The sneaky folks at Aladdin have filed a patent for a new form of media that marries optical discs with smart cards. The new discs, dubbed XCDs, will look and play like any old DVD/CD, except their outer edge will be cut away and capable of plugging into a USB socket. Aladdin figures they can use this to lock copyrighted content on optical discs so music/video can be stored on the disc while encryption keys will be housed in the embedded chip. How long before this will be hacked?
XCD Patent [via New Scientist Tech]
