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Hello Blu-ray… adios, HD DVD. There was no doubt in my mind when I heard that Universal studios lined up with Warner Bros in its support for Blu-ray. Hold off on your calls and letters. I know–Universal is still supporting HD DVD too; see “Universal Denies Reports That It's Leaving HD DVD.”

At the same time, if you read “Toshiba Slashes HD DVD Prices,” you'll see that Toshiba appears to be dumping HD DVD players faster than Windows Vista users are switching to Macs. And Microsoft has said it couldn't care less about HD DVD (see “Microsoft: No HD DVD Xbox.”)

Don't misunderstand. My decision is only in principle: I'm too cheap to actually run out and buy a Blu-ray player. Besides the cost of a player, I'd also have to buy new cables. Then there's the hassle of installing it and dealing with the schmutz behind the big-screen TV. So I'm waiting for prices to plummet.

I realize you'd rather do your own research. Sure, I agree, and here are a stack of articles for you to scroll through.

• Wiki's Blu-ray compendium
• Video: “Blu-ray Takes Lead in January Hardware Sales“
• “Bet on Blu-ray? Seismic Shift in DVD Format War“
• “Report: Universal to Sell Blu-ray, Too“
• “Sony Thanks Blu-ray Fans“
• “Japanese Porn Industry Embraces Blu-Ray Disc” (everyone's got a stake in the issue)

Dig This: “I should have seen that one coming.” Among birders, there's a rule about looking up. Here's why. [Thanks, Moe.]

Dig This, Too: Your cell phone's outdated if it doesn't have a set of functions like this one. (Fair warning: Not suitable for children or adults who disapprove of “potty humor.”) [Thanks, Shirley.]

Disc Players–HD DVD, Blu-ray, and Both

A couple of recent models–Samsung's BD-P1200 Blu-ray player and Toshiba's HD-A20 in the HD DVD camp–have great performance and reasonable prices, our Melissa Perenson says.

You might also take a look at our roundup, the “High-Def Video Superguide,” which reviews scads of players and ranks the nine best available at the time into a handy chart. We did the roundup about a year ago, but most of the models are still around–and they cost a lot less now. For example, the Samsung BD-P1000 that started out at around $800 now sells for $500 or less.

Of course you can hedge your bets and get a combo player. Samsung has one–the Samsung Dual-Format High-Def Player Does Blu-ray and HD DVD.”

Dig This:Here's a video of a bunch of Darwin Award nominees handling a difficult situation. It had me chuckling all morning. (And no, the dopey guy pulling the car from the bottom doesn't get crushed.)

Dig This, Too:Word Sandwich is an annoying game. That's because I had to think and reason, and went absolutely nowhere. The game plan is to guess a five letter word; you get hard-to-use clues. Lemme know if you get anywhere. [Note to Alex: I wasted 30 minutes; don't send me anything this difficult again, eh? Thanks.]

What Readers Have to Say

So in my blog the other day I asked loyal readers, “So whaddya think you'll do–HD DVD or Blu-ray?” Here's what they said…

“I'm all for HD DVD, but in the long run I see Blu-ray taking the ball…if either succeed. Video-on-demand seems to be taking off too. That's why this 'war' has lasted so long. Other ways have emerged to get movies now.”–joker1231978

“The average Joe Blow does not want to spend a minimum of $425 for a Blu-ray player when he can get the HD DVD for $150 to $200…. Time will tell, but I wouldn't count out HD DVD just yet.”–kasjun

“Blu-ray may outsell HD DVD…. [but] until Blu-ray also plays DVDs it can't win.”–shanedr

“Just bit the Blu-ray bullet here as well, Steve. 'Lost, Season 3' on its way, first Blu-ray purchase, no looking back. My only quibble with the entire edifice is this:… I'm stuck with VHS and DVD and Blu-ray crap littering shelves and boxes in an attempt to have an 'authoritative' collection.”–mattpeckham

(Matt is our gaming guy and I'm delighted to see he's reading my blog and commenting. Check out his “Game On” blog.)

