A new survey commissioned by Rovi Corporation has revealed some interesting ideas about the way people watch TV. The survey found that viewers have changed their TV watching habits with the introduction of on-demand, online and set-top box recorded TV to many homes across the country.

The 'did you see x last night?' conversations that people have with their friends and colleagues appear to be dwindling, with nearly 70% of respondants stating that they will refrain from discussing a programme they have recently watched or at least check with others before discussing any spoilers.

The survey also found that almost half of the British population watch TV they’ve recorded themselves on a set-top box like Sky+, and a whopping a huge 97% believe that over the next five years they will be getting their TV or video content from the internet or recorded to watch on their schedule.

For the full details of the survey, visit the Rovi Website here.

Bad news wannabe Ring-bearers in Europe - the free to play version of Lord of the Rings Online has been delayed pending bug fixes.

The news broke on the official LOTRO forums a couple of days ago, with no specific reason given other than "more time" being needed, and no details on exactly how long the delay will be.

The US free to play version of LOTRO is still scheduled to go live today, so those of you lucky enough to live stateside can start exploring Middle Earth for free as soon as you can download the 10GB+ client.

For more information and updates, keep an eye on the official sticky forum post here.

The latest iOS 4.1 software update for Apple's iPhone/iPod/iPad is now available to download via iTunes.

Among the features of this latest release is a new option for HDR photos: before this update, photos taken with a light background often ended up with either a very dark foreground or a very bright background, resulting in a huge loss of detail in the photo. Now users have the option to use the new HDR setting, which effectively takes several photos at different light levels and combines them to create one balanced photo, showing the full detail of both the shadows and the highlights of the image.

Another interesting new feature is the 'Game Center', which is a central hub for all your mobile gaming that links social elements and tracks your achievements. You can find friends to play with online, as well as compare your high scores in a similar manner to Xbox Live Achievements or PlayStation Network Trophies.

The update is available now - all you need to do is connect your Apple device to iTunes and it will prompt you to download and install the software.

Source: Apple Website

The latest beta update to the DivX Web Player has just been released and brings with it a host of new features, including one that could help DivX carve up a slice of the web video market.

The new feature, known as DivX HiQ™, allows you to switch the videos you watch on popular video websites like YouTube, Vimeo and Daily Motion, to a high quality DivX format. According to DivX, the videos will feature "fewer interruptions, smoother playback and more vivid colors".

Flash have a solid hold on the web video market but after some serious criticism from Apple recently, as well as the emergence of HTML 5, Adobe might find Flash playing catchup for the first time in a while.

The main new features of the beta release of DivX Plus Web Player are as follows:

• DivX HiQ™ – use DivX Plus Web Player on YouTube and more
• New Format Support – MP4 & MOV
• HTML5 <video> tag support
• DXVA Hardware acceleration

For downloads, further information (and a URL that needs re-writing!) visit the DivX website here.

The new social networking feature of iTunes, called iTunes Ping, has amassed over one million users within the first two days of launch.

This large number of Ping users represents about a third of all the users who have downloaded iTunes 10, though this is only a small fraction of iTunes users so far.

“One-third of the people who have downloaded iTunes 10 have joined Ping,“ said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services. “As many more people download iTunes 10 in the coming weeks, we expect the Ping community to continue growing.“

iTunes 10 and Ping have had a bit of a rocky start, in some ways mirroring the mixed reception the iPhone 4G had due to reception problems and other technical issues. There has already been a backlash on the web about the the iTunes logo, which now has a spoof Twitter account to defend itself against criticism, and Ping itself has also come into criticism for unleashing a torrent of spam upon release.

Still, a million new users in two days isn't bad going and if Apple can press on with further improvements, Ping could end up being another successful addition to the Apple family.

Source: Apple Press Release