Magazines were added to Play back in June, but initially only available in the US store. That proved to be a frustration for Nexus 7 early-adopters, for instance, who discovered that one of the key elements of the tablet – media consumption – was poorly catered for outside of America.

That’s all changed today. In addition to purchasing individual issues, it’s possible to subscribe to a magazine and have it automatically delivered on publication day.

Certain titles are delivered in “Interactive” versions with more in-depth features, videos, animations, and other content. There’s also a “Text” mode available – again, on a publisher-by-publisher basis – which strips out adverts and other distractions, and makes focusing on the written content more straightforward.

Both of the companies will continue to maintain different websites and newsrooms. Yahoo reports that the deal will see Yahoo’s most popular sports content and products integrated into NBC’s online offerings. The two companies are also expecting to run a joint advertising campaign across sites they both operate.

Specific areas that the two companies will collaborate on will include editorial commentary, investigative reporting, and original video programming. They will also team up on live streaming of sporting events and fantasy sports. Yahoo Sports will be the exclusive fantasy game provider of NBC Sports Rotoworld.

The deal between Yahoo and NBC sports is the latest to come under CEO Marissa Meyer’s leadership. Since she took over the CEO position, Yahoo has launched new deals with Samsung that will bring Yahoo Broadcasts Interactivity service to Samsung smart TVs. Yahoo has also signed a deal with CBS Television Distribution to extend the reach of a syndicated newsmagazine called The Insider among other deals.

[via TheNextWeb]

Normally when developers want a game rated, they have to pay the ESRB to review a DVD of in-game footage, but the ESRB has done a lot to streamline the process for digital titles. Instead of sending in a DVD of game footage, developers simply fill out a questionnaire that determines a rating for their game. They can fill out the questionnaire and submit it to the ESRB free of charge too, which should do a lot to get more developers using the ESRB’s rating system. As an added bonus for consumers, the ESRB’s digital rating system will not only assign age-based ratings, but also tell consumers if the game will share their data and location, among other things.

Naturally, there’s cause for concern when it comes to this self-rating system, as developers could potentially lie about their game to get a “better” rating (if such a thing even exists when it comes to game ratings). However, the ESRB tells Ars Technica that its tests show that the self-rating method works nearly as well as ESRB representatives assigning the ratings themselves, so the organization is confident that bogus self-ratings won’t be much of an issue. If they do become an problem, the ESRB can always rescind a developer’s access to its ratings program as punishment, though developers can appeal if they think the rating of their game wasn’t handled properly.

At first, this streamlined ratings systems will only be available for digital games on big platforms, such as Xbox Live, PSN, the Nintendo eShop, and the Windows 8 Store. Don’t expect ESRB-rated games to begin popping up on the iOS App Store or Google Play Store anytime soon though, as both Apple and Google use their own ratings systems for apps and actually shot down proposals from the ESRB last year. What do you think of the ESRB’s digital rating system – is it a good idea, or is the organization just opening itself up for abuse?

December 31 will be the publication’s last issue, and they will move entirely to a new digital format using the name Newsweek Global, which will be a subscription-based online magazine optimized for tablets and browsers. The Daily Beast, Newsweek‘s sister site, will be posting some of the content. The site is said to have seen a 70% increase in traffic this year to 15 million unique monthly visitors.

Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown and CEO Baba Shetty say that the publication has “reached a tipping point at which [they] can most efficiently and effectively reach [their] readers in all-digital format.” Both Brown and Shetty clarified that Newsweek is simply “transitioning,” and aren’t saying goodbye to it.

However, it’s expected that the publication will be “streamlining” its editorial and business operations, which means it expects to lay off a number of its staff. Nothing is final, and the decision makers are still working things out, but Brown said that there will be “many options to choose from” in 2013.

[via The Daily Beast]

Research and development of the compact disc actually began well before 1982. Beginning in 1974, electronics company Philips wanted to create a whole new audio platform that was both small in size and better quality than vinyl records and cassette tapes. Three years later, the company finally established a lab where they would make CDs and CD players. They called them “compact discs” to follow along with their other naming conventions that they had, like the “compact cassette”.

