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HD DVD player sales in the US during a week from Jan 6 to 12, 2008, declined 88% to 1,758 units compared with the previous week, Tech-On! is reporting citing research company NPD Group.

Tech-On! further reports, “The period measured was immediately after US movie studio Warner Bros Entertainment had announced that it had shifted its support from HD DVD to Blu-ray Disc Jan 4, 2008.

Meanwhile, BD player sales grew 42% compared with the preceding week to 21,770 units, NPD said. An NPD analyst said Warner’s announcement might have impacted HD DVD player sales.

HD DVD supporter Toshiba Corp announced price reductions for its HD DVD players targeting the North American market following Warner’s announcement.” More at Tech-On!

Related:

HD DVD is ‘Missing the Boat’ in Australia

In the Battle of Formats Blu-ray Outsells HD-DVD in Europe

Osaka and Tokyo — Dec 21, `07 — Sharp and Toshiba announced today that the two companies have agreed to collaborate closely in LCDs, a move that is expected to enhance the companies’ corporate value, profitability and global competitiveness.

The alliance will allow each company to make full and effective use of its respective strengths and resources, particularly Sharp’s capabilities in LCDs and Toshiba’s expertise in advanced semiconductors.

Sharp and Toshiba will initiate the collaborative partnership in fiscal year 2008, starting with an expansion of reciprocal procurement – Sharp’s procurement of system LSIs for LCDs from Toshiba, and Toshiba’s procurement of Sharp’s LCD modules for TVs of 32 inches and larger. Through the program, Sharp aims to satisfy about 50 percent of its total demand for system LSIs for TVs in fiscal year 2010, while Toshiba targets meeting 40 percent of its demand for LCD modules in the same year. More at Toshiba.

East Fishkill, NY and TOKYO, Japan –December 18, `07 — IBM and Toshiba today announced that they have entered into a joint development agreement on 32nm bulk complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process technology.

Since December 2005, IBM and Toshiba have collaborated on fundamental advanced research related to semiconductor process technologies at the 32nm technology generation and beyond at the research facilities in Yorktown and Albany, New York. Building on the success of this ongoing research collaboration, the two companies have agreed to extend the scope of the joint development work to now include 32nm bulk CMOS process technology.

Under the new agreement, Toshiba joins a six company IBM Alliance for 32nm bulk CMOS process technology development based in East Fishkill, New York.

Through this collaboration IBM and Toshiba plan to accelerate development of next-generation technology to achieve high-performance, energy-efficient chips at the 32nm process level, and to enhance the companies’ leadership in the global semiconductor industry.

“This agreement caps a year of extraordinary momentum for IBM and its semiconductor Alliance Partners,” said Gary Patton, vice president for IBM’s Semiconductor Research and Development Center. “In 2008 we’ll continue to strive to collectively deliver the industry breakthroughs and manufacturing milestones that come from talented engineers and semiconductor experts working in an open, collaborative environment with access to world class R&D facilities such as UAlbany NanoCollege’s Albany NanoTech complex.” More at Toshiba.

Next-generation HDTVs to use 4.8Gbps XDR DRAM

LOS ALTOS, Calif — Dec 17, `07 –BUSINESS WIRE– Rambus today announced that Toshiba Corporation has licensed its XDR memory controller interface cell (XIO) and XDR memory controller (XMC) for next-generation high-definition television (HDTV) chipsets. The XIO and XMC will be implemented in Toshiba’s 65nm process. Operating at 4.8Gbps, the XDR memory architecture will allow Toshiba’s HDTV chipset to deliver state-of-the-art image processing performance in its customers’ HDTVs.

The XDR memory architecture uses patented Rambus innovations such as Octal Data Rate (ODR) technology, Differential Rambus Signaling Level (DRSL), and FlexPhase circuits to deliver the highest bandwidth available while using fewer DRAM devices than industry-standard memory solutions. Higher memory performance as delivered by the XDR architecture enables the advanced features of next-generation HDTVs such as 1080p+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rates, 12-bit color, multiple full HD Picture-in-Picture (PiP) data streams, and advanced image enhancement algorithms.More here.

New low-power, rugged 1.8-inch HDDs feature up to 120GB capacity with an 80GB light-weight model for PC applications, along with a series of 60GB drives optimized for CE devices.

IRVINE, Calif — On Dec 12, Toshiba Storage Device Division announced expansion of its 1.8-inch HDD lineup with a series of five new HDDs for PC and consumer electronics (CE) applications.

