News written by James Delahunty (January, 2009)

A new service called Vertor launched recently with a goal to make the BitTorrent protocol even more popular, easy-to-use and reliable. It uses an automatic system to download content from various BitTorrent sources and verify that the contents are real and safe. The downloads are snagged by an array of 5 servers, running on dual-core technology with 8GB of RAM each currently.

Vertor has a number of ways to avoid adding a bad torrent to its database...

• When a torrent file is retrieved it is queued on the servers for download. If the download does not start after a number of attempts, a "download error" status is tagged and the torrent file is not added to the database.
• If the download turns out to be an archive (or set of common archives), the system will decompress the data and create a file list. If this fails, the content is marked as "protected" and is not added to the database.
• If the download includes video content, the system will automatically take screenshots from the files. If the screenshots are blank, then the downloads are marked as DRM protected and not added.
• If the download contains audio content, small chunks of the data is cut for verification purposes.
• If a text file is determined to contain a description of the contents, it is saved and is downloadable for users on the site.

Vizio is already known for its low-cost high-definition televisions. Now the company is aiming to get competitive in the market for Blu-ray players. It will begin offering a $199 Blu-ray player in April. The Vizio VBR100 Blu-ray player cannot match up to some of the new Blu-ray players shown off at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this weekend, but with the low price point, it's features make it very competitive.

The player is Profile 2.0 compatible, provides 7.1 analog audio outputs and has on-board support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. It also sports optical and coaxial digital audio outputs. Obviously, support for BD Live 2.0 is very unlikely, which can be found in the newer high-priced models.

A joint raid carried out by Trading Standards and the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) has led to the apprehension of a man accused of video game piracy offenses. A sting operation had been carried out, in which participants visited the unnamed Staffordshire man to have an Xbox console chipped, and to purchase several illegally copied games.

After the games were taken for examination, there was enough evidence to get a search warrant. The raid turned up over 1,000 pirated video games, including over 700 Xbox 360 games and 300 Wii games. Around 100 PlayStation 2 games were also found. Three Xbox 360 consoles and two Nintendo Wii consoles were seized.

The man admitted to running his operation through Gumtree.com for the past two years. "Our team in the Intellectual Property Crime Unit (IPCU) will step up its fight against counterfeiters and illegal chipping services in 2009. Such illegal activity can pose real health dangers for the public and certainly deprives gamers of any proper quality control. Furthermore, it can cause the industry to lose vital income and with it jobs across the UK," said Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA.

Seagate is extending upon its external storage product line-up to offer a home media console that can play media directly on a TV. The Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD media player, designed for a Seagate FreeAgent Go portable hard drive, can display digital photos, video, audio and similar contents on a connected television. It is controlled by a remote. The media player is plugged into the TV once and then users can easily plug in their FreeAgent Go hard drive without any hassle.

Surveys have indicated that consumers are becoming increasingly interested in products such as this, which bridge the gap between computers and televisions. A Parks Associates survey in 2007 found that more than a quarter of respondents were interested in accessing personal content directly on their TVs, while a third expressed interest in watching videos from a computer on a TV.

Consumer electronics companies are rushing to fill the gap as Internet-sourced content continues to grow. The challenge is to make a good product that can be used by almost anyone. In addition to watching movies, Seagate said owners will also be able to view pictures in HD quality, which can be arranged into slideshows with audio and transition effects being added.

Nintendo President and CEO, Satoru Iwata, has said there is plenty of potential for further DS growth despite claims that the market is saturated from critics. Iwata compares the sales made in Japan, relative to its population and compares to Europe and developing markets. "Some say the market for the DS is saturated, but I disagree," said Iwata, speaking to the Daily Yomiuri.

"In Japan, a country with a population of 127 million, we've sold 23 million DS units. The United States is inhabited by over 300 million people, and there are more than 490 million people in the European Union. Sales of the product could grow further in foreign countries considering their populations."

Outside of Europe, Iwata is also watching emerging markets in Russia and India, but said Nintendo is monitoring the global economic downturn closely after having a very successful year in 2008. "I think the game industry will keep doing well in 2009. However, the current economic recession is something that happens only once in 50 or 100 years. We have to monitor the market very carefully," he said.

