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Toshiba and Hitachi have joined Sony in an antitrust investigation. The US Department of Justice will probe the companies' optical disc drive businesses, Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology and Hitachi-LG Data Storage. Sony's Optiarc America was subpoenaed yesterday.

None of the companies have disclosed what products are being investigated, but rumors suggest that it may be related to the high cost of Blu-ray. Combined, the companies account for some 60% of the optical drive market, so it wouldn't be surprising if they've been involved in some form of price-fixing and bid-rigging -- especially considering AT&T's recent allegations of an LCD conspiracy.

Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi have all agreed to comply with the investigation, and it could be a while before specific details of the case emerge.

With the holiday shopping season almost underway, Amazon has launched a new payment system it hopes will make it simpler for customers to make online purchases on partner sites. The PayPhrase service works by keeping credit card information, shipping address and shipping preferences on record, and letting online shoppers invoke this information via a phrase and four-digit PIN of their own choosing.

While having to remember multiple customized phrases instead of just entering card numbers seems overly complicated, Amazon believes it will actually make your life easier and online shopping more flexible. For starters, it will allow users buy items without having to give critical information to third-party sites, while eliminating a few steps from the check out process -- you just need to click on the PayPhrase button, enter the phrase and four-digit PIN, and upon confirmation the purchase is automatically sent to the associated address.

PayPhrase also allows parents to set monthly allowances and preview and approve purchases for their credit card-less kids. It supports subscription payments and charity donations as well. For merchants, the obvious advantage is being able to incorporate Amazon’s proven checkout system into their own sites. The feature currently works for U.S. users with both Amazon and Amazon partner sites like Buy.com and J&R Electronics.

Nintendo has unveiled a new model of its DSi handheld console, which will appear as the "DSi LL" in Japan, or "DSi XL" in Europe. As you've probably already guessed, the DSi XL brings larger 4.2" dual screens. That is about an inch more than the current DSi's 3.25" displays or the DS Lite's 3" screens.

The DSi XL will be packaged with a regular stylus, in addition to a longer, thicker pen-like stylus. It is reported that battery life will be about four to five hours on maximum brightness and 13 to 17 hours on minimum, which is on par with the DS Lite. Charge time is around 3 hours when fully depleted.


The latest DSi will measure 161mm wide x 91.4mm long x 21.2mm thick, and the new stylus will measure 129.3mm long. It will feature an SD memory card slot, a stereo headphone/microphone connected terminal, and will be available in red, brown, and white.

The DSi LL will hit Japanese store shelves on November 21 for 20,000 yen (around $220), and the DSi XL will arrive in Europe sometime in the first quarter of 2010. No details have been provided for a North American launch.

Update: Kotaku is reporting an early first-quarter debut for North America as well.

Nintendo posted a major 52% slip in fiscal first-half (April-September) profit today, amid a slowing demand for its Wii video game console. Profit for that period totaled $69.49 billion yen (about $772 million), which is down from 144.83 billion yen in the year prior and less than Nintendo's forecasted $100 billion yen ($1.1 billion). Fiscal first-half sales plummeted 34.5% to 548.01 billion yen ($6.1 billion).

The company expects earnings to remain grim, lowering its sales forecast for the fiscal year through March 2010 to 1.5 trillion yen ($16.7 billion) from 1.8 trillion yen ($20 billion). Nintendo blames its weak outlook on the recent Wii price cut, a lack of blockbuster games, as well as a strong yen, which hurts Japanese exporters by reducing their overseas earnings.

Nintendo has faced some stiff competition lately, with Sony and Microsoft both lowering prices on their consoles. The PlayStation 3 topped September sales charts after Sony introduced the $300 120GB Slim model, and the 120GB Xbox 360 Elite was cut to $300 as well. Microsoft also has a $200 Xbox 360 Arcade unit, which is about the same cost of Nintendo's Wii.

Even though Intel is facing virtually no competition on the high-end processor market, the arrival of its Lynnfield-based Core i7 860 early last month threatened to cannibalize sales at the lower end of the enthusiast LGA1366 spectrum. The chip carries the same $290 price tag as the "Bloomfield" Core i7 920, yet it comes with higher clock speeds and Turbo Boost capabilities, a tighter power envelope, and fits into a cheaper platform.

Thus is not really surprising to hear Intel will be discontinuing the latter. However, rather than leaving a wide hole in its LGA1366 lineup, the chip maker will apparently be replacing it with a higher clocked Core i7 930 processor next quarter. The quad-core, eight thread part will run at 2.88GHz and should cost the same as its Core i7 920 predecessor.

