Okay, so there's clearly a tube that dispenses marshmallows to the ASUS marketing department whenever it comes up with another product to slap the Eee brand on, because this just getting silly. In addition to the countless Eee laptops, Eee Box desktop, Eee monitor, Eee televisions, and other Eee-branded crap, we're hearing the company is working on a line of accessories, including an external hard drive, optical drive, and WWAN card. None of this is official quite yet, but knowing ASUS, it'll be out in 30 different varieties by the end of the month.

If you'll recall, SonyNEC Optiarc was the same company that suggested BD prices would be halved by 2008 from what they were in late 2006, and while stickers are still relatively high on standalone decks, the prediction actually wasn't too far off. A new report from Tom's Hardware notes that the aforementioned outfit is expecting Blu-ray combo drives "to reach the $100 line before the holiday season." For around $50 more, it reckons you'll have access to slim-line notebook drives that handle the same duties. Granted, there's no real confirmation surrounding the assertions, and we'll be the first to blindly hope such wishful thinking comes true, but we'd say BD prices in general have a whole lot of falling to do in six short months for this one to even stand a chance.

[Via TechDigest]

Not even a week after LaCie trumpeted its latest 4x external Blu-ray writer, along comes LG to re-up the ante. Its latest trifecta -- the BE06 (pictured), GBC-H20L and GBW-H20L -- all offer SecurDisc capabilities and LightScribe technology, not to mention the ability to toast BD-Rs at 6x (and BD-REs at 2x). As for the external USB 2.0 BE06, you'll be looking at $379.95; for the GBC-H20L and GBW-H20L, however, you can expect to pay $199.95 / $279.97 respectively. The trio is available as we speak.

Kohjinsha's UMPCs have remained largely unchanged over the years -- an SSD here, Intel CPU boost here -- but the firm's latest has managed to accomplish something few UMPCs would even dream of. That's right, this 7-incher includes a full-fledged dual-layer DVD writer, which tags along nicely with the 1,024 x 600 resolution LED-backlit panel, 1.3-megapixel camera, 60GB hard drive, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth and 800MHz A110 processor. It's also filled with 1GB of DDR2 RAM, Ethernet, a duo of USB 2.0 ports, VGA output, audio in / out, 3-in-1 multicard reader and a pair of battery options promising 3.5 / 7.2 hours of life. The 2.4-pound machine looks to be available at the end of this month (albeit rebadged as a Vye Mini-V S37) for around $1,500.

[Via Ubergizmo]

While the new Buffalo DVD burner can never compare to the wall-rattling speed of Samsung's Super-WriteMaster (which blazes through your pirated software at 20x when hitting DVD±R discs), the 19x offering from the Japanese peripheral manufacturer ain't too shabby. There's not too much to get excited about beyond the burner's adequately fast speeds, save for the ATAPI and SATA configurations and availability of white or black faceplates -- which are sure to be a sweet match to even the most fashionable of desktops. The drive will be available in mid-November and will run you ¥6300 (about $55) for the SATA model, and ¥6900 (or $61) for the ATAPI configuration. [Warning: read link is in Japanese]

[Via Akihabara News]

LaCie, always known to drop a fresh drive on us during our extreme times of need, has once again stepped up to the plate with a new line of petite storage options aimed at "people on the go" and other likeminded busibodies. The company's new "Little Disk" line was designed by the "award winning" Sam Hecht, and comes in 1.8- or 2.5-inch varieties, ranging from 30GB to 250GB, all with retractable, USB 2.0 connectors. Mr. Hecht also oversaw the creation of LaCie's other small offering, a portable DVD+RW drive with LightScribe technology (allowing you to etch custom labels into discs), that comes in both USB 2.0 and Firewire varieties. The hard drives and optical drives are available now, ranging from $99.99 to $119.99 for the disks, and $99.99 to $149.99 for the DVD writers.

