Sony, Philips, and Panasonic are joining together to create a less expensive and simpler licensing process for companies that wish to make Blu-ray devices.

A new license will be established by the middle of 2009 as a ‘one-stop shop’ for device makers. The license will include all necessary Blu-ray, DVD, and CD patents for selling Blu-ray players.

The licensing program will be handled by a new licensing company to be led by Gerald Rosenthal, former head of intellectual property at IBM. It will be based in the U.S., but will have local branches in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Instead of having to approach Blu-ray, DVD, and CD holders individually and paying them separate royalties; the single license should reduce the total cost of royalty payments by 40%, according to Sony.

The fees for the new licenses will be $9.50 for a Blu-ray player, and $14 for a Blu-ray recorder.

The idea for a one-stop shop for Blu-ray has been floating around since a 2007 meeting of the 18 companies that hold Blu-ray patents. Licensing fees can be extremely lucrative for disc format patent holders: several years ago license fees for making a DVD player cost between $15 and $20.

This one-stop shop will help avoid the headache DVD licenses created. To make a DVD player or disc, manufacturers have had to ink deals with three separate organisations that represented various patent holders.

For our selection of Blu-Ray players, please click here.

Panasonic announced at its convention in Amsterdam yesterday that it will expand its line of VIERA series of plasma and LCD TV’s.

With screen sizes ranging from 19 to 54 inches, the new line up will include plasma and LCD models in eight series.

The series will also incorporate Panasonics Viera Cast service, a new service in Europe, allowing the viewing of internet content from sources such as YouTube and Eurosport (keeping in line with the current manufacturer trend of internet enabled LCD TVs), the ability to view pictures and movies from a digital camera or camcorder, and can permit the viewing of media content from a networked PC.

The 2009 Panasonic plasma and LCD TV range will also feature IPS Alpha panel with large aperture ratio resulting in clearer pictures, a wide viewing angle and a 50,000:1 contrast ratio.

This revolutionary phone unveiled at Mobile World Congress recently, would make James Bond proud!

The Touch Watch device launched by LG at the industry tradeshow will transport wearers back to the days when they played at being a secret agent by talking into their wristwatch.

Orange is expected to launch the LG G910 wrist-watch phone in the UK later this year. The phone is packed with all the features that consumers expect, including Bluetooth and a small touchscreen.

The hope is that a device that allows consumers to talk directly into the watch will improve the demand for mobile phones during this economic climate.

The LG G910 will also be able to make video calls and use voice recognition technology to look up numbers. As well as usual phone features, the watch can read text messages and other information aloud and play back music files.

President at LG, Dr Skott Ahn said: ‘LG is the first company to introduce a mobile phone with the wearable device technology. We will continue to develop category-creating products to form a new market, based on our technological leadership and design capability.’

Sony has announced a new line up of their new Bravia HD LCD TV range, aiming to significantly reduce power consumption without impacting on picture quality. The Bravia 2009 range aims to save up to 30% more energy then last years range.

Most 2009 models carry the ‘Flower’, an Eco-label introduced by the EU to certify greener, more environmentally friendly products that comply with strict ecological and performance criteria.

Other technical highlights of the new range include DLNA connectivity to let you stream music, digital photos and video stored on your PC, a USB media player and Applicast, which lets you access a range of online services without turning on your computer.

The range is made up of six models in total. The WE5 HD LCD TV heads up the eco-friendly line-up, packed with energy-saving features that means it consumes 50% less power than its predecessor.

Available in 40 and 46-inch screen sizes, Sony is boasting that the WE5 is "one of the most energy-efficient HD televisions available", thanks to its micro-tubular HCFL backlighting, and Energy Saving Switch that turns the TV off as if turning it off at the plug.

It also features a unique intelligent Presence Sensor that can tell when people leave the room and puts the TV into "picture off" mode until they re-enter.

Nikon UK have introduced eight new additions to the popular Coolpix digital camera range.

Heading the range is the Nikon Coolpix P90, an outstanding 12.1 megapixel digital camera with a huge 24x optical zoom, 26mm wide angle, a large 3” LCD monitor with 180 degree viewing angle and high speed shooting capabilities – all perfect for the keen photographer. The Nikon Coolpix P90 will be available in the UK in March 2009.

Four new S Series models will be launched, the Coolpix S630 and S620 both   combining a sleek design with superior performance, perfect for the style conscience photographer. The elegant Coolpix S230 and S220 are available in a wide range of colour options to merge individuality with great pictures for everyday scenarios. The new S Series Nikon Coolpix models will be available at the end of February 2009.

The L Series will have three new additions from the end of February. The Nikon Coolpix L100 with a powerful 15x optical zoom and wide angle zoom and the L20 and L19, both packed with Nikon’s core technology such as Motion Detect and Smart Portrait and Scene Auto Mode allowing sharp results and great portraits time after time.

Samsung have launched a new range of digital cameras and camcorders for 2009 and amongst them is the Samsung WB500, a worlds first 24mm ultra wide angle lens camera combined with 10x optical zoom.

The 10 mega pixel WB500 includes HD movie capture so people can ‘Pause and Re-record’ high definition videos and super sharp movie-quality recordings, and also introduces Samsung’s new “Smart Scene Recognition” technology. 

“Smart Scene Recognition” has 11 optimized picture pre-settings such as Portrait, Night portrait, Macro and Macro Colour, helping people take the perfect shot regardless of the conditions.  You can also use these settings when sorting through your photos – making it quick and easy to find all the portrait, outdoor or macro images you’ve taken.

Available in black and grey with a compact yet sturdy design, the Samsung WB500 is an incredibly capable and versatile digital camera and due to be released in Spring 2009 -watch this space for further information!

Samsung WB500 Digital Camera Specifications

• HZ10W
• Mega-Pixels 10.2 mega-pixels
• Optical Zoom 10x optical zoom / Schneider lens
• LCD Size 2.7” TFT-LCD (230k pixels)
• ISO Schneider Lens f = 4.2 ~ 42mm (35mm equivalent : 24~240mm)
• Movie Mode 720P HD Resolution @ 30fps / H.264 Compression
• Size 105mm W x 61.4mm H x 36.5mm D
• Special Features – 24mm Wide-Angle Schneider Lens
  - 10x Optical Zoom
  - High-Definition 720p Video
  - Dual Image Stabilization (Optical + Digital)
  - Face Detection / Smile Shot / Blink Detection
  Self Portrait / Beauty Shot / Red-eye Fix
  - Smart Album
  - Function Description, Photo Style Selector

The Korean electronics giant LG has announced that it will be producing a range of LCD TV’s and possibly other devices with built in Freesat functionality.

Until now, Panasonic were the only other LCD TV manufacturer in the UK to offer integrated Freesat tuners.

Interestingly Freesats sales doubled in the last quarter of 2008, possibly due to the introduction of the Freesat+ boxes with a 320gb hard drive capacity, allowing 80 hours of high definition and 200 hours of standard definition content to be recorded.

A spokesperson for Freesat stated that it was "extremely pleased to have LG on board".