Hitachi announces 1 TB hard drive

Pre CES 2007 coverage - - Las Vegas (NV) - Hitachi this morning was first out of the gate to announce details about a 1 TB hard drive, which the company said will ship during the first quarter of this year. The announcement follows a brief statement by Seagate, which yesterday confirmed that it will also deliver a 1 TB drive within the next three months.

If your 500 or even 750 GB hard drive just doesn't cut it anymore, we have good news for you. The terabyte is about to begin, with Hitachi being the first company to announce such a drive, at least sort of: The drive isn't available just yet, but will be available "in limited numbers" in retail stores within this quarter, the company told us. In other words, if you really want such a drive, you'll be able to get one, if your keep watching those Sundays ads.

Besides the sheer capacity of the Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 drive, which provides 33% more storage space than the largest drive currently available on the market - Seagate's 750 GB Barracuda drive - the big news about the Terabyte drive is that it actually may be ringing in more competition for Seagate on the high-end, ultimately resulting in lower prices. Hitachi will sell the 7K1000 for about $400 retail, which compares to about $450 for Seagate's 750 GB drive.

Looking at the capacity of the Hitachi drive, which will be available with SATA and PATA interfaces and appear later on in the consumer electronics version called "Cinemastar 7K1000", you will be able to store 56 million pages of text or about 1 million ebooks. Hitachi noted that 18 terabyte drives would be enough to store the entire contents of the Library of congress, which currently holds about 18 million books. 1 TB is also enough to store more than 300,000 6-megapixel images, 250,000 MP3s, 1000 hours of standard definition video or 250 hours of high-definition video. Or, you could store the content of 20 Blu-ray discs.

Hitachi won't be alone with a terabyte drive for long, as Seagate told us yesterday that the company actually expects to be the first manufacturer that is shipping such a drive. And, Seagate appears to have the technological edge: While Hitachi is using five 200 GB platters (148 Gb/in2 density) to reach 1 TB, Seagate will be using four 250 GB platters, which indicates that Seagate will be announcing a new storage density record in commercial hard drives of more than 180 Gb/in2.

With the 1 TB milestone in mind, we can't help looking back at the history at hard drives. Hitachi reminded us that the first hard drive, released in 1956, stored 5 MB of data and was priced at $50,000 - or $10,000 per MB. 35 years later, in 1991, the industry had reached 1 GB and first mass-market gigabyte drives were entering the market around 1995 for about $500. Twelve years later, the industry has overcome serious concerns of how to keep increasing hard drive storage densities and is looking towards hard drives with multiple terabytes of storage capacity. Compared to a $10,000/MB price in 1956, a capacity of 1 GB is priced today at about 40 cents.

Total HD: The Warner Bros Solution To Format War

As the war of next-generation optical format rages on, Warner Bros decided to come up with its own solution. According to media reports, Warner Bros plans to unveil at the Consumer Electronics Show a DVD disc, called Total Hi-Def (Total HD) that would make it possible to play a movie in either a HD DVD player or Blue Ray player.

"The Total High-Definition Disc allows consumers to fully embrace high-definition viewing," Ron Sanders, President of Warner Home Video said in a statement Thursday. "Warner Bros. was a force in creating the current market dominance of the standard DVD, and we hope that THD will make it easier for the average consumer to enjoy this next level of technology."

Warner Bros didn’t release any details about their Total HD solution and also is still unclear if the company would license the technology to rival studios.

Also, Warner Bros has filled a patent for another invention could actually mean the premature ending of the HD DVD vs. Blu Ray war, which Sony and Toshiba have been fighting for quite some time

Movies on a DVD are stored at different depths depending on the technology. Blu-ray discs store information only 0.1 millimeter from the surface while HD-DVD discs store it at 0.6 millimeters.

But three Warner Bros. employees have come up with a new idea. By using reflective films, the inventors say their disc would enable the lasers to read the top layer and "see through" to the lower one if necessary. Additional information also could be stored on the other side of the disc.

The three men, two of whom are engineers, have filed a patent for a disk called "multilayer dual optical disk", which would have one layer of data in the standard CD or DVD format, a second layer able to play one high-capacity format and a third layer for the competing high-capacity format.