Highlights include a high-capacity 120GB model for thin and light mobile PCs, as well as slim, single-platter 80GB and 60GB models for ultra-mobile PC and portable handheld CE devices.

Toshiba’s new 1.8-inch HDDs for PC applications include the 120GB MK1214GAH, the 60GB MK6028GAL and the lightweight 80GB MK8025GAL, weighing two grams less than traditional 5-millimeter-high 1.8-inch HDDs. All three models are equipped with a PATA interface, 2MB buffer and 512 byte-per-sector format for tablet, mobile PC, ultra-portable, ultramobile PC (UMPC) and other applications.

For CE applications, Toshiba introduced two single-platter, 60GB 1.8-inch HDDs in the slim, 5-millimeter-high form factor with special attributes for mobile and handheld products.

The MK6014GAL offers a 4,200 RPM spin speed and 2MB buffer for faster data throughput, while the MK6015GAA supports a 3,600 RPM spin speed for quieter operation. Toshiba’s two 60GB CE HDDs demonstrate the company’s lead in the design and manufacture of long data sector technology with 1K byte-per-sector formats optimized for CE.

In addition to spurring miniaturization and mobility for PC and CE devices, 1.8-inch HDDs deliver better power efficiency, improved ruggedness and quieter acoustics for music and video playback over long periods of time, compared to larger form factor HDDs.

More at ToshibaStorage (in pdf).

TOKYO, Japan — Dec 13, ‘07 — Toshiba today announced that it has achieved breakthroughs in three major basic technologies for 32nm generation system LSIs and beyond.

The advances are a major advance in metal gate electrode; a new structure and process technology for low resistance contacts that reduce contact resistance; and a technology for improving performance by changing the surface orientation of the silicon substrate. The new breakthrough will pave the way to 32nm LSIs and improve process efficiencies.

The three technologies were introduced at the IEDM (International Electron Devices Meeting) conference held at Washington DC, as major candidates for basic technologies for use in 32nm generation system LSIs and beyond. Toshiba will continue their development and optimization and aim for mass production in the first half of FY2010.

In developing the improved, new metal gate, Toshiba has realized a simplified manufacturing process technology that employs nickel silicide, a common material for both nMOS and pMOS transistors in a ratio of 1:3, respectively, and introduces an aluminum layer only in the nMOS gate.

For the low resistance contact, Toshiba employed a metal material in the source/ drain region, reducing contact resistance to a quarter in the nMOS side. The base electrode material is the same for both the nMOS and pMOS in pairs, and low-Schottky-barrier metal suitable for each type MOS transistor is segregated at interface of base material. The manufacturing process is simplified.

System LSI integrates CMOS elements, nMOS transistors and pMOS transistors. Therefore an optimized process is required. These new two technologies enhance performance and also contribute to an efficient manufacturing process. More at Toshiba.

Applied double tunneling layer to realize 100 gigabit density.

TOKYO, Japan — Toshiba Corporation on Wednesday, Dec 12, announced that it has developed a new double tunneling layer technology applicable to future 10nm generation flash memories. This elemental technology opens the way for memory devices with densities of over 100 gigabits in the 10nm generation, which lies four generations ahead. The technology was today announced at the IEDM (International Electron Devices Meeting) held at Washington DC.

Toshiba developed a tunnel layer, which controls in and out of electron, in the SONOS (Silicon Oxide Nitride Oxide Semiconductor) type device structure, a memory structure that holds electrons in the nitride layer in the gate insulator.

The new structure sandwiches a 1.2 nm silicon nanocrystals layer between the 1nm thickness oxide films, achieving long-time data retention and high speed writing and data deletion at the same time, using the natural characteristic that resistance changes with changes in gate voltage. As the new tunnel layers are thinner than early version SONOS element tunnel layers, it is easier to migrate to advanced devices with finer lithography.

Toshiba also increased the saved electrons amount by changing the nitride film from Si3N4 to Si9N10, a material that contains more silicon, and optimized such aspects of the element structure as channel impurity concentration. The prototype has realized and maintained equivalent to over 10 years performance.

Toshiba is investigating various technologies for future advanced memories, including 3D structures, and believes that realizing operation in the 10nm generation with its new double tunneling layer technology is a step forward to future practical devices. More at Toshiba.

SCiB, a Safe, long-life, rapid charge battery to come to market in March 2008.

