DISH first to broadcast live 1080p TV

Satellite TV provider DISH Network today became the first known TV broadcaster to put out video in a full 1080p (1920x1080 progressive) resolution. Starting with an August 1st Video On Demand option for the movie I Am Legend, DISH says it will start offering 1080p whenever the content is available rather than the lower-resolution 1080i (interlaced) or 720p HD normally aired on DISH and other TV services. Using VOD effectively gives the image quality of Blu-ray but at a lower price than renting a disc, the satellite firm claims.

AT&T: YouTube, other legit videos reduce P2P

Customers with legitimate options for video are triggering a large-scale drop in the amount of peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic, according to a published study of AT&T's network. The DSL Internet provider found that while P2P traffic did ultimately increase in the past year, legal streaming video services such as Hulu and YouTube have largely flattened the growth in demand for P2P versus its rapid growth in recent years. In one circumstance, AT&T's core network saw P2P traffic drop substantially.

MSN Direct lets sites send info to nav units

Microsoft on Tuesday released an open Application Programming Interface (API) for its MSN Direct Send to GPS feature for personal navigation devices. With the new software, Microsoft allows users to any website to send street addresses, latitude and longitude coordinates, business listings, phone numbers, and other information to their GPS devices, without the need to copy the location and input it into the compatible device.

BlackBerry Thunder due Oct 8 with Rhapsody?

The BlackBerry Thunder now has a specific release date and over-the-air music downloads, if a leak is found to be accurate. Research in Motion's first-ever touch BlackBerry is now purportedly due to launch with Verizon on October 8th and will have access to Verizon's version of RealNetworks' Rhapsody service. The feature may supply a technical advantage over the iPhone, which is both prevented from downloading whole songs outside of Wi-Fi and must pay per track rather than getting a flat rate for songs.

Samsung launches four laser printers for office use

Samsung today took the wraps off four new printers, with the CLP-315, CLP-315W and CLX-3175FN color laser printers for the small or home office market as well as small workgroups along with the laser SCX-4828FN to add to its monochrome multifunction line. The SCX-4828FN is designed for use in office workgroup environments, with the ability to print, copy, scan and fax, capable of printing up to 30 pages per minute.

LG makes deals with US cablecos for tru2way HD

LG on Monday said it has struck deals with US cable providers to get support for tru2way, the new two-directional HD video standard. A memorandum of understanding between LG and six US cable providers should see the latter offer support for tru2way on their networks, letting HDTVs from LG and other set makers supply HDTV with interactive options such as video on demand or more advanced programming guides without needing a separate device.

Motorola to remake Home & Networks group

Motorola will break up its Home and Networks Mobility group in a move which is likely meant to prepare for a potential sell-off, according to a memo obtained by the Wall Street Journal. The company will purportedly create three divisions; two will involve networks and see Motorola divide its networking efforts into a Cellular Networks group, for traditional cell service, as well as a Broadband Access Solutions group that handles wide-area wireless technology such as Long Term Evolution (4G) or WiMAX. The third will handle all digital video, including cable boxes, DVRs, and IPTV.

HTC Touch Diamond update adds GSM 850 band, more

A ROM update for the HTC Touch Diamond was released on Wednesday, giving the phone a few added capabilities, with the addition of the 850MHz GSM band for calling -- but not 850MHz 3G over HSPA for data -- and a quicker response from the TouchFLO 3D touchscreen interface chief among them. Users who perform the upgrade will also be able to use the EDGE data network.

Samsung sales thrive on smartphones, more

Samsung today said it prospered in the spring quarter based primarily on its cellphone and LCD businesses. The Korean company says it sold 45.7 million phones between April and June, a 22 percent boost over spring 2007. Many of these phones were also mid-range or premium models, with over one million Soul 5-megapixel cameraphones being sold; sales of pricier 3G phones jumped 41 percent, the electronics creator says.

British ISPs take active role in online piracy fight

The British music and film industries finally received the cooperation they have been seeking from Internet Service Providers in helping them fight illegal file downloading. A report on Thursday has six of the country's largest Internet providers sending warning letters to subscribers suspected of illegal file downloading and sharing. The decision to do so is commonly believed to be spurred by the British government, which announced earlier this year that it would impose its own laws forcing them to police how their services are used had they failed to cooperate voluntarily.