"A data disc consists of several layers, including at least one layer conforming to a first format, and a second layer conforming to a second format," the patent stated. "The formats can include CD, DVD, HD and BD formats and the layers may be physical, logic or application layers."

Also, LG is preparing to take CES by surprise and has announced it will present a player that is capable of playing both formats. But it remains to be seen if the end of format war will mean dual players or dual discs or another solution.

360 puts the X in Xmas

Xbox 360 came out on top in the US for Christmas, but Nintendo Wii fought a close battle.

According to research firm NPD Microsoft sold two million Xbox 360 consoles in the USA between the beginning of November and Christmas Day. Over the same period Nintendo sold 1.8 million Wii consoles.

Sony lagged behind with around 750,000 PlayStation 3 units, but that's not a bad figure considering the supply problems the console has experienced.

It would be interesting to see figures for Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 though, which are likely to have beaten the more expensive next-gen hardware.

Source: CNBC

Microsoft counts down to Zune launch

Microsoft is preparing to launch its 30 gigabyte Zune, a digital music player to compete with Apple's iconic iPod. (Pic: Reuters)

The device plays songs and videos which owners can download to their PCs via the Zune Marketplace site.

It also has wireless technology which allows owners to send each other songs and pictures. The Zune has a three-inch colour screen and comes in black, brown and white.

Users can either buy tracks individually from the site or get a Zune Pass subscription to download as many songs as they want for a flat fee. The gadgets have been pre-loaded with some initial content from a number of record labels prior to sale.

Zune's global marketing general manager Chris Stephenson said: "On November 14 we're delivering not only a device, but a shared, social experience that will be shaped by the collective imagination of consumers."

The Zune will go on sale in the US on Tuesday priced at $249.99 (£130). No date or price has been set for its UK launch.

Google To Acquire YouTube for $1.65 Billion in Stock

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., October 9, 2006 - Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced today that it has agreed to acquire YouTube, the consumer media company for people to watch and share original videos through a Web experience, for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction. Following the acquisition, YouTube will operate independently to preserve its successful brand and passionate community.

The acquisition combines one of the largest and fastest growing online video entertainment communities with Google's expertise in organizing information and creating new models for advertising on the Internet. The combined companies will focus on providing a better, more comprehensive experience for users interested in uploading, watching and sharing videos, and will offer new opportunities for professional content owners to distribute their work to reach a vast new audience.

"The YouTube team has built an exciting and powerful media platform that complements Google's mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," said Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google. "Our companies share similar values; we both always put our users first and are committed to innovating to improve their experience. Together, we are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment service to users, content owners and advertisers."

"Our community has played a vital role in changing the way that people consume media, creating a new clip culture. By joining forces with Google, we can benefit from its global reach and technology leadership to deliver a more comprehensive entertainment experience for our users and to create new opportunities for our partners," said Chad Hurley, CEO and Co-Founder of YouTube. "I'm confident that with this partnership we'll have the flexibility and resources needed to pursue our goal of building the next-generation platform for serving media worldwide."

When the acquisition is complete, YouTube will retain its distinct brand identity, strengthening and complementing Google's own fast-growing video business. YouTube will continue to be based in San Bruno, CA, and all YouTube employees will remain with the company. With Google's technology, advertiser relationships and global reach, YouTube will continue to build on its success as one of the world's most popular services for video entertainment.

The number of Google shares to be issued in the transaction will be determined based on the 30-day average closing price two trading days prior to the completion of the acquisition. Both companies have approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Google

Hands-on with Nintendo Wii

Nintendo of America recently unveiled the essential details on its goofily-named next-generation Wii (pronounced "We").The console will be available November 19th in the U.S., with a price tag of $249. This includes two controllers (the wireless Wii remote and the wired Nunchuck), and the five-in-one Wii Sports title. The Company also unveiled Wii Channels (essentially, the system's interface, which also incorporates some cool entertainment features) and two other first-party titles available at launch (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Excite Truck). At the launch in New York last week, I was able to get a few hours of hands-on time with previously unseen game levels, new titles, and, of course, the hardware.

What I liked

Innovative controllers: What seemed goofy at first turns out to be pretty ingenious. In the Wii Sports Boxing game, for example, you use the Nunchuk and the Wireless Controller (one in each hand) to punch at the screen, making the whole experience more realistic. It's also nifty in a game like Zelda, where the Nunchuk in the left hand moves the character around, while the Controller in the right serves as a sword controller.