TOKYO, Japan — Toshiba Corporation on Tuesday, Dec 11, announced the commercial launch of the SCiB the Super Charge ion Battery a breakthrough rechargeable battery primarily targeting the industrial systems market that can recharge to 90% of full capacity in less than five minutes.

The battery offers excellent safety and a long-life cycle of over 10 years, even under conditions of constant rapid charging. Toshiba aims to make this high potential battery a mainstay of its industrial systems and automotive products businesses, with global sales of 100 billion yen targeted for fiscal year 2015. The first SCiB will be shipped from March 2008.

In order to realize the outstanding characteristics of the SCiB, Toshiba adopted a new negative electrode material, new separators, a new electrolyte, and new manufacturing technology. The result is a highly reliable rechargeable battery with well-balanced performance, offering excellent safety, a long-life cycle and a rapid charge-discharge capability.

The SCiB is housed in the SCiB Standard Module ten 4.2 ampere-hour (Ah) SCiB cells aligned in series connection which maximizes the battery characteristics with a battery management system function (BMS) that monitors voltage and temperature in order to protect the cells in case of emergency, and that balances the state of charge in each cell.

In addition to applications that include battery-powered bicycles, motorcycles, automated guided vehicles, electric forklift trucks and construction machinery, which already use rechargeable batteries, the SCiB is also a promising candidate for emergency power sources, electric power regeneration in wind power systems and stabilization of electric power supply.

Application in hybrid cars is also planned, with the intent of extending application to electric cars in the future, after advancing development of a high-performance SCiB cell. More at Toshiba.

TOKYO, Japan — On Monday, Dec 10, Toshiba announced its entry into the emerging market for NAND-flash-based solid state drive (SSD) with a series of products featuring multilevel-cell NAND flash memories.

Offered in a range of form factors and densities, Toshiba’s solid state drives are designed primarily for notebook PCs. They will be showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, from January 7th to 10th. Samples and mass production will follow from the first quarter (January to March) of next year.

Moving NAND-based storage architecture forward, Toshiba’s first solid state drives offer three densities: 32 gigabytes (GB), 64GB and 128GB. SSD realize low power consumption, a fast boot time, and lightweight, but market penetration has been held back by low densities and high prices.

Toshiba’s new SSD integrate an original MLC controller supporting fast read-write speeds, parallel data transfers and wear leveling, and achieve performance levels comparable to those of single-level NAND flash SSD. By applying MLC technology, Toshiba has realized a 128GB density in a 1.8 inch form factor. Toshiba expects the launch of its SSD line-up to speed up acceptance of solid state memory in laptops and digital consumer products, and to widen the horizons of the NAND flash market.

The new products utilize NAND flash memory fabricated with 56nm process technology, along with controller chips and DRAM, on a 70.6mm (L) x 53.6mm (W) x 3.0mm (H) platform. The maximum read speed is 100MB a second, and the maximum write speed of 40MB a second with the SATA2 interface (transfer rate of 3Gbps), which is compliant with high speed serial interface. The operating life is 1,000,000 hours. More at Toshiba.

TOKYO, Japan — Dec 07, ‘07 — Japan-Today is reporting on Toshiba corp is being sued by a former employee  for about 260 million yen ($2.34 million) in remuneration for the profits the firm reaped from the basic technologies he invented for Japanese language word processing software.

Japan-Today further writes, “Shinya Amano, who is now a professor at the Shonan Institute of Technology, said in his written complaint that although the firm obtained patents for the technologies in conjunction with him and three others, and paid him tens of thousands yen annually in remuneration, he actually developed the technologies alone. He is claiming 10% of an estimated profit of 2.6 billion yen earned by the firm in 1996 and 1997, compared with the roughly 230,000 yen he actually received in the two years.” Japan-Today.

Tokyo, Japan — Digital World-Tokyo reports on Inventor of Flash memory planning to develop 3D super processors.

In their words, “If his plans are successful, the inventor of flash memory is just a few steps away from delivering three-dimensional semiconductors that will give us processing chips running at ten times the speed of current-generation designs.

Fujio Masuoka, CTO of Unisantis Electronics in Japan, has announced a deal (in pdf) to work on his 3D chip designs with Singapore’s Institute of Microelectronics to take advantage of the island nation’s government facilities and specialists.

