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Despite reports earlier this month which suggested otherwise, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs appeared during the highly anticipated “Let’s Rock” presentation today, thin but jaunty, where he introduced new iPod nano and Touch music players. The thinner 8GB iPod nano, hailed as the thinnest iPod ever made, will go for $149, and includes a new “shake to shuffle” feature to change song play. The company also announced that that television broadcaster NBC had rejoined online video and music store iTunes.
“I would call it a series of both expected and unexpected announcements. Clearly the new iPod nano in the flesh is certainly more appealing than it’s been. It was expected but I think it will sell well in the holiday season,” said Michael Abramsky, analyst with RBC Capital Markets. “NBC is important content for Apple to have on iTunes, especially with the direction it’s taking, which is for iPods to handle more video. Having robust iTunes video is key to their success,” said Shannon Cross, analyst with Cross Research.
View: Full Story at Reuters

Mitsubishi has been trickling out details for its mysterious LaserVue HDTV for months now, but  at long last, we finally know the most pertinent piece. Reportedly, the 65-inch set — which was seen lookin’ mighty fine on the CEDIA floor, by the way — will retail for $6,999 when it ships to Select Diamond retailers at the end of this month. The forthcoming 73-inch version doesn’t have a price / release date just yet, but given the way we’ve found things out about its smaller sibling, we can’t say we’re shocked in the least. [Engadget]

In a beneficial turn of events for the home entertainment industry, Blu-ray sales continue to rise drastically despite the staggering U.S. economy.
As DVD sales decline, Blu-ray has been filling in the gap, generating more than $200 million in the first half of 2008. This is in stark contrast to the same point last year, where Blu-ray earnings were less than 33% of current figures.
“We are trending 8% Blu-ray sales [per title], and at the end of the year, we will be between 10% and 12%,” stated Mike Dunn of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Lori MacPherson, general manager for Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, North America contributed her thoughts.
“I think people are becoming pickier on what they spend their money on, but home entertainment always represents a good value. Thirty dollars for a Blu-ray movie that you can watch over and over again is still a great value,” she commented.
As Blu-ray production costs begin to drop, savings will be passed on to consumers and, in return, Blu-ray will take an even more prominent place in people’s homes. With HDTV penetration higher than ever, Blu-ray may very well overtake DVD prior to 2012, the previously accepted prediction. [PSU]

Buried under predictions that 2012 will bring dominance for Blu-ray over DVD and breaking news that the PS3 just may have had a hand in winning the format war the Entertainment Merchant’s Association 2008 Annual Report on the Home Entertainment Industry holds survey results  showing 87% of PS3 owners reported they watch Blu-ray movies on their console. That’s a stark contrast to last year’s NPD survey indicating 60% of owners didn’t even know it played them. We don’t know what’s behind the jump, be it better marketing/consumer education, or something wrong with how one the surveys were conducted. You can mull that one over during the fast money round while also peeping results that say 22% of HDTV owners think they’re watching HD programming, but in fact are not — not like we haven’t heard that before. [PS3 Fanboy]

Sanyo Electric announced on Friday that it has started buying liquid crystal display (LCD) panels from Sharp for use in its flat-screen TVs sold in North America. “We hope to expand our business by having a mutually complementary relationship with Sharp,” said Sanyo spokeswoman Yuko Hosaka. “Sharp’s strength in LCDs is part of that.” The company started ordering LCDs from Sharp in April, but will also continue procurement from other suppliers. This move comes as Sharp, the world’s third-largest LCD TV maker, expands attempts to secure a stable source of demand for its LCD panels from rival TV set makers as it aggressively invests in expanding output.
View: Full Story at Reuters

Samsung’s stream of 82-inch monsters packing the company’s latest technology continues unabated, this time a minor update to the QuadHD behemoth we saw at CES brings so-outdated 120Hz motion processing and LED backlighting to keep blur and judder far, far away. We know what you’re thinking, its 3840×2160 resolution is no good unless you can write on it, luckily Samsung also has an 82-inch ultra high definition e-Board in its SID 2008 booth. OLED fans take heart, Samsung has reached economies of scale, hopefully meaning reasonably priced (and longer lasting) thin screens are due sooner instead of later. The Korea Times notes LG’s at the show as well, showcasing LCD roll-printing technology to replace the photolithography process that currently births the flat panels on our walls, but we simply can’t be bothered with a company that’s only the number two LCD manufacturer in the world. [Engadget]

A lot of you have been wondering when Universal Studios was finally going to start releasing their titles in the Blu-ray disc format, well that question has been answered.  Starting on July 22, Universal will start to release quite a few of their catalog titles, as well as prepare for the release of their five big movies set for box offices this summer.

