AVG Technologies Releases AVG Anti-Virus Free 8.0

Article Source:
http://free.grisoft.com

Czech Republic-April 23, 2008 – AVG Technologies, a leading provider of Internet security software, will tomorrow release AVG Anti-Virus Free 8.0, the latest version of the company’s popular and widely-used free security software, which now incorporates protection against spyware through a new combined anti-virus and anti-spyware engine.

AVG Free provides basic protection against viruses and spyware, together with the safe-searching component of the company’s patent-pending LinkScanner® technology, incorporated into the new AVG Security Toolbar. The Free product does not include the proactive safe-surfing (“drive-by download” protection) of the full LinkScanner module that is included in the commercial AVG products, nor the protection against hackers, keyloggers, spam, phishing attacks, and malicious file downloads that can come through instant messaging and attachments from seemingly friendly sources. The free product also does not include the round-the-clock email support provided with the commercial products.

“With the release of AVG Free 8.0, we are underscoring our belief that all computer users, regardless of their computer usage needs, have the right to a safe and worry-free computing experience,” says Karel Obluk, chief technology officer at AVG Technologies. “However, it is important for users to remember that AVG Free does not protect against the full range of today’s web-borne threats. For complete protection, users should consider AVG’s commercial products, which scan for and block threats before they can infect the computer or disrupt the user experience.”

AVG Technologies released the 8.0 versions of its commercial products in February 2008. Home users can choose AVG’s full Internet Security suite, AVG Anti-Virus or AVG Anti-Virus plus Firewall, while business users can select networked versions of the Anti-Virus and Internet Security products as well as file- and email-server based Anti-Virus. Further information about AVG’s commercial products can be found on the company’s website at www.avg.com.

AVG Free 8.0 is intended for personal and non-commercial use on single computers running Windows 2000, XP or Vista. The product will be released initially in English, with Japanese following next week; other language versions are planned for release over the next several months. While AVG Technologies does not provide support for AVG Free 8.0, the company hosts a website and forum for user-driven support at http://free.avg.com. Interested users can download the software at this site or at third-party download sites such as CNet Download.com.
About AVG Technologies

www.avg.com
Founded in 1991 and headquartered in the Czech Republic, AVG is a leading international developer of Internet threat protection solutions for consumers, SMBs and small enterprises. AVG protects more than 70 million computer users around the world. The company has regional offices in North America and the United Kingdom, and employs some of the world’s leading experts in Internet security, specifically in the areas of threat research, analysis and detection. AVG’s award-winning products are distributed globally through resellers and over the Internet as well as via third parties through Software Development Kits (SDKs).

For more detailed information please contact:

Júlia Fedorová
CoLin s.r.o.
Mobil: +420 739 663 266
E-mail: grisoft@colin.cz

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Released

It all began on August 29, when Jono Bacon announced the Hardy Heron, also known as Ubuntu 8.04, the next major release of the Ubuntu operating system and the second Long Term
Support (LTS) version, which means users get security updates for five years for the server edition and three years for the desktop edition. The first LTS release was Ubuntu 6.06 (codename Dapper Drake), released on 1st June, 2006.

As promised, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS is here, available on mirrors worldwide (see below for download links), and it's my deepest pleasure to introduce you guys to the highlights of this new release dubbed Hardy Heron.

Included applications:

Accessories:

• Calculator (an arithmetic, scientific or financial calculator)
• Character Map (permits to insert special characters into documents)
• Dictionary (a tool to search word definitions and spellings in an online dictionary)
• Baobab (disk usage analyzer)
• Seahorse (passwords and encryption keys manager)
• Gnome Screenshot (saves images of your desktop or individual windows)
• Gnome Terminal (allows you to use the command-line)
• Gedit (a small and lightweight text editor with intuitive spell-checker)
• Tomboy (desktop note-taking application)

Graphics:

• F-Spot (photo manager)
• The GIMP (image editor)
• XSane (scan, copy and fax images)



Internet tools:

• Ekiga (SIP and H.323 compatible VoIP telephony and videoconferencing tool)
• Evolution (powerful e-mail client)
• Firefox (the ever popular web browser)
• Pidgin (multi-protocol instant messenger)
• Vinagre (remote desktop viewer)
• Terminal Server Client (rdesktop, vncviewer, wfica, xnest frontend)
• Transmission (lightweight BitTorrent client)

Office tools:

• OpenOffice.org Suite (spreadsheet, presentation, drawing and word processor)

Sound and Video:

• Sound Juicer (audio CD extractor)
• Brasero (CD/DVD burning application)
• Totem (DVD-Video, DivX, XviD, WMV, MOV player)
• Rhythmbox (Last.fm, radio and music player/organizer)

System Administration utilities:

• Print Jobs Manager
• Sound Recorder
• Synaptic Package Manager

...and a lot of wonderful games for all ages!

