And so the HD DVD-Blu-Ray battle ensues. Next to the console wars (which, thank god, has been dead for quite some time now), this is perhaps the hottest debate-inducing battle humanity has ever known. Yeah okay, I exaggerate. But you gotta admit there have been really heated discussions over which format is better.

Now we hate to fan the flame, but with this recent news about Toshiba's plans to launch a 51GB HD-DVD disc, eyebrows are once again being raised. Why? Well for those not in the know, Blu-ray has had the upper end on the format war in terms of storage capacity (50GB), being able to store up to 50GB of data...up until now that is.

According to a TGDaily report, Toshiba has successfully created a triple-layer HD-DVD disc that can hold up to 51 GB worth of data and has submitted their brainchild for regulatory approval. This is huge news for avid HD DVD users because HD DVDs were only previously available in 15 GB and 30 GB capacities.

HOWEVER, as to whether the creation of this third layer is feasible in terms of mass production still remains a big question. Not only would this mean higher production costs, it would also entail looonger periods for production. Consumers who refuse to give in to the format dichotomy opt to get the combo drive players, but sales haven't been skyrocketing due to high selling prices.

Media reports say that Toshiba is introduce this new format to the market before the year ends, so for now, all we can do is wait for more info to surface. Rest assured we'll keep you posted for further developments.

Here's another one to get the rumor mill going: Firmware update v1.3 for the Zune will be released mid-March.

Yep, or so says Cesar Menendez. Who on earth is this Menendez, you ask? Well, he's actually one of Microsoft's employees currently working in the "Zune department" (so to speak) and in his recent post over at Zune Insider, he revealed some details on the next firmware update.

According to Menendez, they had a meeting with the Zune release manager who divulged a few specific details on what users can expect in the next update, some of which include the following:

• Fix for the skipping problem such that various content downloaded from the Zune Marketplace will no longer skip when played on the device.
• Improved device and software reliability, including device detection and improved syncing.
• Changes in the FM Tuner so that it'll no longer drain the device's battery when in sleep mode.
  

Again, the dev team is still working on the fixes and improvements so there are no specifics yet as to the feature additions that the device will be getting. Menendez also says that the team is planning on releasing Zune Firmware Update v1.3 mid-March.

Whether or not we'll get to see the mentioned fixes in the update, we'll have to wait and see. And although this rumor comes from a reliable source and seems to have a factual basis (as compared to the ZunePhone and ZuneGames rumors), it's still best to take this with a grain of salt so as not to get your hopes up. We'll keep you posted for more.

We've seen quite a lot of PSP mods in our days, but for this one, we're quite not sure if you can call it as a mod per se. See it's a media player, and it's also a GPS navigator, but there's one very essential thing missing for it to even come close to being in competition with our beloved PSPs - games.

Fellas, behold the Clifford Scout 420 GPS Navi and Media Player. Made by Directed Electronics, maker of tons of commonly known electronics names, this nifty handheld is all prepped to be launched at the upcoming CES 2007 to be held in Las Vegas. Critics have been commenting on how the Clifford Scout 420 looks an awful lot like a very familiar "gadget" close to our hearts. Now now, we know this can never come close to your PSPs but with the PSP slowly moving toward its GPS capabilities, you also have to wonder: what if this Clifford Scout 420 also makes the move to having games?

Interesting what-if, eh? So anyway, no info yet on how much this baby will cost or where it's gonna be available, but with the CES 2007 set to kick off on January 8, we'll get to see just how it compares to the PSP in terms of GPS and media playback capabilites.

[Speaks in a glum voice with cheesy music in the background] Are you tired of having to stir your coffee over and over? Is the circular wrist movement wearing you down? Do you find yourself wasting precious time stirring your coffee in the morning when you could be starting up the car? [Aaaand transitions to a Brady-Bunch-perky voice...]

Say no more my caffeine-loading friends! Thanks to Needapresent.com, we can now say goodbye to spoons and the wicked red sticks with...*drumroll*...The Self-Stirring Mug! It's the perfect Christmas present to your athritic friends and relatives! All you have to do is press the "stir" button (Jex H.: STIR button? Who could've guessed?!) and voila! you get your tea, coffee, hot chocolate, heck, even your corn soup, all stirred up and ready to go!

