The riddle Posted Oct 15, 2008

The riddle

Posted Oct 15, 2008 2:43 PM CDT Newser Blu-ray might have won the battle against Toshiba s HD DVD, but it may still be losing the high-definition war as it is forced to compete with other sources of HD content, the Wall Street Journal reports. With cable and satellite TV providers offering more HD channels and video-on-demand services, some viewers are holding off on buying expensive players. Hardware makers are trying to change the the riddle players part. Sony and Samsung have shaved 100 from the price of their entry-level versions since last month. Internet services provide another source of competition: While Apple TV and Vudu s HDX devices for Internet streaming provide slightly worse resolution than Blu-ray, downloadable or streaming movies are much cheaper than Blu-ray discs. There are so many ways to get HD content, one potential Blu-ray customer tells the Wall Street Journal, its not necessarily about just buying a DVD player anymore. AP Photo Though Blu-ray is now the movie industrys preferred high-def disc player, offerings from satellite, cable and the web have kept many from buying the players, despite price cuts. AP Photo Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images. A snapshot of the days best news stories. Be the first to comment on this story. Face it, theres too much news. Newser cuts through the clutter, selects the best stories from hundreds of sources, and reduces them to two paragraphs. More NEWSER After Apple launched a trademark lawsuit against Samsung, it s the South Korean firm s turn to sue. Samsung is suing Apple in Seoul, Tokyo, and Germany over patent violations, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Korean tech company the riddle Apple one of its leading buyers of chips and other tech components has infringed on its patents for energy-efficient data transmission, 3G technology that shaves down the number of data-transmission errors, and a means for using a phone to provide a PC with a wireless connection. More NEWSER Samsung s Galaxy smartphone bears more than a passing resemblance to the iPhone, says Apple, and Steve Jobs and Co are slapping its rival with a lawsuit that claims slavish and blatant copying on Samsung s part. In addition, the Apple lawsuit alleges the Galaxy tablet is a little too similar to the iPad, the Wall Street Journal reports. The lawsuit, filed Friday, accuses Samsung of Apple s technology, user interface, and innovative style. More NEWSER A feud has erupted between Time Warner and cable networks after the cable provider released an iPad app for 32 live TV channels. Time Warner, which didn t get permission from the networks, says it is well within our rights to transmit to any home device, provided it does so through its own secure network and not the open Internet. Several networks fervently disagree, with one calling the move a land grab, the Wall Street Journal reports. More NEWSER The Business Insider figures youve also wanted to know how your favorite high tech concern got its name. Well, youre in luck! Here goes: SUN Microsystems: Its actually an acronym for Stanford University Network, the school where the founders met. Cisco: Actually not an acronym, as often assumed. Its just San Francisco without the San Fran, which is why the c was not capitalized originally. NEWSER 3-D television is a reality: LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony will be selling sets by the end of the year. But theyll all require viewers to wear 3-D glasses to get the full effect. 3-D for the naked eye is under intense development thats expected to take at least another decade. Dont expect 3-D TVs without glasses anytime soon, one expert tells Scientific American. More by Finn Orfano 1 pt, Edited by Lamar Stonecypher First came VHS. Then DVDs appeared. Now there s Blu-ray. Will the next leap in home viewing media be something you can hold in your hand Or will it be like the Internet always there but never really there at the same time.