Windows XP ready for OLPC notebooks

Microsoft has finally completed the OLPC version of Windows XP, the company has announced. The scaled-down operating system has been released to manufacturing, and is being installed on select versions of the OLPC group's XO notebook, intended mainly for schools in poor countries. The computer uses bare-bones components to reduce cost to approximately $200, such as a smaller screen and flash-based program storage.

Amazon, Apple may back MySpace Music

The upcoming MySpace Music service may ultimately be run by another major online music store, say alleged sources for TechCrunch. The social networking site is described as most likely picking Amazon MP3 to handle the commerce behind the store but is also said to be entertaining offers from other companies, including Apple and RealNetworks. No commitments have yet been made.

Vizio shows low-cost wireless sound bar and sub

Low-cost flat panel HDTV maker VIZIO recently said it will enter the home audio market with its simulated surround sound system comprised of a slim speaker and a wireless subwoofer. Earlier this year, the company's only other attempt to make a sound system came in the form of the wireless speaker Jive SV5.1 upgrade kit for its Black Tie- and XVT-series of HDTVs.

Flash memory prices tanking?

Prices on the flash memory used in portable devices have plummeted in the past month, according to a report by DRAMeXchange. The Taiwan-area research firm says that a combination of economic inflation, the Sichuan earthquake in mainland China, and a seasonal lack of orders in spring have forced companies producing NAND flash to drop their prices by about 20 percent between June and July in order to clear overstock and is only expected to get worse. As the usual recovery isn't expected to be as strong, the problem could last until at least the end of the summer, the researchers say.

Intel shows x86 system-on-chip for handhelds

Intel today introduced what it says is a new class of processor for itself and the wider industry. The EP80579 Integrated Processor is a system-on-a-chip that builds in a main Pentium M processor as well as the necessary interface and memory controllers, communications, graphics, and security all into one part. The technology is efficient that it can shrink the total size of the board and its components by as much as 45 percent compared to what they would require separately, Intel says. It also reduces power by about 34 percent.

Yahoo to lock tracks from defunct online store

All ability to copy or transfer tracks bought through Yahoo Music will end with the month of September, an announcement indicates. Beginning on October 1st the company is shutting off the delivery of DRM keys for tracks, a move which should leave the music playable locally, but difficult if not impossible to copy to a portable player, second hard drive, or compact disc. The deadline follows months after the closure of Yahoo Music sales, which have since been replaced by a partnership with Real's DRM-free Rhapsody service.

Sirius/XM merger down to one vote

A final approval or rejection of the proposed merger between satellite radio providers Sirius and XM now hinges on a single vote at the Federal Communications Commission, one official tells the Wall Street Journal. With the decision by Commissioner Michael Copps to vote against the merger and fellow official Jonathan Adelstein still ambivalent and demanding certain conditions, just Commissioner Deborah Tate remains undecided. Her approval would be enough to guarantee a merger but could potentialy shoot down the merger as-is if Adelstein isn't swayed in favor of the deal.

XFX, EVGA abandoning Nvidia after margin squeeze?

After a recent bout of bad press – alleged mass product defects, competitive price cuts, and legal problems – two of Nvidia's largest partners have supposedly jumped ship to pursue alternate ventures with an unnamed company. The news follows the loss of Gainward, a company now fabricating ATI-based boards. While details of the supposed deal are scarce, it is known that the two companies, XFX and EVGA, are not defecting to rival GPU manufacturer ATI.

Canada auction ends, gets new cell providers

The Canadian auction for the 2GHz wireless spectrum has ended and confirmed the creation of a new carrier for the country, Industry Canada announced on Monday. The end of bidding will see Globalive, which operates Yak Mobile in Canada but is primarily supported by foreign investments, pay $442 million for a license that gives it licenses to cover all of the country's provinces with services except for Quebec, where it lost out to competing firms such as cable and media powerhouse Quebecor.

SanDisk: Vista hinders solid-state drive tech

Windows Vista's architecture is actively hindering SanDisk's ability to roll out its next generation of solid-state drives, says company chief Eli Harari. In statements made just after his company produced disappointing quarterly results, the executive says that Vista is "not optimized" for using flash memory as its main storage and that the hardware managing data traffic needs to be redesigned to generate the expected performance; a patch for Vista itself would be ineffective.

