 3 priced at $399, the company unveiled its new video delivery service. The service will offer standard and high definition videos from studios like Disney, Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros. Once downloaded, the videos can also be transferred from the PS3 to the PSP.
Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) today launches the company’s new video delivery service on PLAYSTATION®Store for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) systems in the United States. Consumers will have the ability to download full-length movies, television shows, and original programming accessible through the PLAYSTATION Store on PLAYSTATION®Network. With nearly 300 full length movies and more than 1,200 TV episodes, many available in both standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD), PLAYSTATION Network’s video delivery service makes PS3 the ultimate entertainment platform and enhances PSP’s status as a portable entertainment marvel. PLAYSTATION Network’s video delivery service will become available later this evening.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) will initially make available to consumers content for video rental and electronic sell-through from top movie studios including: 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate Entertainment, MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros. Entertainment as well as titles for rent from The Walt Disney Studios and a wide-ranging menu of popular titles from a variety of television partners.
Consumers who rent a movie from the PLAYSTATION Network’s video delivery service have 14 days to watch the content. Once playback has begun, they have a full 24 hours to watch their rental. Pricing for rental movies ranges from $2.99 to $5.99, and pricing for purchased movies ranges from $9.99 to $14.99. If you'd like to read more, Sony's entire announcement can be found here. Add a comment