Sony just revealed the new laser they're developing alongside Tohoku University. Regardless of the future of physical media, the specs are astounding to consider.

Warner Bros. has an interesting program that they've recently expanded a bit—mail in an old DVD movie along with $5 to swap it for the newer, Blu-ray version. After mulling it over, I think I like the idea.

Each side plays just fine. [The Bourne Identity (Amazon), $15]

I'll say it: the S-5BD looks ferocious. It's a Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player and a 5.1-channel audiophile grade surround sound receiver, all packed into an oooooo shiny design.

HD DVD made dual-sided HD DVD/DVD combo discs in 2006. They even announced a dual-sided HD DVD/Blu-ray disc in January 2007. So why the fuck did it take three more years to make a Blu-ray/DVD combo?

The BDR-205 is pretty much like any other mainstream 5.25-inch internal Blu-ray writer, in terms of looks and features, except for the fact that it, get this, spins slightly faster than the current crop of 8x writers. Slightly!

Sony recently opened a new Blu-ray factory in the suburbs of Sydney, and however you may feel about the format itself, the automatized precision in the creation of BDs is still a marvel.

We don't know what the LED X found on the side of this Asus Blu-ray drive is supposed to symbolize to the people of Earth, but we aren't ones to argue with pointlessly glowing aesthetics.

Warner Bros is super, super smart about marketing their Blu-ray discs. First they had Christopher Nolan host a community screening for The Dark Knight. Now director Zack Snyder will do the same for Watchmen.

In honor of summer and men who procreate everywhere, Meijer is offering a $100 Blu-ray player through July 31st. Of course, it's from the not-so-celebrated Curtis Mathes brand.

The gadget-sale tracking NPD says Blu-ray sales were up 72% from a year before, while dollars earned were up just 14% (players are getting cheaper)—yet most people still don't really know what Blu-ray is.

Even though 8x media is still hard if not impossible to come by here in the States, Lacie's new d2 external burner will be ready for it when it's here. It's $450, available now.

Samsung's latest two BD-Live Blu-ray decks are design conscious to the max-one is a wall-mountable 1.5-inches thin (BD-P4600) and the other is a low-profile, sleek tabletop deck (BD-P3600), and both stream Netflix and Pandora.

What's that CES magic word we hear? Convergence? Yes, indeed: Sharp's all-new BD series, as the name suggests, features a built-in side-loading Blu-ray player in all fives sets ranging from 32-52 inches.

The robust update Blu-ray's BD+ copy protection that was gonna take three months to crack was just busted by Slysoft, months ahead of schedule. Wanna guess what's gonna happen to the next BD+ update? [Inquirer]

While the downward pricing spiral may be over, manufacturers are finding new ways to move TVs, like including a free Blu-ray player worth $300 when you buy one of many Sharp LCDs.

One of Blu-ray's touted technologies—for studios—was that even if its copy protection was busted, it could be updated in future titles, requiring a new set of cracks. A November update is their most iron-clad yet.

We thought Sony was clever, but here's the original "Blu-ray" device. It's a copier, duplicating large mylar maps by using ammonia and photosensitive paper to transfer the image. And here's a pile of its product:

Two free Blu-ray discs with a player can't be a bad deal, particularly when the movies are the Dark Knight and Batman Begins. It's a Denon special holiday offer from November 23rd through January 10th, and it applies to the DVD-1800BD and DVD-3800BDCI players and the DVD-2500BTCI Blu-ray transport. That DVD-3800…