At the time, Sony was also developing their own CD technology, but the two companies eventually merged their efforts and partnered up for the official consumer launch of the CD in 1982. Of course, CDs were met with a ton of skepticism at first. It wasn’t until several years later that CDs began to actually take off. Heck, I was still using cassette tapes in the 90s.

Even though the percentage of people in the world that use CDs is continually going down, you can’t deny that the format made a huge impact on the music industry. Even though nothing really outperforms the quality of a good vinyl record, newer platforms like CDs and MP3s are still extremely popular and are the go-to format for most music listeners these days.

[via The Next Web]

Image via Flickr

This move will have the UK being the first location outside of the USA where Nook e-reader devices have been sold. With Barnes & Noble making it clear that their last financial year brought in $933 million for the Nook lineup alone, it’s no wonder they’re expanding out beyond the shores of the United States. The Amazon Kindle lineup is already sold throughout the UK, and this book retailer is gnawing at the bit at a chance to join in on the fun.

Be sure to check out our Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight review to see what you’ll be grabbing very soon!

The Nook Simple Touch as it exists today is a tablet device with a 6-inch display working with e-ink technology for easy reading both indoors and out. This device is currently out only in the USA and also has 2GB of flash memory, build-in wi-fi connectivity, and 2GB of RAM. You also get a microSD card slot for memory expansion and easy movement of files to and from other devices.

We’re expecting this device to be released in essentially the same price range as the original and will be working with nook.co.uk as well for digital content. You’ll be able to both download new reading material from the web and load 3rd party content with the microSD card slot once this device heads your way soon!

Barnes & Noble will also be offering its digital products and content to consumers in the UK through partnerships with other leading retailers. Specific retailers participating in the retail partnerships will be announced shortly. For now, Barnes & Noble simply states that the UK partners are expected to support the Nook through established physical and online channels.

Among the first products, that Barnes & Noble will offer in the UK will be the Nook Simple Touch and the Simple Touch with GlowLight. The products will be available mid-October. The Simple Touch with GlowLight is the first E Ink device with an integrated light for reading in the dark. Both versions of the Simple Touch use a seven-inch display.

The Nook Store for the UK will have over 2.5 million digital titles, including top UK books, newspapers, and magazines. The content purchased within the UK will be available to users on various devices through the Nook Cloud. Additional details on the UK launch will be coming.

Thus far Def Leppard have only revealed a couple of tracks: “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Rock of Ages”, but they’ve let it be known that a whole lot more is on the way. Universal Music Group is reportedly stopped from releasing any Def Leppard tracks from the original albums due to the contract between the label and the band. Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott spoke to Billboard.com this week on the matter.

“When you’re at loggerheads with an ex-record label who…is not prepared to pay you a fair amount of money and we have the right to say, ‘Well, you’re not doing it,’ that’s the way it’s going to be. Our contract is such that they can’t do anything with our music without our permission, not a thing. So we just sent them a letter saying, ‘No matter what you want, you are going to get “no” as an answer, so don’t ask.’ That’s the way we’ve left it. We’ll just replace our back catalog with brand new, exact same versions of what we did.” – Elliott

You’ll be able to see many more tracks popping up in the near future if the first two singles continue to sell well. At the moment, Billboard has “Sugar” ringing in at 21,000 downloads in the USA while “Ages” has 5,000. Hopefully soon we’ll also be seeing Animal, Hysteria, and Love Bites – soon!

[via TechDirt]

Retail partners probably won’t be too thrilled to hear that, but it’s the way the industry is moving in general. Gibeau says that while retail is a “great channel” and that the company has “great relationships” with its partners, EA will respond to customers who want to get games directly from the source.

Naturally, the company won’t completely abandon retail: “[I]f customers want to buy a game at retail, they can do that too. We’ll continue to deliver games in whatever media formats make sense and as one ebbs and one starts to flow, we’ll go in that direction.” Gibeau goes on to say that digital is the fastest growing segment of EA’s business, and that the company is preparing for the advent of streaming games via the cloud from the likes of Gaikai and OnLive.

A company called Next Issue Media has a new app that makes the consumption of digital magazines very appealing. The app is very much like Hulu or Netflix, only for digital magazines. You pay a set monthly fee and have access to read any magazines you want that are available on the app. The monthly fee is a reasonable $10-$15, which is the subscription price of one magazine in many instances.

