Australia got its first taste of the new Freeview service due in 2009 last night with all of the country’s FTA broadcasters showing a two minute ad concurrently on all channels announcing the system. The Freeview service is an attempt to promote digital television and electronic program guides (EPG) under one umbrella. The UK’s free-to-air …

Panasonic has announced it is cutting 15,000 workers from its workforce after an annual loss of US$4.3 billion, despite returning a profit in the last quarter of last year, according to Reuters. The combination of a global economic downturn plus a strong Japanese Yen means that the company’s exports aren’t as competitive in overseas markets as South Korean competitors LG …

As the last hours of 2008 slowly tick over, the editors at CNET Australia take a nostalgic look back at some of the top gadgets, toys and bits of technology from the year. 2008: The best televisionsRapid change in the technology world often has the biggest ramification on televisions, and 2008 saw some seismic shifts occur. Prices fell across product …

This week we continue on with the Aussie themed DVDs, but don’t worry if last week’s Slim Dusty and Cold Chisel concerts scared you off, there are some decent Australian dramas hitting the stores. Sirens (Buena Vista) It was first released on the big screen in 1994, but this one is fun to revisit, as it’s based on the life …

DLP HDTV heavy-hitter Samsung announced four new big-screen rear-projection units earlier today and, in terms of potential image-quality improvement, the coolest is the HL-S5679W. This 56-inch single-chip 1080p-resolution DLP an entirely new light engine that ditches the tried-and-true color wheel/lamp system for a trio of LEDs (the “wobulated” DLP chip hasn’t changed, however). The result is elimination of the rainbow …