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Optical Storage
Here's an interesting bit of news. According to DigiTimes, Panasonic expects blue-laser optical disc drives to be built into 10% of desktop and notebook PCs by 2008. This increase adoption is primarily due to the drop in price of Blu-ray Disc writers and the willingness of large PC vendors to adopt blue-laser burners and drives.
The adoption of blue-laser optical disc drives (ODDs), Blu-ray Disc (BD) and/or HD DVD, built into desktop and notebook PCs will increase from less than 1% of all PCs in 2007 to 10% in 2008, according to general manager Masayuki Kozuka for the Storage Device Business Strategy Office of Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic).

In the case of BD burners, OEM price levels have dropped from US$1,000 in 2006 to US$800 in 2007 and may further fall to US$500 in 2008 mainly because of increasing yields and production capacity of BD pick-up heads and chipsets, Kozuka pointed out. This has increased the willingness of international PC vendors, including Hewlett-Packard (HP), Dell, Acer and Asustek Computer, to adopt blue-laser burners or drives, Kozuka indicated.
If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
Call/Recall has announced that they've developed and tested the industry’s first terabyte optical disk. This new disk uses the latest implementation of Call/Recall's 2-Photon-3D technology, which can provide 40 times the capacity of Blu-ray on standard 120mm, DVD-size media.
Call/Recall Inc., a pioneer in affordable, ultra-high-capacity optical disk storage, today announced that it has developed and tested the industry’s first terabyte optical disk, and is entering into product design and discussion with leading manufacturing partners. This new disk, the latest implementation of the company’s 2-Photon-3D technology, offers unprecedented value for the growing enterprise storage archiving and consumer markets.

A relatively new optical disk technology, 2-Photon-3D uses a special “near-field” lens and fluorescent media technology to record hundreds of layers three-dimensionally; in comparison, Blu-ray records to the surface. 2-Photon-3D offers more than DVD recording because the near-field lens can precisely and dynamically focus into the depth of the fluorescent media, taking advantage of the full depth of standard 120mm, DVD-size media to achieve recording densities as good as or better than holographic technologies.
If you'd like to read more, Call/Recall's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Flash Memory
Transcend recently announced an 8GB version of its JetFlash V30 USB flash drive. The JetFlash V30 comes bundled with Transcend’s JetFlash elite software package which includes functions like Autologin, PC-Lock, Mobile E-mail and DataBackup.

Transcend, a leading manufacturer of flash memory products, introduced an 8GB version of its tiny USB flash drive - JetFlash V30. The V30 has a curved, ultra-compact body (60mm x 16.5mm x 8.1mm) and only weighs 7g. Its color scheme is simple and elegant, being almost completely black with a splash of color around its cap. With eight full gigabytes of storage capacity and renowned Transcend build quality at down-to-earth prices, the V30 represents a new standard in value. The extra storage space allows you store a whole lot more of your personal files, documents from work, digital photos, movies and music on a flash drive smaller than your finger. Never worry about running out of space again! The JetFlash V30 supports Windows 98 SE / 2000 / Me / XP / Vista, Mac OS 9.0 / OS X and Linux Kernel 2.4.2 or later, providing seamless data exchange between different operating systems.
The JetFlash V30 is available now in 8GB, 4GB, 2GB, 1GB and 512MB capacities. Full details can be found here. Add a comment

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Other

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Other
Macrovision announced today that agreed to purchase technology assets from Cryptography Research Inc. for $45 million in cash and Macrovision stock. These assets include Cryptography Research's Self-Protecting Digital Content (SPDC) technology, which is used by Blu-ray's BD+ content protection.
Macrovision Corporation (Nasdaq:MVSN) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire certain technology assets from Cryptography Research, Inc. (CRI), the San Francisco-based R&D organization focused on solving complex security problems. Upon closing of the transaction, Macrovision will own the SPDC (Self-Protecting Digital Content) technology, which formed the basis of BD+, a key element of Blu-ray’s content security platform. The purchase includes certain CRI’s patents, security software code, and related third party customer and partner agreements. Macrovision will also hire certain CRI employees involved in the technology. Macrovision will hold a conference call to discuss the transaction today at 1:00pm Eastern time; see dial-in information below.

The Blu-ray Disc Association adopted BD+, exclusive to the Blu-ray format, as an added layer of content protection for movies and other premium entertainment released on the Blu-ray Disc standard. The technology will complement Macrovision’s existing ACP and Ripguard video security solutions.
If you'd like to read more, Macrovision's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
Pioneer Europe has officially announced their new series of 20x DVD writers. The DVR-115D, DVR-215D and DVR-215 are capable of 20x DVD±R and 10x DVD±R DL writing speeds and feature Pioneer's Disc-Resonance Stabiliser technology. The DVR-215 ups the ante further with support for 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds.

