Technofile: Microsoft appears to be moving into the movie rental market, given that its XBox Live service will soon offer high-definition (HD) film downloads. In late November, US users will get the first taste of the service, which will feature films from the likes of Warner Bros and Paramount Pictures. TV shows are also in the offing.
The idea is that the downloaded movies will be playable for two weeks, but once you start watching one, you'll only have 24 hours to finish it before it becomes unplayable. Any second viewing would incur a second charge, although you wouldn't have to download it again.
The upside is that TV shows can be kept, but they won't be in HD. Movie rights being the legal quagmire that they are, we won't know for a while if this service will come here, but it's interesting to see it emerge all the same.
• Want a Christmas tree for the office? Do you have a spare USB port after plugging in the mug warmer, personal fan and light? Then try out the USB Christmas tree. Its fibre-optic leaves, which glow in red and blue, will brighten any office environment. Or make it look even worse - I can't decide. See www.iwantoneofthose.com
• I'd hate to crack a terrible pun about Asian firm Samsung overdoing the origami, but its new SPH-P9000 folding PC is hard to describe in any other way. Starting smaller than a paperback, it unfolds to reveal a Qwerty keyboard and a small five-inch screen running full Windows XP.
Featuring a 1GHz processor, 30GB hard disk and a 1.3 megapixel camera, with Bluetooth and even WiMax (the big daddy to Wi-Fi), it certainly packs a punch. Aimed at IT-crazy Korea, WiMax is still a distant dream in Europe. However, a Wi-Fi version may make it over here.
• Fuji's Z-series cameras now feature "face detection". It will look for two eyes and a mouth, and work out that's what it needs to focus on, rather than the tree in the background.
The feature has turned up in the Z5 camera, which has a three times zoom and 6.3 megapixel lens. It's available in three colours - raspberry red, mocha brown and silver.
• If that doesn't take your fancy, then check out the new 7.2 megapixel Casio S770D, which will record in DivX video. DivX is a standard best known for illegally downloading movies, but it has gone mainstream because of its ability to squash quality video into smaller file sizes. Price to be announced.
• Following last week's USB thumbdrive, yet more gadgets are coming out branded alongside the new James Bond movie, Casino Royale. The latest gadget is a silver-clad Sony Ericsson silver K800i mobile from O2, which features several goodies.
It comes with a remastered DVD box set of Goldeneye, Goldfinger and The Man with the Golden Gun, along with its 3.2 megapixel sensor, autofocus and Xenon flash courtesy of Sony's Cybershot camera range.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/VR3765MFOBH2NMV2QNICYDF67M.png)