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• BBC iPlayer offers shows from ITV and other broadcasters

  The BBC iPlayer is now offering web users the chance to watch TV shows broadcast on rival channels including ITV and Five.

• DNLA software push for home networks

  The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) has been busy certifying hardware, with more than 9,000 consumer electronics products receiving its stamp of approval. Now its software certification is the spur to new growth in home media networks.

• Microsoft makes a bid for your living room

  In an otherwise underwhelming keynote speech at this year's CES tradeshow, Microsoft made a play to control the biggest screen in the house.

• Mitsubishi unfurls a 92-inch 3D TV

  Mitsubishi expects its 92-inch 3D TV to be the largest consumer television on the market when it launches mid-year -- even if very few consumers can afford it.

• Blu-ray continues to thrive, in spite of streaming threat

  Hard to believe that just five years ago at CES, the Blu-ray Disc specification first announced. And five years on, with one format war under our belt, and another scuffle brewing, Blu-ray is in fact doing very well.

• Green gadget chargers go massive

  Markets for advanced charging technologies (including solar-powered handsets, solar chargers, wireless power units, fuel-cell battery charging products and public charging kiosks), worth about $1.5 billion in 2010, are forecast to grow at a robust Compound Annual Growth Rate of more than 86 percent to exceed $34 billion in 2015.

• Sony to end TV manufacturing in Europe

  Sony plans to end manufacturing of televisions in Europe this year and will sell its TV manufacturing plant in Spain to two local companies, it said Tuesday. The move, which is part of Sony's ongoing restructuring, will increase the company's reliance on outsourcing companies and it part of a plan to return its core TV operations to profitability.

• 3D content is king at giant tech show

  Most observers agree that more content is needed for 3D to take off in the living room. An important part will be self-generated, Panasonic said Wednesday at the Internationale Funkaustellung (IFA) trade show in Berlin.

• Samsung plans 3D content streaming from online store

  Samsung on Wednesday said it would start streaming some 3D movie trailers over the Internet, establishing a new way for consumers to view 3D content on TV sets.

• Samsung launches first portable Blu-ray 3D player

  Samsung has brought out its first portable Blu-ray 3D player, as well as 3D TVs priced starting at US$1,099, in an effort to make 3D products accessible to buyers.

• Hollywood pushes movie streaming standard, UltraViolet

  The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), a group of 58 Hollywood studios and technology companies, is pinning its hopes for the future of entertainment on UltraViolet, an online digital locker that would allow you to buy a movie once, and stream it over the Internet for free on any other compatible devices.

• Intel combines smart TV with smart remote

  ATLANTA -- The development of "smart TVs" is also leading, not surprisingly, to the creation of a smart remote as well, thanks to <a Intel.

• New technology could replace HDMI with Ethernet cables

  Could HDMI's days be numbered? It could be, if a new a new audio/video (A/V) cable standard developed by four tech companies catches on.

• New Mac Mini guns for your living room

  Apple on Tuesday introduced an even smaller version of the Mac mini, with an HDMI port, an SD card reader, and more graphics and processing power. The new Mac mini is only 1.4-inches tall and rocks a unibody aluminium enclosure, making it a potential match to your HDTV in the living room.

• Via gets another Lenovo design win for Nano

  Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group will soon release a small home-entertainment PC based on a Nano processor from Via Technologies -- the company's second computer model based on the chip.