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iPodNN: Kenwood introduced its I-K50 in-car head unit with support for Apple’s iPod players and the iPhone 3G via its front-mounted USB port.

The I-K50′s CD drive will play back MP3, WMA and AAC-encoded files, while the USB port will allow users to plug in USB flash memory keys loaded with the same supported types of audio formats.

Plugging in iPods, including the classic, nano or touch, will allow users to control them via the head unit’s controls instead of the music player’s own controls, making it easier for drivers to focus on the road. Users can search the music collections stored on their iPods, iPhones or USB keys alphabetically via the head unit.

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CrunchGear: Tokyo-based Infinity Storage Media is the world’s first company that will roll out a Blu-ray / DVD hybrid disc (a boxed set, to be more precise), which has a single-layer of Blu-ray (25GB) on one and a conventional dual-layer DVD (8.5GB) on the other side.

The first title will only be released in Nippon and is called Code Blue, a TV series aimed at Japanese teenagers that was aired earlier this year on TV over here.

Users can watch the series on a standard DVD player and flip it to get to see the content in full Blu-ray glory.

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TrustedReviews: We already heard the rumours that Panasonic was set to buy Sanyo.

Then confirmation was supposed to come on the 7th so it’s a couple of days late but, as predicted, the deal is indeed going through.

The deal will cost Panasonic in the region of ¥560 billion which is a lot of money, especially in this current financial market.

In return for that investment Panasonic gains some 70 per cent of Sanyo’s shares, giving it pretty conclusive control of the company.

The combined force will comprise Japan’s largest electronics maker, which is pretty impressive.

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Electronista: Philips has recently announced the upcoming release of a new flagship universal remote for home theater systems, the Prestigo SRT9320, which features both a 2.8-inch color touchscreen and physical buttons as the interface method.

The remote is able to control as many as 20 separate devices and Philips promises users will not need a PC to program it.

A USB port is included for software updates, which also include new channel icons displayed in the LCD screen.

Despite its flagship positioning, the SRT9320 does not use RF signals or a built-in rechargeable battery.

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Electronic House: For a while there, it was easy to get lost in the GPS market. Now the smoke seems to be clearing just a bit. Hot on the heels of Magellan’s announcement, both Panasonic and Harman/Kardon say they are also getting out of the portable GPS market.

Harman introduced the Becker earlier this year. Also, Panasonic will keep its Strada in-dash navigation line, says Twice. The economy has been cited in both decisions.

Earlier this week, Magellan announced it would sell its consumer line to Mitac, the makers of Mio. Audiovox, JVC and Cobra are a few of the others that recently got out of the GPS market. 

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I4U News: Sharp is apparently planning to bring their Aquos HDTVs with integrated Blu-ray Player onto the US market. When Europe will follow is unknown.

The company is supposed to exhibit the new Blu-ray HDTVs at the CES 2009.

Sharp has already introduced HDTVs with Blu-ray Players and Recorders in Japan in October.

According to Wired Sharp will offer a 32 inch and 42 inch Aquos LCD TV with integrated Blu-ray player starting right after CES 2009.

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Guardian: Nearly 90% of UK households now watch digital television, according to the latest figures from Ofcom.

The media regulator’s quarterly Digital Progress Report shows that 88.2% of households had digital TV on their main sets by the end of September, up 3.1% year-on-year.

This means that 22.5m UK households now have some form of digital TV, the Ofcom research for the three months to the end of September 2008 suggests.

In addition, 60% of all secondary TV sets had been converted to digital up to the end of September, up by 5% on the previous quarter.

Taken together, the proportion of all TV sets in the country that have been converted to digital reached 72% in the last quarter, up by 3% on the previous quarter.

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PCMag.com: A report from the NPD Group shows a large disparity between sales of the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. One obvious reason is the difference in price, but Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter suggests that the difference is also due to the sagging sales of HDTVs.

“We believe that PS3 sales are being impacted by lower demand for HD televisions as a result of the recession,” Pachter said via GamesIndustry.biz.

However, it’s not all bad news for Sony. Pachter also said he expects sales to pick up throughout the first half of 2009, due to increased interest in PS3 exclusives and the system’s Blu-ray player.

“We believe that several PS3 exclusives, notably LittleBigPlanet, along with focus on the Blu-ray will drive hardware sales over the next six months,” he said.

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TechRadar: Samsung Electronics has developed a new production method that could slash the cost of OLED manufacture and change the face of display production with a 300 per cent improvement in screen functionality.

The set of transistors on the back of your LCD/OLED, the TFT, tell the pixels which colour to switch to in order to create the image.

These have been made of amorphous silicon previously, which is difficult to produce and prone to failure. Samsung has now developed amorphous oxide TFTs, which will be three times more effective than current options.

And the best news is it can be integrated into current LCD/OLED production, so existing lines can still be leveraged for the savings.

And when HD screens eventually move into ultra-high definition, then the technology will also be able to help make that step up too, so the future’s sorted as well.

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iPodNN: Mvix has recently and quietly introduced a new multi-functional device to complement home theater set-ups, the MvixPVR.

It combines personal video recorder capabilities with media server functionality and has a dock for iPods. The MvixPVR can play back 1080p high-definition video, will upconvert standard-def signals and supports 5.1-channel digital surround sound set-ups.

It has an HDMI input and output, in addition to standard RCAs and components as well as USB 2.0 port that allows users to connect external drives or digital cameras to play back their content.

The device itself can be connected to PCs like an external drive.

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TechDigest: Sony has launched a range of home cinema systems in time for the holidays, so if you’ve got a bit of money to spare and want an all-in-one package, these are worth considering.First up is the HTP-BD3iS, which combines Sony’s BDP-S350 Blu-ray player and HT-IS100 5.1-channel surround sound system that features subwoofer, powerful S-Master digital amplification, surround sound processing, and automatic audio calibration.

The BDV-FS350 is designed for smaller rooms, coupling the same Blu-ray player with a 200W 2.1-channel virtual surround sound system with 16cm active subwoofer.

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SlashGear: Parrot have teamed up with designer Philippe Starck to create a new set of wireless speakers. 

Called Zikmu, the speakers incorporate an iPod/iPhone dock together with WiFi and Bluetooth.

The latter is used both to stream audio from mobile devices such as cellphones using A2DP, and to connect the two speaker columns themselves together.

Zikmu uses NXT flat panel technology, rather than traditional speaker cones, and as such doesn’t create a so-called “sweet spot” for the music. 

As well as playing music locally from your PMP, they can also stream it across a WiFi network. 

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