Skype has announced a new Android version of its mobile VoIP service, porting Skype Lite which is currently available on a range of Java handsets. Skype Lite, currently in Beta, will let Android users utilize a standard voice channel to make a local call, which is then converted to VoIP. There will be charges for the local calls, but users could stand to make gains on long-distance calls if those called are logged on to Skype.

"Call on Skype wherever you are - no WiFi or 3G required", reads promotional material for Skype Lite. A version for the iPhone may show up, but will be technically challenging. Getting the application to the Apple Application Store would not be a walk in the park either.

Silicon Image, an innovative chip-maker that helped to pioneer< the High-definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard, has revealed its intention to make media available throughout the home on all available displays. The company touted LiquidHD at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The new technology can connect all televisions, Blu-ray / DVD players, games consoles, DVRs and computers to a single home network.

In use, a user could, for example, pause a video game or Blu-ray movie in the living room, and then go to another room in the house and resume play on a different television with just one remote control. "This is presaging a whole new generation of smarter consumer devices that are aware of each other and able to share content across a very cheap commodity network," Silicon Image Chief Executive Steve Tirado said in an interview ahead of the start of CES.

Dish Networks is planned to release a digital video recorder that incorporates Slingbox technology. This will enable users to watch recorded content on a variety of Internet-capable consumer electronics devices. The new ViP 922 HD DVR was shown at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. It will be available to Dish subscribers this Spring for $199.

Adding the Slingbox technology to the DVR greatly increases the viewing options of the users, Chief Executive Charlie Ergen told a news conference on Thursday. People can watch recorded programs on their computers at home, their notebooks while traveling, iPhone, smartphones, BlackBerry and more.

SlingGuide features are also available, which enable users to search for, record and view content from a computer or a mobile phone.

A new Intel chip designed to provide interactivity features to television content has been backed by Disney. The chip aims to allow users to interact in certain ways with their favorite programs. "It has the potential to make TV viewing more functional and more fun," Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney-ABC Television group said.

Sweeney said that viewers may be able to access complementary content during the series finale of the hit TV series "Lost", through use of Intel's new chip, which is designed to provide Internet applications on televisions. When present in a TV set, its on-board software lets networks, content creators and other developers to add their own applications and features.

"We know fans of Lost have a huge appetite for insight and information into the show," Sweeney said. "Using the Intel Widget for the series finale could be a great way to give our fans an extraordinary viewing experience for the end of a truly iconic show." ABC's Good Morning America was also presented as a viable candidate, where users could cast votes or comment in real-time on stories being broadcast.

Speaking in an interview at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, RealNetworks Inc. Chief Executive Rob Glaser revealed he is confident that the company will emerge victorious from a lawsuit brought against it by the major Hollywood studios. The target of the lawsuit is a software title developed by the company called RealDVD, which allows a user to copy a DVD movie, which can then be watched on up to five computers.

Hollywood's position on the software is predictable; it enables piracy and so should be illegal and not sold by RealNetworks. A San Francisco judge halted sales of RealDVD back in October 2008. Glaser said the company is willing to make small changes to the software if it has to, but does not expect that to be the outcome.

RealNetworks claims that RealDVD does not remove the CSS (Content Scrambling System) copy protection mechanism at all. He said Friday he expects an injunction hearing will be held in San Francisco in March. Other products in the past have been successfully taken from the market by Hollywood, including the once-infamous DVDXCopy software products.

SanDisk Corp. has shown off speedy solid-state hard drives at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The company's new G3 series of SSDs will go on sale later this year with capacities of 60GB, 120GB and 240GB, with the 240GB model costing $499. The SSDs are designed specifically for notebooks, as replacements for traditional HDDs. SSDs are popular for notebook use because they consume less power.

SSD technology is coming along, and is expected to be the next major step for the industry. SSDs contain no motors or moving parts, consume less power and have the potential to offer significant performance advantages. Granted, the prices are still higher, and performance in the current SSD models falls short of traditional hard drives in many areas, but as the technology advances the prices will fall.

SanDisk claims that the G3 models are more than 5 times faster than the fastest HDDs now on the market, and twice as fast as SSDs that shipped in 2008.

Sony's marketing team has taken aim at Microsoft's Xbox 360 console in a recent press release, branding the console as too expensive and hyping the PlayStation 3 (PS3) as the best offer for your money. Specifically, Sony targeted the Xbox 360 Arcade unit, which it valued as $199. The press release claims that to get all the features of a standard 80GB PS3 model (at $399) for the Xbox 360 Arcade, you would need to spend between $449 and $499.

