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HTML5 is a Flash killer. Hmmmmm. Say it over in your head a few times. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

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MSN Video Player has been a big enough success through a pilot scheme to be launched as a major new product, and Microsoft is not ruling out offering the service to television manufacturers, on Xbox and through the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 Series. A million people have already used the ad-funded and free MSN Video Player in beta to watch full-length programmes, trailers and clips, enough of an audience to convince the portal that the service has the appeal to become a key asset for Microsoft. With users staying for an average of 25 minutes – far more than major catch-up services like ITV Player and 4OD – and advertisers champing at the bit to buy up pre-roll adverts before the features, Microsoft has now sealed deals with the likes of Endemol and Shed Media to expand their offering further. Thousand hours “We are expanding our catalogue to over 1,000 hours,” explained MSN’s Rob Crossen. “We’ve signed a number of new deals…we’ve gone out there and sourced content that appeals to our audience.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

The ‘Interactive’ part of the annual South by South West conference in Austin, Texas kicks off this Friday. Known as SXSWi, and running through until Tuesday 16 March, the event brings together web designers, developers, content creators and more, to share ideas, network, announce new products and services, and then hang out in the evenings over barbeque and beer. The conference features around 200 panels and evening events covering subjects such as social media, interface design, real-time web and much more. The evenings see parties such as the Bigg Digg Shindigg, events hosted by Microsoft, Mozilla and Mashable, and a tonne of film showings, since the SXSW Film Conference and Festival runs at the same time

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

JVC has showcased its latest camcorder range this week, highlighting the tech that makes the camcorder’s tick. Top of the range is the GZ-HM1. This is a Full HD camcorder which – deep breath – sports a 10.62MP back-illuminated CMOS, 10MP stills functionality, Optical Image Stabilisation, Advanced Image Stabilisers and ‘Super LoLux’ for brighter shooting in low light.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

Most industry figures suggest starting design and development jobs with a pencil, paper and a semi-optional flurry of sticky notes. However, the internet is a digital medium: sooner or later you have to move to software. So which tools are best?

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The Chumby Classic isn’t our favourite gadget of 2010. To begin with, its chunky shape and squishy leather casing make it feel like a Fisher Price toy: My First Web 2.0 Widget Device, perhaps. Its sheer purposelessness makes it seem like it was bought from a joke shop.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

Western Digital’s been quite the busy body today in the SSD sector. In addition to the just-announced MLC-based SiliconEdge Blue line, the storage vendor also just unveiled its WD SiliconDrive N1x 2.5-inch SSD family. Built around a single-level cell architecture (SLC), Western Digital says these provide a cost effective alternative without giving up a ton of performance. “The WD SiliconDrive N1x SSDs are the newest addition to our SiliconDrive product family, which has shipped several million units since the first products were introduced.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

Nvidia has been talking up their new Optimus system as of late. An Optimus enabled notebook will be able to seamlessly switch between a low power integrated GPU to a higher power dedicated GPU. The power savings are said to be significant, nearly doubling rated battery life. Optimus can do this by completely powering off the GPU when using the on-board

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

The EU-mandated browser ballot means that Microsoft has to tell you about other browsers. Some of the rivals you already know, but others are pretty obscure – and every single one of them claims to be the fastest, the best or the fastestest bestest browser the world has ever seen. Don’t know your Avant Browser from your Greenbrowser? Fear not! We’ve put together this handy print-out-and-keep guide, and randomised the order so the EU can’t accuse us of favouritism

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

We’re expecting big things from the USB 3.0 spec, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to write USB 2.0’s obituary. Case in point: Corsair today just unleashed a new family of flash USB drives — Flash Voyager GTR — designed for the USB 2.0 interface. The biggest feature of the new flash drive family is the quad-channel architecture. According to Corsair, this makes it possible to reach read speeds up to 34MB/s and write speeds up to 28MB/s. Corsair says these are real-world figures too, as demonstrated by the company’s in-house testing “against a major competitor’s 128GB ‘fast’ flash drive.” “As we continue to digitize the sights, sounds, movies, and business of our everyday lives, we need better and better ability to transport our data and access it quickly,” stated John Beekley, VP of Technical Marketing at Corsair.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC