MCE Technologies released MCE Drive, which allows Mac users to read, write and print labels on optical discs.

The drive can read and write up to dual-layer Blu-ray discs at 2X speeds for BD-RE, 4X for BD-R. It can read BD-R at 6X and BD-RE at 2X speeds. The drive can read HD-DVD at 6X speeds. All DVD and CD reading and writing formats are supported. The drive comes with Toast 9 Titanium as an option for $100 extra.

This drive comes in two major variants, the external drive which connects using Firewire or USB 2.0 for use by all Mac users, or the internal drive version for Mac Pro and Power Mac users. The external drive sells for US $750, and the internal drive for $500.

As of today, AMD is close to over a year and a half behind Intel with the implementation of the DDR3 system memory standard, and it doesn't look like we are going to see a DDR3 AMD platform only until late this year or early next year. Chilian website CHW.net published slides of the roadmaps for AMD chipsets in the months to come, also published are slides refering to the details of the next generation southbridge by AMD, even though the latest entry, the SB700 is only teething and only the latest motherboards with 7-Series chipsets feature this.

Contrary to our previous article here, Intel today informed that it will make the USB 3.0 specification freely available for anyone during the second half of this year. The specification will be made available under a contract that doesn't require royalty payments.

USB 3.0 is not an Intel specification; it is being developed by the USB 3.0 Promoter Group (HP, Intel, MSFT, NEC, NXP, and TI). The USB 3.0 Promoters issued a call for contributors in November 2007 and since then the USB 3.0 Promoter Group has been joined by over 180 USB 3.0 Contributor companies (Including other chipset makers such as AMD and Nvidia) who are helping to finalize the USB 3.0 specification. This spec is expected to be made publicly available by the USB 3.0 Promoter Group along with an adopter agreement early in the second half of 2008. (Very soon)

, posted today Nick Knupffer in the official Technology@Intel blog.

NVIDIA Corporation today announced that the Enthusiast System Architecture (ESA) communications protocol has now officially been adopted by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), paving the way for widespread industry adoption. As a result, the ESA protocol, which details the way PC peripherals can communicate with each other, will now be added into the next revision of the USB human interface device (HID)-class definition. Continued development and refinement on the ESA specification standard will now be controlled by a USB-IF sub-committee, made of up voting members from the USB-IF.

Intel has announced the formation of the USB 3.0 promoters group, a consortium that aims to create a "super speed personal USB interconnect."

The first members of the promoter group (HP, Intel, Microsoft, NEC Corporation, NXP Semiconductors and Texas Instruments) said that USB 3.0 will deliver more than ten times the data transfer bandwidth of USB 2.0, which tops out at 480 Mb/s. The new interface will be designed to be used in consumer electronics and mobile applications and able to deal with digital media file sizes that are likely to exceed 25 GB.

Intel stated that USB 3.0 will be based on current USB technology and ports and cabling will be backwards compatible; however version 3.0 will offer enhancements for better protocol efficiency and lower power consumption. The development group will also integrate an upgrade path to optical capabilities for USB. A completed USB 3.0 specification is expected to be released in the first half of 2008.