Hasta La Gadget!

We’re almost there. Just a few more days until the big reveal. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still a few final Windows 8 secrets to be disclosed. Two of those are the price and the packaging, which online retailer Newegg has just let slip. There are four packages listed: Windows 8 Professional Upgrade ($69), Windows 8 Pro Pack ($69, product key card only), Windows 8 OEM ($99) and Windows 8 Professional ($139), with the latter two being available in both 32- and 64-bit versions (for the same price). If you go into the product page, however, we can see that the original price for the upgrade and product key card only versions is listed as “$199” suggesting that this might either be a launch offer, or subject to change. Don’t forget though, there’s still the chance to upgrade for an even lower price, for those who qualify. You can officially reserve your copy of Pro from today for $69.99 at all the main retailers, but if you can hold back on that impulse purchase for just a little longer, you’ll be able to upgrade to Pro online for $39 (until January 31st). Follow the source for details.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft

Windows 8 packaging and pricing revealed: standard OEM $99, Pro Pack $139, pre-order from today originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 09:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been an especially bumpy road for the Blockbuster brand these past few years, and things just got a bit more rough. In an interview with Bloomberg, Dish Network founder and CEO Charlie Ergen confirmed that the company is abandoning its current efforts to challenge Netflix with Blockbuster, saying that it no longer plans to use the brand as a video streaming or DVD-by-mail service in the US. Ergen did say that Dish had other plans for Blockbuster, but he didn’t elaborate on what those may be. He also seems to be fairly resigned to the whole matter, saying “worst case, we’ll take our money after having wasted some time, not much money, and life goes on.”

Filed under: Internet, HD

Dish gives up effort to turn Blockbuster into a Netflix competitor originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Avengers was certainly one of the summer blockbusters to beat, and while it will not win any Oscars for its story, the entire movie made the comic book characters come alive. If you want to relive the magic of The Avengers in the comfort of your own home, you might want to be part of history in the making by placing a pre-order on Amazon. In fact, The Avengers is now Amazon’s biggest pre-ordered movie to date, when you combine both physical and digital formats, pushing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 down by a notch. The Avengers is available on Amazon Instant Video for all Amazon customers who can instantly stream the movie on their Kindle Fire devices, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, iPad and compatible connected Blu-ray players.

If there is a chance for this particular record to be broken, then it would take a lone ranger to do so instead of it being a team effort. I am referring to Bruce Wayne, another billionaire philanthropist genius who is not quite on the same level of Tony Stark in terms of his ladies’ collection, but when night falls and his beloved Gotham City is at peril, he will don his cape to terrorize enemies as Batman. Will The Dark Knight Rises’ Blu-ray and DVD release be able to knock the Avengers off their lofty pedestal? Only time will tell.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Kaleidescape M700 Disc Vault helps you store your movie collection, Addonics DigiCopier lets you copy Blu-ray discs, DVDs or CDs without using a computer,

Fans of digital media have a reason to smile today, as Fox has revealed that it will begin offering digital versions of its movies weeks before physical Blu-ray and DVDs release. The first movie that will getting this treatment is Prometheus, which is scheduled to release on Blu-ray and DVD on October 11. Fox will begin offering the high-definition digital version of the movie on September 18, giving those who don’t mind losing the disc about a three week jump on those who do mind.

Even better is the fact that these digital movies will be offered for less than current going rate for movies. Fox plans to offer its digital flicks for around $15 a pop, down from the $20 that consumers normally pay. The company will offering these movies with “Digital High Definition” or “DHD” branding, and this new initiative marks a team up between Fox and UltraViolet, a digital streaming service that Fox has been hesitant to partner with in the past.

Fox needs to tread carefully here, however. The company has tried to offer early digital copies in the past and failed to succeed for a number of reasons. Not only did Fox offer these earlier releases at a premium, charging as much as $30 per movie, but it also released these digital copies only two months after the movies premiered in theaters. Obviously, that didn’t sit too well with theater owners, so this time around, we’re seeing Fox take a much less aggressive approach to offering digital content early. Everyone should be happy with this new plan, as Fox says that most of the movies it offers early will be out of theaters by the time they become available digitally.

This new initiative will launch in 50 countries around the world simultaneously, and even though Prometheus is the only film with a solid digital release date at the moment, we’re told to expect other Fox films such as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Watch, and Ice Age: Continental Drift to follow suit. If Fox does this right, it could help grow the digital movies market, which is already on the rise but still quite small when compared to the boxed movies market. Stay tuned, because this could get interesting.

[via The New York Times]

Fox will offer digital movies weeks before DVD release is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
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LG Electronics has found itself at the center of quite a few patent lawsuits in recent years (both as a plaintiff and defendant), and it’s now kicked yet another one off. As Bloomberg reports, LG has today filed suit against Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology, alleging that the Toshiba / Samsung joint venture violated a number of patents related to DVD+RW and DVD-RAM technology. In the complaint, LG further alleges that TSST is knowingly infringing on the patents as they were previously licensed to Toshiba itself (and TSST as an affiliate company) as part of a deal that expired in 2010. LG is asking for a jury trial to sort things out, and demanding that TSSC pay “no less than a reasonable royalty” along with some unspecified damages. You can find the complaint in full at the link below.

Filed under: Storage

Toshiba / Samsung joint venture hit with lawsuit by LG over DVD+RW/RAM patents originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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