digital video

As Internet and television continue to converge, Google is actively testing a new television-programming search service with Dish Network, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The service reportedly runs on TV set-top boxes that host Google software and enable viewers to find shows on Dish and video on web sites like YouTube. The Journal cited people familiar with the matter who said the service will allow viewers to personalize a lineup of shows.

by Colin Marshall

Just when you thought you could enjoy your iPhone 3G, along comes the iPhone 3GS. VCRs are all but gone, replaced by DVRs. DVDs are on their way out, and Blu-ray discs are in.

Betamax and VHS. Eight-track tapes.

Cassettes and CDs. With technology, nothing lasts forever. As soon as something gets replaced by The Next Big Thing, the next Next Big Thing comes along.

So, before they disappear, here are 10 advances in consumer technology this past decade worth remembering.

Blue in the Face

Just when you thought you could enjoy your iPhone 3G, along comes the iPhone 3GS. VCRs are all but gone, replaced by DVRs. DVDs are on their way out, and Blu-ray discs are in.

Betamax and VHS. Eight-track tapes.

Cassettes and CDs. With technology, nothing lasts forever. As soon as something gets replaced by The Next Big Thing, the next Next Big Thing comes along.

So, before they disappear, here are 10 advances in consumer technology this past decade worth remembering.

Blue in the Face

by Daniel Rourke

"The cinema can, with impunity, bring us closer to things or take us away from them and revolve around them, it suppresses both the anchoring of the subject and the horizon of the world... It is not the same as the other arts, which aim rather at something unreal or a tale. With cinema, it is the world which becomes its own image, and not an image which becomes world."

Wouldn't you love to get rid of the rat's nest of cables connecting the pieces of your home entertainment system -- and cut the hassle of hooking up new audio-video components? Engineers and consumers alike have dreamed of that possibility for years, but a handful of serious efforts up until now to devise wireless consumer electronics schemes have foundered on technical shortcomings and divisive standards battles.

There's one more way to watch online video through a home TV with the announcement Thursday that Netflix will stream movies directly to Sony's Bravia Internet-capable HDTVs.

Beginning this fall, some subscribers to the popular movie-rental service will be able to watch any of 12,000-plus movies and TV episodes on these Net-connected sets, as well as on earlier Bravia models that are compatible with Sony's add-on, the Internet Video Link module.

Apple may be planning to add a camera to its iPods. Several Web sites have reported that the iPod touch and iPod nano may get the additions.

Currently, only all three models of Apple's iPhones have a still camera. The iPhone 3GS also allows video recording and editing and makes it easy to upload videos to YouTube, but it doesn't have a flash module for low-light situations.

The licensing arm for the HDMI standard governing the wired transfer of high-definition multimedia content between consumer electronics devices said an upgrade to the spec will be ready for industry-wide adoption by the end of next month.

Called HDMI 1.4, the upgrade represents an important milestone because of the additional enhancements to the high-definition content experience that it will bring to PCs and home consumer electronics, HDMI Licensing President Steve Venuti said.

Two years ago, Pure Digital revolutionized the capture and redistribution of digital video with the release of its Flip Ultra camcorder. The small, simple video cameras were designed to do just one thing: Take good-quality digital video that users could then post to YouTube and other video-sharing sites.

The Flip Ultra quickly became the leading camcorder sold on Amazon and currently holds a 13 percent market share. Now the company is touting the release of the second generation, called the Flip UltraHD. The original Flip Ultra has been updated as the UltraSD. Both have bigger screens.