Sony cites the price of a Wi-Fi adapter (at $100), hard drive ($100 - $150) and an Xbox Live Gold Membership at $50 per year. Adding these to the price of an Arcade model would indeed push your overall expenditure to over $400, but interestingly, the press release did not show comparisons to the Xbox 360 Pro with a 60GB hard drive ($299) or the Xbox 360 Elite with a 120GB hard drive ($399).

At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, LG Electronics is showing off an ultra-thin 15-inch Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) display. The screen measures just 0.85mm thick, less than half the thickness of similar display that the company plans to ship later on this year.

The 15-inch 2.5-mm thick screen will be released in the second half of 2009, according to LG Electronics USA. Young Su Kim, an engineer at LG Electronics USA, said that the OLED screens have much more vibrant color and use less power than the competing technology.

Lower power consumption is achieved as OLED screens do not use a backlight like LCD, which also makes them thinner. The organic material in OLED displays emits its own light.

In the past few years, more and more attention has been placed on how environmentally-friendly tech gadgets and products are, and how eco-aware their manufacturers are. At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, green mania has come out like never before, with corporations touting the low-energy consumption of products, or the eco-friendly chemicals that are contained within.

Reducing the power consumption of tech products is increasingly becoming a target for activists. "Electronics are in fact much more environmentally friendly today than even five years ago," Jeff Omelchuck, director of the Green Electronics Council, told Reuters. The Green Electronics Council provides an Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) certification for computers.

The goal however is sustainability, which requires products to leave no adverse impact on the environment throughout their lives, right from manufacturing to recycling. "Companies are making products greener because the market expects them to," Omelchuck added.

The past year has been very eventful for Blu-ray. Many new Blu-ray products have been shown at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year, where just a year ago Blu-ray jumped ahead of its former rival dvd.cfm" >HD DVD. "It turned out to be a phenomenal year for Blu-ray," said Tom Adams of Adams Media Research. In the fourth quarter of 2008, which is only too important for tech companies, U.S. consumers bought up 28.6 million Blu-ray titles.

In the same period of 2007, U.S. consumers bought about 9.5 million titles. The biggest selling Blu-ray title, of course, was 2008's box office heavyweight "The Dark Knight", which was also the first Blu-ray title to sell over 1 million copies, according to the Blu-ray Disc Association.

Microsoft began offering downloads of a Windows 7 Beta early on Friday as had been promised by CEO Steve Ballmer in his pre-show keynote. However, it didn't take long for demand to overwhelm Microsoft's servers, forcing the company to halt the Beta downloads until more servers are added to deal with overwhelming traffic. "We are adding servers as fast as we can add them," a Microsoft spokesman said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Redmond-based software giant says Windows 7 will incorporate touch-screen technology and make the operating system much easier to personalize. The download is only available to the first 2.5 million people who download it - at least from Microsoft that is - a limit which probably caused the immediate rush.

The beta is available in English, German, Japanese, Hindi and Arabic (Hindi version is only available 32-bit). It requires at least a 1 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB hard disk space, a DirectX 9-capable video card with 128MB memory and an Internet connection.

The SD Association has made several predictions and some promises at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The consortium which includes well-known corporations such as SanDisk and Hewlett-Packard, invites you to imagine storing up to 100 High-definition movies on a memory card about the size of a stamp, and being able to access that content easily with a variety of consumer electrionics products.

Basically, the goal is to offer a card dubbed SDXC (Secure-Digital eXtended Capacity) which offers a huge 2 terabytes of storage capacity, or around 2,000GB, in about five years time. Until then, SDXC cards will be released with increasing storage capabilities until the 2TB goal is reached, with the first expected late in 2009, offering 64GB storage.

"The SD interface already has proven itself valuable in mobile phones. Now, SDXC memory card capabilities will spur further handset sophistication and boost consumer content demand," James Taylor, president of the SD Association, said at CES 2009. SD cards currently grip about 80 percent of the memory card market, according to the consortium. It estimates that a 2TB SDXC card could hold up to 100 HD movies, 480 hours of professional-quality audio content, or 136,000 "fine-mode" photos.