News
September 1, 2010
Blockbuster About to Bite the Big One?
The LA Times reports that Blockbuster appears to be ready to file bankruptcy by mid-September. The movie rental company plans to close 500 more of its US stores to ease its $1 billlion debt and while hoping that film studios will continue to supply new DVDs during this time.
Via LA Times
August 26, 2010
Cleveland Trash Cans Track Recycling Habits
Big Brother will be keeping an eye out in Cleveland to residents who don't recycle beginning next year. High-tech trash cans with RF ID chips will keep track of how often they are used. Should they find that someone hasn't for a while, a supervisor will go through his/her other trash cans and determine why. More than 10% of recyclable items could result in a $100 fine.
Via Cleveland.com
August 17, 2010
Star Wars to Go Blu-ray
George Lucas once again dusts off the Star War Trilogy to offer them on Blu-ray next year in honor of the 35th anniversary of "A New Hope." This deleted scene is included from "Return of the JedI" but the Original Trilogy will not, being too costly. Sign up if you want to be notified when the grand event occurs.
Via Star Wars
August 16, 2010
Book Your Delta Flight on Facebook
While most airlines are making it tougher to fly these days, Delta has made the chore easier by utilizing their Facebook page. Customers can book tickets on Delta Ticket Window after searching flights and share the information with friends and family. The company is also working on an app for the iPhone and other smartphones.
Via Computer World
August 12, 2010
Rent a DVD While Awaiting Your Subscription
Redbox, already available in about 23,000 locations and with more than 880 million DVDs rented, plans to install 700 additional kiosks in CVS pharmacies by the end of 2011. They will be placed nationwide, including in Puerto Rico, and some will be put in Longs Drugs in Hawaii.
Via Redbox
July 29, 2010
UFC Tries to Bust Illegal Streamers
The Ultimate Fighting Championship's parent company is attempting to discover those who stream live pay-per-view events without permission. They have served subpoenas to Justin.tv and Ustream.tv to get the information. The company sited two examples, one in January when 36,000 viewers watched an event online and another the following month when 78,000 viewed another without paying. Since UFC charges $44.95 to individuals and up to $1,000 for each match, that's a fairly large loss.
Via UFC
July 27, 2010
Sharp Developing 3-Layered Blu-ray Disc
Sharp is working on a 100GB, triple-layered Blu-ray disc. With the added space, instead of holding a mere movie or two, it can contain an entire season of your fave TV series. That equals out to 12 hours of terrestrial digital TV or 8.6 hours of satellite digital broadcasts. The new format is called VR-100BR1 and will be available in Japan sometime this month for $60.00. Whether it is compatible with current players remains to be seen.
Via cnet
July 8, 2010
Captain EO Returns to Disneyland Tokyo
Many years ago, one of our first exposures to 3D came in the form of "Captain EO," a musical short with Michael Jackson which was shown at Disneyland. We were so in awe that we re-screened it about 6 times by, instead of leaving with everyone else, hanging back and pretending we were with the next group. We finally found the perfect position to view the short and reluctantly left the building. Now Disneyland Toyko has reopened the attraction temporarily after 14 years as a tribute to the fallen star. There's some symmetry in that.
P.S. Row 11, center seat.
Via Fareast Gizmos
July 7, 2010
Blockbuster De-Listed by NYSE
Another blow for Blockbuster as they have been de-listed and suspended from trading by the New York Stock Exchange after refusing a reverse stock split that would have adjusted their shares from $.18 to above the $1.00 threshold. The company has one month to get out of debt although it still seems that bankruptcy will be their ultimate end.
Via TechFreqNews
July 5, 2010
Amazon Acquires Woot
Amazon has made Woot one of its subsidiaries. While we hope that the site will not lose its cleverness after falling under the conglomerate's virtual thumb, we think that this comment posted by Woot CEO Matt Rutledge says it best:
"Over the next few days, you will probably read headlines that say "Matt Rutledge revealed to be monstrous pseudo-human creation of Jeff Bezos." You might even see this photo making the rounds. Rest assured that these rumors have nothing to do with our final decision. We think now is the right time to join with Amazon because, quite simply, every company that becomes a subsidiary gets two free downloads until the end of July, and we very much need that new thing with Trent Reznor's wife on our iPods."
Via Woot
June 17, 2010
Time-Warp Technology Takes a Jump to the Left
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has decided that TiVo does not own the patent on time-warp DVR technology. This not great news for the company that received $200 million from EchoStar's Dish Networks last year. While EchoStar is obviously pleased by the news, TiVo says it will continue to harass work with the PTO "to explain the validity of the claims." The battle rages on to the federal appeals court for a rehearing.
Via cnet
June 8, 2010
iPhone 4 Comes Out to Play
As per usual, you couldn't escape the hoopla surrounding Steve Jobs at yesterday's WWDC as he announced the wonders of the iPhone 4. With video calling, retina display, the ability to multi-task and HD video recording, the redesigned smartphone is certainly a thing to behold, but you gotta chuckle that the festivities manages to bring out the cult of Apple as you hear the crowd reaction to everything the J-man says.
Via Apple
June 3, 2010
Sony OLED Panel to Last a Decade
Sony has developed an 11.7" OLED panel utilizing oxide semiconductor TFTs as driver elements. They claim that the technology will give it a life of 10+ years. The panel features a 960x540p resolution, a peak brightness of 600cd/m2 or more and a contrast ratio of 1,000,000: 1 or more.
Via TechOn
May 24, 2010
Researchers Find Super Disc
A research team in Japan claim that they have a DVD that will hold 1000 times the amount of data as a Blu-ray disc, which holds 5 times the amount of data as an ordinary DVD. They have accomplished this by painting titanium oxide onto the disc that conducts electricity when put under light. There are no immediate plans to bring the discs to consumers but we expect it won't be long before the team finds an investor.
Via Physorg
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