Intel to Be Inside Philips’ Showline

By Geoff Duncan Published September 2, 2005

Intel to Be Inside Philips — Image used with permission by copyright holder

At this week’s 2005 International Funkausstellung (IFA) consumer electronics show in Berlin, Philips demonstrated its forthcoming Showline Media Center, which aims to position itself as a comprehensive hub for in-home digital multimedia without requiring the near-rocket science of managing a computer dedicated to media management.

The Showline Media Center is scheduled to be introduced in Europe in October 2005, and features two integrated TV tuners (so users can watch one thing while recording another), a 250 GB hard drive (for storing photos, recorded television shows, music, and photo collections), and a DVD/CD recorder for saving recorded content. The Showline Media Center connects to users’ systems using a selection of digital interfaces, Wi-Fi, and plain-old analog connections. A multi-format card reader on the front panel can access content from SD, Memory Stick, CompactFlash, and MMC memory cards; two FireWire/IEEE1392 ports (one in front, one in back) and four USB 2.0 ports (two front, two back) support digital camcorders, cameras, and other peripherals.

Recommended Videos

Perhaps more significantly, the Showline Media Center represents the first product from Philips’ collaboration with Intel. The heart of the unit is a 3 GHz Pentium 4 processor; also inside are Intel’s 945 Express chipset and Intel-developed software support for multichannel audio and HD video. If the unit sounds like a PC inside, it is: the Showline Media Center comes with Microsoft Media Center 2005 and Windows Media Manager pre-installed. The software is intended to provide easy on-screen control, an on-screen program guide, plus immediate access to video, music, games, and even Internet services; at this time, there no word on whether (or how) the unit can handle security updates or protect itself from Windows now-infamous track record of vulnerabilities.

Intel and Philips both say this PC-like media center represents a first step on a longer path, and future consumer electronics products featuring Intel technology will be less and less like their PC forbearers. Intel is currently focusing on a range of networked consumer electronics devices such as advanced televisions. Intel is currently conducting trails of interconnected consumer products with German firms Bertelsmann and Median.

Former Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Topics

Emerging Tech

Emerging Tech

ChatGPT Pro replaced Gemini Notebook as my favorite research app, and I didn’t see it coming

Electronics, Phone, Mobile Phone

I've been using Gemini Notebook ever since it launched, and for the longest time, it was my go-to app for just about everything. Whether I was researching a topic, organizing work, or studying something new, it became one of those apps I instinctively opened without thinking. When Google kept adding new features, I genuinely believed it had secured a permanent spot in my workflow.

Then, almost without realizing it, ChatGPT Pro took over. I've been using its Work mode for a while now, and somewhere along the way, it replaced Gemini Notebook. Of course, it wasn't an overnight switch. I kept bouncing between the two for weeks, but I gradually found myself reaching for ChatGPT every single time instead. At some point, I realized I hadn't opened Gemini Notebook in days. Now, I honestly don't use it at all.

Emerging Tech

AI chatbots will happily create fake news articles, and tests show ChatGPT is the worst at it

Electronics, Phone, Mobile Phone

The biggest AI chatbots are supposed to help people find information, not manufacture misinformation. But a new investigation suggests that separating those two jobs isn't as straightforward as many AI companies would like users to believe. A series of tests found that several leading AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Meta AI, could be persuaded to generate fake news stories, fabricated headlines, and even realistic-looking screenshots of well-known media outlets. While every chatbot showed some weaknesses, ChatGPT reportedly performed the worst, producing the most convincing fake content with surprisingly little effort.

The findings come from an investigation by German newsroom CORRECTIV, which tested how the AI assistants responded when asked to create false reports involving sensitive topics such as election fraud, government coups, war, vaccines, climate change, and conspiracy theories.

Emerging Tech

DeepSeek just slashed AI prices again, and China’s AI race is getting even messier

DeepSeek AI chatbot running on an iPhone.

China's AI race has never really been short on competition, but it's increasingly looking like a battle over who can charge the least rather than who can build the best model.

DeepSeek has unveiled its latest open-weight AI model, called V4-Flash, alongside a dramatic price reduction that makes it significantly cheaper for developers to use. The company has cut token pricing by 50% and has also decided against introducing a previously announced dynamic pricing system that would have increased costs during periods of heavy demand. The new changes paint a clear picture: DeepSeek appears more interested in winning over developers and expanding its user base than maximizing revenue in the short term.