Living Room

Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi kick off flat-screen JV Japan Display

Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi today announced that Japan Display, a company they formed with government-funded Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), has initiated operations. The companies, which announced the startup today, said that the official operation start date was Sunday.

Nikkei Business Daily was first to report on the joint venture.

The companies announced plans to form Japan Display last year. Under the terms of the merger, Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi have combined their small and medium-sized touchscreen LCD operations into the new corporation, and each own 10 percent of the firm. INCJ owns the remaining 70 percent.

Japan Display … Read more

Philips, TPV finally ink television joint venture

It was nearly one year ago that Royal Philips announced its desire to reduce its reliance upon televisions. And now, it has finally gotten its wish.

The company today announced that the transaction to complete a joint venture with TP Vision (TPV) has finally happened, and the companies are now moving forward with offering sets to consumers around the world. TPV will own 70 percent of the venture, while Philips will control 30 percent of the new operation.

Philips and TPV announced their partnership last April. The companies initially planned to start their joint venture late last year, but the … Read more

Samsung spins off display unit -- already world's biggest

The display business is a tough one. And now, Samsung has made a move to shake it from the books.

Samsung Display Co. has officially been spun off from Samsung Electronics and has become new corporation, the technology giant announced today. Samsung Display plans to start operating as an independent entity later this week after it completes its incorporation.

It didn't take long for Samsung Display to set a record. In a statement today, the company said that its 20,000 employees and five production facilities worldwide make it the world's largest display manufacturer. And its $20 billion … Read more

Turning in an old Xbox? Consider hard drive data, report says

Microsoft's Xbox 360 might not be protecting user data after the console is restored to factory settings, according to a new report.

In an interview with gaming blog Kotaku, Ashley Podhradsky, a researcher at Drexel University, said when Xbox 360 owners trade in their consoles after restoring the device to factory settings, their personal data might be left open to malicious hackers.

"Microsoft does a great job of protecting their proprietary information," Podhradsky told Kotaku. "But they don't do a great job of protecting the user's data."

Podhradsky, along with other researchers at … Read more

Gaming trails video viewing, music listening on Xbox Live

What keeps Xbox 360 gamers engaged? It's the media more than the hardware, a new report indicates.

According a Los Angeles Times interview with Xbox marketing and strategy chief Yusuf Mehdi, the typical household spends 84 hours each month using Xbox Live to play games and access content. Over half of that time, according to the Times, is spent watching videos and playing music.

"What we're seeing is that people are turning on the Xbox to play games and then keeping it on afterwards to get other types of entertainment," Mehdi told the Times.

Microsoft has … Read more

Microsoft: Don't expect a new Xbox anytime soon

Microsoft is happy to hear about excitement surrounding a new Xbox, but the company cautioned recently that such a scenario is still premature.

"While we appreciate all the interest in our long-range plans for the future, we can confirm that there will be no talk of new Xbox hardware at E3 or anytime soon," Microsoft Corporate Communications chief Frank Shaw told All Things Digital in an interview published Friday. "For us, 2012 is all about Xbox 360."

And for good reason. Microsoft's console has been handily beating Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii … Read more

HBO Go landing on Xbox 360 on April 1?

After taking some time to break out from the browser, HBO Go is making some serious inroads into your living room.

Speaking to Engadget last night, HBO Co-President Eric Kessler said that his company plans to make HBO Go available on the Xbox 360 on April 1. The launch is by no means a coincidence: it matches up with the premiere of season 2 of HBO's hit series "Game of Thrones."

Microsoft announced last year that it would be offering HBO Go, which allows HBO subscribers to stream the company's entire line of television shows, documentaries, … Read more

Korea ISP wants streaming services to pay up

Data-heavy services like YouTube are apparently costing a South Korean Internet Service Provider serious money, and the ISP doesn't want to take it any longer.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview published last night, Kim Taehwan, vice president of KT, Korea's largest ISP, said that his company is tired of "free riding" Internet streaming services that consume huge amounts of data and don't pay it a dime to do so.

"We want to set a rule that we can equally apply to every platform operator that offers data-heavy content as those services threaten to … Read more

Samsung considering options for LCD business; spinoff possible

Samsung might be a leading TV maker, but its LCD business is quickly becoming a thorn in its side.

Speaking to Reuters today, Samsung said that it's considering all options with its LCD flat-panel business, but declined to confirm that it has made any decisions. One rumor suggests Samsung is thinking about spinning off its LCD business, but the company would not comment on that.

"Samsung is looking into various options to improve the competitiveness of LCD business, but no decision has been made yet," a Samsung spokeswoman told CNET in an e-mailed statement.

Samsung's LCD … Read more