June 26 - 4:35pm EDT   A Tohoku University research team at the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials claim to have developed a DVD that is capable of holding 42GB of data, or nearly 9 times as much as a standard DVD. The Japanese researchers achieved this feat by using V-shaped as opposed to flat pits on the DVD's recording surface, which allows for more data-recording space. The same method can be applied to CDs as well. [full story]

June 4 - 12:25am EDT   Westinghouse Digital on Tuesday unveiled four new 1080p-capable LCD TVs, as well as several other multi-purpose LCD TVs, including its portable and all-in-one units. New to the 1080p TX lineup are the 42-inch TX-42F430S, the 47-inch TX-47F430S, and the 52-inch TX-52F480S, which feature an integrated ATSC/NTSC/ClearQAM Tuner, and 1080p resolution through all high-definition connectors, including component and VGA. [full story]

May 27 - 4:30pm EDT   LaCie on Tuesday unveiled a new Blu-ray disc burner, capable of writing to single-layer media at 4x speeds across Firewire or USB 2.0. The drive retains LaCie's durable d2 aluminum casing and boasts whisper quiet operation while burning 25GB and 50GB BD-R and BD-RE media, in addition to all common CD and DVD formats. LaCie is offering the dual-interface Blu-ray burner for $650, available from LaCie directly and authorized retailers. [full story]

May 22 - 6:30pm EDT   Other World Computing on Thursday unveiled low-cost Superdrives for almost any Mac released within the last decade, offering 48x CD burning and LightScribe labeling technology. OWC claims the drives are quiet, and do not require any extra software to be installed with the drive. Users can also write to dual-layer DVDs at up to 12x speeds, while single-layer discs can write at up to 20x. OWC is selling the Superdrives starting from $35. [full story]

May 5 - 6:30pm EDT   Every Mac with a Superdrive can burn your iTunes music files to a CD, your iMovie video files to a DVD, and your digital photographs (or any files and folders) to both a CD/DVD. However, if you want to do more than ordinary CD/DVD burning, you may want to look at Roxio’s latest version of Toast Titanium 9, a multi-purpose optical media authoring application that can burn CDs/DVDs and do a whole lot more. [full story]

March 21 - 10:20am EDT   Equinux has updated two of its key programs, MediaCentral and VPN Tracker. MediaCentral operates as a kind of Mac equivalent to Windows Media Center, combining the playback of several types of media within one program; users can not only load music, photos and videos, but DVD movies and TV, the latter offering the option of IPTV or digital broadcast. Version 2.7 retools the TV engine for better video quality and faster channel switching, as well automatic timeshifting when hitting pause. The software costs $30. [full story]

March 10 - 9:15am EDT   Lionsgate, the independent studio most recently responsible for movies such as Rambo and The Bank Job, has announced that it will be the next company to support Apple's iTunes Digital Copy program. The program puts iTunes-formatted versions of movies on retail discs, as an accompaniment to the standard version; while these videos are restricted by Apple's DRM protection, it provides a quick and legal method of synching movies with computers, iPods, iPhones and Apple TVs. The first company to support Digital Copy was Fox, with the release of Family Guy: Blue Harvest on DVD. [full story]

February 14 - 1:30pm EST   Other World Computing (OWC) today unveiled new Superdrives and CD burners for all Mac computer models. The company's drive upgrade -- the 20X DL SuperDrive DVR-115D -- reads as well as writes DVDs, CDs, and dual-layer DVDs. Capacity for dual layer DVDs is 8.5GB at speeds of 10X; regular DVDs for 4.7GB capacity at 20X; and CDs for 700MB at 40X. "For most Macs, this is an incredibly easy upgrade and one of great return for anyone who's currently making or planning to make their own DVDs or CDs," OWC said. The new drives are priced from $30 and up. [full story]

February 1 - 11:40am EST   MCE Technologies today debuted a new slim slot-loading 8X SuperDrive upgrade (site not updated) for Apple's MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro notebooks. The drives write to DVD+R DL (Double Layer) as well as DVD-R DL, and are designed to replace the original 4X and 6X SuperDrives in Apple's stock systems. Built to accommodate the slender form factor of Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro, the drive upgrade ships for $200 with all required tools and instructions to perform the upgrade at home. [full story]

January 15 - 3:45pm EST   CharisMac Engineering today released Discribe 6.0 Robotic and Standard Discribe 6.0, optimizing the disc mastering software for Mac OS X on Intel-based hardware. The latest release is a major upgrade that is completely rewritten to offer support for Blu-Ray discs, and expands the boundaries of CD as well as DVD mastering while simplifying workflows. Discribe 6.0 is priced at $70, while Robotic Discribe 6.0 single-drive version is available for $300. [full story]

January 11 - 10:50am EST   NewTech Infosystems today released NTI Dragon Suite, a collection of three Mac applications to handle disc burning as well as data compression and backup. NTI Dragon Burn features patented multi-burning technology that supports internal as well as external drives for simultaneously creating multiple copies of a CD or DVD. The software includes support for burning the leading video, audio, photo, and data formats onto the latest optical discs -- such as 16x DVD-R drives and 8.5GB DVD+R Double Layer (DL) media. NTI Dragon Suite is priced at $80, and requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later. [full story]

January 8 - 2:20pm EST   JVC unveiled its new KD-NX7000 combination CD/DVD player with built-in GPS navigation, and has announced the return of its KD-NX5000 unit. The device features a 7-inch LCD, and a removable smart faceplate that includes a proximity sensor, illuminating buttons as the user’s hand approaches. Users can also play media and use navigation resources simultaneously. The player comes preloaded with real-time traffic information for over 80 metropolitan areas in the US and Canada, with over 12 million points of interest. Maps are upgradable, while traffic reporting relies on the built-in NAVTEQ traffic RDS tuner. Pricing and availability for the new unit was not available. [full story]

January 7 - 8:45pm EST   Toshiba recently unveiled several new lines of LCD TVs, portable and home DVD players, DVD recorders, and some LCD TV-DVD combo units. The AV500 series LCDs range from 19- to 42-inches in size, and feature a 720p HD image resolution. Dynamic backlight controls can adjust for deeper black levels, and the display is housed in a glossy black cabinet. LCDs in the AV500 series will range from $430 to $1300, and Toshiba expects to ship the various models between February and May. [full story]

January 7 - 3:05pm EST   In its second major wave of CES announcements, JVC has pulled the wraps off several new camcorders, and a collection of DVD/VCR combo devices. The camcorders are led by the 7.4-megapixel Everio GZ-MG730, which holds a 30GB hard drive, and uses a CCD sensor with a primary color filter. The main feature is said to be its double-use as a still camera, since it not only incorporates flash, but also shutter and aperture priority modes, exposure bracketing, backlight and spotlight compensation, and a histogram view. [full story]

January 3 - 5:35pm EST   Macrovision, the company largely responsible for modern DVD copy-protection schemes, has officially integrated its technologies with CinemaNow to offer downloads of CinemaNow premium video directly to Macrovision-enabled consumer electronics devices. Users who have registered Macrovision-enabled hardware at CinemaNow.com can use those devices to watch movies, TV shows, and music videos from CinemaNow's online library of available programming, according to TWICE. [full story]