MICRODIA recently announced the launch of their Flash-Key Fruit-A-Roma USB drives. These new drives have a capacity of 8GB and come in four fruity scents: orange, strawberry, grape and green apple.

MICRODIA Ltd. (MICRODIA), a world leader and innovator in flash memory technologies, announced today the newlylaunched Flash-Key Fruit-A-Roma USB drives that add fragrant fruity scents and colours to MICRODIA’s high quality range of USB flash drives. Aunique and novel concept, Fruit-A-Roma USB drives are the first of their kind to offer fresh fruit flavors that you can actually smell, encompassingMICRODIA’s high quality USB flash drive technology for superior data storage.

MICRODIA’s Fruit-A-Roma USB drives offer a twist of fun for the younger generation and the young-at-heart who enjoy novel products and expect thehighest quality. Fruit-A-Roma comes in four fruity scents of orange, strawberry, grape and green apple. Built-in software maximizes user’s mobilecomputing experience, enabling easy data storage and transfer in a handy and fashionable way. With its compact size of 4.3 x 1.8 cm, this fun andhassle-free product is easy to carry and simple to use with no driver installation required1. The USB 2.0 interface enables hot plug-and-play and thehigh quality memory chip can be re-written 1 million times and keep data more than 10 years.
No word on pricing or availability. If you'd like to read more, MICRODIA’s entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Target isn't the only retailer deciding to go promote Blu-ray in their stores. Video Business has reported that BJ's Wholesale Club has decided to drop HD DVD and will carry Blu-ray exclusively at all of its stores.
East Coast chain BJ’s Wholesale Club will drop HD DVD from its shelves and carry the Blu-ray Disc format exclusively by the fourth quarter, according to sources at the retailer and several Hollywood studios.

Sources said the chain will carry Blu-ray exclusively at all its 170 stores, although it continues to carry both formats on its Web site.
Toshiba better do something because if large retailers like Walmart or Best Buy follow this trend and decide to go Blu-ray, the format war is pretty much over. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
CyberLink announced this morning that PowerDVD Ultra and PowerDirector have been optimized for Intel's Core 2 Quad processor. Here's part of their press release:
CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), a leader in digital home solutions, announced significant performance gains for playing, analyzing, and producing high-quality video content using CyberLink's leading applications on systems featuring the Intel Core 2 Quad processors.

CyberLink's optimization of the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD playback software PowerDVD Ultra improved frame-rate performance by up to 66%. Automated video editing software PowerDirector improved editing and transcoding times by up to 68%. All software was tested in controlled conditions and was verified with significantly improved performance on Intel's quad-core technology.
If you'd like to read more, CyberLink's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Good news for Blu-ray fans. Target has reportedly decided to promote the format through the upcoming holiday shopping season. According to an article by the Associated Press, Target stores will start selling the Sony BDP-S300 in October and will display Blu-ray titles from three studio at the end of aisles.
Target Corp., the nation's second-largest retailer, will start selling a Sony Blu-ray high-definition DVD player during the critical holiday shopping period and feature the player along with Blu-ray discs in store displays, dealing a potential blow to the rival HD DVD format.

The move, which the companies will formally announce Thursday, is another step in resolving a format war that has kept confused consumers from rushing to buy new DVD players until they can determine which format will dominate the market.

Target said it will sell the Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) BDP-S300 for $499 in October and display it along with Blu-ray DVDs from three studios, including Sony Corp. and The Walt Disney Co., at the ends of store aisles.
Take note that Target isn't exclusively Blu-ray. The company still sells Toshiba's HD DVD players on their website and the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive in stores. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
Sonic Solutions has announced a new version of its Scenarist Designer PS Software. By using this plugin, graphic designers can design menus in Photoshop and export them for use with both Blu-ray and HD DVD. With version 2.1, Sonic has broadened the applications reach by supporting non-Scenarist-based authoring systems.
Sonic Solutions today introduced Scenarist Designer PS Software Version 2.1, a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop that brings increased power, flexibility, and automation to the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc menu design process. Offering seamless integration with the title-creation workflow in Sonic's industry-leading Scenarist Workgroup authoring applications, Designer PS enables simultaneous format-compliant output of color-optimized menu graphics for both Blu-ray Disc (HDMV and BD-J) and HD DVD (HDi). New in version 2.1 is support for non-Scenarist-based authoring systems, which broadens the application's reach and effectiveness for graphics professionals joining the high-definition format evolution. Scenarist Designer PS 2 is available immediately through Sonic's resale channels worldwide.
If you'd like to read more, Sonic's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Like Toshiba, Microsoft is doing their part to help promote the HD DVD format. The company announced today at Comic-Con that it will lower the price of the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player from $199 to $179. Anyone buying the player between August 1st and September 30th will also get five free HD DVD movies.
Today at Comic-Con International 2007, Microsoft Corp. announced it will lower the price of the popular Xbox 360 HD DVD Player from $199 to $179 ERP (United States only) starting Aug. 1, 2007, and will add five free HD DVD movies for anyone purchasing an Xbox 360 HD DVD Player between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30. In addition, Microsoft further solidified the Xbox 360 as the ultimate high-definition (HD) entertainment platform, with key announcements around the HD DVD launches of “300” from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and “Heroes: Season 1” from Universal Studios.
The five free HD DVD movie promotion is very similar to the one Toshiba is offering. People buying the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player will be able to choose five HD DVD titles from a selection of 15 through a mail-in offer. Full details can be found here. Add a comment

