• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

Pictures

Vincent Padois, head tutor at the Pierre and Marie Curie University who teaches robotics and is babysitting the Paris ICub, makes a demonstration with ICub robot, a ?hybrid embodied cognitive system for a humanoid robot" about 1 metre (3.2 feet) high, at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris September 4, 2009. Six versions of ICub exist in laboratories across Europe, where scientists are painstakingly tweaking its electronic brain to make it capable of learning, just like a human child and hoping it will learn how to adapt its behaviour to changing circumstances, offering new insights into the development of human consciousness. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

Pictures of the year: Technology

A look at the year's best science and technology photos.   Slideshow 

    U.S. DVD sales drop and rentals flat

    LAS VEGAS
    Wed Jan 7, 2009 7:49pm EST

    LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - U.S. home entertainment sales fell 5.5 percent to $22.4 billion in 2008 as higher sales of Blu-ray discs helped offset a 9 percent drop in DVD sales and flat rentals, a digital trade group said on Wednesday.

    Sales in the mature U.S. DVD market fell 9 percent to $14.5 billion and rentals were flat at $7.5 billion, said Los Angeles-based Digital Entertainment Group in a report released at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

    DEG said the one bright spot in home entertainment was the Blu-ray disc format, which grew fourfold to nearly $750 million. The group noted that nearly 10 million Blu-ray playback devices have sold since the format launched, with three million devices selling in the fourth quarter alone.

    Home entertainment sales began stalling in 2004, when they hit $24.9 billion. In 2005, sales fell to $24.4 billion, edging up slightly to $24.5 billion in 2006 and then falling to $23.7 billion in 2007.

    The DEG's members include dozens of consumer electronics, digital and entertainment companies including Blockbuster Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co and major Hollywood studios.

    (To see blog posts from the Consumer Electronics Show, please visit MediaFile at blogs.reuters.com/mediafile. For other CES stories, see here)

    (Reporting by Sue Zeidler; Editing by David Gregorio)


    More from Reuters

    Joint Terminal Attack Controller SSgt Clinton J. Herbison, a U.S. Airman from the 817 Expeditionary Air Support Operations Squadron (EASOS) takes a break during a night mission near Honaker Miracle camp at the Pesh valley of Kunar Province August 12, 2009. Credit: REUTERS/Carlos Barria

    Pictures of the Year

    A look at the best photos of 2009.  Slideshow 

      PICTURES
      The Dalai Lama jokes with a nasal spray after being asked his opinion on the swine flu during a press conference after his first lecture in Lausanne, Switzerland, August 4, 2009. REUTERS/ Valentin Flauraud

      What a wacky year it's been...

      Um, what's up the Dalai Lama's nose? "Oddly Enough" editor Bob Basler rounds up the goofiest photos of the year.  Full Article 

      Oddly Enough
      A caution sign is seen next to a stock board at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in Sydney September 5, 2008. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz
      Political Risk in 2010:

      Don't say we didn't warn you

      With the financial crisis (mostly) in the past, U.S. investors are eying a fresh start to the coming year. Here's a look at what speedbumps lie ahead.  Full Article 

      Global Markets