Gather round the home entertainment hub, children

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has seen the unveiling of TiVo's Series 2 digital video recorder, which offers 60 hours of recording time in a newly designed, smaller box. Dubbed by TiVo as 'the next generation digital video recorder', the Series 2 increases the recording capacity at a lower cost. Digital entertainment services - courtesy of USB connectivity - are also on offer, involving the storage of digital music and photos, as well as broadband video on demand. ...more

Handspring bucks PDA trend

Handspring was the only major PDA manufacturer to increase its sales in the last fiscal quarter, as worldwide shipments of handhelds fell by nearly 10 per cent over the three-month period. Handspring shipments grew by more than 17 per cent, while market-leader Palm's fell by just over 14 per cent. Both platforms run Palm's PalmOS software. ...more

iPods are used to listen to music - report

iPods are mainly used to listen to music, is the less-than-startling revelation from Nielsen Media Research. The research firm spent the best part of October monitoring 400 iPod users to discover that video comprised just one per cent of the content played on suitably-enabled iPods. Nielsen said that a main reason for this is that most of those who purchased video iPods were only after the large storage capacity to hold their music collections. ...more

Intel takes the tablet

Microchip maker Intel has announced the technical specifications of its new web tablet machine. The device was first previewed at the CES 2001 as a concept product and now the company has fleshed out the details. The Intel Web Tablet is based on the StrongARM SA-110 processor and uses Intel StrataFlash memory. ...more

Fujitsu and Samsung settle plasma patent spat

Fujitsu and Samsung have settled their patent dispute over plasma displays. Under the terms of the newly announced agreement, both Fujitsu and Samsung SDI will withdraw all claims made in the US and Japan relating to Fujitsu's PDP patents. Fujitsu will also withdraw its claim for 'injunctive relief to halt the imports of PDP products under a Japanese customs and tariffs law', ie lift its bid for an import ban on Samsung goods. ...more