Masuoka, who invented flash memory while at Toshiba, says he intends to pay royalties to the Singapore government while licensing the new super chips to major manufacturers. All of which means we could soon be using CPUs that make current cutting-edge architecture like the Cell look like a horse-drawn cart.” More at DigitalWorldTokyo.

BENTONVILLE, Ark — Dec 06, 2007 — Wal-Mart announces today it is turning back the calendar with another “Black Friday”-style price event this weekend, unveiling new “Secret In-Store Specials” today on Walmart.com. With savings up to 30% on electronics and other items, Wal-Mart also brings the popular Webkinz toys to its stores nationwide for this event, beginning 8 a.m. Friday, Dec. 7 through Sunday while supplies last.

Since Nov 2, Wal-Mart has offered three rounds of “Secret In-Store Specials,” revealing on its Web site groups of items with incredible values for Christmas shoppers. Millions of customers have signed up for e-mail and text message alerts through Walmart.com to learn of these specials as soon as they are unveiled.

A few examples of the items and prices available tomorrow at 8 a.m. include:

• 50 inch Vizio plasma TV - $998
• 1 MB Gateway Laptop - $398
• Toshiba HD-A3 HD-DVD player (with 12 free HD-DVDs) - $298

Through the weekend, Wal-Mart will continue to keep spirits festive offering free photos with Santa in stores from 10 am to 2 pm on Saturdays and Sundays and exciting demonstrations and samples in its Christmas Shops. More at Wal-Mart.

Dec 05, ‘07 — Video Ezy and Blockbuster have thrown their support behind Blu-ray, saying HD DVD was “missing the boat” and not taking the Australian market seriously enough, Sydney Morning Herald reports.

SMH further writes, “Paul Uniacke, managing director of the Franchise Entertainment Group, which owns Video Ezy and Blockbuster in Australia, said the local roll-out of HD DVD had been too slow as its supporters did not see Australia as an important market compared with the US and Europe.

According to market-watcher GfK, 2241 stand-alone Blu-ray players have been sold in Australia to date, compared with 609 HD DVD players.

But Sony has moved more than 100,000 units of the PS3, which has a built-in Blu-ray player. Only 2461 add-on HD DVD players for the Xbox 360, which cost $249.95, have been sold so far.

The trend in player sales is consistent with sales of HD movies. More than 102,000 Blu-ray movies have been sold to date, as against just under 18,000 HD DVD movies.

Blockbuster in the US has supported Blu-ray exclusively for months and, locally, its head of product, John McKay, said Blockbuster would buy only Blu-ray titles “for the foreseeable future”.” More at SMH.

Seoul, South Korea & Tokyo, Japan –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 03, ‘07 — Samsung Electronics and Toshiba today announced that they have licensed to one another the rights to produce, market and sell memory with the specifications and trademarks of Samsung’s OneNAND and Toshiba’s LBA-NAND memory chips.

As a result of the reciprocal arrangement, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) will have a broader choice of suppliers for each premium memory chip, thereby reducing any potential risk of over-dependence on a single supplier for any of the selected chips. The arrangement is expected to result in increased availability of premium-performance OneNAND and LBA-NAND flash devices worldwide.

Under terms of the agreement, Samsung will license product specifications of its integrated OneNAND and Flex-OneNAND “fusion” memory chips to Toshiba, while Toshiba will license product specifications of its single-package LBA-NAND and mobileLBA-NAND flash chips to Samsung. Both companies will develop and market products that are compatible with the respective original-source technology. Samsung and Toshiba each plan to release products next year based on the respectively licensed product specifications. More here.

Tokyo — On Nov 28, Toshiba Corporation announced the latest additions to its market-leading lineup of 2.5-inch hard disk drives (HDD) for automotive applications: an 80GB drive offering the industry’s largest capacity, and a 40GB drive.

The drives will be used in such applications as car navigation systems, and will be released in industrial and retail versions. Sample shipping of the drives has started and mass production will start in March 2008

Toshiba’s line of automotive HDDs enable a variety of applications, such as GPS navigation, digital music and video, and other telematic systems. With an altitude specification of 5,500 meters, the rugged MK8050GAC and MK8050GACE drives meet the operating extremes of a road environment. More at Toshiba here and here.

TOKYO — On Nov 28, Toshiba Corporation announced, it has developed and delivered the world’s first operational weather radar system that replaces electron tubes in the transmitter with a high-power semiconductor module.

The new radar is only one sixth the size of conventional equipment but offers comparable output power, along with improved waveband efficiency and enhanced features.

