Neowin News Feed for: Format

Besides new Sandbox, Microsoft wants to raise Windows 11 FAT32 limit to 2TB soon

Sayan Sen — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 14:00:01 +0000

Microsoft released the latest Windows 11 Insider build earlier today on the Canary channel. The new build has several new features and improvements including FAT32 and other File System improvements. Read more...

The Format dialog is another temporary solution in Windows that stuck around for 30 years

Taras Buria — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 11:28:01 +0000

Dave Plummer, a Microsoft veteran, shared a story about porting the Format dialog from Windows 95 to Windows NT. What was intended as a temporary solution ended up lasting almost three decades. Read more...

Safari in iOS 16 finally supports AVIF images, coming to macOS and iPadOS soon

Usama Jawad — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 06:48:02 +0000

Apple's release of iOS 16 also contains a new version of Safari which features support for AVIF images. Chrome and Firefox already support AVIF, which leaves mainly Microsoft Edge as the odd one out. Read more...

Vimeo improves page load times with support for AVIF images

Usama Jawad — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 04:10:01 +0000

Vimeo has announced support for AVIF images which offer comparable quality while lowering file size. This will improve page load times and bandwidth consumption on browsers which support it. Read more...

Google appears to be working on Pik, a new lossy image format

Paul Hill — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 00:20:01 +0000

Google is working on a new lossy image format called Pik. The project is hosted on GitHub but Google warns that it is in the initial research stage and shouldn't be used for any purpose. Read more...

Microsoft, Google, Netflix and more join forces to build an open-source media format

Usama Jawad — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 15:46:01 +0000

Many major companies such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Intel and Netflix have united to form the Alliance for Open Media group, which aims to create an open-source next-generation video format. Read more...

Bitcoin hoax dupes Mac users into wiping their hard drives

Shreyas Gandhe — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 16:42:23 +0000

A Bitcoin mining hoax that was started by a prankster on the 4chan imageboard has reportedly led some Mac users into wiping their hard drives, leaving affected users desperately asking for help. Read more...

Blu-ray player sales on the rise

Kevin Weiner — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:54:08 +0000

With Blu-ray winning the next generation DVD format war, and the format starting to go mainstream, consumer awareness and Blu-ray sales are on the rise according to a report by the NPD Group. The report,... Read more...

Music 2.0: Engineers unveil MT9 format

Michael Stanclift — Sun, 25 May 2008 15:11:47 +0000

Korean computer engineers are introducing a new digital music format that has a six-channel audio equalizer and separate controls on the sound volume for each musical instrument, such as guitar, drum, base and voice. The... Read more...

JPEG XR: Microsoft's HD Photo format is endorsed by JPEG

Fred Derf — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:34:36 +0000

The Joint Photographic Experts Group decided earlier this week to officially endorse the Microsoft HD Photo file format as the eventual heir apparent to the JPEG standard. In order to be adopted, the format has... Read more...

HD DVD Boss: The Format War is Far From Over

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:53:00 +0000

Even with the tide apparently shifting in Blu-ray Disc's favor, the HD DVD camp isn't about to relent in the on-going high-definition format war. HD DVD still commands a significant portion of exclusive content and... Read more...

Could Apple TV 2.0 End the High-Def Format War?

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:51:46 +0000

Whenever Apple releases a new product, you can almost feel the wave of amnesia spread over the tech universe. Like the new Apple TV, which hooks directly up to the new iTunes video rental service.... Read more...

Napster moves to MP3-only music download format

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:30:53 +0000

Napster, one of the largest digital music retailers, said Monday it would start selling downloads in the MP3 format from the second quarter of this year in the latest blow to copy protection for songs... Read more...

Microsoft Takes Heat for Office 2003 SP3 File Format Block

Daniel Fleshbourne — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:11:17 +0000

Microsoft is facing criticism from a competitor and some customers for its decision to block some older file formats with Office 2003 Service Pack 3, which it released last September. The only non-Microsoft file format... Read more...

Warner agrees to use MP3 format

Steven Parker — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 09:45:33 +0000

Warner Music Group is making its music available for US downloads from Amazon in MP3 format without copy protection. Warner had been holding out against using the format because MP3 tracks are easier to share... Read more...

Euro HD DVD camp clams up on format sales figures

Daniel Fleshbourne — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:17:33 +0000

The European HD DVD Promotional Group has refused to back up claims that the next-generation optical disc format it's backing is the movie buff's favourite by revealing how many HD DVD players have been bought... Read more...

Sony CEO: format war in 'stalemate'

Daniel Fleshbourne — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 12:07:41 +0000

The two next-gen optical disc formats - Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD - are running neck and neck, Sony CEO Howard Stringer has conceded. And he admitted yesterday that Paramount's move to favour HD DVD... Read more...

Microsoft Office Mobile 6.1: Upgrade for Office 2007 format

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:26:03 +0000

Office Mobile 6.1 is an upgrade to Office Mobile applications on Windows Mobile. The new upgrade supports the new Office 2007 file formats.Microsoft Office 2007 introduced new Open XML-based file formats for Office applications. These... Read more...

Music Industry Betting on 'Ringle' Format

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:03:44 +0000

As the recording industry wakes up from its summer slumber and starts thinking about what will motivate the consumer for the holiday selling season, the major labels are getting ready to launch the "ringle," which... Read more...

Microsoft Supports Rival Office Document Format

Tom Warren — Thu, 17 May 2007 20:29:48 +0000

Microsoft is supporting a chief rival to its Office suite for approval to a national standards board. The company announced yesterday that it voted to add the Open Document Format (ODF) 1.0 to the American... Read more...

