AT&T announced it will work with Hollywood studios to develop technology aimed at thwarting those nefarious souls who would use their broadband services to upload pirated content.  Privacy advocates are up in arms, competitors will be watching closely.

AT&T’s new relationships with studios, forged in order to provide television service, are the source of pressure to combat piracy.  Read CNN.com’s coverage here.

Today, Toshiba rolls out their latest Dynabook, the Santa Rosa-based Satellite WXW. At 8.6-pounds and more than 2-inches thick, this 17.1-incher has 256MB of DirectX 10-capable GeForce 8700M GT graphics, the new top-of-the-line 8M-series GPU from NVIDIA. The display touts a 1,680 x 1,050 pixel resolution with a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300, ±R dual-layer DVD burner and loads of in-and-outs — even HDMI for a quick digital-out to your new flat panel television. Available starting today in Japan with 1GB DDR2 / 120GB disk configurations starting at Â¥219,800 or about $1,805.

In the year 2009, you might find that the bunny ears that was placed on (or in several cases, behind) the TV will be discarded and traded up for a new model. The new model, set in motion by the Federal Communications Commission, will be contained in a tiny converter box, that transfers digital-to-analog signals to the television. Due to the ever-evolving world of technology, it would only be expected that the method in which we receive the little images on the screen evolves as well. It’s only a wonder why it has taken so long.

The boxes will be available for about $80, and is determined to broadcast a much better image that would be available via analog.