Toshiba said that it has developed the technology to mass-produce recordable high-definition DVDs.
The advance is the latest step in a heated global race to establish a world standard for the next generation of optical disks, which are expected to offer sharper images than current DVDs.
Toshiba said the new technology, developed jointly with Mitsubishi and Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories, will enable the manufacture of single-recording HD-DVD disks with 15 GB of storage capacity.
Disc manufacturers currently producing recordable DVDs will only have to make minor modifications to be able to produce the new higher-definition kind, Toshiba said.
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On the run: TiVo has extended its TiVoToGo portable video service to pocket computers and mobile phones running Microsoft software, as the television recording company beefs up its offerings in an effort to differentiate itself from its rivals.
TiVo said TiVoToGo is now available on Microsoft's Windows Mobile-based Portable Media Centers -- paperback-size devices that can play digital music and videos -- as well as certain Windows Mobile-based smartphones and Pocket PC handheld computers.
The new feature lets users travel with television shows and watch them on devices made by companies such as iRiver, Samsung Electronics, Hewlett-Packard and Dell.
Microsoft said this feature could spark demand in the portable digital video market, whose growth has been slack compared with the expansion of the portable audio market, which is fueled by Apple Computer's iPod.
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Friendly talks: Walt Disney incoming chief executive Bob Iger said he had "really good" talks with Pixar Animation Studios but had not struck a new distribution deal.
Disney has released all Pixar films, from Toy Story to The Incredibles, but last year Pixar called off talks with Disney on a deal that would extend beyond Cars, the last picture covered by the current distribution deal.
Disney said the companies could not reach a deal that was financially viable, but a bitter public relationship between Disney CEO Michael Eisner and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs was also blamed by many analysts for the impasse.
Pixar reopened the door to Disney after Iger was named as the next chief executive. Iger has commented on broader company strategy, saying that he did not think Disney needed to continue to cut debt.
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Redmond bends: Microsoft will release a version of its Windows operating system without the Media Player application on June 15 to comply with European Union anti-monopoly rules, the company said.
The decision is a result of a European Commission order that Microsoft strip Windows Media Player from its flagship product so computer makers can buy software from competitors RealNetworks and Apple that plays films and music.
The commission found in March 2004 that Microsoft had violated antitrust laws by competing unfairly. It fined the world's largest software company a record $613.1 million and ordered it to share information with rival makers of servers used to run printers and retrieve files, an issue known as interoperability.
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Compiled by David Cohn. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
