This 19-incher comes with two noteworthy quirks: a huge speaker module delivering sound quality as meaty and tasty as a half-pound cheeseburger; and built-in recording courtesy of an external hard disk. This connects up via USB and, while that isn’t the most elegant option — actually building it into the TV’s body would look way better — it does mean it can be hooked up to a PC and loaded up with MP3s for playback via the telly. Which is nice, if you like the idea of listening to music through your television. It also means you can back up your TV recordings on your PC, although we predict that’s a feature that’ll be used by approximately .0001 percent of the people who buy this telly.

Picture quality from the built-in Freeview is brilliantly crisp and clean, with good motion handling in games. There’s an HDMI socket for lashing up hi-def gear, although the screen’s a bit too tiny to make that truly worthwhile. On the audio side, the beefy speakers mean sonic performance is way better than it should be on such a small telly.

On the design and styling front, we’d be lying if we said this was much of a looker, but it’s not the most hideous set around either, despite the hulking speakers ‘neath the screen. We reckon it might be the perfect second screen for the kitchen worktop or bedroom.

In what’s now becoming a weekly ritual, Apple took their online store down this morning and has returned, with an all new version of the dinkiest iPod, the Shuffle.

The new version looks just like its older sibling, but packs 2GB instead of 1. So now you can stick on 500 songs for when you’re out jogging or just posing with the nipper clipped on your jacket.

It costs £45, with the 1GB reduced to a ludicrously affordable £32. Pretty good value for a much-loved jukebox

We’re expecting more Apple announcements next Tuesday, with the iPhone SDK top of our wish list.

Good old Auntie is really coming up trumps with this whole downloading telly thing. With iPlayer a rip roaring success, the BBC has just announced they’re sticking a ton of shows onto iTunes too.

You can head over to Apple’s online emporium now and download the likes of The Mighty Boosh, Little Britain and Life on Mars straight to your lappie.

The move means you can finally get the best of British onto your ‘Pod without having to fart around ripping DVDs or running the risk of increasingly dodgy BitTorrent sites.

The plan is to continually update the service, offering programmes after they’ve been made available via iPlayer. This means we’ll be able to take the delectable Keeley Hawes and Ashes to Ashes on the tube of a morning. Nice.

Apple and the Beeb are already said to be working on bringing a full version of iPlayer to Apple TV, but in the meantime this is a more than welcome addition to the current raft of trashy US shows available.

Shows will cost £1.89 a pop. This should hopefully tide us over until Apple gets it together to deliver a decent number of Stateside shows and movies onto the UK service.

Now that HD-DVD has gone the way of Betamax, Gizmondo and, er, Brad Renfro, word of a Microsoft Blu-Ray player, to replace their red-corner model is getting rifer by the minute.

However, this morning they’ve distanced themselves from any developments, suggesting they’re keen to focus on gaming and not movies.

In a statement handed over to us at T3 Towers, the Big M said: “It is premature to speculate but we do know from market data that HD movie playback is not a primary purchase driver for consumers buying video game consoles. It continues to be games that drive purchase and that has consistently been a strong point for the Xbox 360 platform.”

This suggests to us that any in built drive is some way off, if it’s even coming at all. A bolt-on drive though can’t be discounted. Maybe this also suggests why Video Marketplace remains distinctly underwhelming affair.

As for the current, HD-DVD add-on, Microsoft say they’re waiting to hear from Toshiba before they make any specific plans. That’s to say, it’s doomed like the rest of the format.

With games remaining the 360’s prime concern, it looks like it’ll be left to Sony to create the ultimate gaming and movie hub.

That’s all folks. We’ve just received official word from Toshiba that they’re stopping producing hi-def players and discs immediately.

In a statement released this morning, they said: “Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders.”

They do go on to say, however, that they will provide ongoing support for those unlucky enough to have the obsolete tech festering under their tellies.

“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation.

Tosh say they will,”…continue to lead innovation, in a wide range of technologies that will drive mass market access to high definition content.”

Whether this means we’ll be seeing Tosh Blu-Ray players remains a moot point. For now, they’re reducing shipments with a view to a complete cessation of trade by the end of March.

Do you have an HD-DVD player? How do you feel about this swift end to the format war? Let us know in the comments section

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