Sticky Notes: Toshiba develops prototype HD-DVD disc
Network World, 06/06/05
Toshiba has developed a prototype HD-DVD disc that increases the format's storage capacity by 50% and brings it closer to
that of the rival Blu-ray Disc, the company said last month.
The new disc has a capacity of 45G bytes, which is just less than the 50G bytes offered by a dual-layer Blu-ray Disc, and
will give content producers additional space to store longer high-definition movies or extras such as trailers, out-takes
or interactive features.
Toshiba accomplished the capacity jump by adding an extra data storage layer to the disc. Each HD-DVD layer has a capacity
of 15G bytes, and the new disc packs three such layers.
The company also announced a second prototype disc that uses the same basic technology. The hybrid disc combines a dual-layer
HD-DVD with a dual-layer DVD to provide a double-sided disc that can be played in either HD-DVD or DVD players. The disc could
be used as a transitional format that lets consumers buy discs for use in DVD players while building up a library of high-definition
content for when they purchase an HD-DVD player.
The announcement could give Toshiba a boost in ongoing talks with Blu-ray Disc-supporters Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial
(Panasonic), regarding a single, unified, high-definition videodisc standard.
The talks began earlier this year and are aimed at heading off what many expect will be a damaging format battle that will
harm both consumers and the consumer electronics and entertainment industries.
The HD-DVD industry group said in January that it plans to have players and content available in U.S. stores in the last quarter
of this year. The first machine to support prerecorded Blu-ray Disc is expected to be announced next week when Sony Computer
Entertainment shows off a prototype of its next-generation PlayStation 3. The console and other Blu-ray Disc players aren't
expected to be commercially available until 2006.
Protect yourself from charge-backs
Mom and Pop businesses usually can't tell if a credit card used for purchases is bogus. That puts them at risk for charge-backs,
which banks charge merchants when charges are disputed. These charge-backs can run between $25 and $45 per fraudulent charge,
not to mention the cost of the merchandise that has been shipped.
If friends or family are conducting any type of online commerce, direct them to a $59 primer on credit card security from
www.preventchargebacks.com. CardCops.com screens credit cards for merchants for $10 per month, and can screen cards for consumers for $15 per year.
More resources are at www.merchant911.org.
Epson upgrades photo printer
Our favorite digital photo printer from last year just got a big brother.
Epson says its PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition is a premium version of its PictureMate printer, with new features such as a color LCD and extra printing and editing features
to let users print photos without connecting to a PC. The new printer also can print photos as fast as 75 seconds, a 40% improvement
over the original PictureMate.
The 2.4-inch color LCD screen has a tilt adjustment to let viewers see images before they print them, watch a slide show,
crop photos or preview adjustments made for brightness, saturation or sharpness, Epson says. The new printer features Epson's
new "print by date" feature that lets users select and print photos taken on specific dates. It also now can print 3-by-4-inch
mini-wallet size photos in addition to its classic border and 4-by-6-inch borderless photos. An optional internal battery
($70) can be added to let users print photos up to two hours (about 60 to 80 photos) without being plugged in (the battery
then can recharge via AC power).
The Deluxe Viewer Edition will cost $250 and is expected to be available later this month, Epson says.
Make a million by playing a game
Stop configuring that 10-Gigabit switch — the real money is in playing online computer games.
Planetwide Games, creator of the “RYL: Path of the Emperor” massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is offering a $1 million grand
prize to the winner of a player vs. player, skill-based tournament. The game is a fantasy-style, role-playing game (think
Dungeons & Dragons or “Lord of the Rings”) in which players can take on the role of a warrior, cleric or assassin (20 character
classes available), explore many locations with miles of virtual terrain and real estate, and meet other players (or battle
them).
The online tournament will start July 1 and end on April 30, 2006, Planetwide says. The tournament finals will be broadcast
live and take place at the May 2006 E3 video game conference. The winner of the tournament becomes the “emperor,” as well
as getting the $1 million prize.
Customers who buy the game at retail or online at GameStop are eligible to enter the tournament, as well as receive an exclusive
virtual item that is inserted into the player's inventory once the full version delivers. Complete rules and regulations are
available here .
Creating an online reputation
For years, eBay users have relied on the posted reputation of other sellers to make informed decisions on whom to do business
with. Now a start-up called Opinity scales this model to all Internet users interested in buying and selling. The service, free to users inquiring about a merchant's
reputation, consolidates information about merchants taken from forums and sites where the merchant has a public image (such
as Slashdot’s “karma” scoring system and elsewhere), CEO Ted Cho says.
Video encoding for the masses
If you want to start adding video to your blog, auction or personal Web site, but hate the idea of encoding or transcoding,
MPEG Nation may be for you. The service recently launched and aims to provide low-cost encoding and streaming of consumer and commercial
video content via its worldwide content-delivery network.
"We are working toward a world where television and video distribution are much more democratized and where a creative spark,
a camera and a computer are all it takes to put video content before the eyes of thousands of people," says Scott Wolf, president
of MPEG Nation, a division of Digital Silo. He added that the complexity of encoding video and the cost of having it hosted
and streamed prevents many from adding video to Web sites, blogs or auctions.
The service plans a three-step online form that lets users upload their video and transcode it to various Internet media formats
for instant streaming. Once a file upload is complete, an HTTP link is provided to the user to let them paste into an e-mail,
blog entry, auction or Web site. Clicking on the link plays the video instantly.
Pricing varies on video length, formats streamed and length of storage: for example, the company said a 1- to 60-minute video
uploaded to MPEG Nation and encoded into Windows Media format (at 150K, 300K and 700K) costs $5, including unlimited viewing
bandwidth and storage for six months.
Blue screen resurrection
The problem with online and hardware-based system back-up and recovery solutions is that they're not user-friendly.
“People can’t just easily go back and find their restore files with the push of a button when they need them,” says Andy Tarczan,
vice president and co-founder of the Diffusion Group .
What if users could click their space bar to get a welcome restore GUI in the middle of their dead screen? Farstone, an 11-year-old security and performance optimization company, says its RestoreIT does just that. The application will ship
in Intel 945/955 Express chipsets, scheduled to ship this month. Also, Dell and Phoenix Technologies are re-selling RestoreIT
to its customers.
Protection beyond power
After backup, the issue your home users are least likely to think about is power protection for all their equipment. If you're
lucky they've connected devices to a power suppressor, but it's likely to be one from the grocery store and not a serious
power supply/protection system.
Tripp Lite recently launched its Internet Series UPS System designed to help protect PCs, network connections and other peripherals.
The InternetX525 system includes six outlets, telephone/DLS port surge protection, battery backup and a USB port. The system
protects against power surges and line noise across the phone line or DSL cable, and a built-in splitter (one jack in and
two jacks out) lets users protect two devices that share the same phone or DSL line.
Up to 525 volts of battery backup give users enough time to save their open files and shut down their equipment in the event
of a power blackout, Tripp Lite says. A USB communication port and bundled PowerAlert software allows for automatic shutdown
in case of a longer blackout whenever a PC is left unattended. The software can save open files and close active applications
before shutting down the operating system, the company added.
