Tech Briefs: Blu-ray blanks, ABC for free, more
TDK has started selling blank Blu-ray discs, both the writable and rewritable variety, priced at $19.99 and $24.99, respectively, through the company's Web site. Even though there are no drives commercially available at the moment to burn to the 25-GB discs, TDK wanted to get a jump on the competition. Later this year, TDK will start shipping dual-layer 50-GB discs priced at $47.99 for recordable blanks and $59.99 for rewritable ones as well as 50-disc spindles of the single-layer discs.… In May, ABC will start a two-month test to make some of its shows available for free download the day after they're broadcast, including Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Alias. The shows will include unskippable commercials and will be most likely be streaming video, unlike the shows ABC currently sells through Apple's iTunes Music Store which are downloadable files with no ads, but cost $1.99 each.… Best Buy will soon begin selling ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops by Lenovo, the company that acquired IBM's PC business in late 2004. ThinkPads are generally more expensive than comparable consumer notebooks and are marketed primarily to businesses, but Lenovo has recently been pushing to sell more to consumers. By coming to the shelves of Best Buy, Lenovo joins competitors Hewlett-Packard and Gateway.