copiers
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Kaleidescape outs M300 and M500 Blu-ray players, copiers
Kaleidescape's just announced another line of high end home entertainment products -- this time it's the M300 and M500 Blu-ray players. The M500 also boasts Blu-ray copying abilities, too -- allowing you to import Blu-rays, DVDs and CDs onto your server at home. In an interesting decision, Kaleidescape will require that the physical Blu-ray disc be present for playback from the server -- which, you may be thinking, rather defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Pretty much. Thankfully, Kaleidescape's got a disc loader in the works which will allow you to keep a "large number" of discs ready in the system for faster loading. The loader itself isn't expected to be ready for retail until the first half of next year, but you can grab the M300 and the M500 beginning May 18th, with the M300 running $2,495 and the M500 at $3,995. The full press release follows.
Canon recalls 1.87 million copiers due to fire risk
In a nice change of pace from all the laptop recalls involving exploding Sony-made batteries, Canon has announced that over 1.8 million of its personal copiers sold between 1987 and 1997 are at risk of catching fire due to faulty wiring, although the company estimates that only 270,000 of these relics are still in use (thank you, planned obsolescence). Apparently there have only been several reported instances of copiers overheating, but disturbingly, all but one of them occurred overseas several years ago, and it was only the latest fire in Canon's home country of Japan that prompted the recall. Affected units include the PC6, PC7, PC8, and PC11 home copiers, along with the larger NP1010, NP1020, and NP6010 models, all of which qualify for free inspections and replacement parts -- but again, Japanese owners gets first crack at the fix while Canon figures out how to service devices sold in the rest of the world. So, until Canon comes up with a game plan for repairing the remaining machines, owners of these fire hazards are probably best off copying their documents, middle fingers, and rear ends down at the local Kinko's.[Via Reuters]