Disney: iTunes movie sales prove potency of format, pricing

Wed, 09 May 2007 17:46:29 +0000

Disney earned $931 million during the first quarter of 2007 on revenues of $8.07 billion. Profits were up from $733 million during the first quarter of 2006 even though revenues rose only $40 million dollars... Read more...

Microsoft's HD Photo Format at a Glance

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 09:57:37 +0000

I have put together a short rundown of how the Adobe Photoshop beta plug-in for Microsoft's new photo format performs against current formats. I ran the plug-in through a very basic set of tests. The... Read more...

Microsoft: Make our HD Photo format a standard

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 23:11:00 +0000

Microsoft plans to submit its HD Photo image format to a standards body in order to establish a higher-quality replacement for today's ubiquitous JPEG standard. The standardization move makes sense, given Microsoft's ambitions, said InfoTrends... Read more...

Microsoft's Open XML Format Hits Roadblocks in U.S., Abroad

Daniel Fleshbourne — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:32:43 +0000

Microsoft's goal of getting governments across the globe to embrace its Office Open XML format has hit roadblocks in both the United States and abroad. In the United States, legislation was introduced in Texas and... Read more...

China to Get its Own Specific HD DVD Format

Jerry Grey — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 11:20:23 +0000

Following requests by China's government-sponsored Optical Memory National Engineering Research Centre (OMNERC) and the state-run China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), China will get a HD DVD-ROM format designed specifically to be incompatible with the... Read more...

New technology could nip DVD format war in the bud

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 11:19:12 +0000

The format war around next generation DVDs may be over before it has begun, thanks to a breakthrough from a British media technology company. Britain-based New Medium Enterprises (NME) said on Tuesday it had... Read more...

PS3 Launch Title to Use 22GB on Blu-ray Disc Format

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 23:57:36 +0000

PlayStation 3 launch title Resistance: Fall of Man will reportedly take a staggering 22 gigabytes of storage space using the PS3's Blu-ray disc format. The revelation comes from an article posted by MTV News, which... Read more...

Microsoft Readies Proprietary Image Format

Fri, 26 May 2006 14:03:42 +0000

Microsoft have announced their new image format which is a competitor to standards like JPEG and PNG.Windows Media Photo is a new file format for continuous-tone still images that surpasses the limitations of existing image... Read more...

Sony and Panasonic Announce New HD Format

Thu, 11 May 2006 20:38:12 +0000

No, its not Blu-Ray. Sony and Panasonic announced today that they have co-developed a new high definition DVD format created specifically for camcorders. The new format, dubbed AVCHD, captures video onto 8cm DVDs using the... Read more...

Sony Unveils Blu-ray Pricing, Format Bundling

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:31:42 +0000

Sony Pictures announced pricing for its Blu-ray movie titles today, becoming the first major studio to do so. In addition, it announced plans to bundle multiple formats in a low-cost package, beginning with DVD/UMD... Read more...

Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: The Format Wars

Julio Franco — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 09:57:46 +0000

DVDs are the current standard for data storage, and perhaps more importantly the publishing format standard as well. The question is however, how much longer will they be sufficient? A much anticipated battle, or 'format... Read more...

Blu-Ray format specs finalized

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 02:06:01 +0000

Recently, the Blu-ray Disc Association announced that the format specification for its new standard has been completed, and it is now ready to begin licensing. Both the Blu-ray Disc single and dual layerspecifications have been... Read more...

Retailers Upset Over Format Wars

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 18:48:53 +0000

Major US retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City, and CompUSA are fuming over the ongoing battle between HD DVD and Blu-Ray, calling the consumer-bewildering battle "nightmarishly unfriendly" and "stupid." While consumers grow increasingly... Read more...

DVD Format war Looms as Blu-ray Backers Plan Launch

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 19:27:21 +0000

Chances looked slim that consumers will be spared a DVD format war, as the backers of one standard said on Friday there was no common ground for a unified format and it was on track... Read more...

Sony, Toshiba to agree on new DVD format

Tue, 10 May 2005 14:55:54 +0000

Japan's Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. are close to finalizing a plan to develop a common standard for next-generation DVDs to resolve a three-year-long battle over formats that threatened the industry's growth, a Japanese newspaper... Read more...

Sony, Toshiba Mull Unified Format to Avoid DVD War

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 15:42:31 +0000

Japan's Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. are in talks to develop a common standard for next-generation DVDs and end a fierce battle over formats that has been threatening to stifle the industry's growth. Sony and... Read more...

Sony Says Open to Avoiding DVD Format War

Wed, 13 Apr 2005 14:56:15 +0000

Sony Corp said on Wednesday it was open to discussions to create a single standard for the next generation of DVD discs, a move which could head off the looming threat of a major format... Read more...

Adobe unveils new digital photo format

Wed, 06 Oct 2004 01:32:54 +0000

Adobe Systems Inc. plans to introduce a new format for digital photos on Monday in an attempt to create an industry public standard to make the archiving and editing process compatible across all types of... Read more...

Nokia joins with SD Card format

Tue, 14 Sep 2004 17:34:57 +0000

The Inquirer is reporting that mobile manufacturer Nokia could be planning an imminent implementation of SD technology across its mobile phone range. Secure Digital (SD) technology is a data storage technology, allowing easy storage and... Read more...

Intel touts 'MP3 for 3D' universal graphics format

Daniel Fleshbourne — Wed, 21 Apr 2004 09:06:49 +0000

Intel, Adobe, Microsoft and more than 30 other companies have said they will co-operate to conjure up a standard for 3D graphics. Dubbed the Universal 3D (U3D) format, the intention is to create a way... Read more...