Ritek published its financial figures for the 1Q of this year, posting net profits of NT$101.5 million after suffering net losses consecutively for 10 quarters since the 3Q of 2004. This was mainly because Ritek modified its production equipment to raise yield rates and formed strategic alliances with a few OEM clients in 2006. It seems that recordable media business is quite demanding to make a profit.

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Almost legendary creator of the PlayStation consoles, Ken Kutaragi is stepping down from his duties as the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. He was just recently transfered from SCE President postion as the group CEO, but now he is moving to a ‘retirement position’ as a honorary chairman and a technology advisor. It remains to be seen what kind of affect, if any, this has to Sony’s game console business.

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VSO has updated their famous ConvertXtoDVD software. Version 2.1.17.240 major changes to add Windows Vista, and Blu-ray support. Also support for RealMedia and Matroska (MKV) support has been improved. Also included is a bunch of fixes. And they were quick to release 2.1.18.242 hotfix, with a couple of bugfixes included.

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BenQ’s Board of Directors convened today to approve a plan to spin-off its branded business. The plan is a continuation of BenQ Group’s “Dual Core Competency Strategy”, which is to focus on the core competencies of brand & services and manufacturing & technology to maximize competitiveness and efficiency. After the spin-off, BenQ Corporation will be renamed Jia Da Corporation (temporary translation) and the spun-off company is scheduled to succeed the name of BenQ Corporation. The spun-off company will be a 100% owned subsidiary of Jia Da Corp. and the change is expected to elevate the operating efficiency and strengthen business competence of the BenQ Group.

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Amazon may have pioneered the business-to-consumer e-commerce, but they are jumping in to the music industry train awfully late. According to the source, Amazon has teamed up with Universal to provide DRM-free music sales. This move might shift the whole industry more towards DRM-free content, as Universal is current number one label on the market. The source however indicates that the market leader Apple has similar plans with iTunes

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Blu-ray Disc has become the first high definition format to sell more than one million discs. Blu-ray’s sales lead has increased each month and nearly three out of every four high-definition movies sold in March were Blu-ray Discs. There is still some room for speculations because HD DVD is beating Blu-ray in standalone player sales. Claims claims claims - what are the true figures? That 1 million figure includes also free giveaways such as Tallagade Nights and Casino Royal, which have been included with some PS3 shipments!

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A huge merger in the recording media industry, as two of the very largest media brands are no joined to one via Imation’s acquisition of TDK. The 300 million dollar deal transfers the TDK brand and TDK media business under the new ownership. According to the press release, TDK will however continue R&D and manufacturing operations for recording media products including audio, video, data storage tape and Blu-ray media formats. The transaction includes a Supply Agreement to provide uninterrupted and continuing supply of TDK brand products on the market.

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Pioneer Electronics, one of the leading vendors of Blu-ray products, has announced a BD-ROM drive which is able to play Blu-ray media, along with legacy formats DVD and CD. While the $299 does not sound very cheap for a read-only device, it might be something to consider for a HTPC for affordable high definition video playback.

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Nero announces the addition of high definition video authoring and playback capabilities to Nero 7 Ultra Edition Enhanced, reaffirming the software suite’s status as the ultimate digital home entertainment solution. The updated version allows users to harness the full power of high definition video, including AVCHD and editable Blu-ray (BD-AV) video capturing, authoring and playback. An optional plug-in adds HD DVD-video playback capabilities as well.

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It is year 2007, and Plextor is releasing a new CD-RW drive! Plextor emerged early on the CD recorder market years ago and immediately earned their legendary reputation by producing high quality CD-ROM and CD-RW drives, which were especially good in ripping CD audio. Interestingly, they seem to be the last and only major optical drive vendor still putting effort into developing new CD-RW products. The PX-240A comes with premium CD recording features and a $59 price tag in the US. And no, it will not burn or read your DVDs…

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