There are issues with this new app to begin with. For now, the app will only run on Android Honeycomb tablets. You also can’t get every magazine you want, there are 32 publications from publishers participating in the joint venture including Hearst, Meredith, Time, and Condé Nast. The upside is that those are major publishers and cover many of the most popular magazines out there including Sports Illustrated, Vanity Fair, Car and Driver, Wired, and others. The company also promises that more publications are coming. I like that idea of this and might give it a shot. What do you think?

[via AllThingsD]

A market research firm called Distimo has conducted the study during the month of February that looked at sales during the month. According to the study, the top 100 publications combined generated more than $70,000 a day from the United States alone. The top publications are The Daily, the New York Times, and The New Yorker magazine.

The newsstand app is its own storefront for digital publications and revenue generated is split 70/30. The publisher gets 70% of money made with Apple taking 30% for itself. Users who subscribe to the print versions can also get the digital versions for free in some instances.

[via CNET]

The terms of the deal will have Kodak transferring all Gallery customer accounts and images from the US and Canada to Shutterfly. Users of Kodak Gallery could create public or private galleries and upload photos to the service. The Kodak service has 75 million users today and customers who don’t want their photos transferred to Shutterfly will have that option.

I’d wager most of those Kodak Gallery account holders wouldn’t care who hosts their photos since many were probably only using the Kodak service because it was highly integrated with some Kodak digital cameras. Kodak and Shutterfly need the approval of bankruptcy courts before the deal can complete. Shutterfly has been on a buying spree over the last year and previously acquired TinyPrints for $300 million.

[via Techcrunch]

EMI was seeking a preliminary injunction against ReDigi that would force the music reseller to shut down pending the outcome of the court case. However, US District Judge Richard Sullivan said that he was going to let the case go to trial is allowing ReDigi to remain open. Sullivan noted that the case had many “fascinating” technological and legal questions involved. On the surface, what ReDigi does seems like the sale of any other use music format, but the record label alleges that ReDigi is making an illegal copy of the music.

ReDigi admits that it has no way to ensure the consumer selling used digital tracks hasn’t copied those tracks elsewhere. I would say there’s no way for your local used music store to ensure you haven’t copied that CD to iTunes either. Every time, I see one of these cases I wonder when the double standard in the music industry will end. ReDigi claims digital music is protected under the same first sale doctrine that covers physical music formats such as records and CDs. EMI claims there are no first sale rights because the songs being sold are not legally obtained. What do you think about this?

[via CNET]

According to ArsTechnica, three years after photos were deleted from some Facebook accounts; the photos are still accessible via direct links it has access to. All a person needs to be an access the photos you deleted in most cases is the direct link to the photo, and you can still see it. ArsTechnica reports that it started following this back in 2009 and that some of the links to deleted photos they found still accessible back in 2009 are still accessible today despite being deleted from the user account.

The interesting part of this is that Facebook has in the past said it is working with its content delivery network to ensure the timely deletion of photographs. Facebook maintains that its goal is to see the photographs are deleted within 45 days of receiving a request to delete the photo. A Facebook spokesperson claims that the new system for deleting photos is close to being complete and only a small number of photos that were requested to be deleted are still available. If you have any direct links to photos you deleted on Facebook, check them out and see if they’re still available.

[via ArsTechnica]

Being a pioneer of music in the digital realm was what Young hoped to let us all know he’d be carrying on via Jobs spirit. The first and probably largest hurdle for this particular device right out of the box (or before the box exists, rather), is the idea that each song will be taking 30 minutes to download due to its gigantic size. In addition to bringing high-fidelity back to the world of music, as he sees it, Young hopes to do so while he makes legally downloaded music as convenient as possible.

In response to concerns that a much longer download time would lead to inconvenience and therefor a less likely download in the end, Young disagreed, saying:

“While you’re sleeping, your device is working for you.” – Young

In regards to how and why he came to speak of Jobs for this device, he noted that he’d been speaking with Jobs about the project for some time now, but that his death shut down development of the project pretty much completely.

“Steve Jobs was a pioneer of digital music, but when he went home he listened to vinyl. I have to believe if he lived long enough he would have tried to do what I’m trying to do.” – Young

Young spoke also about Piracy and the state of the record company, saying that he liked his own company, but that the industry that exists today might be going away sooner than later.

“I look at Internet as the new radio and radio as gone. Piracy is the new radio; it’s how music gets around. … What I like about record companies is that they present and nurture artists. That doesn’t exist on iTunes, it doesn’t exist on Amazon. That’s what a record company does, and that’s why I like my record company. People look at record companies like they’re obsolete, but there’s a lot of soul in there — a lot of people who care about music, and that’s very important.” – Young

We hope for music’s sake that Young can make something happen in the digital realm other than big business attempting to cut down on piracy. The way to the future is to fight the absolutely free downloads that exist right this minute widely, and if a new device which brings ultra-high-fidelity downloads after 30 minutes a song can do it, so be it!

[via AllThingsD]

Album sales were used as Nielson and Billboard’s metric, but downloads of 10 individual songs were counted as an equivalent to an “album”. Using this criteria, total album sales increased for the first time since 2004. Not only have album sales seen a dramatic increase, but digital downloads dominated the market, accounting for a record 50.3% of all music sales in the U.S. last year.Nielson and Billboard’s report shows digital album sales passed the 100 million mark for the first time in 2011. Reaching 1.27 billion sales last year, individual digital track downloads are also setting new records.

It has taken some time for digital sales to flourish since the launch of iTunes eleven years ago. The biggest worry for music industries being piracy, however the Internet has changed quite a bit since then. With tablets and smartphones making such an impact, consumption of digital content will only increase. Digital content was lightly-treaded territory ten years ago, but now consumers can read their favorite books or catch up on the latest How I Met Your Mother episode with one simple download.

[via Guardian]

With the Faderfox DS3, you can switch between four devices, yes, but you’ll also have four multifunctional encoders. You’ll have access to all of your FX, deck, and loop parameters via 6 group buttons, and dedicated FX assign buttons allow you to switch between 4 FX busses. You’ve got a loop recorder section with encoder and two buttons — and from here you’ve got an additional copy function to any of your sample slots. Then of course there are buttons galore with a selection of 12 extra large, each made for sample trigger and hotcue access.

Every single control has a secondary function when you hold down your shift button, and a total of 31 LED lights and a 2-digit display show you all the various information and feedback data from your computer. In all you’ve got “about 750 commands” at your fingertips, each of them open to reassignment. This unit is currently listed for sale for 210 Euros, this ending up being right around $280 USD before shipping. Sound like the controller for you, or will you go with something like the $50 Lemur for iPad? I suppose that might depend on if you’ve got an iPad or not!

[via Create Digital Music]

Magnifier connects directly with your Music Beta account, you then able to click a single button on the specified posts to add a couple of brand new tracks to your own library. Each of these tracks will be free and MORE than likely the band playing them will have more tracks available for sale soon afterward. This blog appears to be set to be fairly basic in its scope, the free music being the bulk of the intent here.

There are two categories on this publication at the moment, one being Antenna, aka the Antenna Google Artist of the Week, this having an artist showing off several tracks that you can download. The other category is Song of the Day. This song will be available for download and featured for a single day while the Antenna Google Artist of the week’s tracks will be featured all week. There’s also a free song archive as well as a Tips + Tricks page for Music Beta on this site as well. Check it out!

The relatively large bezel around the display surrounds a 3.4-inch OLED touchscreen according to sources familiar with the production of the device. Both “wireless music streaming” and “wireless file sharing” have been listed in the technical specifications for the device, yet according to the original FCC listing for the same model, the Walkman A series [NWZ-A860] will not have Wi-Fi equipped. This device will almost certainly have Bluetooth, on the other hand, especially if it does aim to stream music.

This device will furthermore have an FM radio, Lyric display for songs, iTunes sync, and karaoke mode. Hardware includes a mostly aluminum chassis with navigation buttons, hold, and volume control up the right side of the device. According to Play.com, the release date for this lovely bit of music player to be July 31, 2011. Models appear to include an 8GB model aside 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models as well.

Additionally, another Walkman model is in the works that looks rather like recent generations of iPod Nano, that being model number NWZ-S760. Images have been release by TheWalkmanBlog and can be seen below.

[via ABiPod]

Pricing details after the cut

Access to the main site and smartphone app will be $15 per month, while access to the site and the iPad app will be $20 per month four week period. If you want to access all three, it’ll set you back $35. There’s no way to subscribe to the site only, though the home page, section fronts, blog fronts and classifieds are all subscription-free.

Update: We originally suggested the NYTimes access was per month, but it is in fact per four week period. That means 13 payments of $20/$35 per year, not 12, for a total of $260 or $455.

Until now, publishers have generally been responsible for producing their own digital magazines from scratch, leading to some interesting designs but a lack of uniformity not in keeping with Apple’s generally stringent UI guidelines. Xcode already features various app templates to ensure software is more uniform, and the rumored magazine template would aim to do the same for digital publications.

Meanwhile, it would also open up the segment to a broader group of potential users, lowering the barrier to development. “Imagine a guy drawing and writing a comic book” the source suggests, “he can’t sell it to Marvel or DC so he hooks up with a programmer and within days, he’s getting his comic book published and sold on iTunes.”

Such a plan would instantly boost the number of magazines available to iOS users, bulking up Apple’s catalog dramatically, and of course it would also take its usual 30-percent revenue share. Apple is apparently aiming to have the new template ready by the end of 2011.

Sony will be closing down one of the company’s largest CD manufacturing plants, located in Pitman, New Jersey, on March 31st, 2011. The company will be closing the doors for the final time after 50 years of being in business, where the plant originally manufactured vinyl records. When the plant closes, it’s reported that almost 300 individuals will lose their job.

The closing of the plant is said to be attributed to the pick-up in digital music downloads, as well as influences in other economic regards. The plant itself is half-a-million square feet, and at full capacity was able to turn out over 18 million CDS every month. CD sales dropped 18 percent between 2008 and 2009, while vinyl record sales have actually climbed 33 percent in the same time frame. However, it’s not enough in Sony’s eyes to keep the huge plant active.

Sony will now move the CD production to another plant, which is located in Terre Haute, Indiana. This plant is currently being used to produce video DVDs.

[via NetworkWorld]

Those connected devices will eventually include Blu-ray players and HDTVs, the pair reckon, along with portable media players and even cellphones. Thanks to the underlying RoxioNow technology, you should be able to view any purchased or rented content on any device that supports the standard.

Whether the pricing is still appealing when taken in context of oft-discounted physical media remains to be seen, however. Previous RoxioNow powered stores, such as Best Buy and Walmart’s, have shown themselves to be reluctant to discount any digital content, despite the retailers physical shelves often being filled with cut-price discs. Still, that’s the price of convenience.

Press Release:

Sears and Kmart Team With Sonic to Launch Movie Download Service

RoxioNow-Powered Alphaline Entertainment Service Now Live and Providing Consumers Instant Access to Movies and TV Shows

NOVATO, Calif., Dec. 28, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Sonic Solutions® (Nasdaq: SNIC) today announced that RoxioNow™ platform licensee, Sears, has officially launched its online movie download service, Alphaline Entertainment http://alphaline.roxionow.com. The new service enables Sears and Kmart customers to download entertainment online, including new movies on the same day they are released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Sonic is working with Sears on a multi-phase rollout that includes making the service available from a broad range of connected devices and ensuring compatibility with studio-supported digital programs.

Sonic’s multi-year agreement with Sears extends the reach of the RoxioNow platform which powers a range of digital services for leading brick and mortar retailers, cable operators, PC manufacturers, game system vendors, consumer electronics makers, and Hollywood studios’ direct-to-consumer initiatives. Sonic and Sears are teaming to embed the services at a chip level on a growing network of devices including portable media players, Blu-ray Disc players, mobile phones, and high-definition television sets from leading manufacturers.

“Collaborating with Sonic provides a great opportunity for Sears and Kmart to launch digital services for customers seeking even faster access to the latest in home entertainment experiences,” said Karen Austin, President of Consumer Electronics for Sears and Kmart. “We’ll continue to increase the reach and flexibility of the Alphaline Entertainment service by providing consumers on-demand access to the latest entertainment from a range of home and mobile electronics.”

“The Sears launch represents an important milestone for Sonic, with another RoxioNow-powered storefront now open for business,” said Mark Ely, President of Strategy, Sonic Solutions. “We look forward to continuing to collaborate with Sears and bringing Alphaline Entertainment to consumers through a broad range of connected devices.”

The RoxioNow platform serves a broad range of premium content, including new movies and next-day TV programs, to a growing, multi-manufacturer ecosystem of home and mobile electronics. RoxioNow enables storefronts for brick and mortar retailers, cable operators, PC manufacturers, game system vendors, consumer electronics makers, and Hollywood studios’ direct-to-consumer initiatives. The platform allows these companies to participate in the entertainment supply chain, add value to product offerings, and form ongoing relationships with customers. “Powered by RoxioNow™” stores enable consumers to instantly rent and purchase high-quality entertainment on their favorite devices and, through the RoxioNow online entertainment library, access their content at any time, on any RoxioNow-powered device.

Sonic Solutions is a known company for their ability to distribute paid content, whether it be movies or single episodes of a television show, courtesy of their proven infrastructure, to a wide variety of devices. While Rovi is known for their electronic program guides, and content metadata. Earlier in the year, Sonic Solutions acquired DivX, which let the company reach even more devices, courtesy of the popular video format.

With Sonic Solution’s RoxioNow, consumers are able to buy premium content from digital storefronts, which are run by companies like Blockbuster, and Best Buy. All of the details of the proposed purchase aren’t known quite yet, but with Rovi Corp. projected to finish the whole process some time in the first quarter of 2011, we won’t have to wait too long to see what these two companies have planned.

[via PaidContent / Investors]

If you’re familiar with the NETGEAR ReadyNAS Ultra series, and you were impressed with the performance therein, then the Ultra Plus series will blow your mind. NETGEAR has revealed that the new series will offer up 30% more performance versus the Ultra series before it. Not only that, but the 2-bay model for the ReadyNAS Ultra family will also be made available later this year, worldwide.

NETGEAR is positioning the new Ultra Plus line-up of devices as not only a stand-alone media streaming device, which includes local or remote handhelds, video game consoles, and desktops, but also a supplemental device to the likes of TiVo users. Features like Orb transcoding means that you’ll have support for multiple media formats, based on the type of screen you’re playing it on. While Skifta will shift your movies and music onto any DLNA-certified device. Not only that, but there’s also a remote file access application available in the Apple App Store for $2.99.

What’s more, NETGEAR has officially achieved DLNA certification for several of its devices, including the Ultra Pro line-up. The other device is the N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router, model number WNDR3700. With the DLNA certification, it means that these new NETGEAR devices will effortlessly connect, and stream media with other DLNA-certified devices, making your streaming needs all that much easier.

The ReadyNAS Ultra Plus and Ultra 2 series devices will be made available in late November. You’ll be able to pick up the Ultra 2 Plus for $449.99; the Ultra 4 Plus for $699.99; and the Ultra 6 Plus for $999.99. The Ultra 2 will cost you $399.99; the Ultra 2 with 2TB of storage for $549.99; and the Ultra 2 with 4TB of storage for $699.99. Check out the full press release below for more information.

Press Release

NETGEAR Releases World’s Fastest Home Media Servers

New additions to the ReadyNAS Ultra family deliver stunning home media streaming experiences

SAN JOSE, Calif. – November 5, 2010 – NETGEAR®, Inc. (NASDAQGM: NTGR), a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and Internet service providers, today released four new additions to its ReadyNAS® Ultra family of home media servers. The new ReadyNAS Ultra Plus series delivers approximately 30% more performance over the ReadyNAS Ultra series, offering the world’s best streaming media experience for music, movies, photos and files. In addition, the 2-bay model of the ReadyNAS Ultra family will soon be available worldwide.

The ReadyNAS Ultra Plus series transforms home media networks, delivering media content to local or remote handhelds, desktops and game consoles. NETGEAR’s industry-leading partnerships deliver expanded media experiences at home and away from home. TiVo™ users may use the ReadyNAS Ultra Plus to tremendously expand their DVR capacity. Orb™ transcoding support puts the right media formats on the right screens, streaming movies on handhelds in any connected location. Skifta™ shifts movies and music onto any DLNA networked screen. Remote file access is now available for iPhone users with the new ReadyNAS Remote iPhone App.

