According to the New York Times Fox will call the initiative “Digital HD” or “DHD,” and it will start on September 18th with the Ridley Scott-helmed Prometheus.

You’ll be able to download an HD copy of the film for around $15 on the 18th, which is more than two weeks before the film is set to launch on Blu-ray, DVD, and On-Demand. The system will be made possible by the UltraViolet digital locker system – which will make the films, once purchased, available for customers on multiple devices.

“DHD” is set to launch in 50 countries around the world, according to Fox Chariman James Gianopulos. He says that many of Fox’s recent hits like “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” “The Watch” and “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” will be available for digital HD download soon.

This move comes on the heels of an abandoned premium on-demand joint venture between Warner Bros, Universal, Fox, and Sony. Last year, those studios partnered to launch “Home Premiere,” a VOD service that would ‘ve charged people upwards of $30 for a 2-3 day rental. The only real draw was that the films offered through the service would be just 2 months out of theaters, meaning they were months away from DVD and regular on-demand release. Of course, Theaters around the country threw a fit, saying that it would cut into their already-struggling businesses.

Is $15 still a hefty amount to pay for a download? Yes, to some people. If you can just hold off for a couple of weeks, the same movie could be rented for a little over $1 (Blu-ray) at Redbox. But “DHD” does offer movie ownership, weeks early, without having to leave your home. It may not be perfect as it is, but this program is definitely a step in the right direction.

Stepping up to the plate is Sony with their new waterproof HDR-GW77V Handycam. The rugged waterproof camera features a 20.4-megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensor capable of 1080p video at 60fps and can take 20.4 megapixel stills. It also offers a 3-inch swivel screen while also offering 16GB of internal storage and a 10x optical zoom. It also offers a built-in GPS for geotagging your videos.

Sony claims that it can handle up to 16 feet of water and will withstand a 5 ft free fall. Which means it is fairly kid friendly in that regard, it is totally not kid friendly in its price. At a cool $699 this all weather Handycam is on the pricey side!

The new Handycam is set to be released this month and will retail for $699 plus tax!

Unfortunately, not ever app on the market is iPad retina display ready. Apple has upgraded theirs, but that’s to be expected. Some third party apps have not been lucky enough to get things ready for the release. Others plan to capitalize on the new technology by being the first out the door with HD graphics.

Updating all of your apps graphics to keep up the new technology has proved to be a daunting task for most developers.

Here are some of the best HD apps out there right now. Expect many more to roll out in the next coming weeks.

Apple

You can’t go wrong with the official Apple apps, they were made specifically for the new iPad:

iPhoto
There’s so much power built into iPhoto for iOS, you need to touch it to believe it. Using only your fingers, you can make a blue sky bluer. A landscape greener. Or a smile brighter. From the moment you touch the screen, the way you see things will never be the same.

GarageBand
Whether you’re a musical prodigy or just love creating your own walls of sound, GarageBand for iOS gives you all the tools you need to lay down fresh tracks, have a jam session with friends, and record music anywhere you go.

Social

Twitter
Follow your interests like never before.

Facebook
See your friends pics in high def.

AIM for iPad
Instant messenger.

Business and Productivity

Evernote
The popular note taker and planner will feature crisp fonts.

Trulia
This real estate app will feature HD photos of your listings.

StockTouch
Watch the market unfold in high def.

Games

Infinity Blade II:

Mass Effect Infiltrator:
EA has updated the game for the retina display

Sky Gamblers Air Supremacy

Here is a full list of Apps that currently support the HD display:

ABC Player
AIM for iPad
Another Monster at the End of This Book
Art Authority
Barefoot World Atlas
Calcbot
The Daily
Day One
Diamond Dash
Dwellable
The Early Edition 2
Echofon
Evernote
Evernote Peek
Flight Control Rocket
Foosball HD
Galaxy on Fire 2 HD
Grace
Incredibooth
Infinity Blade II
iStopMotion for iPad
Joining Hands
Kindle
Labyrinth 2 HD
Martha Stewart Cookies
Mass Effect Infiltrator
Mint
MLS MatchDay 2012
Modern Combat 3
NBA GameTime
NYTimes for iPad
Order & Chaos Online
Quotes Folder
Readability
Real Racing 2 HD
Redfin
Reeder for iPad
SketchBook Pro for iPad
Skitch
Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy
Solar Walk
Soundcloud
Star Walk for iPad
StockTouch
TouchGrind BMX
Trulia
Tweetbot for iPad
Twitter
Twitterrific
Vimeo
Facebook
Flipboard
Roambi Analytics
Roambi Flow
Wired

Ted Price, CEO of Insomniac Games, took to the PlayStation blog to announce the impending release of the Ratchet and Clank collection. It will collect the first three games in the Ratchet and Clank series on the PS2 and give them the HD treatment that other franchises have received in the past.

For those who can’t remember that far back, the collection will include the original Ratchet and Clank, Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando and Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal. All of the games are being remastered by Idol Minds in close collaboration with the team at Insomniac Games. The games will receive the usual treatment including 1080p HD remastering, with the addition of 720p 3D support. It will also include three sets of trophies for so you can get three platinum trophies.

The really cool thing is that Up Your Arsenal’s online mode will remain intact. Many people, myself included, never got a chance to experience the online mode when the game originally released due to the PS2’s online infrastructure being pretty terrible. Now everybody will get to enjoy the 8-player multiplayer that was apparently pretty good.

The game will release in Europe in May with a North American launch coming later in the year. Why the late launch for the US? Price says that it’s going to be a part of a larger celebration for the 10th anniversary of the franchise. Why the celebration is locked to North America and not Europe is beyond me, but I’ll take whatever festivities I can get.

It’s interesting to note that an Insomniac representative in the comments keeps telling fans that they will want to pre-order the game. It seems that part of the 10th anniversary celebration will be a reward for those who pre-order the game. That will be a first for an HD collection, so I definitely can’t wait to see what it is.

As an aside, you may be wondering where Ratchet and Clank: Deadlocked is. The simple fact is that Deadlocked, much like Jak X: Combat Racing, are the black sheep of their respective franchises and most fans generally dislike them. They added nothing new to the narrative and were only there to fill in a gap between the last proper game and the launch of the PS3 which saw a new generation of Ratchet and Clank games.

Insomniac promises more information as we draw closer to the release date, including more screens and the first trailer.

The site is reporting that the new tablet will include a 8GB hard drive, though it does not make claims as to how cheap it will be. Current iPads start around $500 dollars; the new iPad 3 is anticipated to keep this price point.

As of January, Apple has sold an estimated 55 million iPads. They are planning to keep this trend alive and bring in new buyers with today’s releases. 78% of the new iPad sales are anticipated to be from first time buyers. Some people are even anticipating the market to take over laptops and ultrabooks, as touch-screen tablets continue to rise in popularity.

If rumors of the cheaper iPad 2 turn out to false, you can always purchase a used one on ebay or Craigslist. Insiders are anticipating up to 75% of current iPad owners plan to upgrade. That equates to a lot of previously owned iPads hitting the market at once. Current iPad 2 resale prices are around $325 on ebay.

With a stunning 2048×1536 pixel display, the iPad HD already surpasses the MacBook Air and Intel Ultrabooks in screen resolution. The Air maxes out at 1440×900 on the thirteen inch display; Ultrabooks are similar at 1366×768 for most models. This is a huge jump on the 9.7 inch iPad 3 screen.

Neither of those have built in broadband as a standard feature, let alone 4G LTE, the latest and most promising of the 4G networks.

Apple is even catching up on the chip front, with the A5X or the A6 still as possibilities, Intel may no longer have the advantage in this category.

