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 …

We’ve long maintained that the Toshiba RD-XS34 is the best combi-recorder on the market, only recently facing a decent challenge from Panasonic’s DMR-EH60D. However, Toshiba is already fighting back with the highly attractive RD-XS55, shown off for the first time here at CES today. The hard drive is bigger — the initial 160GB offering has now been upped to 250GB. …

What’s this? A DVD recorder that has a slot for something called VHS tapes? Oh yeah, we remember them now — VHS was what cavemen used for recording Hollyoaks. Surely they’re not still being used today though? We though that there’d been a government-enforced amnesty and they were all dumped in a massive landfill somewhere, but apparently not. While we expect that the only person …

SAN FRANCISCO–It’s the wee hours on an unseasonably balmy November morning. Inside the DNA Lounge in the hip South of Market neighborhood, the festively attired crowd attending the annual Scorpio Ball is bouncing and gyrating to thick bass beats. In front of the sweaty bodies and bathed in the bright stage lights is Bassnectar–otherwise known as Lorin Ashton or, perhaps …

What would the music industry be without a little controversy? Just when you thought Sony BMG Music Entertainment had put its security problems behind it, the record label announced it had found, and fixed, a new risk associated with some of its CDs. The vulnerability could let malicious programmers gain control of computers that have run the software, which is …

Sprint Nextel has launched a music download service that lets customers store up to 1,000 songs on their cell phones, pitting it against Apple Computer’s popular iTunes service. The Sprint Music Store, announced Monday, will allow consumers to browse, preview and, for $2.50 each, download files from the Sprint inventory, which includes songs from EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, …

RealNetworks’ CEO Rob Glaser makes critical remarks about Apple Computer Chief Steve Jobs, and readers take notice. Glaser described Jobs’ decision to make the iPod compatible only with iTunes music store as “pigheadedness.” Glaser, who made the comments Monday at a conference in Foster City, Calif., would like iPod owners to be able to shop for music at RealNetworks’ music …

SAN FRANCISCO–Rob Glaser has made his peace with Microsoft’s Bill Gates. Now, the RealNetworks chief executive is turning up the rhetoric against another technology icon: Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs. At the Digital Living Conference here on Monday, Glaser told a packed hotel ballroom that Jobs & Co.’s refusal to make the iPod compatible with music services other than Apple’s …

Sharman Networks has cut off Australians’ access to the Web site from which the file-swapping software Kazaa can be downloaded. The shutdown, undertaken to comply with orders from Australia’s Federal Court, took effect late Monday in Australia. While people with an Australian IP address who have already downloaded Kazaa can continue to use it, Sharman is warning them not to …

RealNetworks’ core music subscription service is migrating onto the Web on Monday, in a move that includes some of the first fruits of its recent antitrust settlement with Microsoft. The company is creating a new version of its Rhapsody digital music service that will let people search and listen to its catalog of songs from a Web page, instead of …