SanDisk has announced their latest USB flash drive, the Cruzer Titanium Plus. What makes this drive unique is that it includes an online backup service. To protect against loss or theft, files copied to the Cruzer Titanium Plus are automatically backed up online.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today announced Cruzer Titanium Plus, a USB flash drive that offers automatic online backup for every file copied to the drive, giving users true peace of mind. Cruzer Titanium Plus will be featured at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show from Jan. 7 to 10, where SanDisk will be demonstrating products at Booth #30768, South Hall 3, in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Cruzer Titanium Plus, with a capacity of four gigabytes (GB)1, is the first flash memory product from SanDisk to offer online backup. Users get the best of both worlds, with access online and offline: Data is always available when Cruzer Titanium Plus is plugged into any computer. Users also get quick access to their backed-up files through any computer connected to the Internet, should they forget to bring the drive with them, or if the drive is lost or stolen.
The Cruzer Titanium Plus is expected to be available in March for a suggested retail prices of $59.99. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
According to a new study by ABI Research, high-def PC drives will bring in revenues of about $2 billion by 2012. Of that, about two-thirds will be able to play back both Blu-ray and HD DVD content.
With consumers confused about which format to buy and a relative paucity of drives available to computer manufacturers, how rapidly will HD optical drives enter the PC market?

“ABI Research expects high-definition drives to bring in revenues of about $2 billion by 2012,” says principal analyst Steve Wilson. “Of that, about two-thirds will be accounted for by universal drives, which can play either format. Few universal drives are sold today, partly because of their higher price. But those prices will fall to about the same as Blu-ray players by 2009, and we forecast universal player sales to exceed Blu-ray the following year.”
The price of combination Blu-ray/HD DVD drives have already come down considerably. The LG GGW-H20L retails for $399 which is less than what most single format Blu-ray writers go for. If you'd like to read more, ABI Research's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
CyberLink sent out a press release this morning, announcing that PowerDVD Ultra has been certified to support the playback of the BD-Video Profile 1.1 specification. With support for BD-Video Profile 1.1, PowerDVD owners will be able to use the picture-in-picture functionality found on upcoming Blu-ray Disc titles.
CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), a world leader in digital home solutions, announced today that CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra has been certified by the Blu-ray Disc Association to support playback of BD-Video Profile 1.1 specification.

CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra featuring support for BD-Video Profile 1.1 format allows the playback of high-definition movie content with multiple video streams, providing users with real-time Picture-in-Picture viewing experience such as watching the movie and video commentaries simultaneously.

"CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra has been acknowledged for various standards for high-definition video support including BD-ROM Profile 1.0, BD+, AVCHD, and HD DVD," said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. "Now with PowerDVD Ultra certified for BD-Video Profile 1.1, we ensure users the best Blu-ray movie experience on PCs."
CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra with BD-Video Profile 1.1 support will be available online in early 2008. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
Toshiba announced today that they've filed a lawsuit against the Italian DVD maker, ACME S.p.A. According to Toshiba's press release, ACME is infringing on their patents by manufacturing DVD video discs without a licensing agreement.
Toshiba Corporation announced today that the Company filed a lawsuit in Italy against an Italian disc replicator of DVD discs on December 27, 2007. The suit was brought to the District Court of Milan - Specialised IP Chamber against ACME S.p.A. (ACME), as a means to halt infringement a Toshiba’s DVD patent. Toshiba seeks injunctive relief and declaration that ACME is liable for damages resulting from its infringement of Toshiba’s DVD patent.

Toshiba licenses patents essential for meeting DVD format specifications.1 ACME has not entered into license agreements with Toshiba or the DVD6C Licensing Group2, and has engaged in the manufacture and sales of DVD video discs in Italy without permission. Toshiba contends that ACME’s infringement of Toshiba’s patent has damaged Toshiba’s DVD-related business, and also caused damage to the legitimate and licensed DVD product manufacturing and distribution business as a whole. In filing the lawsuit, Toshiba prepares to recover monetary damages, and to secure an agreement from ACME to respect Toshiba’s intellectual property rights in future.
If you'd like to read more, Toshiba's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Pansonic announced today that they have started shipping samples of the world's thinnest internal Blu-ray Disc (BD) drive to PC manufacturers. While only 9.5mm in height, this new drive can read and write to single and dual layer BD-R/RE media and is backwards compatible with most existing CD and DVD formats.

Due to the increasing need for data volume on personal computers and the gaining popularity of high definition digital images, the demand for Blu-ray discs and BD drives is rapidly rising. Panasonic believes the world's thinnest BD drive ideally meets these consumer trends as it also provides a high added value for notebook PCs that are also becoming thinner and lighter. Panasonic continues to bring out innovative disc drives through steady improvements in their performance and features.