Although still unconfirmed by Intel at this point, the move sounds plausible enough. We have already witnessed the replacement of the 3.20GHz Core i7 Extreme 965 with the 3.33GHz i7 975, as well as the 2.93GHz Core i7 940 with the 3.06GHz Core i7 950 and once again with the Core i7 960 running at 3.2GHz.

Intel and Numonyx, the chipmaker's flash memory joint venture with STMicroelectonics, have released details on what the companies hope will be a breakthrough in the development of phase-change memory (PCM). Specifically, the companies developed a new manufacturing process that would allow stacking several memory/selector layers atop each other so memory can be packed more densely in a given volume.

The design paves the way for non-volatile memory chips with larger capacity and greater energy efficiency than current memory types while using a minimum of die space. While such stacking is the goal, yesterday's announcement was of a working 64Mb, single-layer version of the new memory architecture -- multiple layer variants are still on the drawing board.

Phase-change memory stores data in small cells of chalcogenide, a special compound that can change physical states between crystalline and amorphous with the application of heat. The chips can run faster and with greater longevity than conventional transistor-based NAND chips. What's more, phase-change memory is "RAM-like" in that bits can be changed individually, not only in blocks as is required by NAND, yet it is also non-volatile so power isn't required to keep the data in memory.

These attributes could allow the merging of DRAM memory and storage into one high-speed, high-bandwidth architecture. Unfortunately, such a leap is still a long way off according Intel developers.

Heads up to VAIO owners: Sony is recalling some 69,000 AC power adapters following four reports of units short circuiting -- none of which occurred in the United States. It seems there is a weakness in the insulation that could pose an electrical shock hazard to consumers, but nobody has been injured at this point.

The Sony VGP-AC19V17 is the exact AC adapter being recalled. It's used in Sony's all-in-one VAIO desktops (VGC-LT and VGC-JS2 series), and VAIO docking stations (models VGP-PRBX1 and VGP-PRFE1) -- all of which were sold via SonyStyle stores, as well as authorized electronics retailers and business-to-business dealers from September 2005 through October 2009. The PCs were priced from $900 to $3,300 and the docks ran $250 to $300.


If you happen to own a VGP-AC19V17 adapter, it is recommended that you stop using it immediately and contact Sony for a free replacement. You can call Sony at 877-361-4481, or head over to the company's support site.

Microsoft today sent an email to participants of the invitation-only Windows 7 and Server 2008 Technical Beta Program, informing them that their free commemorative boxed copy of Windows 7 Ultimate will be delivered in the next four to six weeks. Redmond said that most shipments should arrive via FedEx, and that no tracking number will be provided. The email also noted that people outside the US may have to pay duties or other local taxes upon receipt.

In July, Microsoft decided to hand out free copies of Windows 7 Ultimate to appease the many beta testers who felt their help and feedback was unappreciated. Only invitees of the early closed beta program were eligible -- meaning that users who downloaded the public beta have to pony up like the rest of us. Microsoft gave that handful of testers the choice between downloading a copy of Windows 7 and getting it sooner, or having a physical boxed copy shipped and receiving it later.

If you're one of the lucky few, feel free to gloat in the comments.

Sony VAIO Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz 15.5" laptop for $650 + free shipping

Best Buy has the 15.5" Sony VAIO notebook for $649.99 with free shipping. That's the lowest total price we could find by $80. It features a 15.5" 1366x768 widescreen LCD, an Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB SATA HDD, dual layer DVD burner, 802.11n wireless, memory card reader, webcam, HDMI output, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Asus O!Play HD Media Player for $90 after rebate + free shipping

ZipZoomfly.com offers the Asus O!Play HD Media Player for $104.99. This $15 mail-in rebate drops it to $89.99. That's the lowest total price we've seen. It features USB 2.0 and eSATA connectivity, Ethernet port, and HDMI output for content streaming in 1080p. Rebate expires November 30.

Four more tech deals after the jump.

Microsoft is reportedly selling PCs without the typical crapware found on proprietary Windows-based computers. Although the company resells systems from its hardware partners including Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba, the standard third-party and in-house crapware is excluded. The machines aren't entirely clean though, as Microsoft bundles some software of its own.

