TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp. said on Wednesday that no unified format for a next-generation DVD is likely before its year-end launch of adanced DVD players, a development that could leave users confused and hinder industry growth.

Japanese electronics makers Toshiba and Sony Corp., leading rival camps, have waged a three-year battle to have their different standards adopted for new DVDs, which promise much greater capacity for high-definition movies.

Toshiba, along with NEC Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co., has been promoting HD DVD, while Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the maker of Panasonic brand products, have been developing a technology known as Blu-ray.

At stake is pole position in the multibillion dollar markets for DVD players, PC drivers and optical discs.

"We've been working towards unification. But talks are now stalled. We will press ahead with the product launch as planned," Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told Reuters in an interview.

Nishida added, however, that Toshiba will continue efforts to ultimately agree a unified standard even after its planned launch of HD DVD players at the end of this calendar year.

"Regrettably, two different types of products seem set to hit the market. But this is the kind of technology that will be around for five or 10 years. Efforts should be made continuously to make unification happen," Nishida said.

Sony plans to put a Blu-ray disc drive in its new PlayStation game console next year.

The two sides made a last-ditch effort to forge a common format earlier this year, without success, to avoid confusion and inconvenience of the kind that occurred as a result of the VHS-Beta battle over videocassette formats two decades ago.

At the core of both DVD formats are blue lasers, which have a shorter wavelength than the red lasers used in current DVD equipment, allowing discs to store data at the higher densities needed for high-definition movies and television.

Unless you've been on a secluded island for the last 10 years, you would have definately heard about the IM or Instant Messenger craze. The two most popular providers would be Microsoft with their MSN/Windows Messenger client and also Yahoo! with their Yahoo Messenger server. Some other clients like the once popular ICQ have fallen out of favour.

Google Inc is now jumping onboard the IM bandwagon (they are jumping on everything that moves) and have released a beta of their own IM client aptly named Google Talk. It links back with your gmail account, so if you already have one, then you can login and start inviting your friends to join in. Its very basic - which would appeal to quite a lot of us who want an IM to just exchange messages rather then have fancy images and backgrounds with unnecessary functions. Google seems to be keeping to their style of keeping everything simple and effective.

Get your copy of Google talk at http://talk.google.com

The MSN Messenger team have just released version 7.5 of the client to the masses.

Among the new features are Dymanic Backgrounds and Voice Clips. Dynamic Backgrounds fill your MSN Messenger conversations and subtly animate during the conversation. Voice Clips allow you to send short audio clips (15 secs max) to your friends on MSN Messenger.

New audio improvements mean talking over MSN Messenger is far improved from recent versions.

Get your updated MSN loving here

Telekom Malaysia Bhd has opened up its last mile and will deliver broadband access connectivity service to JARING Communications Sdn Bhd's Internet users.

In a statement yesterday, TM said it signed a DSL wholesale service agreement with JARING last Friday, following the determination by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission to unbundle the last mile.

Under the terms, TM will provide DSL ports, a new high-speed last mile access technology that transports data and multimedia over the last mile of copper telephone lines.

"Being our first customer, DSL Wholesale Service will provide JARING an instant nationwide broadband access and opportunity to bundle an independent service package in the shortest time and at minimum cost.

"This will assist JARING and other potential service providers to overcome the high levels of investment, capital cost and other obstacles to capture the potentially large broadband market and drive the take-up of broadband access line to meet the objectives of the National Broadband Plan (NBP)," said TM chief operating officer Datuk Baharum Salleh.

He said in line with the NBP to boost the broadband penetration rate to 10% of population by 2008, TM was aggresively rolling out broadband services on its own through its subsidiary TM Net Sdn Bhd as well as other broadband-related infrastructure nationwide and offering them to other licensed operators.

Source : The Edge

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 (AFP) - Malaysia has fitted turtles with satellite transmitters as part of conservation efforts in response to fears their populations are declining, reports said Sunday.

Two green turtles, which are a "threatened" species, had transmitters fixed to their shells before being released from the Ma'daerah turtle sanctuary in the northeastern state of Terengganu, the New Straits Times said.

The signals will be captured by a satellite operated by the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the data will be plotted by its ground station in France, it said.

                                                           

The world's first interactive 3D display has been developed by IO2 Technology.

HelioDisplay creates 3D displays in the air using lasers, drawing input from computers, TVs and DVDs. It also allows interactive applications to be controlled by a finger, instead of a mouse.

"Our first generation version, the Heliodisplay, projects TV, streaming video and computer images into free space, (mid-air)", the company's website claims.

While it's early days for such technologies, the company has just completed its first production unit and claims it is ready to release a limited number of units for sale.

Source: Macworld UK

In addition, the south-westerly winds are also likely to blow the haze to Johor and Singapore. The public have been advised to be prepared and take every precaution for such an eventuality. 

The public can expect a respite only if fires in Sumatra are doused before the end of this week. 

The winds, if they return, are set to blow billows of smoke across the Straits of Malacca to blanket large parts of the west coast, especially the Klang Valley. 

It is advisable to be wise of your water-usage during this period.

DAM LEVELS (as at Aug 17, 2005):  (critical levels in brackets) 

"The proposed investment provides an excellent platform for exposure into an important market, in line with the continued selective regionalisation of Malaysian companies," it said in a statement.

Khazanah said the joint venture, known as SunShare, struck a deal with Great Eastern Telecommunications to acquire its 12.06 percent stake at 2.20 Singapore dollars per share, for a total sum of 260.8 million Singapore dollars.

MobileOne Ltd is Singapore's second-largest mobile phone operator, and the seller Great Eastern Telecommunications is a joint venture between Cable and Wireless and PCCW-HKT.

PETALING JAYA: All Touch 'n Go card users will have to register and upgrade their cards for better security features beginning tomorrow until Dec 8. 

Rangkaian Segar Sdn Bhd, which operates the electronic stored value card, said cards which were not upgraded would not function after the deadline. 

Users should bring their cards to any Touch 'n Go counter, including “add value” lanes at toll plazas, for the upgrading process, RSSB chief operating officer Swinder Grewal said in a statement yesterday.