LATEST ADDITIONS

The high-resolution combi-player takeover continues.

How pleased am I that the trickle of combination SACD/DVD-Audio players has quickly reached a full flow? Visitors to my whiskey cellar (all right, my whiskey cabinet) may notice recently cracked seals on more than one of my special-occasion bottles of rare Wild Turkey. I've been on the soapbox about this issue. While no one needed a crystal ball to predict that the market would kick-start once Pioneer released their combi player, I still had my doubts. After all, this SACD/DVD-Audio format war started out as nasty as any of them. But then, I always took solace in precedent. Dolby and DTS didn't exactly exchange Christmas cards at first, either (and they still don't); now, however, you'd be hard-pressed to find applicable hardware that doesn't accommodate both formats. Deep down, I suppose I always knew that high-resolution combi players would ultimately be the norm, but I doubted that it would happen this quickly—and besides, it was more fun to do a bit of preaching.

Competition in the computer business has heated up over the past few years, with companies slashing prices to the bone in order to move product. You can now get a PC with a speedy processor and huge hard drive for only $399, and they'll undoubtedly cost less than that by this time next year. What's a forward-thinking computer company to do?

Showtime Networks has announced that it will "substantially increase" its high-definition programming for 2003, with sports events, movies and many of its original series airing in the digital format.

As noted in a number of British journals in early February, including <A HREF="http://www.newscientist.com">New Scientist</A> (February 6, 2003)&mdash;reports brought to our attention by <I>SGHT</I> contributor J. Gordon Holt&mdash;scientists at the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have developed a new super-black coating that is said to reflect less the 0.35% of the light that strikes it, an absorption efficiency about seven times better than black paint. The coating can be put on materials ranging from metals to ceramics.