Sure, we can see why some people may want to play their old UMD games on their new PSPgo, which lacks the drive and plays solely downloaded titles, but they should've really thought it over more carefully before whacking $250 on a new device.

Logitech sources dished the details to gaming site CVG, and while pricing and availability wasn't confirmed the add-on will presumably plug into the PSPgo's memory stick port. [CVG]

This is the exact opposite of Netflix discs, which are actually quite clean, comparatively speaking.

You see, those red sleeves and the delectable range of DVDs they contain are relatively free of any funky viruses or deadly bacteria, this according to an interesting slow news day report out of KLTV 7 East Texas.

As part of the report, six Netflix discs and sleeves were sent to an infectious disease expert at the University of Texas for a good swabbing. After some time in the incubator, the petri dishes were removed, and the samples—thankfully for this Netflix user—were no more covered with bacteria than a sample would have been had the good doctor touched them with his bare hand:

"They were fairly clean," said [Dr. Richard] Wallace [in an interview with KLTV]. "If I took my fingers and laid them on the top of the plates, this is what you'd grow." As for the disks themselves, Wallace said he found nothing that could potentially cause disease.

So keep on using that copy of Benjamin Button as a coaster. You'll be relatively safe in doing so—just don't eat off of it. [KLTV East Texas via Hacking Netflix]

According to iSuppli, only 3.6% of PCs sold this year were shipped with a BD drive. And by 2013, that figure is only expected to rise to 16.3%, far from a solid attach rate.

With install discs being replaced more and more often by downloads, movies being downloaded instead of watched on disc and the insanely cheap price of mass storage, it's no wonder people aren't willing to shell out the scratch for a BD drive. They just aren't that useful.

The era of physical media is over, and Blu-ray was just too late to the party to really catch on like past formats. It'll still have a relatively successful life in the home theater world and with enthusiasts, but it'll never come close to touching the saturation level of DVD. And really, that's fine with me. [iSuppli]

Charlie Brewer from News Limited walks you step by step (16 worthwhile photos in all) through the whole process as robots transform gem-like polycarbonate granules into laser-readable storage. Humans are present, of course, but they're mostly around to walk through dust rooms and try not to hinder the machines.

The lead shot? It's of the final product being boxed for retail. [news au via Kotaku]

His Millennial Disks (say that 3x fast) can be read in regular DVD drives, despite being made with a secret sauce of "persistent" materials—he drops words like gold and obsidian, which makes it sound expensive. Indeed, they cost $30. For DVDs. That you can never rewrite. A Blu-ray version is in the works (will they cost $100?).

And it might be a lie! The plastic—his discs' weak point, your discs' strong point—could die before the disc reaches a thousand years old: "That plastic may limit us to a few centuries or a thousand years for now." Is there a warranty? Plus, shouldn't it be Millennial Disc, not Disk?

Also, will the slot-loading disc drives in the bellies of the invading aliens be able to read Millenniata's Millennial discs in 1000 years? These are the kinds of compatibility questions we should be taking seriously today, before they become a problem tomorrow, like with magnetic tape today.

If only there was a way to copy data to lots of different places, so that if it died in one place, it would still exist in another place. That would be really super great. [Herald Extra via Slashdot]

And dear god, lady, have you not heard of Bittorrent? The cherry on top is that she was also charged with assault and battery. Pretty hard to put a fight up with that many movies in your panties, but I suppose it would nullify all hits below the belt. [newsok via Obscurestore]

And the even cooler part is that the base tech will be very similar to the laser systems used to read CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs today, so the new holographic-enhanced players and drives would still be backwards compatible with previous optical discs.

Still quite a while until this approaches the realm of a product, but it's good to know about the next stupid format war this will surely spawn well before it happens! [NYTimes]

To refresh, BD-Live is the Blu-ray technology that allows for more interactive special features on your disc, like being able to arrange "screenings" with your friends or record commentary tracks yourself.

It all comes down to the technology. Instead of having director Chris Nolan talk into a mic and answer questions as they were asked via the website, Nolan had to do all his own typing. Or, we assume it was Nolan and not some designated typist, since the answers were slow going and contained a bunch of typos. The largest problem was that the text, displayed IRC-style with a white overlay behind it, was too small (on my PS3, at least), forcing me to sit closer than I normally would.

Smaller issues included Chris Nolan connecting and disconnecting every two minutes for the first 1/3 of the movie, which lead to the unfulfilling situation where questions were displayed but his answers were dropped. He also intentionally stayed silent or deftly evaded when certain questions on sensitive topics chosen by the moderator, such as piracy, making a third movie and any talk of money.

There were some enjoyable moments, such as when he took not one, but two pee breaks, explaining that he needed to make a shorter film next time. Fortunately, the BD-Live format let him pause everyone's movie simultaneously. He also reused the same joke three times in different formats, thanking an actor or a contributor by name when someone asked how awesome it was working with said person.

Here's how to fix the experience. Give Chris Nolan a microphone. Make whatever adjustments you have to make to the BD-Live technology to allow a low-bandwidth audio stream to reach however many players were signed on last night. Then, record the "podcast", and let people who were still at work (it was on at 6PM PST) watch it after the fact whenever they like. I stare at chatrooms all day at work, don't make me stare at another one when I'm watching Batman tearing around Gotham City.

Speaking with Edge, a Microsoft spokesperson explained:

While we have had some users contact us with concerns about scratched discs, it is much less than 1 percent of the total Xbox 360 user base...Xbox 360 is designed so that it will not damage a game disc as long as the console is not moved while the disc is spinning. Too much movement of any game console, not just Xbox 360, can cause scratches on a disc." The spokesperson said that this was the reason Microsoft added a warning on the disc tray that needed to be removed before the first time of use.

What do you think? Did Microsoft do due diligence? [Edge via Kotaku]

If there's any saving grace, it's that Polar Express is presented in 3D. Yeah. Each disc includes a set of four 3D glasses so you can appreciate Tom Hanks' freaky CGI zombie stare in a whole new dimension. We haven't tested it, but the feature sounds pretty great. Other releases for the week...

• Baraka (MPI)
• Beat the Devil
• Between The Lines: Sara Bareilles Live At The Filmore (Sony Music)
• The Bird People of China (Artsmagic)
• Blackalicious: 4/20 Live in Seattle (MVD Group)
• Cannibal Taboo (MVD Group)
• Cruel World (Echo Bridge)
• Dead Space: Downfall (Anchor Bay)
• Elf (New Line)
• Essential Holiday Collection (Warner)
• The Final Countdown (Blue Underground)
• The Final Patient (Echo Bridge)
• Hell Ride (Weinstein)
• Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (MVD Group)
• Journey to the Center of the Earth (Limited Edition) (2008) (New Line Cinema)
• Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (New Line)
• Last Time I Saw Paris (Blu-ray Only)
• Mysterious Island (Echo Bridge)
• The Polar Express Presented in 3-D (Warner)
• The Prince & Me 3: A Royal Honeymoon (First Look)
• The Prince & Me 2: Royal Wedding (First Look)
• Saving God (Echo Bridge)
• Tinker Bell (Walt Disney)

[hidef digest]

Oh sure, Kill Bill volumes 1 and 2 and are out, as are Rudy and Jerry Maguire, and there's nothing special on the $35 Blu-ray edition that's not the the DVD of Baby Mama (other than hi def). But roughly half of the Gizmodo staff has a crush on Tina Fey (with the other contingent splitting their votes between 30 Rockers Alec Baldwin and that dude who wears the funny hats) and we're quite loyal to those we picture in various states of undress. Here are this week's other Blu-ray releases:

—Baby Mama (Universal)
—Blu-ray Zombie Bundle (Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn0 (Anchor Bay)
—Cool Hand Luke (Warner)
—Day Watch (Fox)
—The Fall (2006) (Sony)
—The Forbidden Kingdom (Lionsgate)
—Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Fourth Season - Expanded (Walt Disney)
—How the West Was Won (Warner)
—Jerry Maguire (Sony)
—Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (Buena Vista)
—Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (Walt Disney)
—Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (Buena Vista)
—Masters of Horror Bundle: Season One (Anchor Bay)
—Night Watch (Fox)
—Rudy (Sony)
—Smallville: The Complete Seventh Season (Warner)
—Superman Returns (Remastered Audio) (Warner)
—Then She Found Me (Image)