Why settle for a human-stirred drink when you can have a mechanically-stirred one (whaaat?)? So what are you waiting for? Go get your very own Self-Stirring Mug now! Yours for only £14.99 (that's around 30 U.S. dollars), the Self-Stirring Mug is the solution to your stirring problems! (Jex H: Ugh, if you managed to read all through that, I honestly applaud you. Anyway, here's the video of the mug at work, check it out. Oh, and you can also check out our coverage of other gadgets that range from downright mundane to insanely bizarre right here. On to the video!)

How would all you sane PC gamers like to wreck your perfectly functional keyboards for a chance to get a Razer Tarantula? Sounds crazy, huh? Why on earth would you wreck your keyboard for a frikkin' spider, right? Errr...no. Not exactly.

If you've been living under a rock and you have no idea what a Razer Tarantula is, allow us to put you up to speed.

The Razer Tarantula, fellas, is only THE ultimate gaming keyboard. And you can now have the chance to get one for free! How? By wrecking your keyboards! Ain't it fun? All you have to do is make a video presentation of how you wrecked your keyboard, put it up on YouTube, and that's it!

BUT before you go berserk and start going at those unsuspecting keys, you guys should probably know the following rules regarding the "nature" of your vid:

• It must not be offensive (or in bad taste).
• The making of it must not have endangered any animals.
• It must not contain nudity or derogatory remarks/content of either an ethnic, religious or lifestyle origin.

As for the nitty gritty technical stuff, here goes:

• 1. The title of each video must start with the prefix "Trade up to Razer -" in the TITLE field. For example, the title should read "Trade up to Razer– CrapKeyboard Be Gone!".
• 2. Each Video must have "www.razerzone.com" in the ‘DESCRIPTION’ field as the first line and "Give me my Razer Tarantula!" as the last line.
• 3. Each Video must include "Razer Tarantula" in the TAG field.
  

Remember, all entries must be submitted and received by 12 noon (PST), 14th of December 2006. For more info and details, head on to the Razer Zone site via the read link below. Good luck guys and happy keyboard wrecking!

Alright, we have yet another Blu-Ray opinion courtesy of News Corp. top honcho (President and CEO), Peter Chernin. And according to him, the launch of the PS3 will put more "focus" on Blu-Ray by providing users a Blu-Ray player that costs significantly less than the HD-DVD players that are currently in the market.

Makes sense right? His whole opinion piece could've passed but then he had to dig his own grave when he said "I've been talking to all of the electronics manufacturers on both sides of the format wars, I don't think there's likely to be a quick resolution, I think the resolution, if it comes, is likely to be driven by the marketplace."

Hence, the outpour of comments at GamePro basically saying "EVERYTHING's driven by the marketplace. Thanks for the newsflash." Hahaha.

But for some, the whole thing becomes really interesting because News Corp. owns 20th Century Fox, who, so far, has only released movies on Blu-Ray, and has Sony and Samsung as its backers. And so far, the company seems to have no plans on releasing films on HD-DVD.

HD-DVD people will probably argue that its the first format to come out with players and content in the market, but Chernin says that "Right now you have a tiny, tiny number of players out there at very high prices, most of the HD-DVD players are at the US$1,000 range and you're going to see a huge number of Blu-ray players entering the marketplace through PlayStation 3."

Chernin ends his opinion-giving at the conference call by saying that a negotiation between the backers of the competing formats is highly unlikely, and by simply stating that "The marketplace will start getting interesting as PlayStation 3 starts hitting the marketplace."

Samsung really just seems to have an insatiable appetite for pushing the mobile industry's limit because right after they came out with their 8-megapixel camera phone, they've bumped up their camera quality to another two megapixels! Feast your eyes  on the very first 10-megapixel camera phone, the B600.

What makes this phone stand out other than the 10-megapixel camera it sports is that unlike other camphones, the B600 performs most of the functions that your digital camera has. It has 3x optical zoom, 5x digital zoom, and an LED autofocus feature which helps users to take clear pictures even when the lighting is not that conducive. Of course you can opt for the manual focus and disable this feature if you wanna do it old school and flaunt those photography skills you have.

The phone also supports white balance and interval image capturing functions, which you'll be able to fully make use of with its 2.3" chromic LCD that can display up to 16 million colors. You can also record videos in QVGA resolution at 15-30 frames per second. And since you'll be storing tons of images and videos, Samsung has bumped up memory capacity as well -- 80 MB of internal memory AND a Micro MMC card slot.