The first unit of the new system has been installed at the Hydrospheric Atmospheric Research Center at Nagoya University, Japan. The Nagoya radar operates in the 9GHz frequency band (X-band) and is the first solid-state weather radar to go into practical operation.

While the new weather radar is much more compact and offers much higher performance than conventional systems, it maintains the same level of output power by adopting a combination of gallium nitride (GaN) power field effect transistors (FET) and pulse compression technology, which strengthens peak output power.

Toshiba will market the new high-power semiconductor-based weather radar in both 9GHz band (X-band) and 5GHz band (C-band) versions, both in Japan and overseas, including sales of individual modules that build the system. More at Toshiba.

LONDON — Nov 27, ‘07 — In the battle of formats, High definition movie DVDs in the Blu-ray format have outsold the rival HD DVD standard in Europe this year, breaking the 1 million barrier and constituting 73 percent of all HD movie discs sold, says Reuters.

“Citing industry sales data by Media Control Gfk International, the Blu-ray disc association said in a statement on Tuesday Blu-ray movie disc sales had topped 1 million units and when counting Blu-ray gaming discs the total number produced for sale in Europe exceeded 21 million units.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 game console includes a Blu-ray Disc drive.

Hollywood and electronics manufacturers are hoping that new high-definition DVDs, with better picture quality and more capacity, will revive the slowing home DVD market. But the launch of the next-generation DVD players has been complicated by the fact that there are two competing technologies available, Blu-ray and HD DVD.

HD DVD was developed by Toshiba while Sony backs the Blu-ray standard”. More at Reuters.

Tokyo, Japan — Nov 27, ‘07 — Japanese chip makers Toshiba and NEC said on Tuesday they would jointly develop 32-nanometer chips to better keep up with rivals, reports Reuters.

“The companies will decide in 2008 how and if they will jointly produce the chips, they said.

Chip makers are racing to move to tinier circuit sizes to cut production cost per chip function and enable powerful electronics that run for hours without killing the battery. But the shift also forces changes in fundamental materials and processes and exposes chip makers to huge initial costs.

Samsung, IBM, Chartered Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies, STMicroelectronics and Freescale Semiconductor have said they would work through 2010 to develop and produce 32-nanometer chips. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.

Toshiba and NEC Electronics, which plan to mass produce 45-nanometer or 40-nanometer chips by early 2009, had also approached Fujitsu, declined to comment on whether or not Fujitsu would join the group, only saying that Fujitsu was considering various options.” More at Reuters.

Nov 20, ‘07 — Speaking exclusively with High-Def Digest, Jim Noonan, SVP of Strategic Promotion and Communication for Warner Home Entertainment Group says its previously announced Blu-ray / HD DVD hybrid disc won’t be hitting stores anytime soon.

High-Def Digest further explains, “roughly six months after unveiling “Total HD” plans, Warner announced it was delaying its plans for Total HD until early 2008, but said it remained committed to the concept, promising ten to twenty launch titles upon the format’s eventual release.

Though the studio had since remained mum on the status of its plans for the hybrid format, a Warner exec has now confirmed to High-Def Digest that all current plans for Total HD have been shelved in response to a perceived shift in retailer needs following Paramount’s move to HD DVD exclusivity. “The short answer is, for the moment, it [Total HD] is on hold,” said Noonan citing reason that, they were the only studio producing content in both formats.

More at High-Def Digest.

Toshiba UK is offering one of the very thin, but still not as thin as Samsung’s 10mm, Full 1080p HD LCD TV in the UK market, Toshiba 40XF355D. Its available for approx $2460 onwards from various UK retailers.

Quick Specs

40″ 16:9
1920×1080p
10000:1 Dynamic Contrast
500 cd/m² Brightness
178º Degrees Viewing Angle
10-bit Color Processing
3 HDMI with Deep Color
REGZA link
WXGA PC Input
934×578x130; 22.5Kgs (Without Stand)

More at Toshiba UK.

New York, NY — Nov 08, ‘07 — The head of Sony Corp., Howard Stringer, said Thursday that the Blu-ray disc format the company has developed as the successor to the DVD is in a “stalemate” with the competing HD DVD format, chiefly backed by Toshiba and Microsoft.

“It’s a difficult fight,” said Stringer, speaking at the 92nd Street Y cultural center in Manhattan.