The DVR-115D is a dual-format ATAPI DVD writer (writing to DVD-R/+R, DVD-RW/+RW and CD-R/RW media). Also available are two SATA drives: the DVR-215D writes to an identical range of media as the DVR-115D whilst the DVR-215 is a multi-format unit that adds DVD-RAM writing capabilities.

All models offer read-support for DVD-RAM discs and the ability to write at 20X speed on DVD-R/+R discs. They include our original technologies to enhance reading and writing performance and are available in three colours, beige, black and silver.
As usual, Pioneer is reserving a special drive for the Japanese market. Along with a nicer looking bezel, the DVR-A15J supports LabelFlash and Pioneer's new PowerRead and PURE READ technologies. Both of these technologies are designed to cope with discs that may be scratched or dirty and, in the case of PURE READ, deliver the best music quality possible. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
Samsung sent out a press release this morning, announcing their latest optical drive, the TruDirect SE-S204S. With this new drive, consumers can connect a digital device such as a camcorder or digital camera to their PC and burn videos or photos to DVD in real-time.

Samsung Electronics Ltd., the worldwide digital consumer electronics and information technology leader, introduces a powerful new optical disc drive, TruDirect SE-S204S, which allows consumers to create DVDs and burn digital content through a PC without the need for a hard drive. The TruDirect SE-S204S provides easy and fast real-time recording from nearly any digital device.

With camcorder and digital camera sales skyrocketing, predicted to be nearly 100 million units sold in 2008, consumers can now conveniently create DVDs in record time. Similar to VCR recording, users can connect a digital device such as a camcorder, digital camera or Web cam to their PC or notebook, and then connect the Samsung TruDirect SE-S204S to the computer to burn DVD movies directly.
The TruDirect SE-S204S can also function as an external DVD writer and is capable of 20x DVD±R, 16x DVD+R DL and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds. The drive is shipping with a street price of $159.99. More information can be found here. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
Sales of the PlayStation 3 have more than doubled in the weeks following a $100 price cut and the launch of a lower-priced version of the console. According to Reuters, sales rose to 75,000 in the week of Oct. 29 and more than 100,000 in the following week.
U.S. sales of Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 (PS3) more than doubled in the weeks following a price cut and the launch of a lower-priced version, the company said on Friday, in a sign of changing fortunes for the game console.

Sony said it sold about 75,000 PS3 consoles in the week of October 29 in the United States, and more than 100,000 in the following week, compared with weekly sales of 30,000 to 40,000 before.

Sony cut the U.S. price of its PS3 with an 80-gigabyte hard disk drive by 17 percent to $499 in mid-October. It started selling a new model with a 40-GB hard drive on November 2 for $399 in an effort to ignite demand ahead of the crucial holiday season.
While these price cuts have given PS3 sales a much needed boost, it still has a long way to go to catch up to the Wii and Xbox 360. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Other
The DVD Forum held their 40th Steering Committee meeting earlier this week. Among other things, the group approved the logo for the China HD DVD format as well as version 2.0 of the physical specifications for the triple-layer 51GB HD DVD-ROM disc. Here are some of the highlights from the meeting:
  • Approval of
    DVD Specifications for High Density Read-Only Disc [HD DVD-ROM (51G)] Part 1 Physical Specifications, Version 2.0
  • Approval of
    Logo/Mark for China HD DVD Format
  • Approval of
    Be it resolved: That representative companies of the DVD Forum on the License Enforcement Committee specified in the China HD DVD Format and Logo License Agreement be; 1. Members of the DVD Forum Steering Committee, 2. Selected by vote of the Steering Committee following each SC election for a 2 year term, 3. Collectively represent industry segments including content publishing, consumer electronics, and information technology.
  • Approval of
    CHINA HD DVD FORMAT/LOGO LICENSE AGREEMENT (FLLA) with the following conditions:
    1. Territorial Restriction Plan agreement
    2. Forum counsel finalizing the language for FLLA, which will include the resolution of LEC membership
  • Approval of
    -HD DVD-VR Recorder for HD DVD-RW Test Specification, Version 1.0
    -HD DVD-VR Recorder for DVD-R/RW/RAM Test Specification, Version 1.0
If you'd like to read more, the Steering Committee's entire list of resolutions can be found here. Add a comment

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