Not to be outdone by the folks at Buffalo, Sony’s latest internal SATA BD recorder can achieve 8x writing speeds on the latest 6x BD-R media, for zapping 25GB in 15 minutes and 50Gb in 30. DVDs are also written, of course, at 16x. It’s $400 and shipping next month, with an included Men In Black Blu-ray disc from the good folks at Sony Pictures. Where’s your Will Smith, Buffalo? Full details follow:

SONY DEBUTS 8X BLU-RAY DISC WRITER DRIVE

Sub-$400 Model Leaps Ahead in Recording Speed; Includes Blu-Ray Disc Movie Title “Men In Black”

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 23, 2008 – Sony Electronics today announced its third generation internal Blu-ray Disc™ (BD) writer for the computer aftermarket, which at about $400 achieves a new level of affordability for BD enthusiasts.

The new BWU-300S model burns single and dual layer BD-R media at up to 8X speed, recording a full 25GB disc in about 15 minutes and a full 50GB disc in about 30 minutes. The 8X recording speed is achieved using 6X compatible BD-R media. The drive also records DVDs at up to 16X, CDs up to 48X, and supports DVD-RAM recording, with an eye towards data backup, making it an excellent replacement burner for a standard DVD drive while offering all the benefits of Blu-ray Disc technology.

To provide consumers with the opportunity to experience high-definition movie playback first-hand, the new drive comes bundled with a “Men in Black” Blu-ray Disc from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. “Men In Black” stars Will Smith (“Hancock”) and Oscar®-winner Tommy Lee Jones (“The Fugitive”) saving the world from a total intergalactic disaster in Barry Sonnenfeld’s smash-hit sci-fi action comedy. The “Men In Black” high-definition Blu-ray Disc boasts advanced BD-Live enabled bonus features, including a multiplayer trivia game, an interactive Frank the Pug advice generator, an alien subtitle track and much more.

Also included with the drive is CyberLink’s software suite for capturing, authoring, editing, burning and viewing high-definition personal content.

“Consumers are demanding a better experience,” said Bob DeMoulin, marketing manager for branded storage products in Sony Electronics’ IT Products Division. “Not only are we providing state of the art hardware, but also the industry’s most complete software bundle and premium content.”

“Sony’s new 8X Blu-ray Disc writable drive significantly improves the BD recording speed, a key feature in the optical storage technology,” said Wolfgang Schlichting, research director for removable storage at IDC. “The explosion of digital media usage by consumers, whether in the form of high-definition video, music or data, continues to grow at exponential rates. Innovative products such as this next-generation drive will help fuel the acceleration of Blu-ray adoption in the years ahead with more than 100 million drives shipping worldwide by 2011.”

The BWU-300S drive can record up to 50GB of data for random access storage and backup on BD-R (write once) or BD-RE (rewritable) discs, or up to 230 minutes of high-definition HDV 1080i video on a BD-R/RE 50GB disc. It also supports recording on standard single layer 4.7GB DVD+R/+RW/-RAM discs, 8.5GB DVD+R double/dual layer discs, and CDs.

The internal drive features a Serial ATA (SATA) interface and standard 5.25-inch form-factor for easy installation inside a desktop PC with Microsoft® Windows XP or Windows Vista® operating systems.

The new drive is fully supported by Adobe® Encore® CS3 software, now included with Adobe Premiere® Pro CS3, and Sony’s Vegas Pro 8 and DVD Architect Pro 5 software, providing video production professionals with another option for outputting high-definition video on a Blu-ray Disc with MPEG-2 or H.264 compression.

Availability

The BWU-300S drive will be available through select retailers, resellers and directly at sonystyle.com starting next month. Pre-orders are now being accepted by Sony on the website.

Source:Sony's BWU-300S Blu-ray Recorder Burns 50GB in 30 Minutes [Blu-Ray]

Our Android liveblog is just revving its engines, but it looks like a few shots of the T-Mobile G1, the first Android phone, have leaked a little early on Boy Genius Report. The pictures reveal, not only some fundamentals behind the OS, but small details like MyFaves support and the slew of Google Apps we all pretty much expected to see:

Somehow I’ve been immune to the excitement of Android for months, but now that the unveiling of its first phone is getting so close…I mean, it’s a freaking Google OS we’re talking about here. [BGR]

Source:Leaked Shots of Android on T-Mobile G1? [Unconfirmed]

Hello there, I’m in Tokyo for a few weeks. The remnants of the summer heat linger like a mosquito; even as it rains you can feel. My first morning here, a 4.8 earthquake rumbled through the city. Judging from the poise Lisa’s family displayed, Japan’s citizens are far better at responding to earthquakes than even Californians. Part of that comes from the common frequency of quakes in the region, but I’d also like to give credit to the good old Earthquake simulation truck, pictured in the video above. Advanced technology, indeed.

Source:Notes: Greetings From Japan, Land of Earthquake Education Trucks [Retromodo]

Filed under: Handhelds

It looks like those still hanging onto a slightly aging Palm OS device now have a new option that’ll let ‘em breath a bit of new life into it, as one Dmitry Grinberg has released a driver that adds SDHC card support to a whole host of the devices. That includes the Tungsten T, C, E2, and T5, the LifeDrive, the Palm TX, and the Zire 31 and 72 — support for other devices, including the Tungsten T3 and, yes, even the Tapwave Zodiac, is also promised. That boost in storage doesn’t come free, however, but we’re guessing there’s at least a few Palm loyalists out there that’ll gladly accept the $21 price tag to get a taste of what 32GB of storage is like.

[Via TamsPalm]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source:SDHC driver released for Palm OS devices

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

It’s a common issue, really. Having to peel that sticky, icky silicone skin from the Wiimote each time you try to swap out the batteries or plop it down in a recharging station is a real pain, but TeknoCreations has a better way. By utilizing a contactless induction charging system, its InCharge remote charger can actually reinvigorate Lithium Polymer battery packs that are encased within those newfangled silicone grips that the Big N recommends so heavily. The system reportedly offers a 25-hour battery life, and unlike contact-based chargers, the aforementioned dirt and grit won’t gum up the juicing process. The InCharge Wiimote charger should be available real soon for $34.99, and for PS3 owners feeling all left out, fret not — the company just received certification to go forward with a similar product for the SIXAXIS.

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

Read – InCharge Wiimote
Read – InCharge PS3 certification

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source:TeknoCreations' InCharge juices Wiimotes through silicone skins