Seriously does it get any sexier than this? The iriver Life Unit designed by the famed Niro Nakamichi has got to be one of the sexiest gadgets I’ve seen this year. It speaks volumes about a company that can make a hot product without looking like other “apples”.

The updated teaser site doesn’t reveal stuff we really want to know like price and release date but it does give a glimpse into what the Life Unit will do. In a nutshell - EVERYTHING.

We’re talkin’ center of your home entertainment hub here. Slot load CD/DVD player, LCD screen that’s detachable and turns into a PMP device! It’s got wireless capability for streaming, a port that charges and syncs with iriver players, a sic touchscreen remote control that unfolds into a 78-key QWERTY keyboard, a radio, a TV tuner, and last but not least; custom designed Nakamichi audio system.
Hell, they should have made it into a phone too. Many more pictures after the jump. (more…)

ZOMG it’s a giant Sony Clie UX50! No I kid I kid. It’s the DVP-FX850, Sony’s portable DVD player. Although not much about this player is anymore compelling than the bazillion others on the market, you do get an 800 x 480 pixel screen that does that twisting head trick thing almost as well as Linda Blair. If you need numbers, that’s 180º. It pretty compact and only weighs 35 oz. The battery is good enough for 8 hours of nonstop playback (with some minor screen adjustments).

No word yet on pricing but it goes on sale May 1st. Oh and one more thing. It’s Japan only. Question, do people still use portable DVD players?

Everyone’s favorite pre-loaded Windows DVD viewing/burning/ripping/microwave-oven/copier just got it’s circular groove on Windows Vista and your next PC. The latest DVD Suite, numero cinco, comes with handy features such as HD editing capabilities, Blue-Ray and HD DVD support and other nifty surprises like playing movies. DVD Suite 5 is already available for purchase online, but you can give the whole package a test run here or just wait until you pick up your next pre-built PC before giving it a go.

Ugh, as a DVD author I can’t even explain what a huge pain in the ass it is with the one established format out there (DVD) and the 2 HD versions (HD-DVD and Blu-ray). Each is programmed completely differently, need different encodes, and they all have different specs on what they’re capable of. To release on all formats the disc is done 3 times, with no overlap.

So why did I bother telling you this? Because this week, with no end in the format war in sight, steps were taken to ensure both will succeed in the marketplace. Toshiba announced a 51GB, 3-layer disc, still in development. This follows up the January announcement of a disc with HD-DVD on one side and Blu-ray on the other. But wait, There’s more!

New Medium Enterprises announced a format that can handle true HD using standard red-laser technology. Versatile Multilayer Disc (VMD) can do dual-format so as to solve the newer blue-laser market but it also offers enough capacity for HD with a red-laser with a new VMD format.

NME has been working quietly and quickly to secure region deals around the globe and have partnered with a company called PC Rush to produce low-cost dvd compatible VMD players for around $200, significantly less than any of the current HD-DVD or Blu-ray players.

What we as consumers (and me as a programmer) need is a single format, not a 3rd. Adding another format adds a huge amount of expense into the creation and manufacturing of these DVD’s. And the movie studios aren’t going to eat that difference, they’re going to pass it onto the consumers.

So there’s a new full length movie streaming site on the block, MovinFlicks.com. Like their predecessors, they are offering current movies for your downloading pleasure and at DVD quality ta boot. The legality of viewing films on such a site is pretty cloudy, but if you’re feeling dangerous give it a shot. Personally, I can’t wait to load up Little Man in all its crap-tastic Wayans Brothers glory, slaughter the brain cells I escaped Vegas with last weekend and cry myself to sleep.

[Via Gizmodo]

Of course the obvious way to find out is to open your fucking ears and actually listen, but this way is more fun. The above image shows the DVD drives from past version starting from left to right. If you were fortunate enough to get a 360 this past holiday (after November) season, you should be sporting the supposed quieter BenQ model, you lucky bastard.

Fun Fax!
It is a known fact that 300% of noise emitted from the Xbox 360 actually comes from the DVD drive itself and that 38% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

[via GWN, Xbox-Scene]

That’s right top ten lists, fear and tremble in the almighty shadow of NextLust’s Ultimate List of Mac Apps. Hopefully you learn a thing or two about applications already sitting on your hard drive and have your eyes opened ever so slightly to see how many useful freeware apps are just floating around the internet waiting for you to give them a go.

I am tentatively calling this list “Part 1″ in case I get a ton of replies with some sweet programs I just happened to miss. So without further ado:

The Ultimate List of Mac Apps Part 1

(the following applications are listed alphabetically)

(more…)

Those of us with a large DVD collection and an HDTV are loathe to figure out the best way to watch the old standard definition DVD’s on our new sets. Using the old player is pretty much out of the question. You’re best bet is an upscaling DVD player. Problem is up till now most of those upscale to 1080i, which is a little bit of a drag if you just dropped major coin on a 1080p set.

Enter the Marantz upscaling DVD player. This bad boy also plays CD’s, SACD’s (Super Audio CD), DiVX and WMA’s. And it outputs it in 1080p over HDMI 1.1. It’ll also handle all your audio problems as well with DTS, Dolby, and SRS Tru Surround output.

And it looks like it’s made out of solid gold, which I suppose is an added bonus to some of us out there.

[AkihabaraNews]

While browing through the SciFi channel’s website, trying to find the synopsis for this week’s BSG episode, I stumbled upon this little device from JVC. It’s a DVD burner that works with their Everio line of hard-disk camcorders. It just connects to the camcorder via USB and voila! Instant DVD’s.

A fantastic way to quickly burn off dailies at the end of each shooting day on set, or a way to dump your footage to watch later without the need for a computer. You can also use the drive to watch DVD’s on a JVC camera or monitor. Sadly this version doesn’t work with JVC’s new Everio HD camcorder, so it’s only for standard definition for now. It’s gonna retail for $200.

[SciFi Tech Blog]