Blu Ray

I have to be honest — I've felt like a piece of me has been missing since the finale of Battlestar Galactica. I know, I know, I gotta move on. But thankfully, the epic space opera can live on in my heart, and soon it can live on a loop in my DVD player! Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series ($220) hits shelves on July 28, and it couldn't come at a better time. What with So You Think You Can Dance drawing to a close, I'll need something to fill my time until the geeky shenanigans of The Office return to my screen.

If you couldn't tell, I'm a little channel-happy these days. That's what happens once you get a TiVo, but hey, you just gotta roll with the punches.

Last week Sony debuted an affordable line of Sony VAIO laptops, the NW series, that can support Blu-ray discs. The news is great and is continuing the trend of laptops being able to support Sony's high-def disc technology, including an even cheaper Blu-ray laptop from Acer, just announced yesterday.

But it's hardly the simple format roll-out previously seen for, say, DVDs — Steve Jobs famously called Blu-ray "a bag of hurt" just months ago, when asked if we'd see it on Macs anytime soon.

Although I'm psyched about the possibility of being able to watch my Blu-rays on my laptop, it's not a huge deal breaker for me — if I want to take high def movies with me, I'd download the digital copy from the Blu-ray or buy an HD movie on iTunes. Who wants to lug more stuff traveling anyway?

Of course I realize that some people have more important uses for Blu-ray on their laptop; I'm just not one of them. Do you care about getting Blu-ray support on your laptop?

Yesterday I attended a Sony media event here in San Francisco where three major announcements were made. The first — which caught my attention — is the 400-disc Blu-ray player Sony plans on unveiling in the near future — that's right, 400 discs . . . who has that many discs anyway?! We also learned about the new (only $880) Sony VAIO NW notebook, which comes fully equipped with Blu-ray disc technology, so you can watch crisp and clear movies from the convenience of your laptop. The laptop is the lightest of its kind, offers a 15.5-inch widescreen display, an HDMI output connector, and it features Sony's XBRITE-ECO LCD technology. This laptop will be available this month in brown, white, and silver.

And last, but not least, was the movieIQ announcement. MovieIQ is a handy feature, powered by Gracenote that gives you real-time info about the movie you're viewing. So for things like insider info, trivia, music or actor details, scene location and more, any movieIQ-enabled Blu-ray Disc will provide these interesting tidbits for you, right while you're watching the movie. And because it's connected to the Internet, the information is constantly updated and accurate (so you don't have to do a Google search to make sure it's legit). MovieIQ will start appearing on major movie titles like Angels & Demons (yay!), Punch Drunk Love, and Easy Rider this September.

To check out more photos of movieIQ and the new Sony Vaio NW read more