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23 July 2007

Verbatim Europe has announced that they will be unveiling a number of new products at this year's IFA. Along with their 30GB HD DVD DL media, the company will be showcasing their new external hard drives and computer mice.

At IFA, Verbatim is unveiling a raft of new products in the fields of Optical Media, USB Storage Media & Memory Cards. In addition, a highlight will be the worldwide market launch of Verbatim’s external hard drives in the 2.5” and 3.5” format. With these and other products from the Memory Card and USB key sector, Verbatim is expanding its strategic position as the leading provider of high-quality Digital Storage Media. The Verbatim stand can be found at Hall 15.1 My Media, at stand 131 during the IFA trade show on the trade fair grounds in Berlin between 31st August and 5th September.

At IFA, the world’s largest consumer Electronic trade show in Berlin, Verbatim will be unveiling its new external HD drives. Other innovations include the first generation of the HD-DVD DL Dual Layer with 30 GB of storage, the SDHC and CompactFlash Flash Memory cards with 4 GB and 8 GB of memory, plus the USB 2.0 Store 'n' Go with a massive 16 GB of storage space.

Verbatim currently plans to release their HD DVD DL media and external hard drives to the European market in September. Full details can be found here. Add a comment

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20 July 2007

Canon PowerShot SD1000/IXUS 70 Digital Camera @Madshrimps
Cooler Master Aquagate S1 INTEL/AMD Water Cooling System @Tweaknews.net
Cooler Master COSMOS PC Case @I4U
DFI nForce 680i LT-T2R Motherboard @Madshrimps
Logitech MX Revolution Laser Mouse @The TechZone
Planar PX2611W 26" Widescreen LCD Monitor @Benchmark Reviews
Tagan A+ Black Pearl PC Case @ThinkComputers.org
XpertVision Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB GDDR3 Sonic @Hardware Zone

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Optical Storage

20 July 2007

Ricoh recently exhibted a new optical device that enables the playback of multiple formats using a single objective lens. According to Tech-On!, Ricoh's Multiple Format Compatible Plate (MFCP) diffracts a laser's beam differently, depending on the disc being read.

When used in the optical system of the optical head in an optical disc drive, the device can eliminate the need of so-called two lens setup in which two lenses are provided for use with CD/DVD and the next-generation DVD such as Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD.

The company said that, while MFCP is required to be added, the number of optical parts in the entire optical head may be decreased compared with the case of the two lens setup, thereby reducing the size of the optical system of the optical head.

Tech-On! reports that Ricoh's optical device can only be applied to read-only applications. However, the company is continuing development, hoping to push prices below $1. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

20 July 2007

Verbatim's parent company, Mitsubishi Chemical, has announced that they've developed a new type of CD-R media for people with weak or no vision at all. These new discs feature a special surface where information like the type, capacity and rated speed are printed in braille code. Here's part of their press release, translated from Japanese:

Mitsubishi chemical media corporation (head office: The tokyo Minato-ku, president: Otsuka it is heavy virtue and below “MKM”), the Braille attachment CD-R which can grasp the letter of the disk surface with feeling (postscript type) we sell the disk in this year 8 end of the month. Besides the fact that the Braille convex (with densely) by the fact that letter is printed on the disk surface, standard and capacity etc of the disk can be read, the identification of the inside and outside becomes easy.

No word on price or availability. If you'd like to read more, Mitsubishi's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

20 July 2007

Good news for our European readers. vnunet.com is reporting that Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions plans to drop the price of its Blu-ray Disc writer to about €549.

Joint venture company Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions has announced plans to cut the price of its internal Lite-On Blu-ray Disc Drive LH-2B1S in Europe.

The company said that the move was prompted by the greater availability of Blu-ray lasers.

Lite-On launched its LH-2B1S in November 2006, but due to an early global shortage of the actual Blu-ray lasers, prices of Blu-ray writers remained high relative to alternative systems and pricing had not moved since these were introduced.

Europe isn't the only place seeing price cuts. Here in the US, we've already seen the LH-2B1S go for less than $300. The Taiwanese market has also experienced a 20% price drop. However, due to the price of media, drive sales are still very slow. Add a comment

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Flash Memory

19 July 2007

Sandisk recently launched a new line of products inspired by Ducati's motorcycles. Along with a series of CompactFlash and SD Plus cards, the company unveiled the Ducati Edition USB Flash Drive. According to Sandisk's press release, the drive features a 4GB capacity and can read and write speed at speeds up to 20 MB/s.

The true “Ducatisti,” as aficionados of Ducati motorcycles call themselves, will appreciate the attention to detail in the SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition USB Flash Drive, including the Ducati Corse logo on top of the drive and the red tail light that illuminates whenever the drive is inserted into the USB port of a computer .

On the inside, the drive offers a generous 4 gigabytes (GB) of capacity and front-of-the-pack read and write speeds of 20 megabytes per second - the fastest of the SanDisk portfolio of consumer USB drives. In other words, there isn’t a long wait to fill the drive’s big fuel tank with documents, photos, music and other digital data.

The Ducati Edition USB Flash Drive will be available in August for a suggested retail price of $124.99. Full details can be found here. Add a comment

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19 July 2007

In an attempt to give CD sales a much needed boost, Disney's Hollywood Records will start offering a new CD format with extra features. According to Reuters, the CDVU+ (CD View Plus) format reads like a digital magazine, offering extras like song lyrics, photos, videos and access to downloadable content.

Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) music label Hollywood Records is offering a new CD format with extra features to encourage compact-disc purchases in a bid to reverse declining CD sales.

Hollywood Records on Wednesday unveiled its new CDVU+ (CD View Plus) format with digital magazine extras, song lyrics, band photos and other extras to boost fan loyalty.

The new format also replaces the traditional CD booklet and plastic jewel case with recyclable packaging.

While I don't think CDVU+ will give CD sales the boost Disney wants, the switch to recyclable packaging should make the tree huggers happy. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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18 July 2007

Gigabyte Blue Eye Video Card Water Cooler @Tweaknews.net
HP Pavilion a6030la Desktop PC @ChileHardware
LaCie d2 Blu-ray Drive Recorder @InsideHW.com
Shuttle Glamor XPC SG33G5 @Hardware Zone
Thermaltake iXoft Notebook Cooler @HardwareLogic

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Home Entertainment

18 July 2007

For the last few months, Toshiba has been giving away 5 free HD DVD movies with the purchase of one of their HD DVD players. While this promotion was supposed to end on July 31st, Toshiba has announced that it will continue through the month of September.

Toshiba America Consumer Products,L.L.C. ("Toshiba") announced it has extended its highly successful 5 freeHD DVD disc promotion, "The Perfect Offer," until September 30, 2007. "ThePerfect Offer," a strategic promotion started last year by Toshiba toencourage purchase of Toshiba HD DVD players, has been met withoverwhelming demand and consumer response and has contributed to strongsales of Toshiba HD DVD players.

As a result, with the purchase of any Toshiba HD DVD player, consumerswill continue to be able to select five HD DVD titles for free, from aselection of 15, via a mail-in offer. Full offer details are available athttp://www.toshibahddvd.com.

Most likely, Toshiba is responding to the Blu-ray Disc Association's own 5 free movie offer which started at the beginning of the month. If you'd like to read more about Toshiba's promotion, their entire press release can be found here. Add a comment