BoomChair 2.1 Multimedia Chair @I4U
Cirago CST2010 Smart Mobile Storage @OCModShop
GeCube GC-XHD2600XTG4-D3 (Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB GDDR4) @Hardware Zone
Gigabyte's Digital TV GSmart t600 Mobile @TweakTown
Hiper HPU-4K530-MS Type R Modular 530W PSU @Benchmark Reviews
Logitech V220 Notebook Mouse @DV Hardware
OCZ Reaper HPC PC2-8500 2GB Memory Kit @ThinkComputers.org
Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu LED CPU Cooler @PC Apex
Add a comment
With Samsung's combo Blu-ray/HD DVD player hitting store shelves later this year, there has been a lot of speculation regarding its price. While some sources have stated that the BD-UP5000 would be priced at only $545, others have reported that it would cost $550 more than Samsung's single format Blu-ray player. Samsung has finally come out and announced the player's price. According to a blog post at CNET News.com, the BD-UP5000 will retail for $1,049.
Samsung announced final official details on two expensive Blu-ray players today, including the HD DVD-playin' BD-UP5000 we wrote about before, and a new home theater-in-a-box (HTiB) that incorporates a Blu-ray player, the HT-BD2. We're now told the BD-UP5000 will retail for $1,049, and the HT-BD2 will sell for $1,499. Both will ship sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, and will round out the company's five-model series of 2007 Blu-ray players.
The BD-UP5000 will reportedly feature ethernet and HDMI 1.3 ports, HQV video processing and the ability to output 1080p/24 video from Blu-ray discs. Oddly enough, it does not support 1080p/24 when playing HD DVD movies. If you'd like to read more, the entire blog post can be found here. Add a comment
LightScribe announced today that 12 more companies, including Sony and Kodak, have licensed their direct disc labeling technology. Here's part of their press release:
LightScribe today announced that an additionaltwelve hardware brands, personal computer and optical drive manufacturers, mediabrands and disc publishing systems manufacturers have licensed its direct disc labelingtechnology. These new licensees include hardware brands Apricorn, Ativa, Gear Head,and Sony; personal computer manufacturer MESH Computers; optical disc drivemanufacturer Sony NEC Optiarc; media brands Ativa, Intenso, KODAK Media Products,and Vakoss; and disc publishing systems manufacturers Advanced Digital Research,Amtren, and Mexty Productions.
If you'd like to read more, LightScribe's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Denon recently announced their new high end Blu-ray Disc player, the DVD-3800BDCI. This $1999 monster is the first player to feature support for BD-ROM Version 1.1 which, among other things, allows for playback of picture-in-picture content. The DVD-3800BDCI also features the Silicon Optix Realta chipset, which provides enhanced video performance with upconversion and IP scaling to 1080p.
Denon Electronics, a world leader in high-performance home entertainment products, today announced the upcoming introduction of two groundbreaking DVD products, the new reference-standard DVD-3800BDCI BD-ROM Profile 1 version 1.1 Blu-ray Disc Player and the DVD-2500BTC BD-ROM Profile 1 version 1.1 Blu-ray Disc Transport. The DVD-3800BDCI (SRP: $1,999) is the world's first BD-ROM Profile 1 version 1.1 Blu-ray Disc Player from a Blu-Ray Disc Association member featuring the acclaimed 10-bit Silicon Optix Realta chipset. It provides users with the highest resolution high-definition video available today via HDMI connection, as well as the ultimate in audio performance, including high-definition audio decoding and DDSC-HD audio output. The DVD-2500BTCI outputs audio and video signals and requires a connected audio/video receiver to do the decoding. Both BD-ROM Profile 1 version 1.1 Blu-ray units are slated to ship this fall.
As impressive as this sounds, it will be interesting to see how many people will shell out $1999 for the DVD-3800BDCI. If you'd like to read more, head on over to Gizmodo. Add a comment