BlackJack II gets new colors, i760 WM 6.1 upgrade

Samsung announced on Monday changes to two of its smartphones, the BlackJack II for AT&T and SCH-i760 for Verizon. The former is now available in blue and pink while its price with new contracts has dropped. The i760 in the meantime gets a software update that includes Windows Mobile 6.1. The new OS brings with it threaded SMS, Domain Enrollment for office servers and an updated Vista 32-bit look that includes a more advanced home screen.

Briefly: Dell Studio 15 review

Dell has often enforced a hard split between its entry-level (Inspiron) and high-end (XPS) home notebooks, but that distinction is blurred with the Studio series: the new line should in theory be the best

Aircell in-flight Wi-Fi to use LTE 4G network

Aircell, which will offer Wi-Fi access on airplanes while in flight via its Gogo service, today announced it would base its second generation of the service on the 4G Long Term Evolution data network. When the service goes live later on this year, it will use CDMA EVDO Rev A for data transfer during flights, topping out at more than 12 Mbps. By the end of 2009, Aircell plans to up that number to 22.7 Mbps with advances in its current technology. When the company incorporates the 4G LTE network in 2011, throughput speeds will jump to 300 Mbps, Aircell promises.

TiVo integrates YouTube into Series 3, HD

TiVo on Thursday announced that its Series3 and TiVo HD DVRs will soon support YouTube content, allowing users to browse and view videos on the Google-owned service. In the future, TiVo hopes to introduce a login interface, which would let users access their YouTube accounts, videos, channels, and playlists. Tivo expects to have the update delivered over "the next few weeks" for the aforementioned players.

Sony ships BDP-S350, BD-Live ready, enviro-friendly

Sony on Wednesday shipped the BDP-S350, a new incarnation of its S300 Blu-ray player that is based off Blu-ray Profile 2.0, which introduces a number of new features, including access to BD-Live Internet extras. Sony bills the player as BD-Live ready, saying that a patch will be available later this year, which can be downloaded through the player's built-in Ethernet port. In addition, the BDP-S350 adds support for BonusView (picture-in-picture), while featuring a speedier boot time and an external port for local BD-Live storage.

Legg Mason sides with Yahoo management

One of Yahoo's largest shareholders has declared its support for existing management, according to an announcement. Legg Mason Capital Management, which owns 60.7 million shares (4.4 percent) of Yahoo stock, has declared its intentions to vote in favor of Yahoo's current bosses at next month's critical shareholder meeting. "We believe the current Board acted with care and diligence when evaluating Microsoft's [acquisition] offers," reads a statement from Legg Mason chairman Bill Miller.

ASUS prepping 30GB Eee PC 900?

ASUS is developing an unexpected revision of the Eee PC 900, data suggests. A product sheet from ASUS' Chinese site makes reference to "Eee PC 900 30G" systems, which not only switch from 12 or 20GB of storage to 30, but also use hard drives instead of flash memory. Black or white Linux systems are said to be available, along with a black-only Windows XP machine.

Compaq 2730p tablet appears in Korea

Not announced with its main wave of Centrino 2 notebooks, HP has revealed another such system in Korea. The Compaq 2730p is a tablet PC with a rotating, 12.1-inch screen, capable of native WXGA resolutions. Internally it is powered by a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo processor, matched to a GM45 chipset; graphics are supplied by an integrated GMA 4500MHD chip. By default, the system comes with 2GB of 800MHz DDR2 RAM.

Fujitsu introduces notebooks with Centrino 2

Fujitsu today introduced six new notebooks and tablet PCs based on the Intel Centrino 2 mobile platform announced last night. The two tablet PCs are the LifeBook T5010 and T1010, both sporting a 13.3-inch display. The main difference between the two is the use of the Centrino 2 vPro business chipset in the T5010 and the regular Centrino 2 in the T1010, with less security and no remote access options. The T5010 also features a modular bay that allows the optical drive to make room for a secondary battery.

eMusic plans to fight iTunes via social web

eMusic will try to improve its standing against iTunes and fellow web-based store Amazon MP3 soon by adding a social component to the music, the music service's chief David Pakman tellsFortune. Taking advantage of the need to buy music through the web portal, eMusic hopes to draw in buyers by providing deeper and constantly changing artist info through Web 2.0 sites. Musicians will frequently have Wikipedia pages for their biographies as well as relevant Flickr photo albums and YouTube videos.

Overdrive PC intros 'HyperClocked' systems

Computer builder Overdrive PC has announced a new collection of custom-built systems. The machines use a process the company dubs "HyperClocking," a means of overclocking processors while retaining safe power levels; the systems are however divided between a variety of different price levels, beginning with the $1,500+ SmallBlock gaming PCs. These use at least Core 2 Duo E8400s clocked at 3GHz, and 512MB GeForce 9800 GTX cards.