Featured technologies:

• ActiveDirectory integration
• iSCSI support
• Memory protection
• Easy to use firewall
• KVM integration

Under the hood:

• GNOME 2.22.1
• Linux kernel 2.6.24.3 (with dynticks support and a new process scheduler)
• Xorg 7.3
• PulseAudio 0.9.10
• PolicyKit 0.7

... plus many other updated packages and revamped artwork (including login manager, desktop wallpaper and GNOME style)!

If you haven't ordered CDs with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) yet, you can do it right now from Ubuntu's ShipIt Service!

About Ubuntu:

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for your desktop or server, with a fast and easy install, regular releases, a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default, every other package you can imagine available from the network and professional technical support from Canonical Ltd and hundreds of other companies around the world.

Download Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Hardy Heron right now from Softpedia.

Download Kubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron right now from Softpedia.

Download Edubuntu 8.04 LTS Hardy Heron right now from Softpedia.

Download Xubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Studio 8.04 Hardy Heron right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu JeOS 8.04 Hardy Heron right now from Softpedia.

Download MythBuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron right now from Softpedia.

Article Source:
http://news.softpedia.com

Microsoft Introduces the Xbox 360 Panacea

In all fairness, Microsoft's console, the Xbox 360 is by no means a panacea but, at the same time, the Redmond company hopes that it will deliver a positive impact on patients in children’s hospitals. In this regard, Microsoft has joined forces with nonprofit organization Companions in Courage Foundation, and revealed that it is committing a few hundreds of Xbox 360 game kiosks for the benefit of children’s hospitals across the U.S. Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft, is scheduled to attend the inauguration of the first group of Xbox 360 kiosks in Seattle. "Microsoft is committed to keeping kids entertained in a variety of ways within a safer gaming environment, so partnering with Companions in Courage to offer children in hospitals a way to connect through something as universal as games is a natural fit for the work we do. The goal for this program is to give these kids a chance to have some fun and just be kids," Bach explained. Via the Xbox 360 kiosks in hospital playrooms across the U.S., hospitalized kids will be able to not only play a selection of games rated E and E10+, but also access Y-rated TV programs, G-rated movies, and even a private Xbox Live network. Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center of Seattle and the Children’s Hospital of Orange County are the first hospitals to receive Microsoft's Xbox 360 panacea. "Entertainment, creativity and personal connections can be important factors in alleviating some of the isolation and discomfort these children experience each day. Xbox 360 offers young patients a fun escape through games, TV shows, movies and positive interactions with others over the Xbox LIVE network. These gaming stations are a perfect complement to the interactive playrooms," said Companions in Courage founder and National Hockey League Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine.

Article Source:
softpedia.com

NextComputing Vigor EVO HD Ruggedized PC

Nashua, NH - NextComputing, manufacturers of high-performance mobile workstations and servers, introduces the next generation of extreme-performance, rugged, portable computers, the Vigor Evo HD. This new system is optimized to provide advanced computing power in rugged environments such as military field operations or oil and gas research sites.

The Vigor Evo HD is a "flextop," a high-performance mobile system incorporating the company's privately designed FleXtreme architecture. This architecture features open standards components, support for COTS software and hardware, best-in-breed multi-core processors, high-capacity storage, support for multiple operating systems, and multiple I/O functionality including PCI Express x16 slots. The Vigor Evo HD is a ruggedized version of NextComputing's most powerful "flextop," the NextDimension Evo HD. Both systems are designed for applications requiring the features of the most powerful desktop workstation in a portable form factor.