OnLive Desktop will help convert laptop owners by making Microsoft Office available on to iPad. This latest app uses the superior computing power of the cloud to run Windows while making these features available on the thinner, lighter iPad. This may not be the exact advantage as having Office on your local hard drive, but people may be willing to exchange speed for portability.

The new iPad HD may or may not be equivalent to a laptop, but the technology is definitely catching up to the point where people are going to have to make a decision on what they value in portable computing.

In the new HD version, players can enjoy detailed backdrops with different types of landscapes, which can be used in defense schemes. Attacks of enemy units are generated by a special algorithm, which makes each attack more challenging than the previous version. As opposed to other games of this genre, Defense Zone does not feature any superweapon.

Previous versions of Defense Zone were sometimes too challenging for some players. Therefore Easy and Medium modes have been made simpler in this version.

With OpenFeint support it is possible to compare your results with those of other players.

Game Features Include:- HD quality, detailed backdrops and impressive visual effects;
- balanced levels;
- weapons with different firepower, rate of fire, firing range, blast radius and price;
- different types of landscape;
- strategic thinking involved;
- support for OpenFeint;
- rated 12+.

The talk of town might be Siri, your own virtual assistant that takes voice commands, but for my money the best part about the iPhone 4S is the updated camera.

The new 8 megapixel camera, with all-new optics, is being billed as the “you-can’t-believe-it’s-on-a-phone-camera”. After reading through some of the specs, it could just be one of the best cameras on a mobile phone – ever. Sure, it’s easy to hype up a camera, but we all know the proof is in the photos. Take a look at some of the photo examples below, all of which were taking with the iPhone 4S:

What do you think of the photos? Leave a comment below and tell us your thoughts.

Brands include:

- Audi
- BMW
- Ford
 - Hyundai
- Jaguar
- Kia
- Land Rover
- Lincoln
- Mercedes Benz
- Mercury
- MINI USA
- Rolls Royce
- Scion
- Volkswagen
- Volvo

At least three new vehicles are on display at the event at the HD Radio booth – the Ford 2011 Taurus SHO, Volkswagen 2010 MY Golf TDI, and 2010 Scion xB. The first ever factory installed implementation of HD Radio enabled iTunes Tagging will occur at CES and will be showcased by Ford. A number of after-market solutions from various brands are being displayed as well.

"New low-cost, low power IC solutions were introduced at CES 2009," says iBiquity Digital. "Since that technical breakthrough, many new portable products have been committed for launch into the consumer market, several of which are currently available, with additional new models on display at CES 2010."

These include Microsoft Zune HD, Insignia ND-HD01, Cydle T43H (PND w/ Real Time Traffic), Cydle P15, Gigaware 12-645 and 12-646, Sangean DT 600HD and Sangean DT 800HD. iBiquity itself is developing a Software Development Kit (SDK) for receiver partners to aid feature integration, which is planned for later in 2010.

Over 2,000 stations in the US use HD Radio Technology. The technology allows for a richer multimedia experience than traditional radio giving users access to album art and other features.

Watch for more WebProNews coverage of CES, with exclusive video interviews coming soon.
 

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1080p is, in case you didn’t know, the picture type associated with Blu-ray.  It makes very minute details visible (hair and makeup teams were none too happy about its creation), and on YouTube, should simply allow for larger images, too.

Unfortunately, creating and displaying 1080p clips requires enough stuff that not everyone will be able to take part.  Content creators who don’t have fairly new cameras will be left out.  Then, viewers who don’t have fast Internet connections, fast computers, and large monitors should probably just stick to what was already available for the sake of not having clips stutter.

Still, YouTube’s trying to make the switch easy on people.  A post on the YouTube Blog stated, "[T]hose of you who have already uploaded in 1080p, don’t worry.  We’re in the process of re-encoding your videos so we can show them the way you intended."

And the introduction of support for 1080p is important.  In the long run, it’ll provide an attractive option to professional content creators and advertisers, along with the obvious eye candy benefits for YouTube users.

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