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Open source in Japan: Q&A with the President of Plat'Home

I had the chance to do a question-and-answer session with Tomoyasu Suzuki, president and co-founder of Plat'Home. Plat'Home makes a cool palm-sized Linux server, and is one of the early drivers of Japan's Linux market.

Suzuki, a graduate of Tokyo University, co-founded Plat'Home in 1993 and eventually took the reins as CEO in 2000, the same year it IPO'd in Japan. He has a wealth of experience pushing Linux into developing markets, making it a real treat to get some of his time for this Q&A:

Asay: After generating several billion dollars in value in two different satellite company IPOs in Japan in the early 1990s, you turned to energies to building a Linux company. Why?

Suzuki: Satellites and entertainment are certainly big business and continue to grow. Those were early days in the Japanese satellite industry, and it was exciting to be involved.

But, ultimately, I believe the opportunity for Linux expanding into a wide range of devices, including, of course, entertainment devices like set-top boxes, cell phones, and other mobile devices, radically dwarfs the opportunity for broadcast entertainment. Even today, when you search, when you make a phone call, when you do online banking, you're using Linux. And it's only the beginning. I wanted to be a part of that.… Read more

Aperion's new Intimus 5B Harmony SD speakers rock

We just posted our review of Aperion's new Intimus 5B Harmony SD home theater speakers, and the verdict is in: Aperion's new system sounds seriously awesome. It's got a new remote-controlled sub, with adjustable EQ, which we loved for changing sub levels on the fly without getting off the couch. But the real selling point is the system's sonics, and resident Audiophiliac Steve Guttenberg gives it a strong recommendation. We had some quibbles--the biggest of which was the difficult subwoofer setup--but overall we were really impressed with performance and build quality of the Intimus 5b Harmony … Read more

TiVo extends lifetime subscription offer

Despite the fact that competing DVRs from cable and satellite companies have made great headway in the past few years, we're still fans of TiVo's intuitive interface and constantly improving feature set. However, the knock against TiVo is that it's expensive--you have to buy the box and pay a $13 monthly fee, while a DVR from your cable company usually costs less than $10 a month with no up-front cost.

As of late, TiVo has been offering a lifetime subscription plan as a promotion that was slated to end in February, but the eagle-eyed TiVo fans over … Read more

Wakozi lets lazy New Yorkers get munchies and booze delivered

With services like Wakozi around, the movie Half Baked likely would have been about 15 minutes long. The home delivery service has been designed with people of leisure in mind, linking up New Yorkers with local eateries and convenience stores that get solid and liquid nutritional goodness to their doors within the hour.

Unlike online grocery stores of yore, Wakozi's not doing any of the stocking or infrastructure necessary to get products out on its own; instead it's just acting as the middle man to get hungry people (or those in need of the spare roll of toilet … Read more

The Digital Home 15: The Violent Video Game Edition

Don invites Leo Laporte on the show for the first segment and discusses the merits of violent video games, the future of the Xbox 360 and whether or not the iPhone will be open to all carriers. After that, Don sits down with the Co-Founder of GameFly to see what's going on at the company and discuss the video game industry as a whole. In the third segment, Don tackles the issue of bias in journalism. Check it out! Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 15 … Read more

Six reasons you shouldn't use the PS3 as your Blu-ray player

OK, before the angry fanboy comments roll in, let's get this out of the way: the PlayStation 3 is the best Blu-ray player on the market right now. It sits at the top of our best Blu-ray players list, we consistently use it as the reference that we judge other Blu-ray players against, and it's the only player on the market right now that supports Blu-ray Profile 2.0 and onboard decoding for both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. And it will always be the only Blu-ray player that streams media, has a browser, and plays PS3 … Read more

JVC, Kenwood officially hook up

Victor and Kenwood said Monday that they plan to become one company by October 1 this year.

The two Japanese audio equipment makers will combine to form JVC Kenwood Holdings, which will be based in Yokohama, near Tokyo. Victor, a subsidiary of electronics giant Matsushita, is best known for its JVC brand. Under the agreement, Kenwood Chairman Haruho Kawahara will become the holding company's chairman, while Victor President Kunihiko Sato will become the new company's president.

It came in fits and starts, but the two have finally settled on a merger agreement. It was first discussed last year, … Read more

Tivoli Audio unveils updated NetWorks Wi-Fi radio

As predicted, Tivoli Audio relaunched its NetWorks Internet radio today at a media event in Manhattan. The updated NetWorks tabletop has a completely new look and feel--and a whopper of a price tag.… Read more

The Digital Home 14: Is Blu-ray really dead?

Don starts out the show talking with CNET's Tom Merritt about Blu-ray, Yahoo and much more. After that, he sits down with James McQuivey of Forrester Research to discuss the future of the digital home. And in a final segment you won't want to miss, Don tells the world why he won't sell out. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 14 … Read more