After LG, which announced the first hybrid DVD format player was sure to have others following its lead. Now, Warner has announced a hybrid format disc hi-def disc that
can be played both in HD DVD and Blu-ray players.
Warner’s “Total Hi Def” disc (”THD”) is yet another proprietary format; however, it does combine HD DVD and Blu-ray on one disc. According to Warner Home Video, it does not compromise any Hi-Def features of either HD DVD or Blu-ray. The physical structure of the disc is 1.2 mm the same as DVDs, HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. The Total Hi Def disc has the ability to contain both single layer and dual layers for both formats enabling either 15 GB or 30 GB on the HD DVD side and 25 GB or 50 GB on the Blu-ray side.

Zune has a new competitor and this time it’s from SanDisk called the Sansa Connect. The Connect accesses online music services without a PC, and users can both stream or download content. It has an internal speaker and the ability to expand the internal 4 Gbytes of memory.

Like the Zune you can send songs out to your friends and get this - If you are on the same music service as your pal and you want to send him/her the hottest new track, a Connect owner just needs to ping him/her with the player, and your pal will be humming the new tune immediately, said SanDisk.

A PC that is about 6 inches long, four inches wide and weighing 14 ounces and this is going to be the next generation computer it seems. Touted to replace laptops this PC was unveiled at CES by a Nevada company, Seamless Internet (called the Seamless NeXt Generation, or S-XGen for short).

It runs on Windows Pocket PC software, includes a foldout keyboard and runs eights hours on one battery charge. This device is smaller than a laptop yet more powerful than most PDAs and is able to plug into the growing number of Wi-Fi networks. At a suggested retail price of $1,395 with Windows Office Suite, the S-XGen will likely first appeal to people on the move.

Here it is - the 1 Terabyte hard drive and it’s from Hitachi! The company’s 1TB hard drive meets the needs of consumers who want to create, share and store their digital information, and lots of it. Hitachi’s Deskstar 7K1000 will begin shipping to retail customers in the first quarter of 2007 at a suggested retail price of $399 (USD), or 40 cents per gigabyte (GB).

Now that is still economical with most of us having stashes of digital things to be stores and I’m thinking of my picture files and thousands I have in different CDs and pen drives and memory sticks. Hitachi has also announced a CinemaStar version 1TB hard drive, for digital video recording (DVR) applications.

Imagine this traveling in your car you access the net download stuff, play games, check e-mails and communicate via any Wi-Fi device…Broadband in your car and that’s what’s being promised by Autonet Mobile a start-up firm from San Francisco.

Autonet Mobile plans to unveil its Internet service provider for cars at International CES, the consumer electronics show that runs Jan. 8-11 in Las Vegas. The company is also aiming to announce an agreement with Avis to offer a portable, wireless Internet service by the end of the first quarter.

Microsoft may soon direct you to the nearest cheapest gas station with 3D maps in your car! Ford and Microsoft will jointly announce Sync, an in-car navigation and infotainment system built on Microsoft’s platform at the Detroit Motor show this month.

Sync is designed to let drivers navigate better, download and listen to music, talk by cell phone, and even get e-mail without using their hands, according to reports. Powered by Bluetooth — the same technology that powers wireless cell phone headsets — Sync will debut in two Ford models, the Focus and Five Hundred series, in 2007, then expand to all Ford models in the 2008 model year.

Why are GPS devices getting so popular? And yes they are top sellers - At least the Garmin navigational system with GPS is, one of the top sellers on Amazon.com this year.

A GPS device is the perfect gadget to a highly mobile business lifestyle where you need to navigate unfamiliar cities and get to your destination on time.Though automobiles come with in-built devices for a high-flying executive who hops from one company car to another is not of much use.

Portable GPS systems can tag along with you whether you’re in the company car, flying off to pick up a rental or just getting around in your hometown.

How about a free laptop loaded with a freebie Vista from Microsoft this New Year? Now that’s what Microsoft told bloggers who will get the free laptops as review units to help them become familiar with Vista. Recipients have options: Keep the computer, return it, or donate it to charity.

As expected blogdom’s afire by this initiative by Microsoft, AMD and Acer but some look at it with mixed feelings. Geekzone has an interesting post on this ploy by Microsoft and it’s worth your time. Microsoft’s is reiterating that it is not soliciting any favors but is just expecting valuable feedback from the special blogger!

If you are involved in the Linux community at all you probably know about the success of Linksys’ WRT%$G wireless router. It’s popular amongst the Linux crowd because it runs a Linux OS and therefore is pretty customizable. Linksys has switched the OS for version 5 of the router, but has made sure not to cannibalize their success with the Linux folks by creating a version specifically tailored for them. A brilliant move by Linksys.

I don’t use a wireless mouse (or at least haven’t done so in a long time) so I don’t understand the problem they were having with their mouse.

Ever cursed your swanky new wireless mouse for skipping or just not moving when you want it to?

Sounds like you have a cheap mouse and should probably get a new one. If you don’t wish to do so then you should consider Elecom’s solution, which doesn’t seem to be too wireless since from the pictures it looks like you will need a USB cable to connect to the mouse pad.