What's even cooler is that they're not going to charge any more for Blu-ray versions of movies, and that's a surprising relief to anyone who's ever coughed up for the often multi-disc sets chock with supplementary content. I have personally paused all Criterion purchases until they went HD. (Black and white samurai films are fine on DVD.) The first 13 titles are:

The Third Man; Bottle Rocket; Chungking Express; The Man Who Fell to Earth; The Last Emperor; El Norte; The 400 Blows; Gimme Shelter; The Complete Monterey Pop; Contempt; Walkabout; For All Mankind; The Wages of Fear

And the Criterion website is giving newsletter subscribers $10 off plus free shipping on orders of $60 or more by using the OFBT code at checkout.
[Thanks Sotirios]

Foundation of China High Definition DVD Industry Association (CHDA) Heralds New Era of High-Definition Entertainment in China Industry Leaders Develop and Promote CH-DVD a New High Definition DVD Standard for Chinese Market Beijing (September 7, 2007) - The Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center (OMNERC), a laboratory dedicated to optical disc research in Tsinghua University, today announced CH-DVD (China High Definition DVD)*1, a new generation high definition DVD format developed in collaboration with research institutes and manufacturing enterprises at home and abroad. The physical format of CH-DVD includes Chinese-owned intellectual property, and is based on HD DVD, the next generation high definition DVD approved by the DVD Forum. The realization of CH-DVD was supported by the Chinese government, and will pave the way for the localization of blue-laser, high-definition DVD in China. On Sept. 7, 2007, OMNERC established CHDA — the China High Definition DVD Industry Association — in cooperation with the DVD Forum and Chinese and international partners. CHDA will play a leadership role in the promotion of CH-DVD, and will make a big push to launch CH-DVD player into the Chinese market in 2008. The emergence of CH-DVD as a high definition format integrating Chinese-owned intellectual property clearly demonstrates that a Chinese optical disc technology is already at the world-class level. In the near future, all related industries in China are expected to make the transition from standard definition DVD to high definition DVD. CH-DVD is designed to play a central role in the sound development of the content industry, and adopts advanced copy protection technology that effectively prevents the spread of pirated copy. Many content holders have confirmed their support for CH-DVD and will launch movie titles in the CH-DVD format. In the next year, China will start broadcasts of high definition TV programs. In combination with HDTV, CH-DVD will provide a wide variety of HD content that will enrich the lives of viewers.

If you're in any way interested in dropping about $14 on this and shipping it from England, you might want to check out the Heartbeat Indicator mouse while you're at it, since your cardiologist might give you one in a couple years anyway. – Matt Buchanan

Product Page [via Slashgear]

Of course, the adult industry could find another Blu-ray disc manufacturer to step up and make their discs, but they seem to be going the HD DVD route instead. However, HD DVD's not running out into the streets yelling, "Look at us! If you want next-gen porn, come here!" – Jason Chen

Sony says no to porn on Blu-ray Disc [Computerworld via Crunchgear]

One of the main ticks in the comparison sheet between Blu-ray and HD DVD was the higher storage capacity of BD (50GB discs just debuted a few months ago) compared to HD.

Going up to 51GB, the HD camp can finally say they're equal to BD in storage, even though it takes three layers to do it—which in turn amps up the price to make these discs. However, the 51GB disc doesn't exactly level the playing field, seeing as Blu-ray has discs of up to 200GB (8 layers) coming. – Jason Chen

HD-DVD goes beyond 50GB with new disc [DVDTown]

•Batman Begins (HD-DVD)
•The Bourne Supremacy (HD-DVD)
•Casablanca (HD-DVD)
•The Devil Wears Prada (Blu-Ray)
•Hulk (HD-DVD)
•Mission: Impossible III (HD-DVD and Blu-ray)
•Ray (HD-DVD)
•Superman Returns (HD-DVD and Blu-ray)
• V for Vendetta (HD-DVD)
•World Trade Center (HD-DVD and Blu-ray)

–Brian Lam

THE BEST (AND WORST) OF 2006 [High Def Digest]

Does the PS3 Have a Higher Tolerance for Scratched Discs [via Ars Technica]