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PC Magazine: When shopping for a high definition television (HDTV), one of the common buzz words you’ll hear is resolution–but the resolution of what exactly? In the realm of HDTV, resolution can describe a video format as well as the physical number of discrete pixels a particular TV screen provides (a.k.a. screen resolution). A potentially confusing part of this description is that a HDTV’s screen resolution has nothing to do with what video formats it’s capable of displaying. All HDTVs are designed to accept a similar set of video formats (resolutions) that are automatically converted for display at the TV’s actual screen resolution. For optimal image quality, a TV’s screen and its video source should provide the same resolution. Unfortunately, this situation is rarely achieved, and it results in some degree of visual compromise. Not long ago, television manufacturers began offering sets that provide a screen resolution matching the highest video resolution available to consumers today, and that magic number is 1,080.The highest video resolution available from today’s consumer home theater gear including game consoles and HD disc players is 1080p (1,920 by 1,080 pixels progressively scanned). The most common video format for televised HD content is 1080i–the same resolution as 1080p, but the video pixels are delivered differently to save bandwidth. To be sure you’re seeing as detailed a picture as possible when viewing 1080i/p material, you need an HDTV that delivers full 1080p resolution.

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The Inquirer: Last year we were writing that the war over HD optical formats would quite probably be decided by the console that wins the games war between Microsoft and Sony.That certainly seems to be turning out to be true, as new figures out today show that fully a third of HD-DVD players sold in the US are the Xbox 360 HD add-on drive.

The drive, which goes for significantly less than a stand-alone player, plugs into the 360 over USB and uses the console for processing.

HD-DVD’s promo group reckons it’s sold 750,000 HD players in the States, and NPD reckons that Microsoft has sold 269,000 add-on drives, making up the numbers.

This contrasts with Blu-ray, which has seen a lower stand-alone adoption rate thanks to the increased cost of the playing hardware. Three quarters of all Blu-ray players sold are Sony’s own PS3 console.

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Just Another Mobile Phone Blog: Hollywood’s classic Film Noir world creates an atmospheric backdrop for this story-driven detective game. Dirk Spanner and the Fallen Idol by Nokia Games Publishing brings classic detective gaming onto mobile devices with unique twists and turns around every corner.

Set in the stylish, yet seedy fictional city of New Haven, Dirk Spanner and the Fallen Idol comes to life through its comic book ambiance. Gripping yet funny stories of conflicts, romance and deception with plenty of movie stars, rip-offs, double-crosses, wigs and moustaches make this an entertaining game that will engage novices through to the most experienced game players.

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Engadget: Have you heard of Jibe Audio? No worries, the San Francisco based company doesn’t have any product… yet. That will change at CES with this, the Sound Machine iPhone docking station. Designed in part by Robert Brunner who led Apple’s design team from 1989-1996, an era which birthed the Newton and the first Powerbooks.

The Sound Machine is said to support Bluetooth audio, iPhone synchronization over USB, and unspecified audio input for other audio sources. If this is the same device first mentioned as the “iPhone Station” back in October, then it will also feature DVD playback and streaming internet radio.

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Akihabaranews: The Prodia PIX-YT010-P00 is a 20 inches LCD HDTV featuring an HD-Ready resolution of 1366×768.

Thanks to its nice design, HDMI port and affordable price tag, it dreams of being your secondary television!

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Gamesindustry.biz: Microsoft has released an Xbox 360 HD-DVD emulator for film studios and disc authoring companies, enabling content to be tested before committing to burning an expensive HD-DVD disc.

The emulator is amongst the first commercially available and eliminates the current trial-and-error process of testing HD-DVD titles.

“We are committed to supporting and advancing the HD-DVD ecosystem, and the new Xbox 360 HD-DVD Emulator reflects these efforts by providing developers with the software-based tools they need to efficiently deliver the highest-quality content,” commented Jordi Ribas, general manager of HD-DVD at Microsoft.

“Microsoft developed the Emulator to help save studios and post-production houses time, resources and costs involved with the creation of HD-DVD content, and let them focus on what really matters — pushing the envelope with the format,” he added.

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4rfv: The BBC has launched a streaming service on its video-on-demand platform, BBC iPlayer, complementing the download service which launched in beta on 27 July 2007.