Bob Labadini, President and CTO of NextComputing, sees the design of the Vigor Evo HD as fulfilling a need within the "rugged portables" market for a higher-performing, flexible, smaller, and more portable solution than anything that is currently available. "With the Vigor Evo, we have combined our experience in the deployable ruggedized market with the innovative architecture of the first line of flextop portable computers. The Vigor Evo brings to the market a number of firsts. For example, it is the first rugged portable to incorporate up to 8 processing cores from Intel or AMD, it incorporates the highest number of PCIe or PCI-X 64-bit slots, up to four, and the entire system is encased in an unsurpassed floating chassis which provides maximum shock and vibration absorption with no metal to metal contact," relates Mr. Labadini.

About the size of a briefcase and weighing as little as 13.5 lbs., the Vigor Evo HD is the smallest and lightest, high-performance rugged portable to come to market. The chassis offers:

* a mounting kit, convenient for mobile environments such as humvees and helicopters
* modular processor boards which support up to (2) single, dual or quad-core AMD Opteron or Intel Xeon processors
* storage capacity that surpasses the leading ruggedized systems by offering up to (3) 3.5" drives at 1TB each or (13) 200GB/7200RPM hard drives plus internal RAID 0, 1 and 0+1 capabilities
* superior graphics with up to (4) PCIe or PCI-X 64-bit slots for single or double width cards
* integrated 17" LCD is covered by a disposable protective screen, featuring anti-glare, hardening, and optical enhancement coatings
* support for any COTS keyboard, allowing for the use of the latest rollup, portable, or ruggedized keyboards

Sounds like the Vigor Evo HD would hold up a wild LAN party, don't you think?

Article Source:
www.hothardware.com

AMD’s Radeon 4800 in production

Mountain House (CA) – Unlike the ATI that we knew before, it appears that AMD’s graphics division is running perfectly these days – and ahead of deadlines. Even though the graphics unit has posted an $8 million loss in the first quarter of this year – in an effort to improve market share rather than average selling prices - the graphics business is making progress: We hear the company has struck gold with the RV770 and will be bring the chip to market earlier than expected.

AMD’s next graphics cards are being prepared for launch: During the Q1 earnings call, president and chief operating officer Dirk Meyer stated that the company will roll out a significant number of products in May and our sources now confirmed that the introductions will include desktop and mobile (M88) graphics parts.

RV770 will launch as Radeon 4800 and will make its way into the FireStream stream processor and FireGL workstation cards. Both GDDR3 and GDDR5 memory will be supported by the chip, but ATI itself will only be offering GDDR5 cards. The Radeon 4850 version is set to come to market with an 800+ MHz core (the final clock has not been specified yet and will not be available until the final qualification is completed), while the 4870 will be the first mass-production GPU with a clock speed higher than 1 GHz. Prototype RV770 boards were clocked at about 1.05 GHz.

The graphics processor itself will integrate more texture memory units (TMUs), which is the Achilles' heel of the R6xx generation: 32 TMUs in the RV770 will challenge the 56/64 units of Nvidia’s G92/G92b.

The new graphics card generation is expected to become available to system integrators and OEMs in GDDR3/GDDR5 variants with 256/512/1024 MB buffers. 256 MB GDDR3 cards are exclusively targeted at OEMs (as well as ODMs, Sis) and are unlikely to shop up in retail. Expect to see mainly 512 MB GDDR5 cards in retail for both the 4850 and 4870. Just like the GPU, the memory clock isn't set in stone either, but we were told that the GDDR5 memory is currently running at a physical clock of 1.8 - 2.2 GHz.

With a 256-bit memory controller, we're talking about 115 to 141 GB/s of bandwidth. This number equals the memory bandwidth record set by the 2900XT 1GB GDDR4 (512-bit interface with GDDR4 at 1.1 GHz DDR).

While we expect the desktop boards to be announced soon, RV770-based FireGL boards will not be introduced until Siggraph 2008, which will open its doors on August 11.

Source:
www.tgdaily.com

Gigabyte Luncurkan Motherboard Intel P45 Pertama di Dunia

Produsen motherboard kedua terbesar di dunia, Gigabyte, meluncurkan motherboard pertama di dunia yang menggunakan chipset Intel P45 (EagleLake) dan ICH10, yaitu GA-P45-DS5 untuk kelas high-end dan GA EP45 DS3P untuk kelas menengah. Seperti tradisi Gigabyte, keduanya menggunakan Full-Solid capacitor. Chipset intel P45 telah menggunakan proses manufacturing 65nm, sedangkan chipset intel sebelumnya masih 90nm. Sepintas bentuk motherboard intel P45 tak berbeda dengan motherboard P35, karea memang tidak ada perubahan besar pada design PCB maupun cooling heat-pipe. Beberapa fitur baru pada motherboard ini antara lain adanya tombol onboard untuk power,reset, clear CMOS. Selain itu juga terdapat 10 port SATA.

