Infinity from Japan has introduced the first production video title in the world that features both Blu-ray and DVD on a single layer.  A boxed set of the TV series Code Blue will see playable versions of both formats, courtesy of a permeable layer that uses different wavelengths to store data at various levels.  Blu-ray’s blue laser will be able to recognize one layer, while a DVD player’s red laser will see the other. Blu-ray’s namesake laser will recognize one layer, while a DVD player’s red laser will see another. The technique lets owners of older movie players and PC drives buy a single title and automatically upgrade to playing HD when they pick up a Blu-ray player.
Discs with two Blu-ray layers and a single DVD layer are also possible, Infinity notes, as the disc standard supports shallower layers and can stack more than one per disc. The Code Blue example currently uses single-layer Blu-ray. These discs are known as Blu-ray/DVD hybrid discs and will ship on February 18 next year for approximately $408 for the entire 11-episode box set.
Further information unveiled about a couple of ultraportables from Dell. Engadget got a hold of some photos of the leather-clad Studio XPS 13 laptop, and by all accounts, it’s a good-looking hunk of computing. They mention it being discussed by Dell as the “word’s thinnest laptopâ€, and that it’s been pushed back to February of 2009. Full specs on the 13-inch notebook are unknown, but going by the press photos we can see that it has two USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA port, HDMI output and VGA output, together with wired ethernet. Other specs include a slot-load optical drive, integrated webcam and microphone, and a multiformat memory card reader.
Earlier leaks have pointed to the system undercutting Apple’s price by making the LED backlight optional but that options will exist which aren’t available on its rival, including Blu-ray, a dedicated GPU, 3G/4G access and a fingerprint reader read more…
Parrot has unveiled its new “Zikmu†the Parrot by Philippe Starck wireless speakers for iPod and iPhone. One of the 2.5-foot high freestanding columns has an iPod dock that will charge compatible Apple devices, including the original and iPhone 3G, and use it as the source for audio files. This main tower then sends the audio files to its near twin over Bluetooth, which is also used to play tracks from other compatible and paired cellphones or personal media players
In addition, they offer an integrated iPod and iPhone Dock, and can accept streaming audio over Wi-Fi or an A2DP Bluetooth connection. All that comes at an expectedly premium price, however, with the speakers set to run $1,500 when they’re released sometime in the spring.
Toshiba on Thursday introduced what it says is the first 2.5-inch, 512-GB solid-state drive for notebooks. The drive will make its public debut at CES in January. Â The company will also be debuting a number of different capacity SSD drives–64-, 128, and 256GB drives, available in either 1.8-inch or 2.5-inch form factors. The drives feature MLC controllers, read speeds of 240 Mbytes/s, and write speeds of 200 Mbytes/s. The new drives provide a high level of performance and endurance for use in notebook computers, gaming and home entertainment systems, and will be showcased at International CES 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 8 to 11, 2009, with mass production beginning the second quarter.
No word on pricing yet, which will likely determine. Early in the SSD market the other barrier was the limited capacity, as 16- and 32GB were the norm less than two years ago. Now that the capacities are approaching or exceeding traditional magnetic media.
Google has launched visually optimized search results that are designed to fit the screens of the iPhone and G1 mobile devices. Search results have been optimized to load faster and are formatted to fit just perfect on the device’s display. The new results pages are available in U.S. English for Android… the iPhone and iPod Touch devices with firmware 2.x.
Of course, if you want to view the results like on a desktop PC, you can always click the “Classic†link found at the bottom of any Google mobile page. For the G1, you can access the new results page after searching via the search widget on the Android home page or also through Google.com in the browser.In addition, Google has added touchscreen buttons and expandable maps for local business results.
