Terry Walsh at We Got Served reports HP has pushed an update to the MediaSmart Server that enables DLNA-compliant media streaming (a very good thing to have if you like or want to use UPnP devices) and provides new anti-virus capabilities to the product — both capabilities are optional during the upgrade. In addition, HP has improved Photo Webshare, the iTunes Media Aggregator, and its x64 WHS client application for Windows Vista. Looks buying a pre-built system from a large vendor has its advantages.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Internet Protocol television (IPTV) faces an uphill struggle to penetrate the consumer market if it remains a stand-alone pay-TV service, according to Gartner Inc. In an industry dominated by incumbent cable and satellite operators, as well as traditional terrestrial free-to-air network broadcasters, Gartner said that IPTV operators need to entice consumers with a range of bundled services, including IP-based home networking, offering a one-stop, whole-home solution. MORE »

Popularity: 1% [?]

According to a new report by Forrester Research (via Macsimumnews), analysts at the company believe Apple’s product strategy will revolve around eight product/service pillars to capture the Digital Home market by 2013. The report states: “Apple will aim to become the hub of the digital home, offering eight key products and services to connect PCs and digital content to the HDTV-stereo audio-visual infrastructure in consumers’ homes. To fulfill this strategy, we predict that Apple will launch new products, re-engineer the Apple Store, and expand into in-home installation services.” MORE »

Popularity: 1% [?]

At the China Digital Living Forum & Showcase 2008, the formation of the DIVA Consortium was formally unveiled to the Chinese consumer electronics industry. The China Video Industry Association (CVIA) announced its support of the DIVA Consortium’s efforts to create a new interface for next-generation interactive digital television and consumer electronics (CE) networking. DIVA’s interface technology promises to combine uncompressed high-definition video, multi-channel audio, and high-bandwidth, bi-directional data transfer over a single cable. Once connected with DIVA, CE devices will be networked locally so they can be easily set up and controlled from any TV on the DIVA network-passing video, audio and bulk data between devices. MORE »

Popularity: 1% [?]

New U.S. consumer research from Parks Associates has identified a “super buying” segment of broadband households responsible for the overwhelming majority of dollars spent on consumer electronics products. MORE »

Popularity: 2% [?]

Napster, the pioneer of digital music, today announced the launch of the world’s largest and most comprehensive MP3 store at www.napster.com/store.

Napster’s download store is more than 50% larger than any other MP3 store and boasts not only the largest major label MP3 catalog in the industry, but also the largest library of independent music available anywhere. All Napster download sales in the U.S. will now be in the user-friendly, DRM-free MP3 format, which is compatible with virtually any MP3 player or music phone including the iPod and the iPhone. Napster is the first music subscription service featuring major label content to offer 100% of its catalog in the MP3 format for download sales. MORE »

Popularity: 2% [?]

At NCTA’s Cable Show, Seagate Technology announced it will introduce its Seagate® Showcase™ storage solution, a new series of products that extends the storage capacity of your Digital Video Recorder (DVR), so you never have to say goodbye to your favorite movies and television shows. Seagate also announced that the Showcase family of products will be designed to be compatible with Motorola’s market leading e-SATA capable high-definition (HD) digital video recorder (DVR) set-top portfolio. MORE »

Popularity: 2% [?]

Netflix, Inc., the world’s largest online movie rental service, and Roku, Inc., an innovator in digital media streaming technology, today announced the introduction of The Netflix Player by Roku, a device that enables Netflix subscribers to instantly stream a growing library of movies and TV episodes from Netflix directly to the TV. Priced at just $99.99, the player is available for purchase starting today at www.roku.com/netflixplayer. MORE »

Popularity: 2% [?]

Small office and home users now have a simple, cost-effective solution to share USB devices, such as external hard drives, flash drives, printers, speakers and Webcams, across a network with IOGEAR’s USB Net ShareStation. MORE »

Popularity: 2% [?]

VidaBox LLC is excited to announce the new TouchClient12™ in-wall touch panel computer. Featuring a 12.1” color touchscreen and XP embedded computer, it is selling at an affordable retail price of $2499. MORE »

Popularity: 4% [?]