It all started when Hasbro released the portable, disc-based VideoNow player, which used a proprietary format to play back grainy low-resolution monochrome video at a low frame rate.

ENGADGET: Switched On: Mattel's Juice Box Enters The Matrix

It followed up with the VideoNow Color, which uses a proprietary format to play back grainy, low-resolution, color video at a low frame rate.

ENGADGET: Switched On: Mattel's Juice Box Enters The Matrix

Yes, the individual desks are in cubicle format, but the walls are low so as to allow communication and energy between everyone to be as easy as possible.

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Budding filmmakers might reasonably prefer to shoot their low-budget masterpieces in a snappy forward-looking format instead of a fuzzy one compatible with a 50-year-old TV.

FORBES: Pixel-Packin' Camcorder

The grocery business has become a highly competitive one with low margins compressed even further due to competition from Wal-Mart and other large format stores that siphon price-conscious shoppers away from traditional grocers.

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Nikon's FX-format offers photographers exciting image quality possibilities, from dazzling dynamic range and exacting detail to stellar low-light ability.

ENGADGET: Nikon unveils lightweight, full-frame D600 DSLR -- hands-on and low-light samples (video)

But the format, which also has a successful celebrity spin-off, has been criticised by some commentators as low-grade television and even cruel.

BBC: NEWS | Entertainment | Channel aims for more Big Brother