You'll have Bluetooth and USB to take care of your connectivity woes, as well as Media player and DMB if you wanna watch the tube while you're on the move. As with most nifty gadgets nowadays, the Samsung B600 is currently available only in Korea and sells for 900,000 won (which is around US $ 900). The very first 10-megapixel camera phone measures 126 x 53 x 20.4 mm, weighs 173 grams, and comes only in black. It's sad that this won't be making U.S. shores, so if you want one, perhaps it's time to chummy up with your friends over in Korea, eh?

Creative has just unveiled its new Xmod adapter, a device that allows you to convert your audio files up to a 24-bit signal before it comes out on your speakers. What does this mean? Basically, it repairs whatever audio quality that is lost in your files. How? The adapter has a crystalizer that analyzes compression artifacts. Or at least that's what Creative says.

Anyhoo, we also read in Electronista that the Xmod adapter is also capable of bumping up the audio quality of your files by applying virtual surround sound to stereo sources. Also, the adapter features the oh-so-simple USB connectivity, making it easier to use. All you have to do is simply plug it into your computer or speakers.

The Xmod adapter also requires no driver software installation, allowing users of Mac OS X Panther systems (and later systems) to use it with their computers and speakers. The Xmod also plugs into PMPs (Portable Media Players), like your trusty iPod or Microsoft's Zune via a special AC adapter. Creative's Xmod adapter is slated for shipment late this month and will sell for $ 80.

Just when we thought we've seen the most creatively made keyboards out there, along comes another one. Although this one isn't virtual, and no it's not made of silicon and attached to the breasts, but it definitely beats the others when it comes to size. Check out this Mini Bluetooth Keyboard that works with your Palm OS, Pocket PC, Smart Phone and PC!

  

Yep, it's that small and thin. The Mini Bluetooth Keyboard measures approximately 95x70x13mm (when folded, that is), weighs 80g, and is encased in metallic silver so it's easy on the eyes too. This sleek and stylish keyboard is compatible with the following operating systems: Pocket PC(Pocket PC 2003 / Windows Mobile 5.0), Palm OS, Symbian 6.0/UIQ, and Windows 2000/XP.

Included in the package upon purchase is Bluetooth keyboard (duh), CD driver, USB cable, leather case, and english manual. This baby is being sold in HongKong for HK$450 and US$56 for overseas purchase. Kudos to Brando for the tip!

Tzero Technologies and Analog Devices have announced that they've been successful in creating a wireless HDMI interface for HDTVs, next-gen DVD players, and game systems. According to the two companies, other HDMI setups have been standards-based, and comply by the standards set by companies such as Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sharp and Sony.

For the benefit of those who don't know, wireless HDMI (or High-Definition Multimedia Interface) allows video and audio connections between HDTVs, DVD players, game systems, etc. minus the hassle of wires and cables.

The wireless HDMI technology is ultrawideband, which is also seen as a possible replacement for the USB. The two companies' execs say that a wireless HDMI system gives consumers the flexibility in being able to put TVs where they actually want them and not worry about cables and connectivity. Plus, the HDMI cables are expensive so this might just be a cost-cutting solution to HDMI expenses.

Tzero and Analog's wireless HDMI system consists of a black transmitter that's about the size of a laptop and a receiver. The transmitter is currently bigger than it actually needs to be but Dan Karr, Marketing VP for Tzero, says that it's only this big now because it's new, but assures us that the transmitter will get smaller as they develop it further.

How it will work: the transmitter integrates the Tzero TZ7000 chipset and Analog Devices' JPEG2000 compression integrated circuits. The Analog Device compresses data with JPEG2000 video code, which is then encrypted and transmitted via the Tzero MAC and PHY chip. The chip transmits the audio/video data with HDMI to the receiver where it is decompressed and presented to a display device via the HDMI port.

What is JPEG 2000 exactly? It's a relatively new image compression standard approved by the JPEG committee that can operate at higher compression ratios minus the blurry effects of the original JPEG standard. Bill Bucklen, director for the Advanced TV Segment with Analog Devices, said, "We pass the video through the JPEG2000 and then pass the video and audio through the Tzero chip. You can't compress a content-protected signal so we've built a repeater function and because we encrypt the link, it's like we've taken a repeater and put them on the other side of the room."

The wireless HDMI system will reportedly be demonstrated to manufacturers, press, and technological analysts over the next few months and will be available for purchase in November. The companies haven't set a final price on this thing yet so we'll have to wait and see.