“Universal is very firmly in the HD DVD camp, unless something has changed in the last 30 minutes. So HD DVD still has two very large Hollywood studios, and with Toshiba's current fire sale… things could change quite quickly. Consider that the overwhelming percentage of the public haven't made a decision either way (despite the blustery bravado of pimple-faced PS3 owners), but now might just pick up one of those HD DVD players for chump change. I wouldn't call this war over by a long ways.”–dforbes

“This 'pimple-faced' PS3 owner is 33 with a PhD, and it is the centerpiece of my HE system. I picked up five of the $99 1080i HD DVD players from Wal-Mart, so it is not a problem for me who wins. However, I am pulling for Blu-ray, and I will be so glad when this is over…. The PS3 [which plays Blu-ray Disc] is one of the most underutilized pieces of equipment available.”–Physics

I'd really like for you to chime in and join in on the brawl; click “Post a comment” at the bottom of this page. The only catch is that you have to be a PC World member to add a comment. If you're not already, don't fret: It's an easy, 2-minute process and you can Tips & Tweaks blog. Sign up to have Steve's newsletter e-mailed to you each week. Comments or questions? Send Steve e-mail.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese consumer electronics makers Victor Company of Japan Ltd (JVC) (6792.T) and Funai Electric Co Ltd (6839.OS) will jointly develop and supply LCD television sets, an industry source said on Tuesday.

The news pushed up shares of both companies, with Funai rising nearly 8 percent at one point.

Bigger rivals such as Sharp Corp (6753.T) have been forming similar alliances in the LCD business, where competition is intensifying.

JVC will supply LCD TVs made at a plant in Mexico to Funai, which will sell them under its own brand in North America, while JVC will market LCD TVs in Europe produced by a Funai plant in Poland, the source said.

The two plan to release a jointly developed LCD TV in 2009, the source added.

Funai spokesman Naoyuki Takanaka said his firm was in talks with JVC on a possible alliance but nothing had been decided. JVC spokesman Toshiya Ogata said nothing had been set.

Funai sells a large portion of its products in the United States through Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) under the Emerson brand. Business with the U.S. retail giant accounts for roughly one-third of Funai's total sales.

JVC is set to integrate with Kenwood Corp (6765.T) after Kenwood and asset manager Sparx Group (8739.Q) in August acquired a combined 30 percent stake in JVC, taking the loss-making unit off the consolidated accounts of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd (6752.T).

Among other tie-ups in the industry, Toshiba Corp (6502.T) agreed in December to procure large LCDs from Sharp, which in turn will buy chips for LCD TVs from Toshiba.

Panasonic maker Matsushita plans to take a majority stake in an LCD making joint venture with Hitachi Ltd (6501.T), and Toshiba and will shoulder the bulk of the cost of a 300 billion yen LCD panel plant planned by the venture.

JVC shares ended the morning session up 5.3 percent at 180 yen and Funai rose 5.9 percent to 4,110 yen, both outperforming a 1.8 percent gain in the benchmark Nikkei average (.N225).

(Reporting by Kentaro Hamada and Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Veteran reality TV producer Vin Di Bona is launching Reality.tv, a Web site offering an advertiser-friendly spin on user-generated content.

The site will be powered by Dave Networks social networking and video technology and will allow users to submit home videos to be voted on and viewed by others.

User-generated content and amateur videos have been popular on the Web for several years, most notably on Google's YouTube, but many advertisers shy away from the genre, finding the content too risky to monetize.

With Reality.tv, Di Bona, the executive producer of ABC's long-running “America's Funniest Home Videos,” said his relationships with advertisers combined with a platform from Dave Networks, whose clients include ABC and CBS, will provide an “entertaining, family-friendly and appropriate” platform for marketers.

The destination, which hails from Hollywood Licensing, Di Bona's company with Tammy Treglia, also will have a section for professional TV and new-media producers to submit videos with an ultimate goal to cross over to TV.

“Being a new-media network, the initial launch is on the Internet,” Treglia said. “Over the next year, as we see more technology which finally facilitates convergence, it will be coming soon to the television set, computer or cell phone nearest you.”

The site will allow users to set up profiles and share videos. They also will be able to share the videos on News Corp.'s MySpace and Facebook.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

In a move to beef up its cross platform offerings for mobile phones and desktop applications, Nokia announced Monday that it will acquire software platform and frameworks developer Trolltech for $153 million.

Nokia said the Norwegian firm's Qtopia software technology it will help in the spread of its Ovi Web portal. It also said the company software is used in several thousand applications including Skype, Google Earth, and Adobe Photoshop Elements.