Pick up and play: Many of the Wii titles on display were of the no-previous-experience-necessary puzzle (Wario Ware:Smooth Moves, Big Brain Academy) variety. And the motions you make using the controllers on Wii Sports so mimic the actual sports (you literally swing the controller like a tennis racket) that even "uncoordinated" types who have grade-school-gym-class-enforced familiarity with, say, baseball, would be able to pick up and play. Even well-established franchises such as Madden NFL 07 offer user-friendly tutorials for the uninitiated. Lapsed gamers intimidated by complicated Xbox 360 controllers may flock to the Wii.

Cool interface: I liked the Wii Channels, particularly the appropriately named Mii Channel that lets you create a cartoonish avatar of yourself. Like a version of you if you were a Gorillaz band member, this character can then be inserted into any number of games, including Wii Sports and Wario Ware. With more than six pages of facial hair (two alone for eyebrows) and other physical attributes, this feature is a personalization freak's dream.

What I didn't like

HD or not HD: I couldn't find anyone at Nintendo to give me a straight answer on whether games would be in 480p (same quality as DVDs) or 720p (HD-quality). The component video output—there's no state-of-the-art HDMI—indicates it could go either way. 480p would be nice to view pictures and videos stored on an SD card (which is what is offered on the Wii Photo Channel). And though games might look nice on a TV up to, say 50 inches, Wii titles might suffer if projected onto a wall in 100 inches or on a fat 65-inch rear-projection set.

Thin launch lineup: Nintendo announced more than 40 first- and third-party titles due out by March 31st, but it was not specific about exactly how many titles would be out at launch. If it's games you want, you're better off with an Xbox 360.

Boy, do my arms hurt: Whether "casting" a fishing rod to catch virtual bass in Zelda or tossing a bowling ball in Wii Sports, I nearly dislocated my shoulder using the wireless controller. Shoulder pain may be the gamers' new carpal tunnel syndrome as far as Wii's motion-based gameplay is concerned.

Bottom Line (for now)

At $250, the Wii isn't cheap, but it's still a bargain compared to the $599 PlayStation 3 and the $399 Xbox 360 Premium system. And unlike Sony, which is only making 400,000 PS3s available at launch, Nintendo says it will ship four million Wii units by December 31st. So it's likely you'll actually be able to get one. But it's also likely that you'll be just as able to get an Xbox 360 with its more than 100 available titles by year's end. For now, only one thing's for sure: Until Sony gives us a compelling reason to buy the PS3 beyond it being an incredibly affordable Blu-ray disc player, either of these other choices is a winner.

Microsoft warns software pirates

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Microsoft Corp's upcoming Windows Vista computer operating system will include technology that is designed to prevent pirated copies from fully functioning, the software giant said.

Reduced functionality is already a part of the Windows XP activation process, but Windows Vista will have a reduced functionality mode that is enhanced, Microsoft said on its Web site on Wednesday.

Microsoft said the upcoming releases of Windows Vista and also Windows Server "Longhorn" will be the first two products to ship with the new anti-piracy measures included, but more Microsoft products will eventually adopt the technology.

Windows Vista systems must activate with Microsoft as genuine within 30 days and failure to do so will result in "reduced functionality mode" until successful validation occurs, Microsoft said.

Customers that use genuine versions of Windows Vista will get an enhanced set of features that will not work on non-genuine or unlicensed versions of Vista, it said.

Users of non-genuine Windows Vista software will also be notified by the appearance of a persistent statement in the lower right hand corner of their desktop that reads: "This copy of Windows is not genuine."

A Wall Street analyst said on Wednesday that Microsoft will most likely ship the Windows Vista system on time and meet its deadline for both corporate and retail consumers.

Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund sent a note to clients saying Microsoft may be ready to send the final test version of its much-anticipated Windows upgrade later this week or next week, indicating that Vista will be available for business customers in November and retail PCs by late January.

Windows Vista, five years in the making, has been postponed by Microsoft several times.

Microsoft Windows sits on more than 90 percent of the world's personal computers and the Windows business accounts for about 30 percent of the company's $44 billion in revenue.