Source :
http://www.reviewland.com/

GIGABYTE show off its P45 boards early

Probably looking to draw some attention to its upcoming motherboards based on Intel’s performance P45 Express chipset, GIGABYTE has sent out its GA-P45-DS5 and GA-EP45-DS3P for early photo previews.

The folks over at bit-tech get an early look at the GA-P45-DS5 which sees many improvements over previous generation such as angled SATA ports to avoid issues with fitting in large graphics cards as well as finally onboard buttons to reset, clear CMOS and power down your system which will be super handy when it comes to overclocking.

Xfastest via VR-Zone has plenty of pictures of another GIGABYTE P45 board, this times it’s the cut down EP45-DS3P. For instance, it has less SATA ports and less exotic chipset cooling setup than the GA-P45-DS5.

Source : http://www.tweaktown.com

My PC Case Mod

Melanjuti artikel sebelumnya tentang case mod, berikut ini gambar-gambar dari case mod milik saya. Ini masih moding kecil=kecilan, karena biasalah, terbentur masalah budget.

Spesifikasi PC :

Mainboard Gigabyte GA-M55 v.4
Processor AMD Athlon (tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+
OS Microsoft Windows XP Professional (Build Service Pack 22600)
ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO (ATI Radeon Graphics Processor) 512 Mb
Harddisk 1 : Seagate 7200 rpm 250 Gb
Hardddisk 2 : Seagate 7200 rpm 160 Gb
Optical Drive DVD-RW LITE-ON 20x, DVDRW LH-20A1H Lightscribe
DDR2 Corsair 2048 Mb (2Gb)
2 LCD Monitor (19 inch lcd & 15 inch lcd wide screen 16:10)















Gambar 1















Gambar 2















Gambar 3















Gambar 4

My Desk

10 Ekstensi Firefox Pencegah Phishing

Sumber :
http://www.detikinet.com/index.php/detik.read/tahun/2008/bulan/04/tgl/04/time/152659/idnews/918456/idkanal/510

Jakarta - Semua pengguna internet pasti tak ingin kegiatannya di dunia maya dimata-matai. Karena itulah, mencegah phishing dianggap sebagai hal yang sangat penting.

Phishing merupakan upaya seseorang untuk mencuri identitas atau informasi penting pengguna internet dengan membuat situs palsu yang mirip dengan aslinya. Data-data yang dicuri biasanya berupa e-mail, username, password, nomor rekening bank, dan lain-lain.

Cara yang paling populer untuk melawan serangan phishing adalah dengan mengikuti perkembangan situs-situs yang dianggap sebagai situs phishing. Berikut ini adalah beberapa extensions Firefox yang bisa digunakan untuk melawan serangan phishing.

1. PhishTank SiteChecker
SiteChecker memblokir semua situs phishing berdasarkan data dari Komunitas PhishTank. Ketika Anda mengunjungi situs yang dianggap situs phishing oleh PhishTank, maka akan muncul halaman blocking.

2. Google Safe Browsing
Google Safe Browsing memberikan peringatan kepada Anda jika suatu halaman situs mencoba untuk mengambil data pribadi atau informasi rekening Anda. Dengan menggabungkan kombinasi algoritma dengan data-data tentang situs-situs palsu dari berbagai sumber, maka Google Safe Browsing dapat secara otomatis mengenali jika Anda mengunjungi situs phishing yang mencoba mengelabui seperti layaknya situs asli.

3. WOT
WOT membantu Anda mengenali situs-situs phishing dengan memperlihatkan reputasi situs tersebut pada browser Anda. Dengan mengetahui reputasi suatu situs, diharapkan Anda akan semakin mudah menghindari situs-situs phishing. Reputasi suatu situs diambil berdasarkan testimoni dari komunitas WOT.