“Trolltech's deep understanding of open source software and its strong technology assets will enable both Nokia and others to innovate on our device platforms while reducing time-to-market,” said Kai Oistamo, Nokia's executive VP of the firm's devices unit, in a statement. He noted that the acquisition will help accelerate Nokia's strategy of boosting growth for mobile devices and PCs and their integration with the Internet.

Trolltech's Qtopia has been included in more than 10 million devices, ranging from handsets and media players to set-top boxes and video phones.

“This acquisition puts Nokia into a position to have a major stake in the Linux-based marketplace, an area it so far has had limited exposure,” said Jack E. Gold, research analyst at J. Gold Associates, in an e-mail. “We believe Nokia understands that Linux-based phones will be a major player in the marketplace particularly in the emerging markets (of) China, India and Eastern Europe.”

Gold added that the coming deployment of WiMax will spur the growth of low cost and easily-configurable devices, and the Trolltech acquisition could help Nokia's presence in that market.

Nokia said it plans to continue licensing Trolltech technology both for commercial and open source usage.

See original article on InformationWeek.com

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York state employee who had access to government-owned archives has been arrested on suspicion of stealing hundreds of historic documents, many of which he sold on eBay, authorities said on Monday.

Among the missing documents were an 1823 letter by U.S. Vice President John C. Calhoun and copies of the Davy Crockett Almanacs, pamphlets written by the frontiersman who died at the Alamo in Texas.

Daniel Lorello, 54, of Rensselaer, New York, was charged with grand larceny, possession of stolen property and fraud. He pleaded innocent in Albany City Court on Monday.

He was found out by an alert history buff who saw the items posted on the online auction site and alerted authorities, the state attorney general's office said in a statement.

Lorello, a department of education archivist, pleaded not guilty to the charges although he previously admitted in a written statement to stealing documents and artifacts since 2002. The attorney general's office released a copy of his statement.

In 2007 alone, Lorello stated he took 300 to 400 items, including the four-page Calhoun letter, which drew bids of more than $1,700 while investigators were monitoring the sale.

Officials recovered some 400 items from his upstate New York home, which Lorello estimated was 90 percent of everything he had taken, but they have yet to determine how many items were sold online.

The state library's extensive collection includes an original first draft of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and complete set of autographs from the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

EBay auctions posted by Lorello included a Currier & Ives lithograph that he described as “in excellent condition.” The Calhoun letter auction said “100 percent satisfaction is guaranteed.”

Other items Lorello admitted in his statement to stealing and selling included an 1835 Davey Crockett Almanac, which fetched $3,200, and a Poor Richard's Almanac which went for $1,001.

EBay was cooperating with state officials in the probe.

(Editing by Daniel Trotta and Eric Walsh)

BEIJING (AFP) - China Mobile, the country's top wireless operator, said Tuesday it planned to take advantage of the global stock market downturn to acquire overseas telecom firms that have now become cheaper.

“(China Mobile) would like to acquire high-quality and profit-making telecommunications enterprises overseas,” Lei Yu, a spokeswoman of China Mobile's Hong Kong-listed unit, told AFP.

She declined to provide any timetable for the expansion.

The official China Securities Journal reported Tuesday that the company was eyeing some relatively small telecom companies in other Asian markets as declining stock market had resulted in lower prices.

“With the market capitalisation of these firms dropping, we will have the chance to strike more deals,” the report said, citing Wang Jianzhou, president of China Mobile Communications Corporation.

“We've been watching closely emerging markets,” Wang said at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.

So far China Mobile has made only one overseas takeover, buying an 88.86-percent stake in Pakistan's fifth-largest mobile operator Paktel for 284 million dollars in January 2007.

When Kyocera (NYSE:KYO) bought Sanyo (NASDAQ:SANYY)'s mobile phone business last week, it left more than one analyst in Tokyo puzzled.

Although the deal created the world's sixth-biggest mobile phone company, it was essentially a marriage of two weak players in the market - too weak, at the moment, to effectively compete against global giants such as Motorola (NYSE:MOT) and Nokia.

The Japanese electronics sector is finally consolidating, following years of stagnation that has created a yawning gap between strong players in the industry and their weaker peers. But the pace of consolidation and the curious terms surrounding certain alliances have left observers scratching their heads.