Notes from the Intel Centrino 2 launch

Monday night's launch of the new Intel Centrino 2 notebook platform, unveiling of the 45nm, 3.06GHz Core 2 Extreme mobile processor and announcement of 14 total forthcoming chips was covered last night, but there is room to expand on Intel's presentation. The company stressed its new focus, showing that laptop computers are increasingly outselling desktops.

Sony rolls out VAIO BZ pro notebook

Sony's Centrino 2 notebook refresh tonight adds the VAIO BZ. It keeps the same 15.4-inch display as the outgoing VAIO BX but in a slim, magnesium shell the company says is tough enough to resist shocks while keeping the weight under six pounds. The display is now LED-backlit on some models for a more accurate (and power-efficient) image, while the keyboard has been designed to resist spills.

Nintendo elaborates on Wii MotionPlus

Nintendo at E3 today expanded on yesterday's unveiling of the Wii MotionPlus. The add-on device for the Wii Remote uses a built-in spatial sensor that allows for very precise swings, twists, and rotation: a sword swing can be reflected exactly onscreen, while holding the Remote sideways gives players the ability to twist the throttle in a jet ski game or toss a Frisbee as well as they can in real life.

Blu-ray disc shortage in China to end by December

A Blu-ray Disc factory set to launch by December in China will put an end to slow sales of Blu-ray Disc players made by the likes of Sony, Panasonic and Pioneer, it was learned at the Blu-ray Disc Association Press Conference today. Shanghai Epic Music Entertainment Company Ltd. will produce the high-capacity media storage discs at an 140,000 square foot expansion to its factory in Shanghai. The new lines are expected to start producing discs as soon as December.

Rambus sues NVIDIA over patent infringement

As if NVIDIA wasn't in enough hot water already, reports have high-speed memory interface maker Rambus Inc. suing the graphics chip maker over patent infringements. The lawsuit, filed in a Nothern District of California court, implies NVIDIA's memory controllers for SDR, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR and GDDR3 SDRAM infringe upon 17 Rambus patents.

OWC intros 1TB external FireWire hard drives

Other World Computing today introduced a new 1TB drive in its line of external FireWire Neptune drives. The range includes seven drives ranging from capacity from 80GB to 1TB, with a 7200RPM speed hard disk common to all. The new range is fully compatible with Apple Time Machine back-up software. OWC claims the Neptune series is affordably priced, sharing its Oxford chipset and heavy-duty power supplies with OWC's Mercury Elite series of external drives.

Sprint already selling Palm Treo 800w?

Sprint is already selling the Treo 800w smartphone despite a lack of announcements from either Palm or the carrier, according to separate reports. Members of the WM Experts forums say some Sprint stores have been selling the device on an unofficial level and confirm that the device has at least GPS, a 320x320 screen common to full-size Treos, and a thinner design with a better QWERTY keyboard than most Treos. The phone is also said in reports to have Wi-Fi, EVDO Revision A for faster 3G Internet access, and a 2-megapixel camera.

AccuNAS AN2L shares media on computers, consoles

Sans Digital on Friday unveiled the AccuNAS AN2L two-bay RAID NAS enclosure, providing users with a compact storage unit that can link disks in RAID levels 0, 1, JBOD and Spanning. The box is said to share media with Mac, Windows, and Linux boxes, as well as Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable, or any UPnP/DLNA-based media player. Sans Digital is selling the AccuNAS AN2L for $365, available from the company's website.

Seagate reveals first 1.5TB drive, more

Seagate today broke through a long-held barrier and released a 1.5 terabyte version of the Barracuda 7200.11. The storage is 500GB more than any other 3.5-inch desktop hard drive and is accomplished through extra refinement of perpendicular magnetic recording that allows it to fit 375GB on each of its four platters. The density also helps improve speed and lets the disk transfer data at a sustainable 120MB per second, or higher in bursts thanks to the extra bandwidth of its Serial ATA II connection.

Creative intros Wi-Fi capable ZEN X-Fi

Creative on Thursday took the wraps from the ZEN X-Fi, the company's first-ever wireless player and its first competitor to the iPod touch and Zune. The device succeeds the original ZEN and includes a new, nine-point control pad key to using the device online over Wi-Fi: Wireless LAN versions can use a phone-style text entry system to chat online using Windows Live or Yahoo instant messaging. The network access also gives the X-Fi the ability to stream music and video directly from a home computer on the local network, although a rumored Internet streaming feature doesn't reach the finished product.

