Nvidia buys MediaQ and boards the fast train to handheld devices Nvidia is buying MediaQ? Now that’s a good use for all that dough Nvidia has had lying around. MediaQ has a line of controllers for handhelds with a range of features for every class of handheld including low-cost parts that enable video and MP3 playback. In addition, the company … Read more
Siggraph returns to the West Coast and cuts costs on everything from food, to panels, to signs Hey! Where are we? In order to recover from the fiasco that was Siggraph 2002 in San Antonio, the Siggraph Conference group cut back on a day of the conference, workers, and signage. Also, longtime stalwarts like SGI and Sun failed to have … Read more
User base expected to almost double by 2004
Reports from Taiwan indicate that high-end DVD vendors are going to see further price pressure. In 2002, Media-Tek gained considerable market share with its chips that integrated servo and MPEG-2 decoder. According to some estimates, MediaTek holds 50% of the worldwide DVD market and 70% of the market in China. ALi came up from be-hind with their own integrated solution … Read more
Are video headphones a practical idea? One of the longest, most tenacious companies in this business is i-O Display Systems, LLD. The company has pioneered wearable, semi-comfortable headsets that are designed to work with PCs and also with video. The company introduced the i-glasses HRV Pro in April 2003. The i-glasses SVGA Pro accepts VGA or higher input from any … Read more
In 1999, when we finished our landmark Digital Entertainment Box (DEB) study, I came to the conclusion that television is the center of the universe. Ever since then, like King Arthur’s knights, I’ve searched for an alternate truth and found none. The Holy Grail is TV; we love it, hate it, can’t live without it; it has been the most … Read more
According to an interview with Eoin Leyden, Creative’s European Brand Manager for Graphics, one of Europe’s largest graphics board vendors is going to stand pat with Nvidia-based boards rather than go with the P10 chips designed by Creative subsidiary 3Dlabs. If any more evidence were needed about the independence of Creative’s various divisions. This interview with Eoin Leyden of Creative … Read more
The memory business is headed towards the latest in a string of inflection points for the industry with the introduction of DDRII, DDR400, and DDR333 systems. At his keynote speech at VTF (VIA Technology Forum) Terry Lee, Micron’s Executive Vice President of Finance and Business development told attendees that the day of one size fits all in memory has long … Read more
Two well-established interactive TV companies have become one. OpenTV announced the acquisition of Wink TV from Liberty Broadband Interactive telelvision for approximately $101 million ni cash. This, say the companies, is the same amount paid by Liberty to acquire Wink a short while ago. Wink’s management will join that of OpenTV, which is headed by CEO James Akcerman. Tim Travaille … Read more
TiVo joins the ranks of companies that claims to be a home gateway. At CES the company debuted a system that enables users to share the content downloaded on the machine to be shared throughout the home through a wireless connection. Linksys is providing the connection. In addition, the service enables users to contact the TiVo remotely to schedule programming. … Read more
ATI and DIvX networks have announced new hardware and software optimizations to enable more efficient video DivX video decoding. The companies say that thanks to the work done to optimize video processing performance is increased when Radeon 9500 and Radeon 9700 boards are used.
The DVD chip companies are under pressure to deliver DVD recording and they’re delivering at CES. ESS announced their new digital video recorder platform and says they have locked up several wins with DVD manufacturers in China, Korea, and Japan. In fact, says ESS, they have 10 wins.