“The explosion of digital content has resulted in large personal media collections that are often unmanaged and scattered. As media collections grow, so has the demand for home media servers. Consumers want simplicity and flexibility,” said Norm Bogen, industry analyst at In-Stat. “And the NETGEAR
ReadyNAS Ultra family delivers. With a ReadyNAS Ultra or Ultra Plus at the center of the home network, consumers can consolidate and organize their content in a secure, expandable place that’s accessible anywhere.”

“The ReadyNAS Ultra family brings cutting-edge partnerships and applications to the home media server market. The new Ultra Plus series is now the most powerful home storage available,” said Tiffany Pham, Product Line Manager for Prosumer Storage at NETGEAR. “Now users can do more with their digital media collections than ever before.”

Pricing and Availability

The ReadyNAS Ultra Plus series will be available online in late November 2010 from leading direct marketers and ecommerce sites at the following estimated street prices:
• RNDP200U – Ultra 2 Plus (Diskless 2-bay), $449.99 USD
• RNDP400U – Ultra 4 Plus (Diskless 4-bay), $699.99 USD
• RNDP600U – Ultra 6 Plus (Diskless 6-bay), $999.99 USD

The ReadyNAS Ultra 2 will be available online in late November 2010 from leading direct marketers and ecommerce sites at the following estimated street prices:
• RNDU2000 – Ultra 2 (Diskless 2-bay), $399.99 USD
• RNDU2120 – Ultra 2 (2TB: 1 x 2TB), $549.99 USD
• RNDU2220 – Ultra 2 (4TB: 2 x 2TB), $699.99 USD

The ReadyNAS Remote iPhone app is available on Apple’s App Store for $2.99 USD

For more information, please visit: www.netgear.com/ultra

About NETGEAR, Inc.
NETGEAR (NASDAQGM: NTGR) is a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and Internet service providers. For consumers, the company makes high performance, dependable and easy home networking, storage and digital media products to connect people with the Internet and their content and devices. For businesses, NETGEAR provides networking, storage and security solutions without the cost and complexity of Big IT. The company also supplies all of the top Internet service providers with retail proven, whole home solutions for their customers. NETGEAR products are built on a variety of proven technologies such as wireless, Ethernet and powerline, with a focus on reliability and ease-of-use. NETGEAR products are sold in over 27,000 retail locations around the globe, and through more than 36,000 value-added resellers. The company’s headquarters are in San Jose, Calif., with additional offices in 25 countries. NETGEAR is an ENERGY STAR® partner. More information is available at http://www.NETGEAR.com or by calling (408) 907-8000. Connect with NETGEAR at http://twitter.com/NETGEAR and http://www.facebook.com/NETGEAR.

Today, Nielsen reports that the sales of digital music have flattened in the year 2010, versus previous years. While they’re quick to suggest that the flat-line isn’t a long-term effect, and more of a short-term situation, it looks like the effect isn’t being felt around the world, but mostly just in the United States, based on their reported numbers. While the US flattens out, countries like Germany and France are still seeing inclines in the digital music market.

The numbers from Nielsen suggest that the sales of digital music have gone flat. When reported back in 2008, the increase from 2007 to 2008 was a promising 28%. And from 2008 to 2009, the market saw an incline of 13 percent. But this year, it’s a different story, as sales have managed to taper out, and find a nice “plateau.” That’s exactly what Nielsen is saying is happening. They add to the plateau idea that this “doesn’t mean that this digital consumption is going to drop significantly.”

The same report shows that sales in other countries aren’t flattening, but continuing to climb. In Britain, Nielsen is reporting a 7 percent increase. Germany saw a 13 percent climb, and there’s a 19 percent rise in France. So even if the music sales in the digital retailers aren’t climbing in the States, it’s good to see that they’re climbing in other places on the globe.

[via iPodnn]

Pogoplug officially announced the application, along with its release into the App Store, today. The application itself is a full-featured app, bringing with it all the functionality that you might expect from anything Pogoplug-related. Users can now access and share media, files, and whatever else they’ve got saved right from their Pogoplug-attached storage device. You can turn your 16, 32, or 64GB iPad into a memory juggernaut — the ability to hold media and files into the cloud, and the fact you can stream them from the iPad itself, means that you’ll now have access to Terabytes of storage.