These include: The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, Momma Mia, Hellboy II, and the new Mummy movie featuring Brendan Fraser and Jet Li.  For those of you curious as to what will be hitting shelves on July 22, you can expect the Mummy Trilogy (which includes the Scorpion King). 

In total, Universal plans to ship well over 40 titles before the end of 2008.  This will definitely help the high-definition crowd expand their collections with an even greater selection of titles.  With Universal being the main supporter of the HD DVD franchise, it’s good to finally know the next generation of movie watching is officially kicking off at 100% [Reuters]

Ever since Microsoft launched their video download service for the Xbox 360, the internet has been rumbling with rumors that Sony would follow in the same direction and feature a similar service on the PlayStation 3.
After rampant speculation, Sony has subtly confirmed that they will have some form of this type of service available to PS3 owners in the future. Peter Dille, Senior Vice President of Marketing & the PLAYSTATION Network, confirmed this bit of news when addressing PlayStation Blog readers about the current state of the PLAYSTATION Network.
“Many of you have been hearing rumblings about a video service that will allow you to download full-length TV shows and movies via PLAYSTATION Network for North America. While I don’t have any new announcements here for the PlayStation Nation, it’s already been confirmed that we’ll be offering a video service for PS3 in a way that separates the service from others you’ve seen or used. Ultimately the goal of the PLAYSTATION Network service will be to break through the overwhelming clutter of digital media to give you the TV, movies and gaming content you want. More on this very soon …” [PSU]

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Sony Pictures Television is looking to launch the first movie network on mobile phones in the United States.
The studio has signed a deal with AT&T and MediaFLO USA to launch the linear channel as one of two exclusive channels coming to the newly announced AT&T Mobile TV with FLO service in May.
The channel, to be known as PIX, will be stocked with such titles as “Ghostbusters,” “Philadelphia” and “Stand by Me.”
Mobile has been viewed mostly as a marketing platform for theatricals in the U.S. With the domestic mobile video category for even shortform clips lagging behind markets in Europe and Asia, Sony is looking to entice viewers with more diverse content offerings.
“What you see a lot on the carrier decks is promotional content that people can snack a little on,” said Eric Berger, vp mobile entertainment at Sony Pictures Television. “There’s nothing currently there as deeply entertaining as these movies.”
Films have been made available on handsets on an on-demand basis. Sony was one of several studios that contributed titles to content aggregator MSpot, which teamed with Sprint to launch MSpot Movies in 2006. [Reuters]

During November last year we reported that the popular DVD ripper aXXo had decided to take a break and stop releasing new material for a while. It now seems that he is back in business. A few hours ago aXXo uploaded his first movie in months. He chose “I Am Legend”.
Since November 11 2007, when the last official aXXo torrent was uploaded, it has been awfully quiet. Some people assumed that aXXo had got himself caught while others claimed he had an accident. After a while it became clear that he simply decided to take some time off.
An administrator on Darkside RG, the official home of aXXo explained at the time: “aXXo told us that he has decided to take a break, so you will not see new aXXo torrents anywhere for a while. Please show your support by keeping his torrents alive until he comes back, as always, he will post here first when he does.”
Now, after nearly four months of absence aXXo has returned, and uploaded his first .torrent on Darkside RG and other torrent sites. It’s the news that many BitTorrent users have been waiting for.
Marking his comeback with the movie “I Am Legend” could be seen as symbolic. Before aXXo decided to take a break, an estimated one million people downloaded his DVDrips every month. The search term aXXo was undoubtedly the most popular at many torrent sites. Although there are conflicting opinions in respect of the quality of his work, there can be no dispute that he was, and still is, very popular indeed.
While some see him in an almost religious light, others have been quick to take advantage of his popularity for nefarious purposes, or have used the aXXo brand to draw attention to their own releases, like KLAXXON did.
Even though some see him as a legend, aXXo certainly isn’t without his critics but whatever the position, his popularity is indisputable…..along with his modesty. [Torrentfreak]