Hitachi (NYSE:HIT), one of Japan's most sprawling companies with nearly 100 subsidiaries, last month effectively pulled out of liquid crystal display panel production, announcing the sale of its loss-making LCD panel subsidiary to Canon (NYSE:CAJ) and its stake in IPS Alpha - another LCD panel business - to Matsushita (NYSE:MC).

Toshiba and Sharp announced a similar agreement, in which Sharp said it would provide the integrated electronics company with LCD flat panel displays.

Analysts say the deals are positive for the industry, in that they eliminate over-supply in the LCD panel sector - a pressing issue that has contributed to price declines for flat-panel TVs over the past few years. But whether strong, cash-rich companies such as Matsushita, Canon and Kyocera should essentially come to the rescue of their weaker peers is another question altogether.

Kota Ezawa, electronics analyst at Nikko Citigroup in Tokyo, says that Matsushita's decision to inject Y300bn ($2.8bn) in capital expenditure into Hitachi's LCD business was a risky proposition.

“Matsushita should be prioritising…deals to assist overseas growth - one way of using its Y1,000bn in net cash,” says Mr Ezawa, who hopes to see more “independent-minded” M&A in the future.

The widening gulf is between successful Japanese manufacturers and their less-profitable peers led to a string of alliances last year, and analysts say that further consolidation is inevitable.

Pioneer (NYSE:PIO), which was once known for its revolutionary audio and visual systems, has incurred losses for three straight years, leading it to form an alliance with rival Sharp to avoid a potential hostile bid.

After fending off a possible private equity bid, JVC, the ailing Japanese electronics maker that is also known for its Victor brand overseas, last year agreed to a capital tie-up with audio equipment maker Kenwood and Sparx Group, a domestic hedge fund.

Even Tom Haga, the chairman and chief executive of Pioneer Electronics USA, sounded a critical note over the company's alliance with Sharp.

“You think Sharp is a more updated company than Pioneer? I don't think so,” he says. “We are the same, we are both old Japanese companies. This collaboration does not give us an updated or contemporary way of management at all.”

The absence of full-scale M&A in Japan's electronics sector is glaring - particularly cross-border deals - and observers question whether domestic tie-ups will enable the country's manufacturers to regain their competitive edge.

Mr Haga says that the survival of Japanese electronics makers is “a question I have been receiving every day from investors and analysts…we have to realise we have to change. But Japanese companies are part of a nation that is really stuck in old ways.”

With the valuations of some weaker electronics companies plummeting, analysts say the time should be ripe for acquisitions.

But thanks to the flurry of partnerships, cross-shareholdings are once again rising, protecting them from potential hostile suitors.

In the fiscal year ending March 31, the percentage of all listed companies that engaged in cross-shareholdings rose to 12 per cent - the first increase in 17 years, according to Kengo Nishiyama, a strategist at Nomura Research Institute.

Mr Ezawa says that years of success at many of these companies make it difficult for them to be controlled by another company. “This kind of specific mentality in Japan still exists…it's a big problem that prevents competitiveness,” he says. “These companies have spent the past 10 years doing the same thing. Japan is losing out to global competition.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dr. Howard Stark's office is quiet. Very quiet. No patients sit in his waiting room. No receptionist answers the telephone. Stark does not have a receptionist.

Instead, he and his assistant Michele Norris-Bell check e-mail alerts on handheld devices and — between seeing patients in person — on a desktop computer.

Stark has moved most of his practice, based in Washington, onto the Internet and he couldn't be happier. Since he started his Web-based service two years ago, he has received 14,000 e-mails.

And yet, he feels more like an old-fashioned family doctor in a small town than a modern, harried physician.

“That's 14,000 phone calls that we did not have to answer and that patients did not have to make,” Stark said.

He does not charge for answering an e-mail. “You have to come in one time a year for an annual exam,” Stark said.

The rest is free — prescription refills, quick questions about medication, even questions about unusual stings.

“What do I get? A picture of the scorpion that bit the patient in Belize,” Stark laughed. “I said, 'it would have been better to send me a picture of your leg.”'

He also gets updates on patients' personal lives.

“People say how impersonal e-mail is. No way. It is so personal because I can hear what is going on with the kids,” Stark said in an interview at his otherwise ordinary office.

“It keeps me a lot closer to what is going on with my patients,” he added. “I feel like I have taken 21st century medicine back to being more like the old-fashioned physician who knows how your family is doing.”