And, as we mentioned above, the Pogoplug iPad will let you wirelessly print. And not just documents, either, but pictures can also be printed. You can view and edit documents as well, right from within the iPad app. And, with the ability to play music by artist, genre, or albums — you can even find songs just by album cover art. It will also show you what’s Now Playing, just to make everything easier for you. You can get the application right now from the iPad App Store. And the best part? It’s totally free.

Press Release

Pogoplug Comes to the iPad

iPad Users Can Now Access Own Personal Cloud Services, Including Printing

Today the Pogoplug iPad app is available for free in the iTunes App Store! The new app offers full Pogoplug functionality on the Apple iPad.

Users can now access and share their files or stream their media from their Pogoplug-attached storage, taking full advantage of the multi-touch surface, immersive high-resolution screen and the extreme ease of portability of the iPad.

Pogoplug is a multi-media sharing device that web-enables up to four USB hard drives, allowing upload and making content accessible to the user both locally or via the Internet.

With the new iPad app, users can eliminate storage limits on their Apple tablet device. In conjunction with a Pogoplug and a large hard drive, the iPad’s effective storage can go from the standard 16, 32, or 64GB to a number of Terabytes. With the Pogoplug iPad App, users can also:

-Print from the iPad: The Pogoplug allows printing pictures, documents, emails and more, straight from the iPad
-Browse and open files, including MS Office docs and PDF files: View and edit docs from your iPad
-Watch movies: stream your movies from your Pogoplug to your iPad
-Play music seamlessly from your iPad: Plays entire genres/artists/albums; shows now playing information and finds songs by album cover art

Share files straight from your iPad:

Share videos, pictures, docs and more to family, friends, and coworkers using the my.pogoplug.com site

The Pogoplug iPad App is available today for free in the iTunes App store. There are also iPhone and Android Apps for Pogoplug. The Pogoplug is available at retail locations such as Frys and Amazon for $99

The StorE TV+ is, first and foremost, a media drive that features a 2TB hard drive. It will connect directly with your TV, as long as your TV can, you know, connect to something like this. Other features include 10/100 Ethernet port, and integrated 802.11 b/g/n WiFi. And, if you’re one of those people that doesn’t like to turn your TV on just to see what’s on, you’ll be happy to know that there’s an LCD on the front panel, which will tell you what’s going on even if your TV isn’t on.

If you’re curious to know about file formats that the StorE TV+ supports, you’ll be happy to know it has many of them handled. For audio, it can play Ogg and Flac, as well as others. As for video, you’re looking at support for MPEG-1, 2, and 4, as well as H.264. You also get support for VC-1 codecs, MOV, MP4, MKV, WMV, and AVI. You’ll notice that there’s DivX and XviD missing, unfortunately. The media drive will be available some time in September for about $307, or £200.

[via CrunchGear]

According to a PlayStation enthusiast site called Addicted to PlayStation, there’s a survey being tossed around right now that kicks around the idea of the Digital Comics service heading to the PlayStation 3. The survey is just wondering if the service would succeed or fail, and there’s a chance that, depending on the reaction of the survey takers, that the service does indeed launch for the home console.

Digital comics on the go makes sense. On the iPad, it makes sense. But, perhaps reading a comic on your home TV doesn’t. We’re not sure anyone would want to read a novel on their TV, but maybe all the pretty, colorful, and attractive pictures, with those small text bubbles, will make it a difference experience altogether. What about you?Do you want Sony’s Digital Comics service on your PlayStation 3?

[via Joystiq]

Much like the Stanford Engineering Library, this is just one ancient piece of physical print history that seems ready to give way to the constant pressure of the digital age. Nigel Portwood, the Chief Executive of the Oxford University Press, notes that the printed dictionary market is disappearing, and it’s going at too fast a rate to think that, rationally, the OED will make it to market in a printed format. He goes on to say that it will likely take another decade before it’s even completed.

However, quick to note that the University Press hasn’t made a decision quite yet, a spokesperson said that a decision has yet to be made. However, if you’re a fan of printed dictionaries, then you’ll be happy to know that the Press doesn’t plan on giving up on them entirely, saying that people still buy them, so they’ll be happy to keep publishing them. Just looks like the Big Guy won’t be making it to the show any time soon, or in a format you can flip through pages on.

[via The Guardian]