BBC iPlayer will be the first public service broadcaster online on-demand service in the UK to provide streaming for Macs and Linux, as well as Windows. Audiences can watch up to 250 different programmes a week for up to seven days after broadcast on the BBC’s television channels.

Anthony Rose, Head of Digital Media Technology at the BBC, said: “We have worked hard to make BBC iPlayer a compelling user proposition. Streaming is the first in a number of new services that we will be rolling out in the coming months and we will be listening to feedback from our audiences to understand how they find the service and what new additions they would be interested in.

“We will be constantly updating BBC iPlayer to ensure that we continuously improve the way we deliver BBC programmes. One of the many updates we hope to implement in 2008 is a download solution for users of other operating systems including Macs which may be possible with the next suite of Adobe Air products.”

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Portable Planet: An argument could easily be made that the massive success of Wii is directly tied into the innovative Wiimote, and it would certainly be a valid point. But could you picture a future in which Nintendo Wii didn’t use a controller at all?According to Justin Rattner, chief technology officer over at Intel, that’s exactly what’s going to eventually happen with the superpopular gaming console.

“We imagine some future generation of Wii won’t have hand controllers,” he theorized in an interview with BusinessWeek. “You just set up the cameras around the room and wave your hand like you’re playing tennis.”

Actually, that sounds a lot like Sony’s EyeToy, which can sense movement using a camera.  However, the technology never really caught on like the company would have hoped.    Also, one would think that the experience would still be enhanced by holding something in order to get some sort of feedback.

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Mobile Magazine: Among the complaints that people have about the Apple iPhone is its relative lack of capacity. If you’ve grown too accustomed to have 40GB, 60GB, or even 80GB in your pocket, downgrading to a mere 8GB can be a bit of a challenge. No longer… sort of. It is now possible to stream the entire music collection on your computer over to your Apple iPhone, anywhere you have WiFi access.

Simplify Media has developed a simple iPhone/iPod Touch application that connects to your computer — and those of your friends — anywhere you have WiFi internet access. Browse through your music library just as you would at home, just as you would if you actually had the music stored on your iPhone. Yes, this includes playlists too.

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Engadget: Details are sketchy at the moment, but some IT folks at Morrisville State College have tracked down a strong and disruptive signal being emitted from Xbox 360s, which messes with WiFi and possibly other 2.4GHz radios such as Bluetooth headsets. The signal is put out even when the console is turned off, as long as it’s plugged in, since the 360 is continually looking for controllers to hook up with.

Research is ongoing as to how much interference the 360 is actually causing, but apparently the signal is jumping all over the 2.4GHz band. Of course, 2.4GHz devices have always had a bit trouble with interference, but further research will tell if the 360 is taking things too far.

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Absolute Gadget: If you have a Nokia N81 or N81 8GB then you will be able to get a sneak preview of the next generation N-Gage mobile gaming platform – the Finnish phone giant is lining up on of the softest launches ever as it unveils its “N-Gage First Access” next week.According to its blog, owners of the above phones will ” have exclusive access to the pre-release version of the N-Gage application and one or more N-Gage games”. Bad luck if you have an N95 – you’ll just have to make do with the sat-nav.

The launch looks like engineers need some input from gamers to improve the platform as it said on the blog that it will “open up our N-Gage First Access forums, where you can give us your feedback on the experience, make suggestions, and help us co-create the N-Gage games service.”

The company will also integrate N-Gage into its mobile social networking webstie Ovi and has promised to make games more affordable with a games rental service model and free trials.

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Slashgear: First, lets all agree that Windows Mobile 6 sucks, it does, you know it, sure, if you are a tech guru or a hard core business user, it probably has all of or at least most of the features you want. But how easy are they to access and use, here’s and even better experiment, try and make a phone call, we assure you it should be easier.

Well, the Windows Mobile dev team have piped up and admitted to the problems. Since admitting it is not only the first step, but the hardest, they’ve come a long way, but they didn’t stop with admitting they have a problem, they went ahead and talked about some things they plan to do to fix it. The 6.1 update will feature some of the more basic parts of their upgrade scheme and will be seen as the first move by Microsoft to make their Windows Mobile platform easier to use, instead of just piling on the functionality.

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