PS3 Gets BD Live Support & More March 20, 2008

Read more Blu-ray , Consoles , Entertainment , Gadgets , Games , Gizmodo UK , HD , Movies , Music , PS3

The PS3 is inching closer to becoming the ‘all-singing-all-dancing’ heart of the living room with its forthcoming firmware update.

The v2.20 firmware update at the end of the month will eclipse the recent – and disappointing - v 1.17 update by adding support for the eagerly awaited BD Live, the advanced playback technology used on newer Blu-ray movie discs.

The update supports the latest Blu-ray Disc (BD) Profile 2.0, which includes BD Live, allowing users watching a Blu-ray movie to check the Net for related downloadable content, trailers, ringtones and movie-based games. Only newer, standalone Blu-ray players have this while owners of older Blu-ray players are, well, pretty much screwed.

Best Buy Offers Refund To HD DVD Buyers March 20, 2008

Read more Blu-ray , Entertainment , Gizmodo UK , HD DVD , HDTV , Home Cinema , Home Entertainment

US retail chain Best Buy is hoping to mollify thousands of people who bought players for the now dead HD DVD movie format with gift cards.

The chain said it plans to offer $50 (£25) vouchers to those early adopters that forked out hundreds of dollars for HD DVD players. It’s small change but then it’s better than a kick in the balls.

Nintendo DS Gets Rainbow Treatment March 20, 2008

Read more Consoles , Entertainment , Gadgets , Games , Gizmodo UK , Mobile Devices

Colorware are the masters at redecorating consoles, notebooks and other mobile devices so it’s a welcome surprise to see that the great, yet bland, Nintendo DS is getting a makeover.

Alongside the garish Simpsons-themed Xbox 360s to the bright and cheery MacBooks, Colorware has turned its brushes on the DS but you get to choose the colours.

Philips Upgrades WiFi Audio System With Net Radio March 20, 2008

Read more Digital Audio , Entertainment , Gadgets , Gizmodo UK , MP3 , Music , PC , Wireless

Philips has beefed up its Streamium family of wireless audio products with the addition of a new flagship, the WACS7500, which comprises the WAC7500 main unit and WAS7500 satellite units.

The replacement for the WACS7000 is 20mm thinner and finally adds Internet radio support via a wireless network. Philips has hooked up with BlueBeat, Live365 and Radioio, to offer users access to thousands on Net stations. CDs placed in the WAC7500 main unit are automatically ripped to the internal 80GB hard disk drive, while PC-based music can be streamed wirelessly or via Ethernet to the main unit and then to the satellite units placed around the home.

Electronic Cigarette For Healthy Smokers March 20, 2008

Read more Entertainment , Gadgets , Gizmodo UK , Technology

'Healthy’ and ‘smoking’ are not usually two words you find in the same sentence unless of course they are in a sentence like: “You were healthy, you took up smoking and now you're dead”.

This is the Gamucci electronic cigarette designed to help chronic smokers keep off the real killers by sucking on this. According to the makers it:

“Provide users a real smoking experience without the tobacco and tar found in real cigarettes. It looks like, feels like and tastes like a real cigarette, yet it isn’t, it is so much more. It is truly a healthier alternative.”