Installed on "Microsoft Signature PCs" are the following applications: Microsoft Security Essentials, Bing 3D Maps, Zune 4.0, Playready PC Runtime (for WMC), Adobe Flash Player for IE, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Windows Live Sync, and Windows Live Essentials (which includes Windows Live versions of Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Family Safety, Toolbar, as well as the Office Live Add-In and Silverlight).

Granted, that's quite the list of software, but it's still an improvement over most systems straight from HP and others. Users would probably install a lot of the programs in one shape or another anyway, and Microsoft's packaged software could even prove helpful for the less experienced folks out there.

Settlements and other bargains aren't on the agenda for Cupertino, who have decided to fight Nokia's aggressive move on them in the courts. Apple has released a report to the SEC, in which they made it a point to mention they will be defending themselves "vigorously" in court against Nokia's lawsuits.

The move isn't surprising at all. Nokia bit off quite a bit, and could be seeking a substantial amount of cash from Apple. Nokia is primarily running on the assumption that the patents which other companies license from them apply to the iPhone, though it doesn't take much speculation to assume Nokia's lawsuit is a direct result of slipping sales. Clearly they see Apple as an up and coming threat, and want to at least capitalize on their growth.

Apple also noted this isn't their "official" response -- only that they don't intend to roll over. It remains to be seen how Apple will defend themselves. Given the current state of the smartphone market, this could be an important and interesting case to watch.

Gigabyte has joined Asus in the race to build motherboards equipped with USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s connectivity, introducing an entire P55-based lineup sporting the next-generation I/O technology. The company has brought a host of new motherboards to the table, including the GA-P55A-UD6, GA-P55A-UD5, GA-P55A-UD4P, GA-P55A-UD4,GA-P55A-UD3P, GA-P55A-UD3R, GA-P55A-UD3.

This series of boards can be easily distinguished by the "P55A" branding, as opposed to the company's previous "P55" boards -- they also feature "Gigabyte 333 onboard acceleration." The "333" refers to the onboard third-gen SATA and USB parts, as well as USB 3.0's new voltage profile, which Gigabyte says offers triple the power to external devices.With seven listed units, Gigabyte likely has most budgets and builds covered. All of the boards support Intel's recent Lynnfield (Core i5 and i7 8xx) LGA 1156 processors. The motherboards rely on NEC's uPD720200 chip for USB 3.0, and Marvell's 88SE9128 controller for 6Gbps SATA, and bring the expected features and in-house technologies.

Microsoft has quietly released a new system update for its Xbox 360 console today. While it won't include any of the new social features that the company has been touting for months, this update will finally allow the current Xbox 360 Wireless Network Adapter (and presumably the upcoming 802.11n version) to support the WPA2 wireless security protocol -- a long overdue addition that many have been clamoring for.

Users should be receiving the update sometime this morning when they sign into Xbox Live. Microsoft's Larry 'Major Nelson' Hyrb emphasized that the update does not include the upcoming Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm integration nor it brings the Zune Marketplace 1080p "instant-on" streaming video functionality. That system update should go live next month.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers -- ICANN for short -- is reportedly in the final stages of a plan that will allow the use of Web addresses with non-Latin characters. First approved last year, the plan will allow for domain names to be written in Asian, Arabic and other characters from various languages.

The group intends to finish the plans on Friday and said, "This is the biggest change technically to the Internet since it was invented 40 years ago." The new concept will roll out sometime in the middle of 2010, but applications for non-Latin domain names will be open next month. ICANN president Rod Beckstrom noted that of today's 1.6 billion Internet users, more than half use languages that have scripts which are not Latin-based.

Along with the multilingual web addresses, ICANN says that addresses ending in ".bank" will be reserved for authorized banks.

Mozilla has just released a minor but still significant update to its popular Firefox web browser. Version 3.5.4 is essentially focused on security and stability improvements, closing a as much as 11 critical vulnerabilities among a total of 16. These include problems with third-party media libraries, the core and JavaScript engines, web worker calls, the GIF color map parser and the string-to-number converter.

Some of these problems could result in memory corruption under certain circumstances, Mozilla says, leaving room for hackers to create arbitrary code exploits. The company strongly recommends that all Firefox users upgrade to the latest releases. For those still running the 3.0.x branch however, they have correspondingly released Firefox 3.0.15, addressing nine different issues, including four critical ones.

As usual, users who have turned off automatic updates can use the “Check for Updates...” feature under Help or choose the appropriate OS below to download.

Download: Firefox 3.5.4 for Windows | Mac OS X | Other systems and languages