Even with its 9.5 mm high thin profile, the new BD drive features double speed reading and writing for both write-once BD-R and rewritable BD-RE discs. This feature was facilitated through perfecting technologies such as improved light usage efficiency, high-speed recording waveform and broader bandwidth of the light-receiving element.

The product is also capable of reading and writing on BD-R DL (dual layer/50GB) and BD-RE DL discs and will be compatible with future organic pigment-type BDs.
While pricing and availability have not been announced, samples of Panasonic's new BD drive will be on display in January at CES. If you'd like to read more, Panasonic's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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I just wanted to remind everyone that CDRLabs is offering an ad-free subscription-based service. For a low monthly or yearly fee, CDRLabs.com can be viewed without any ads. This subscription service also gives members access to a special "members only" section of the forum and benefits like a larger attachment quota. As part of your subscription, you will also get a vanity CDRLabs email address. Powered by Google, this email account comes with a 5GB quota.

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    MPEG LA announced this week that they have filed a lawsuit against the consumer electronics company, Audiovox. According to the MPEG LA's press release, Audiovox failed to report fully its manufacture or sale of products that use the MPEG-2 or IEEE 1394 (FireWire) standards. MPEG LA also alleges that Audiovox failed to make full payments related to these products and would not allow an audit as permitted by contract.
    MPEG LA, LLC, world leader in alternative one-stop patent licenses, today announced that it has commenced an action against Audiovox Electronics Corporation (“Audiovox”) for breach of contractual obligations as a Licensee to MPEG LA’s MPEG-2 Patent Portfolio License (the “MPEG-2 Contract”) and 1394 Patent Portfolio License (the “1394 Contract”).

    According to the complaint filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Audiovox has breached its contractual obligations by failing to report fully its manufacture or sale of products such as DVD players and digital TVs that use the MPEG-2 digital video compression standard or employ the high-speed transfer digital interface provided for in the IEEE 1394 standard, failing to make full payments for its manufacture or sale of such products, and refusing to allow an audit as permitted by the MPEG-2 Contract and 1394 Contract (collectively, “the Contracts”).
    MPEG LA is seeking monetary damages, an account of all products that fall under the contracts and an injunction prohibiting Audiovox from manufacturing or selling MPEG-2 and 1394 products. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
    While Digital Playground dropped Blu-ray in favor of HD DVD earlier this year, the adult film studio has had a change of heart. Due to pressure from Playstation 3 owners, Digital Playground will release its first Blu-ray title, Pirates, later this year.
    Digital Playground founder Joone says the decision hinged on cost. “The advantage of HD DVD over Blu-ray is the cost factor, both in manufacturing and the players,” he says, adding that the rest of the porn industry is “basically behind HD DVD because of manufacturing costs. It costs a lot more to put out a title on Blu-ray.”

    HD DVD has done well for Digital Playground, and the company claims to have an 80-percent share of the market for HD porn. Joone says that about one-third of the publisher’s video shipments are now HD.

    So why go with Blu-ray? Joone explains, “A lot of people were emailing that bought a PlayStation and they were basically saying, ‘When are you guys going to release Blu-ray?’ They really have no preference in format yet because it’s so now. When it comes down to image quality, there is no difference between the two.”
    While the image quality is the same, Digital Playground is taking full advantage of Blu-ray's extra capacity. The extras on the Blu-ray version Pirates will be in 1080p instead of the standard def content found on the HD DVD release of the movie. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
    RITEK announced this morning that they will be the first company to launch 16x DVD+R DL media. According to the information on their website, an entire 8.5GB disc can be written in as little as 10 minutes.

    RITEK Corporation, the global leading manufacturer of storage media, has once again outdone competitors with its outstanding technology to become the first company to launch DVD+R DL 16X. RITEK's DVD+R DL offers up to 16X of writing speed and is undoubtedly a welcoming product for modern PC users who are always concerned about speed.

    Before Blu-ray discs become the next mainstream media, RITEK Corporation has offered its new DVD+R DL 16X as consumers' best solution for backups and data storage. Apart from having the advantages of large capacity of 8.5GB and the convenience of not having to change sides during the burning process, at a writing speed at 16X, it will only take 10 minutes to write 8.5GB of data on to the disc. This is equivalent to 4 hours of high-resolution DVD image; 16 hours of VHS quality image or 120 hours of MP3 music. RITEK DVD+R DL 16X offers a substantial increase in data/image/music burning speed and convenience for the consumers and it is most suitable for company or individual use when there is a need for backup for massive amount of data. With RITEK DVD+R DL 16X, the days of long waiting time for data backup are over.
    While RITEK may be the first company to get 16x DVD+R DL media to market, Ricoh launched their own discs back in March. If you'd like to read more, RITEK's entire announcement can be found here. Add a comment