Canon EOS-5D Mk II's full launch leaked?

A further leak of the often rumored Canon EOS-5D Mark II has appeared today that suggests the camera will be Canon's most low-light capable model to date. The sequel is now thought to have a new 16-megapixel, full-frame sensor that supports up to ISO 25,600, matching the same performance as the Nikon D3 in very dark environments. The figure may be just for marketing's sake, the alleged source warns. Shots from the D3 at such a high range often exhibit very visible noise.

'Power' table at Sun Valley raises Yahoo questions

More questions were brought up about the sale of Yahoo at the Sun Valley conference being held this week in Idaho, says the New York Times. A table in a bar filled with the likes of Google co-founder Larry Page, Yahoo President Sue Decker, Legg Mason Capital Management's Bill Miller -- who is one of Yahoo's largest shareholders -- and former Yahoo chief Terry Semel has the media, investors and analysts speculating about the type of conversation taking place.

Apple dominating US touch phone market

Apple should already the clear market leader in the US for touchscreen phones by the end of the year, a new study claims from Strategy Analytics. The research group estimates that Apple will have shipped 6.3 million iPhones in the US alone by the end of the year, or enough to garner 35 percent of business for touchscreen cellphones in the country. The success is in large part due to Apple popularizing the interface with relatively little competition in the short term, according to the group.

ECS G10IL netbook coming to the US, fights MSI Wind

Taiwan-based ECS is preparing to bring its netbook to the US market to compete with the likes of the ASUS Eee PC range and MSI's Wind netbooks. Unlike its other products, the G10IL will be the company's first netbook designed for business use exclusively instead of education. Only a 10.2-inch version of the G10IL will likely make it to the US market, also bringing with it optional and unique to the segment 3G support via the HSUPA and HSPDA mobile broadband networks, as well as EDGE.

Apple updates iPhone preparedness pages

In anticipation of the coming iPhone 3G launch, Apple has updated several of its pages that prepare customers for a smooth purchase or transition to the new device. A page entitled "Get Ready" is geared towards new or inexperienced users, but also provides a small refresher on the newer commonly-used features of the iPhone 3G. The guide illustrates to users that through the iTunes synchronization, they can be ready "in minutes" with all of their music, contacts, and personal content on the device.

Epson ships Ensemble home cinema systems

Epson today announced it released two complete home entertainment systems, with the Ensemble HD 720 and Ensemble HD 1080 systems. Either is capable of throwing up high definition images on a 100-inch motorized screen that is part of each package courtesy of Epson's PowerLite 3LCD three-chip HD projector. As the product names suggest, the projectors are the main difference between the two packages, with the former capable of 720p (1280x720) HD images, the latter of 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution video.

Nikon Coolpix P6000 info leaked?

Information has leaked on a new Nikon Coolpix camera, dubbed the P6000, reports say. A French-language product slide appears to depict not only the camera but features marking it as a high-end compact, such as a 13.5-megapixel sensor. It is also claimed to use a version of the EXPEED image processor found in the D3 and D300, and support ISO sensitivities has high as 6400, roughly equivalent to the D300 and four times greater than the sensitivity in most competing compacts.

Yahoo, AOL rushing merger talks?

Yahoo and Time Warner have spent the weekend in talks meant to accelerate a possible merger between the search engine giant and Time Warner's AOL division, says Britain's Times newspaper. Pointing only to insider sources, the publication claims Yahoo was in talks over the Independence Day weekend to speed up exploring the revived AOL deal as well as other options. Yahoo is allegedly eager to have some form of alternative deal to a Microsoft buyout of its search business in time for a crucial August 1st Yahoo shareholder's meeting.

Gefen intros Ethernet-based HDMI IR Extender

Gefen on Thursday introduced its newest connectivity product, the HDMI IR Extender. Aimed at custom installations, the HDMI IR Extender will allow users to control their HD source units from another room without having to purchase and run lengthy HDMI cables through their walls. The Sender and Receiver connect via two standard Ethernet (CAT-5) cables, and can deliver 1080p resolution video signals over up to 300 feet or 1080i resolution over up to 150 feet. Audio is likewise transmitted.