[Via PhotographyBLOG]

Read -- LaCie Announces the New Little Disk Family of Mobile Drives, Design by Sam Hecht
Read -- LaCie Ships Portable DVD±RW Drive with LightScribe, Design by Sam Hecht

Nah, Buffalo isn't manufacturing the HD DVD / Blu-ray drive that sits comfortably within its new external enclosure, but those parked in Japan can reportedly get ahold of this peace maker for just ¥51,000 ($440). Apparently, Buffalo chose the GGC-H20N optical drive to read both high-definition formats in its BHC-6316U2, and CyberLink's PowerDVD7.3 Ultra will also be thrown in for good measure. Next month, Buffalo will be loosing the BRHC-6316U2, which will utilize the GGW-H20N Blu-ray burner / HD DVD reader and will run customers a respectable ¥74,800 ($644).

[Via EverythingUSB]

There was a brief moment in time when unveiling an "optical storage technology that can provide 40 times the capacity of Blu-ray and over 200 times the capacity of DVD" would be momentous, but unfortunately for Call/Recall, it's just one of the herd at this point. Nevertheless, the company is pushing forward in its development of "2-photon 3D technology" that can purportedly stuff many terabytes of data onto a "DVD-sized disc" or even cram 50GB onto a one-inch disc aimed at cellphones and mobile media players. The system relies on a "2-photon recording process to record bits in a three-dimensional volume in a disk," which can stuff multiple layers atop one another in order to give users more room to work with. As expected, there's little to be said about an actual mainstream release of the so-called solution, and besides, we're having a hard enough time swallowing the pricetags of existing high-density storage drives.

If you were wondering who's responsible for the super-slim burner that allows Toshiba's waifish Portege R500 sub-notebook to sport an optical drive in such a small enclosure -- and who wasn't, really? -- it seems that Akihabara News has solved this non-mystery by outing Panasonic's seven-millimeter thick DVD writer as the guilty party. At only 99 grams heavy as well, the unnamed spinner reportedly stomps all over the previous record holder for slimmest notebook drive, which measured a relatively-bloated 9.5 millimeters from top to bottom. You'll probably be seeing this model all over the place soon enough; in fact, we wouldn't be surprised (well, maybe we would) if Samsung stuffs one into the first revision of the Q1 Ultra. or Mr. Hawkins employs it to add some value to the critically-panned Foleo.

We've got all ideas that anyone crushing on Dell's awkward, albeit expansive, XPS M2010 probably already has one by now, but if you've just started falling for the unsightly beast, this one just may pull the trigger for you. Just over a week after cramming half a terabyte of hard drive space into the machine, Dell is now offering up an internal slot-loading 2x speed Blu-ray burner for the HD set. As expected, this newfangled luxury won't run you cheap, as the BD-equipped machine will run you upwards of $4,000 -- and that's before the upgrade bug attacks at the checkout aisle.

[Via NotebookReview]

While Apple still seems to be toying with the idea of getting LED-backlit LCDs into its MacBook Pro, a few clever engineers behind tightly sealed Cupertino doors have been chewing on another concept. Based on two recent patents belonging to Apple, it seems as if the company is investigating ways to get its already-thin laptop lineup even slimmer, and its going after the optical drive first and foremost. Based on the wording and diagrams found in the filings, we could end up seeing optical drives mounted underneath of the laptop in order to free up that oh-so-precious space underneath the palm rest. Additionally, the patent includes detailed information about accessing the disc drive in ways that won't hinder efficiency while computing, as well as various "active user interface" mechanisms designed to prevent users from "accidentally" ejecting their disc. So while there's sure to never be a public word spoken from Jobs & Co. about this potentially fictitious idea, we definitely wouldn't complain about a trimmed down version of Apple's lappies, but if this ends up seeing the light of day, we can probably kiss those awkward-sounded slot-loading drives a fond farewell.

[Via UnwiredView]
Read - Apple's access system for a portable device patent
Read - Apple's disk drive media access patent