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TECHNOLOGY
UC Irvine Students Win Extreme Computing Contest; Boeing Could Scrap Irvine's Connexion
Broadcom Corp. might play the role of Switzerland after all.
The company makes chips that bridge the gap between dueling next-generation DVD formats, HD DVD and Blu-Ray.
This is one of the biggest format wars in recent memory-a sort of Beta vs. VHS for the modern home entertainment industry.
The new DVD players promise brighter, sharper pictures.
The discs offer more space for features or alternate versions of a movie.
On the HD DVD side is Toshiba Corp., Sanyo Electric Co. and Hitachi Maxell Ltd., among others.
On the Blu-Ray side is Sony Corp. and its allies, including Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.'s Panasonic and Dell Inc.
Both formats are rolling out this year. Toshiba was first to the punch.
South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., which is in the Blu-Ray camp, could go wobbly on Sony.
It's reportedly mulling over a move to release a dual player that would handle Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs.
"We don't have a plan to make an HD DVD-only player...