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Gizmondo: Rumours have begun circulating that Panasonic is going to produce a dual HD DVD/Blu-ray player next year.

Sources say that Panasonic is doing this to protect itself, as the next-generation DVD wars aren’t close to being resolved, and they don’t want all their next-generation eggs in one next-generation basket, no matter how Blu that basket may be.

Also, it’s rumored that Sony will be making one of these as well, but this is even more rumory than the Panasonic rumor. Best to ‘believe it when you see it’, since Sony’s not one to throw in the towel and a hybrid drive would be somewhat of a concession.

We’ll keep you posted. 

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Hitachi is to open a manufacturing plant for plasma and LCD TVs in the Czech Republic, starting operations with a monthly output of 80,000 TVs and 100,000 plasma TV modules, the company has said in a statement.

Hitachi’s planned investment of Y8 billion will be enough for the plant to raise its monthly TV output to 200,000 and plasma panel modules to 140,000 a month after 2008, a Hitachi spokesman said.

A new company, Hitachi Home Electronics (Czech) s.r.o., will establish the plant in the Triangle Industrial Zone, which is approximately 80 km northwest of Prague in the Usti region. Initial production is expected to begin summer 2007.  The new plant will hire about 1,500 workers, Hitachi said.

Source: Dow Jones

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International Business Times: New research released by the UK’s RAC has revealed that half of young drivers are unable to read a map. Whilst 84% of drivers claim to have good map reading skills, the research has revealed that the actual number of skilled map readers is in fact far lower.

The results reveal the growing trend amongst drivers to use digital technology rather than a traditional road map. 20% of under 35 year olds surveyed admitted to never having even used a road map, whilst 26% of them don’t even have one in their vehicle.

Yet half of motorists depend on online route planners, amongst under 35’s the figure rises to 61%, whilst 26% of that group now rely on satellite navigation to plan their route.

Amongst the findings was the discovery that 65% of drivers aged between 18 and 35 did not know that “A” roads are marked in red on standard road maps, and 29% of under 35 year old drivers believed the M40 to be the River Avon when reading a map.

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Can elephants sleep standing up? Is Barbie’s last name Roberts? Are Blu-ray discs region coded? The answer is yes, and you can read all about it here.

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GPSreview: We are starting to get information about TomTom Car Connect, a Bluetooth device from TomTom which is compatible with the TomTom GO 510, 910, and RIDER becoming available in the USA. This device will allow you to hardwire your TomTom to the existing audio system in your car. You can choose where you want music from your TomTom to be sent to as well as where you want spoken directions to be played through.

Hands-free calling are played through the TomTom Car Connect device. Even though the Car Connect device does connect with your TomTom via Bluetooth, you still establish a Bluetooth connection between your phone and the TomTom GO, not directly to the Car Connect.

The device can also automatically switch the display on your TomTom from day to night mode when you turn your headlights on.

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Engadget: If you’re a gadget freak on a budget, and/or someone who prefers to archive your recorded shows in DivX format so you can cram more of ‘em onto a single DVD, then Toshiba has the product for you.

Their new ¥14,000 (93€) SD-580J DVD player will handle those DivX 3/4/5/6 files and serve ‘em all up via beautiful HDMI.
Or if you’re too cheap for that, then you’ve got your normal array of secondary options: optical sound, composite video, or S-Video.

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Next-Gen: Speaking to Next-Gen’s European media partner MCV at Sony’s Tokyo headquarters, Ken Kutaragi (Sony Computer Entertainment president) commented on the possibility of Xbox 360 and Wii overcoming the PS3: “We don’t care,” he said.

His remark isn’t a sign of forfeit to Sony’s videogame competitors, rather a sign of his confidence that PS3 production will eventually get up to speed and go head-to-head with the Wii and Xbox 360. While it’s surely keeping a keen eye on competitors, Sony’s main focus at this point is on its own in-house issues.

“Right now, [Blu-ray production] is an issue, because we can’t manufacture enough blue laser diodes for our PlayStation3s. But we will resolve that,” Kutaragi said.

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Yahoo: Siemens AG tried Sunday to blunt fierce criticism from politicians, labor unions and the media for unloading its mobile phone business on a Taiwanese company which has failed to keep it afloat.

The German electronics and engineering conglomerate ceded its unprofitable handset business to Taiwan’s BenQ Corp. last year as part of a restructuring drive under chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld. (…)

However, BenQ unexpectedly pulled the plug last week, saying it could not afford to pump in more capital and that it saw only “a very slim chance” of turning the business around.

BenQ Mobile filed for insolvency protection on Friday and a court-appointed administrator said Saturday that he had three months to try to salvage it.

With 3,000 German jobs at stake, labor leaders and politicians have accused Siemens as well as BenQ of betrayal and are putting massive pressure on the Munich-based company to step in to help.

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