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HD News: According to London-based analysts FutureSource, the predicted demise of the high definition DVD format Blu-ray has been exaggerated.

Two trends have emerged which place the success of Blu-ray in doubt. Firstly, many of us appreciate the quality of Blu-ray but are quite happy to hang on to our collection of DVD’s and Secondly, a growing number of manufacturers have long appreciated the potential for ‘upscaling’ technology as an intermediate solution – a solution which many consumers have adopted.

However, in a new report, FutureSource predicts that 1.8million BD players will ship into the UK and Europe by the close of 2009, a figure that does not include Sony’s PS3 games console which has a built-in Blu-ray drive. They believe that Blu-ray will benefit from the change in consumer spending habits as a result of the recent credit crunch; that they will opt to spend more of their disposable income on home entertainment.

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Eurogamer: Sony development bigwig George Bain has said the PlayStation 2 is “effectively an open platform” in Europe.

“You no longer have to submit a game for content approval,” Bain told a throng of Euro developers, according to GameDaily.

The idea behind the move is to encourage regional developers to be able to make “low-development cost titles and release them in their market”, he said, using India and Russia as examples.

And while development kits can be costly, Sony has often been known to loan them for the duration of a project.

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Electronista: Kenwood on Tuesday announced the introduction of its new mini audio system, the Prodino, or CORE-A55.

The 20W system does not have an optical drive or an FM tuner, relying on a wide range of external connections for its source files. Digital audio files stored on an SDHC, miniSDHC or microSDHC memory cards up to 32GB in capacity, where applicable, can be played back thanks to the Prodino’s front-mounted SD card slot, while the back panel has a USB connection.

A digital optical input allows users to connect a digital tuner or other PCM digital signal to the Prodino. For a connection that nets CD-quality playback, there is an auxiliary input made up of a 3.5mm stereo jack that is compatible with any device with a similar headphone jack.

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ZDNet UK: T-Mobile started selling its G1 phone, which runs on Google’s Android platform, throughout the UK on Thursday.

G1, which is a rebranding of HTC’s Dream handset, has touchscreen functionality and a Qwerty keyboard. It uses the open-source Android platform, a full mobile stack including operating system and applications.

As a result, the G1 also provides access to Android Market, where customers can find and download applications for the phone, including mashups. Developers are free to create their own programs for the Android platform and upload them to the Android Market, where they will get 70 percent of revenue for their software.

Daniel Meredith, T-Mobile’s UK head of handset and device marketing, told ZDNet UK on Thursday that the launch was “incredibly exciting” for the mobile service provider.

“Today marks a step change in where we are going as an industry,” Meredith said. “Android opens up communication on a platform that is truly open. The Android community will deliver unique services and applications.”

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Register Hardware: Pioneer has prevailed in its legal battle with Samsung over who owns key plasma display technologies. 
  
Samsung will have to cough up €47m to Pioneer after the US District Court for Eastern Texas ruled that its display division, Samsung SDI, had flouted Pioneer’s intellectual property rights, specifically a pair of patents for a surface-discharge plasma display and a brighter-than-usual plasma screen.

Pioneer took Samsung to court in September 2006 after, it claimed at the time, 18 months of unsuccessful negotiations that centred on persuading Samsung to license the technology.

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Trusted Reviews: If you spotted Microsoft’s offer of an Xbox storage upgrade for Aracde and core console owners and thought “sure, that’s great, but I need a bit more than 20GB of hard drive space,” then Microsoft has the package for you.

Available in the US only at the moment the bundle comprises a 60GB hard drive, wired headset, Ethernet cable and a three month Live Gold subscription.

Oddly enough, exactly what marks the difference in package between the Arcade and 60GB system bundles.

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SlashGear: If you like listening to podcasts while on the go or even while just lounging at home, a new device called the Castgrabber is geared toward making listening to podcasts a super easy experience that requires no PC computer to hook up to.

The Castgrabber Podcast Downloader connects itself to the Internet automatically in order to download your favorite podcasts onto your PMP. A connection to the Internet is all you need. This takes some of the complication out of the process with syncing and all.

All you have to do is select what you want to listen to through iTunes or your web browser. It’s easy to install, works with iPods and most MP3 players and can even charge your MP3 player while you’re listening.

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Techradar.com: Chi Mei EL (CMEL) has decided the time is right to show off its efforts in OLED TV production with a 25-inch screen that’s just 1mm thick.

Apparently drawing large crowds at Flat Panel Display International in Japan according to the NY Times, CMEL’s effort is the largest it has shown so far at this thickness.

It has previously displayed OLED screens with a 3mm thickness, the same as Sony’s consumer XEL-1 OLED TV, but this 25-inch panel was apparently made possible using new production techniques.

CMEL’s effort has a WXGA screen resolution, of 1,366×768, which is near-HD quality, as well as all the usual OLED benefits of low image blur and low power consumption.

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Electronista: Portable navigation device maker Garmin said on Wednesday its delayed nuvifone handset is still on track for a 2009 release.

The GPS-enabled phone should launch in the first half of 2009, with Garmin announcing it has already signed letters of intent with carriers, but did not provide other launch details.

The nuvifone was originally due for a summer 2008 release and feature a 3.5-inch touchscreen as well as 3G HSPA network support.

Garmin CEO Min Kao has expressed concerns over the challenging market conditions, despite the company’s third-quarter growth.

Industry analysts are more concerned with the added competition the nuvifone will face from the likes of established players in the smartphone game including Apple’s iPhone, T-Mobile’s G1 and RIM’s BlackBerry RIM line-up, among others.

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Trusted Reviews: The ‘EVOKE-2S’ is Pure’s follow up to its popular EVOKE-2XT and an enticing “comprehensive overhaul” is said to be have been undertaken.

Keymost on the agenda for the 2S – as you’d hope – is sound quality. Described as Pure’s “best sounding portable radio yet” it offers improved mid-range speakers and separate tweeters all driven by ‘Clearsound’ technology.

Clearsound is a brand spanking new digital end-to-end subsystem consisting of an integrated high-performance switch-mode power supply, high quality Class D amplifiers, digital audio shaping technology and custom-tuned speakers all of which churn out audio at up to a proportionately heavyweight 30W .

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Techradar.com: Samsung clearly doesn’t care about the economic slowdown, posting decent profits despite its LCD business taking a hit, as it unveiled a 40-inch Full HD OLED at Flat Panel Display International.

Not content with piddly little 14-inch and 31-inch OLED panels it had brought to the event in Japan, the company added a new level to the OLED game by bringing the Full HD set along too.

A sign proudly labelled the display as the world’s first and the world’s largest, but lest we forget the debacle at IFA 2008, when both it and Sony showed off ‘the world’s first 200Hz LCD panel’.

Of course, some of you will remember the 40-inch OLED panel the company boasted three years ago, but the current model has over twice the resolution at 1,920×1,080, as well as a contrast of 1 million to one.

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Register Hardware: The TomTom Go x40 Live range consisting of the Go 540, 740 and the flagship 940 – first seen at IFA in August – has been officially launched in the UK.

All three models have a 4.3in, 480 x 272 pixel display, but while the 540 and 740 only have 1GB and 2GB, respectively, of on-board storage, the 940 has a meatier 4GB memory.

All three models rely on the firm’s IQ Routes technology, which is in essence a database of historical travel information recorded for every major road on every day of the week at five-minute intervals.

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