Health experts, the U.S. government, labor unions, employers and average citizens all agree the U.S. health care system badly needs improvement.

SOARING COSTS, LONG WAITS

Costs are soaring and yet the average physician, according to many estimates, spends only about 10 minutes with each patient.

Harried desk staff often double- and even triple-book each appointment slot to make optimal use of the doctor's time and to make sure the overheads are covered.

“They are seeing patients every 10 minutes and from 7 a.m. to 7 at night. They don't even have time to learn how to save time,” Stark said.

“The medical profession is being pushed to the edge.”

Not in Stark's office, where each patient is allocated at least half an hour per visit.

Stark rents two offices, a waiting room and two examination rooms from his two former partners. He employs only Norris-Bell — his rent includes the use of technicians to draw blood and do other specialized tasks.

He figures he saves at least $50,000 a year on staff costs alone.

Stark has some other advantages that other doctors lack — he does not accept any insurance, public or private, although he will help fill out the paperwork that allows patients to claim reimbursement from their insurers. That freed him up to go solo in his practice, and a few well-placed real estate investments allowed him to go part-time.

Using the Internet lets his patients proceed as if he were in the office full-time, however, Stark said.

AIRLINE INSPIRATION

The idea came to him while booking a flight.

“I was sitting here and making a seat assignment to go to Miami. And I said, 'why is it I can make a seat assignment four months in advance and my patients can't book a half-hour appointment?”' he said.

“I started thinking of other things that could be done online.”

For instance, written instructions on how to prepare for a colonoscopy, general health tips, or information on Lyme disease.

Stark contacted a couple of friends with Internet experience and they designed DoctorsOnTheWeb (http://doctorsontheweb.net/), a site that lets any doctor do what he is doing. So far, three other doctors have signed up to use the site, he said.

The system works like a bank's Web site. To avoid putting confidential information in e-mails, patients work on a secure server. If Stark wants to contact them, they get an e-mail merely directing them to pick up a message at the password-protected site.

“A lot of my patients, their secretaries see their e-mails,” Stark explained.

It allows patients to ask about their health as issues arise, instead of waiting for the annual exam. “If you have any questions, it's so nice to shoot an e-mail,” Stark said.

He can direct patients to the emergency room, if appropriate, to see a specialist or set up an appointment for an examination. Stark stresses that he does not make medical decisions based on an e-mail.

But no one has to wait until business hours. “I'll refill your prescription from Barcelona,” he said.

How about his lone assistant? Is she overworked?

“I love it. I love it. I love it,” Norris-Bell said.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Eddie Evans)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - More than a quarter of people who bought Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone are using them on wireless networks other than AT&T's, the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S., a “stunning” number that will pressure the company's business model, an analyst said on Monday.

Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi said analysis of sales numbers from Apple and AT&T Inc (T.N) revealed about 1.45 million phones were “missing in action” at the end of 2007.

About 480,000 of those were believed to be held by AT&T as inventory, leaving another 1 million phones, or 27 percent of the total, that Sacconaghi said were “unlocked” so they could work on non-AT&T networks.

Apple executives said last week the number of unlocked phones was “significant” but declined to give an estimate. Most analysts had estimated the portion of unlocked phones at under 20 percent.

Spokespersons for Apple and AT&T declined to comment.

The higher number is worrying for Apple because the company receives a cut of AT&T's iPhone service fees, revenue that carries a high gross margin and has fueled optimism over its earnings potential.

For example, Sacconaghi said, if Apple hit its sales goal of 10 million iPhones by the end of fiscal 2008 but 30 percent of those don't result in any carrier payments, its revenue and profit would be $500 million and 37 cents per share lower than expected.

If Apple cracks down on unlocked phones it could preserve its high margins but miss its sales target, whereas allowing them could erode profitability and make it tough to sign more carriers to similar revenue-sharing deals.

“Besides the financial implications, we believe the prevalence of unlocked iPhones presents a significant strategic dilemma to Apple,” Sacconaghi wrote.

Apple shares closed unchanged on Monday at $130.01. Over the past month the stock has fallen 35 percent on concerns over consumer spending and what some analysts say are a lack of must-have products Apple has lined up this year.

(Reporting by Scott Hillis; editing by Carol Bishopric)