In the high-tech industry's ongoing quest to shrink electronics, Panasonic staked a claim Friday in the category of smallest camcorder. Panasonic announced it is the first to make a pocket-sized digital camcorder that can record DVD-quality video onto a removable flash memory card. The gadget, called the SV-AV100, is due to be available in October for $999.95 (£637).

Archos is about to release the AV300 series, the next generation of portable video/image/MP3 player based off of the Archos Jukebox Multimedia. Features include a 3.8" LCD screen for viewing movies and photos, FM tuner, MP3 playing and recording, 20GB or 40GB HD models, USB2.0 (optional Firewire) connection, TV-out, MPEG-4 encoding from a video/audio-in signal, digital photo (3.3 megapixel) and video camera, and much more.

The DVD+RW Alliance has announced 8-speed write specifications for its optical format, claiming the fastest current write speed in the world. Devices designed to the 8-speed specification will write at 88Mbits/sec, claims the association, taking less than 10 minutes to write a full disc. Currently the -R format is limited to 4-speed.

Pioneer Electronics has the solution to the high-end audio format war; just put them all in the same unit. The company has begun shipping the DV-563A, a universal DVD player that offers both DVD video, DVD-Audio and Sony's Super Audio CD (SACD) support, plus MP3 playback.

InterVideo has announced the first software solution that fully supports the DVD-Audio functionality of Creative Labs' Sound Blaster Audigy 2 series of sound cards. The DVD-Audio Pack will be an option in InterVideo's WinDVD 5 Gold and Platinum DVD player software.

Film fans are being ripped off over DVD prices, consumer watchdogs have warned. The falling cost of DVD players has sparked huge demand for the digital discs which are rapidly overtaking the popularity of video cassettes. But major retail outlets are deliberately keeping the cost of DVDs artificially high.

Warner Home Video, part of AOL Time Warner, the US media giant, is suing a UK-based internet company which it claims is involved in the distribution of DVD pirating software. The media company, which is behind recent box office hits such as The Perfect Storm, is seeking an injunction against HRC Distribution Limited, which would appear to be the company behind the distribution of DVD X Copy in Europe.

SunnComm has been working in the lab for the past few years to develop a way to prevent consumers from copying CDs while still retaining replay compatibility with most CD and DVD players. After several fits and starts, the company is reporting that its latest mutation, MediaMax CD-3, may be able to do the trick. Earlier this summer, SunnComm and BMG entered into an agreement to use MediaMax on CD releases worldwide.

Microsoft has won federal approval for a wireless adapter for its Xbox video game console that allows players to connect to the Internet without cabling, according to a posting on a regulatory Web site.

Verbatim have announced a new series of 52X CD-R and 32X CD-RW media. The comapany also announced new 8X DVD+R media available in the market by September 2003, and the first 8X DVD-R media, available one month later.

Sony announced that a new 650nm semiconductor laser diode is currently developed, allowing DVD recording speeds up to 16X. First samples of the new "SLD1236VL" series are planned to be available by December 2003, while mass production will start in June 2004. According to the company, current laser diodes used for Sony DVD recorders are capable of 8X recording.

The high court in Australia has thrown out an appeal by Sony Australia against legal costs on an earlier appeal loss in the Federal court.

Via a press release Elaborate Bytes, or Elby for short, announces that they have just released a completely new revised version of their CloneDVD software. Besides several bug fixes this new version adds a 'Quality Bar,' which should give users an idea of how much the compression of the data affects movie quality.

CD and DVD media manufacturer Ricoh has announced that they will release 8x DVD+R media in the 4th quarter of this year. The price of the media is unknown at present.

Hard-drive maker Seagate have said that it is shipping the first consumer-electronics drives that use a new industry standard for data streaming. The company said it's shipping the new drives to eight digital video recorder makers, including Toshiba, Thomson, Sony and Pioneer.

Online reports indicate that Sony's updated version of the PS2, featuring a built-in infrared receiver and improved DVD playback functions, will be released in the UK next month in a choice of black and silver colour schemes.

Viewsonic have unveiled their new 'Smart Display' wireless monitor that allows the owner to roam while downloading, surfing Web, checking e-mails or watching DVDs. Once you have this baby set up you can access your PC from any room in your house, and with plans to make a waterproof version even the bathroom won't be off limits.

Linux will be the operating system of choice for future televisions and DVD recorders, said experts at Europe's largest consumer electronics fair. The fast-growing and freely available operating system, is set to be the software of choice for future televisions, set-top boxes and DVD recorders.

Kazaa Media Desktop, the world's most popular peer-to-peer (P2P) file swapping application has recently been given an upgraded, paid for, plus version. Priced at $29.95 (£19), Kazaa Plus will be ad free and offer more powerful searching and 24 hour Customer Support.

Samsung is trying to make a big splash in the digital video recorder market with a large-capacity product, one able to store up to 100 hours of programming. The company this week announced its first DVR device, which is designed to work with DirecTV satellite service and TiVo's service.