4. Verisign EV Green Bar
Ekstensi ini menambahkan validitasi certificate pada browser Anda. Ketika Anda mengakses situs ’secure’, maka address bar akan berubah warna menjadi hijau dan menampilkan pemilik dan otoritas sertifikat. Ekstensi ini berguna untuk mengenali situs-situs palsu.

5. iTrustPage
iTrustPage mencegah pengguna internet mengisi form pada suatu situs palsu. Ketika mengunjungi situs yang terdapat halaman form, iTrustPage menghitung nilai dari TrustScore halaman form tersebut, untuk mengetahui apakah situs tersebut dapat dipercaya atau tidak.

6. Finjan SecureBrowsing
Finjan SecureBrowsing meneliti link pada hasil pencarian Anda dan memberi peringatan kepada Anda mengenai link-link yang berpotensi sebagai link phishing. Finjan akan mencoba mendeteksi kode berbahaya dan script-script berbahaya. Setelah itu akan diberi tanda hijau untuk yang aman dan merah untuk link yang berbahaya.

7. FirePhish
FirePhish memperingatkan Anda ketika Anda mengunjungi situs yang dianggap situs phishing atau yang terdapat script dan kode yang mencurigakan.

8. CallingID Link Advisor
CallingID Link Advisor memverifikasi apakah suatu link yang Anda lihat aman atau tidak sebelum Anda membukanya. Ketika mouse Anda berada pada link tersebut maka akan muncul keterangan mengenai detil link tersebut sehingga memudahkan Anda untuk mengenali apakah situs tersebut layak untuk dipercaya.

9. SpoofStick
SpoofStick memudahkan Anda mengetahui apakah situs tersebut situs palsu dengan memperlihatkan hanya informasi domain yang valid dan relevan.

10.TrustBar
TrustBar memberikan kemudahan kepada user untuk memberi nama atau logo pada suatu situs. Sehingga memudahkan untuk mengetahui apakah situs tersebut palsu, atau situs kloning.


Artikel ini merupakan kiriman dari Lukman, anggota detikINET Forum.

INFORMASI PEMBLOKIRAN FILM FITNA oleh Telkom Speedy

Info ini dari :
https://portal.telkomspeedy.com/index.php?act=newsdetail&now=162&id=3

INFORMASI PEMBLOKIRAN FILM FITNA
08 April 2008 09:10:28 ( Sys Admin TSDC )

Mohon maaf, untuk saat ini situs-situs dan blog yang memuat Film Fitna kami blokir atas permintaan Menteri Komunikasi dan Informasi No.84/M.KOMINFO/04/08 tanggal 2 April 2008.
Situs dan blog yang ditutup:
* Youtube
* MySpace
* Metacafe
* Rapidshare
* Multiply
* Liveleak
* Themoviefitna.com


Situs-situs dan blog tersebut tidak akan bisa diakses hingga ada pemberitahuan lebih lanjut.
Mohon maaf atas ketidaknyamanan ini.

Terimakasih

PT Telkom Indonesia Tbk.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 Refresh

The Windows Serviceability team is pleased to make available Windows XP Service Pack 3, Release Candidate 2 Refresh (XP SP3 RC2 Refresh).

The purpose of RC2 Refresh is to validate improvements to the Windows Update experience with Service Pack 3. Therefore, this beta release will be available only on Windows Update, in English, German and Japanese. Beyond fixes for common Windows Update issues and the inclusion of support for HD Audio, there are no substantial differences between this beta release (build 5508) and XP SP3 RC2 (build 3311).

XP SP3 RC2 Refresh includes all previously released updates for the operating system, similar to earlier service packs. It also includes previously released updates to the latest versions of some system components, as well as functionality that make it easier for enterprises to co-manage both Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista PCs within same corporate environment.

While this update is available for anyone, remember that it is pre-release software, is time-limited, and is intended for IT professionals, developers, and other technically-inclined individuals that are comfortable using pre-release software.

The application to enable download of XP SP3 RC2 Refresh is the same application as was used to distribute XP SP3 RC2. This is an application that can be found at the Microsoft Download Center. Running this application on a machine with Windows XP Service Pack 2 will enable Windows Update to offer XP SP3 RC2 Refresh to that machine. Build to build upgrades are not supported for this beta release, so if you have installed XP SP3 RC1 or XP SP3 RC2, please uninstall it before running this application. We strongly recommend that only this application be used to obtain RC2 Refresh and that evaluation and feedback be based solely on releases provided directly by Microsoft.

As with RC1 and RC2, we encourage feedback on XP SP3 RC2 Refresh via this TechNet forum. Information regarding XP SP3 overall can be found on the Windows XP TechCenter. Windows XP SP3 is scheduled for release in the first half of 2008.

Source:
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3061999&SiteID=17&mode=1

NVIDIA Drivers Caused Lion's Share of Early Vista Crashes

Microsoft data shows NVIDIA caused bulk of Vista crashes


When Windows Vista first hit market, some driver issues were to be expected as hardware manufacturers moved existing components to the new OS from Windows XP. As is natural for new items, the enthusiast community was among the first to embrace the new operating system.

The incompatibilities were part due to Vista incorporating Microsoft’s DirectX 10 promising better graphics and physics in PC games. At the time, the high-end G80 graphics cards were some of the most popular graphics cards on the market including the NVIDIA 8800 GTS, GTX, and Ultra.

NVIDIA had driver problems with of Vista and DirectX 10 from the get go and delayed their first driver from a December 2006 release to a January 2007 release. Even once the driver hit market, there were wide spread reports of crashes because of NVIDIA drivers.

The problem with reports of buggy drivers is that no one can really tell if the drivers are actually at fault, or if the computer experiencing the driver crash has some other underlying problem contributing to the crash.

As part of the ongoing Vista Capable class action lawsuit, Microsoft released data on exactly what drivers caused the bulk of logged Windows Vista crashes. The number one culprit of Vista crashes related to driver failure was NVIDIA at 28.8%. Microsoft only broke logged crashes out for a few companies including NVIDIA, Intel (8.8%) and ATI (9.3%). Microsoft’s data shows that it was responsible for 17.9% of logged crashes.

The main early adopters of Vista were PC enthusiasts; the hardware of choice for PC enthusiasts at the time was NVIDIA G80 GPUs so it would be natural that more crashes would be logged as caused by a NVIDIA driver. Ars Technica also points out that the Microsoft data doesn’t specify if the crashes logged are from multiple machines or a group of particularly error prone computers experiencing multiple crashes.

DailyTech reported on the original suit being filed in April 2007. The suit alleged that Microsoft knowingly deceived customers with Windows Vista. The suit was given class action status in February 2008.

Reference :
http://www.dailytech.com/NVIDIA+Drivers+Caused+Lions+Share+of+Early+Vista+Crashes/article11261.htm

Blu-ray Disc Gaining Consumer Confidence, Spending

Blu-ray Disc "No Country for Old Men" dents DVD sales


As much as technophiles and home theatre addicts preach the wonders of high-definition movies on the latest LCD and plasma displays, nearly the entire mass market is still squarely focused on standard DVD movies. That, however, could begin changing this year.

According to Home Media Magazine, sales of Blu-ray Disc have finally begun to carve out a noticeable groove from DVD sales. Nielsen Videoscan numbers say that 9.8 percent of No Country for Old Men home video sales were from Blu-ray Disc, and an even more impressive 12.6 percent of Hitman sales were on the high-definition format. Transformers, currently available in high-definition only on HD DVD, sold 4 percent in the high-end format.

The two recent Blu-ray Disc releases fared considerably better than even the top movies of 2007, which saw 2 or 3 percent share on the format. For example, on Blu-ray Disc the Simpsons Movie captured just 2.8 percent, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End accounted for 3.7 percent of total sales.

Analysts resort point to the end of the high-definition format war as the root of the increase in consumer confidence. “Before, there was a tendency to play it safe and stick with the standard DVD,” said Tom Adams, of Adams Media Research, to Home Media Magazine. “But now there’s no longer anything to worry about.”

Also key in the recent growth of Blu-ray Disc is the simultaneous rise of the PlayStation 3 – the market’s best-selling high-definition movie player. Console sales for the first two months of 2008 show Sony’s latest console outpacing the Xbox 360.

“The promotion to PlayStation 3 homes hasn’t really kicked in yet,” added Adams. “And assuming that works, when you’re talking 5 million homes, getting them to buy just one more movie a year can make a significant difference in a small market like this.”

Reference :
http://www.dailytech.com/Bluray+Disc+Gaining+Consumer+Confidence+Spending/article11295.htm