Toshiba has been selling its players for as low as $99 at Wal-Mart and Best Buy, heading into the holiday season, while Blu-ray players cost around $450. The HD DVD camp also scored a significant win in August, when it induced Paramount Pictures to drop most of its support for Blu-ray and put out high-definition movies exclusively on HD DVD.

“We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides,” Stringer said. At the same time, he played down the importance of the battle, saying it was mostly a matter of prestige whose format wins out in the end.

“It doesn’t mean as much as all that,” Stringer said. He added that he believed there was an opportunity of uniting the two camps under one format before he became CEO, and he wishes he could travel back in time to make that happen.

Nov 07, ‘07 — SlySoft is claiming to have that “impenetrable” copy protection technology BD+ cracked. 

SlySoft team member, Tom, at SlySoft forum proudly declares victory against BD+ with  their latest version of AnyDVD HD 6.1.9.6 beta. He also takes time to write a “loving” note to Twentieth Century Fox.

In his words:

“6.1.9.6 2007 11 07

• New (Blu-ray): AnyDVD ripper copies BD+ titles
• New (Blu-ray): Removed “BD+ not supported” warning, as all available BD+ titles can be copied with AnyDVD ripper, or can be watched on HTPC without HDCP using PowerDVD 3104 and AnyDVD. Reports indicate, that burned BD+ titles work on PS3 and standalone players as well.
• Note to Twentieth Century Fox: As you can see, BD+ didn’t offer you any advanced security, it just annoyed some of your customers with older players. So could you please cut this crap and start publishing your titles on HD DVD? There are thousands of people willing to give you money.
• Note to people considering to invest in HD media: Please buy HD DVD instead of Blu-ray. HD DVD is much more consumer friendly (e.g., no region coding, AACS not mandatory). Don’t give your money to people, who throw your fair-use rights out of the window.
• New (HD DVD & Blu-ray): Support for more MKBv4 titles
• Some minor fixes and improvements
• Updated languages”

More at Slysoft.Forum.

World’s first perpendicular magnetic anisotropy MTJ device.

Tokyo, Japan — Nov 06, ‘07 — Toshiba today announced important breakthroughs in key technologies for Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM), a promising, next-generation semiconductor memory device. The company has successfully fabricated a MRAM memory cell integrating the new technologies and verified its stable performance. Full details of the new technologies were presented today at the 52^nd Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference in Tampa, Florida, USA which is being held from November 5^th to 9^th.

MRAM is a highly anticipated next-generation non-volatile semiconductor memory device that offers fast random write/access speeds, enhances endurance in operation with very low power consumption. MRAM can theoretically achieve high level integration as the memory cell structure is relatively simple.

In making these major advances, Toshiba applied and proved the spin transfer switching and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) technologies in a magnetic tunnel junction, which is a key component in the memory cell.

Spin transfer switching uses the properties of electron spin to invert magnetization and writes data at very low power levels. It is widely regarded as a major candidate among next-generation principles for new memory devices. PMA aligns magnetization in the magnetic layer perpendicularly, either upward or downward, rather than horizontally as in in-plane shape anisotropy layers.

The technology is being increasingly used to enhance for storage capacity for high-density hard disc drives (HDDs), and Toshiba has successfully applied it to a semiconductor memory device. With PMA data write operation and magnetic switching can be achieved at a low energy level. Toshiba also overcame the hurdle of achieving the required precision in the interface process and significantly cutting write power consumption.

In order to realize a miniature memory cell based on PMA, Toshiba optimized the materials and device structure of the new MRAM. Close observation of performance confirms stable operation (see the diagram for full explanation of structure). More at Toshiba.

Statement from Jonathan Magasanik, Vice President and General Merchandise Manager, Home Electronics, Sears Holdings.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — There have been numerous statements in the media today, attributed to Toshiba, indicating exclusive support for the HD-DVD format in Kmart stores.

These statements are false. Kmart intends to support both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray platforms, and has no plans to support either platform exclusively. More at PRNewsWire.

Nov 01, ‘07–As wal-Mart promised us yesterday, holiday deals has started arriving earlier this year. Starting Friday, Nov-02, 8 AM you can get this Toshiba HD-A2 DVD player for $99 and other ”In-Store Specials” at your local Wal-Mart.

Best Buy too has also jumped in to race of holiday deals not to left behind by Wal-Mart and is offering the same High-Def DVD player for $99. Though at the time of posting it was out of stock at Best Buy. More at Wal-Mart, Best Buy.