Details

• Print

Other

19 July 2007

In an attempt to give CD sales a much needed boost, Disney's Hollywood Records will start offering a new CD format with extra features. According to Reuters, the CDVU+ (CD View Plus) format reads like a digital magazine, offering extras like song lyrics, photos, videos and access to downloadable content.

Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) music label Hollywood Records is offering a new CD format with extra features to encourage compact-disc purchases in a bid to reverse declining CD sales.

Hollywood Records on Wednesday unveiled its new CDVU+ (CD View Plus) format with digital magazine extras, song lyrics, band photos and other extras to boost fan loyalty.

The new format also replaces the traditional CD booklet and plastic jewel case with recyclable packaging.

While I don't think CDVU+ will give CD sales the boost Disney wants, the switch to recyclable packaging should make the tree huggers happy. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

Details

• Print

Other

18 July 2007

Gigabyte Blue Eye Video Card Water Cooler @Tweaknews.net
HP Pavilion a6030la Desktop PC @ChileHardware
LaCie d2 Blu-ray Drive Recorder @InsideHW.com
Shuttle Glamor XPC SG33G5 @Hardware Zone
Thermaltake iXoft Notebook Cooler @HardwareLogic

Add a comment

Details

• Print

Other

18 July 2007

Today, CDRLabs brings you an in depth look at LG's new dual-format "Super Multi Blue" drive, the GGW-H10N. This all in one solution combines a Blu-ray Disc writer and HD DVD-ROM drive, giving users the ability to enjoy movies in both formats. The GGW-H10N can also store up to 50GB of data onto a single Blu-ray disc and is one of the first drives with the ability to write to BD-R media at 4x.

In this review we'll take a look at some of the features found on the GGW-H10N and see how it compares to the Blu-ray Disc writers from Sony, I-O DATA and Pioneer. Is support for both Blu-ray and HD DVD enough to put LG's new drive on top? You'll have to read the review to find out.

LG GGW-H10N Super Multi Blue

If you have any comments or questions about this review or the LG GGW-H10N, please post them in the forum. Add a comment

Details

• Print

Other

17 July 2007

A.C.Ryan AluBox ESATA/USB2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure @Tweaknews.net
Antec Sonata III Case @HardwareLogic
Gigabyte Laptop Sleeve @The TechZone
Palit HD 2600 PRO and HD 2600 XT Sonic @TweakTown
Plantronics Discovery 665 Bluetooth Headset @Futurelooks
Sprint Novatel Wireless Ovation U720 EV-DO Modem @I4U
ZOTAC GeForce 8400GS 256MB @TweakTown

Add a comment

Details

• Print

Other

16 July 2007

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 @Hardware Zone
OCZ Rally 2 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive @Futurelooks
PowerColor HD 2600 XT 256MB GDDR3 @InsideHW.com
Saitek GH30 Vibration Headset @ThinkComputers.org
Synology Diskstation DS107E Network Attached Storage Enclosure @Tweaknews.net

Add a comment

Details

• Print

Other

13 July 2007

Antec Phantom 500 Watt Silent Power Supply @Futurelooks
Apevia X-Qpack 2 CM500 Camouflage SFF Case @Benchmark Reviews
ASUS EN8600GT Silent 256MB GDDR3 @Hardware Zone
Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2-1066/PC2-8500 2GB Kit @Redaktion ocinside.de
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R (Intel P35) Motherboard @Hardware Zone
HIS Radeon IceQ Turbo X1650XT 256MEG PCI Express Videocard @Tweaknews.net
Logitech Cordless Skype Internet Handset @Tweaknews.net
Samsung 275T 27" Widescreen LCD @BCCHardware
SanDisk Cruzer Contour 4GB Flash Drive @Everything USB
Silverstone SG03 Case @HardwareLogic

Add a comment

Details

• Print

Other

13 July 2007

Over the past few years, Sony BMG has gotten a lot of bad press due to their antipiracy efforts. While not as well known as their infamous rootkit, SunnComm's MediaMax technology also caused its share of problems for the company. According to the LA Times, Sony BMG has now decided to sue the developer of the software, claiming that it "did not perform as warranted".

Sony BMG Music Entertainment is suing a company that developed antipiracy software for CDs.

Sony claims the technology was defective and cost the record company millions of dollars to settle consumer complaints and government investigations.

Sony BMG filed a summons in a New York state court against The Amergence Group, formerly SunnComm International, which developed the MediaMax CD copy-protection technology.

Sony BMG is seeking to recover $US12 million ($A14 million) in damages from the Phoenix-based technology company, according to court papers filed on July 3.

The Amergence Group has already responded to these allegations, stating that the problems were due to "Sony's under-tested release of a competitor's technology." Needless to say, this is going to be an interesting court battle. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

Details

• Print

Other

11 July 2007

2P Slim Mouse Laptop Mouse @The TechZone
Albatron Mini-ITX KI690-AM2 Motherboard @TweakTown
Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 VGA Heatsink @HardwareLogic
Cooler Master NotePal W1 @InsideHW.com
Cooler Master Real Power 750 Watt Power Supply @Tweaknews.net
Coolink Silentator @BCCHardware
Genius Look 313 Media Webcam @The TechZone
Logitech VX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks @Futurelooks
Samsung BD-P1200 Blu-ray DVD Player @Futurelooks
Thermaltake Shark Aluminum ATX Full Tower Case @Tweaknews.net
Thermaltake V1 CPU Cooler @ThinkComputers.org
XFX GeForce 8600 GT Fatal1ty @Hardware Zone

Add a comment

Details

• Print

Other

11 July 2007

Buying a computer with integrated graphics can save you money. However, when it comes to things like playing Blu-ray or HD DVD movies, they just don't have the horsepower. To give these computers the performance boost they need, Albatron has released a Blue Ray Decoder Card (Yes, they spell it "Blue"). By utilizing NVIDIA's Geforce 8500GT GPU, this low-profile VGA card can reduce CPU utilization by 60% during high-def video playback.

Albatron has recently announced the exciting new "Blue Ray Decoder Card" giving mainstream users a great alternative to Integrated Graphics. This low-profile VGA card can provide even the most basic systems with High Definition video playback including Blu-ray and HD-DVD. This card also supports DirectX 10, boosting 3D graphics performance for the Windows VistaTM operating system...

...The technology behind this high performance, high definition video playback is NVIDIA's PureVideo HD technology, embedded into the NVIDIA Geforce 8500GT GPU. One of the most practical aspects of this technology is that it focuses video playback mostly on the GPU, leaving your CPU to do other things. In fact, systems using Core 2 Duo processors with PureVideo HD usage has consistently shown CPU utilization under 20% during high definition video playback which also demonstrates up to a 60% reduction in CPU impact when using PureVideo HD versus using other technologies. This card also supports H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 encoding/compression formats used to record data on both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disks.

In reality, Albatron's Blue Ray Decoder Card is nothing more than a low-profile version of the 8500GT-256 graphics card. No word yet on price or availability. As we find out more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, Albatron's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment