I-O Data has unveiled their latest external Blu-ray burner, the BRP-US6. The BRP-US6 connects to your notebook via the USB 2.0 port and keeps things slim. Some specifics include 6x burning for BD-R SL, 2x for BD-R DL/BD-RE and 6x reading with BD-ROM discs.

The drive will also burn DVD-R/+R at 8x, 6x on DVD-RW/+RW and 5x on DVD-RAM discs. It measures just 137mm x 154mm x 20mm and weighs in at 330grams.

We all love NES cartridge mods. But here’s the thing. When it looks like a third grader did it, we aren’t really interested. A good mod looks like something that you could potentially buy and something that maybe you can’t do yourself. Sorry, but this misses the mark.

That Duck Hunt cart died for this? This is less of a mod and more of a cut hole and insert cable project. Plus it’s ugly. I don’t mean to be a downer, but this is the red-headed step child of mods right here.

Taschen, maker of all kinds of overpriced coffee table books, has reissued the Norman Mailer book Moonfire, which comes in an aluminum case with Apollo11 struts. The front cover is made to look like the moon’s surface and even comes with a separate piece of lunar rock in a Marc Newson case.

What will all of this cost you? This limited-edition book is $90,500. There’s a cheaper version for $1,500 for folks like you and me, but it’s probably garbage. This is one small step for people with too much money and one giant leap for Taschen’s pocketbook.

The dual-booting Aspire One was the first Android netbook available. It hasn’t exactly sold like they had hoped, but Acer wants to be first again and see if lightning will strike with Google’s Chrome OS next year.

Acer has actually been developing a Chrome-based netbook since mid-2009, and Chairman, JT Wang tells DigiTimes that he wants it to be the first netbook out there when Chrome OS is released in the second half of 2010. We have a while to wait, but it’s nice to see Acer still not afraid to stray from Microsoft OS’.

This is the Eee PC 1008P, the Seashell 2, which is not due to be unveiled until CES, but thanks to HardwareZone we have these images to check out in the meantime. The exterior was designed by Karim Rashid and under the hood is Intel’s Pine Trail architecture with an N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 160GB of storage.

It now has room for a removable battery, hidden behind a cover and sliding out the side, the VGA port is provided by what looks like a mini-USB adapter in the bottom, and the other ports are behind little doors. That’s about all we know right now, but we should know more in about a month.

StarTech has unveiled its USB 3.0 ExpressCard which features a couple of ports to get you all started with USB 3.0. But there are a few problems though. These SuperSpeed USB ports won’t have the juice to supply a full 900mA for each port.

And an optional AC adapter will be needed which adds up to more stuff to carry. The dongle itself is too vulnerable also. When laptops are dropped and land on the side of the ExpressCard, it will instantly break. At $50, you might want to think twice on this one.

Word is that Google is looking to get into the pay-per-episode TV business with YouTube and offer streaming content for purchase using a service that would compete with iTunes downloads. According to Peter Kafka of MediaMemo, several sources have indicated that YouTube wants to offer streaming TV episodes for a fee.

It would be similar to what Apple already offers: a $1.99 cost per episode. Apparently both sides are in early negotiations and they are “optimistic” that a deal can be reached.

Sony in Japan has introduced the smallest USB biometric scanner yet, for reading users’ finger vein patterns. This new smallest yet is called the FVA-U1. Sony labels the technology mofiria and says that it’s more accurate and secure than fingerprint readers since it relies on unique blood vein patterns in the finger. The FVA-U1 connects to PCs via USB 2.0.

Mofiria uses a CMOS sensor that reads scattered light through the finger that originates from a near-infrared LED light. The FVA-U1 should ship in Japan on December 18th. No word yet on pricing.

Look we all know that Motorola has a hit on their hands with DROID. So it should be no surprise that sales are brisk. Sales have been great since it’s first weekend. People are questioning their brand loyalty. Cats and dogs are getting along. It’s end-times.

The actual sales figures are reportedly around 700,000 to 800,000 devices, and with the holiday season upon us, the phone might hit the 1 million mark before 2010 arrives.

Winter is here so why not have a camera to match the season. Sony is offering a snowflake version of its DSC-TX1 compact camera for just the occasion. The special edition is available in Silver, Black and Pink. There’s no extra charge for the engraving, but Sony will only offer it during the holidays.

Some features include a 10.2 Megapixel compact camera, 4X optical zoom, Carl Zeiss lens, and a 3″ LCD touch display. Other features: 10fps burst mode, low-light capabilities and the 185 degree sweep panorama.

Fring was the first to bring VoIP calls to the iPhone, and now it brings on the video calling. Obviously it can’t change the iPhone’s camera placement, but it makes the most of what it has to work with. The latest version of the app will still let iPhone and iPod touch users see the person on the other end.

Fring also says that it will add two-way video calling when “a front camera is placed on these.” You’ll also be able to make video calls to Skype users, but you have to be near a WiFi hotspot since it doesn’t support calls on 3G.

Pogoplug may have been the first to make this type of gadget, but now it’s time for some less well known names to offer up similar devices for less money. Sharkoon has now developed their own USB LANPort, which effectively puts USB storage like your flash drives, external hard drives, etc. onto a local network.

Looks like it’s mainly for making multiple drives available to a different machines via customized permissions though. The USB LANPort 100 converts a single drive into a device that can be streamed from locally. The USB LANPort 400 handles up to four USB devices. Both devices support automatic and manual IP address contacts and are available now for €22.99 ($34) and €36.99 ($56).

The Kindle Kradle is a pretty ugly way to hold your Kindle. It looks like those take-out beverage holders, but for a Kindle. It allows you to not have to actually hold your Kindle, so it’s at least functional. Right? Well, maybe not.

The folks at over at Wired had a hands on and the Kradle turned out to be less useful than it seems. And using it as a dock is a pain since it’s not easy to thread the cable through the stand. It comes in brown or graphite colors though, and in sizes that fit the Kindle DX and some Sony Readers too.

Green is a big deal into the computer market. Large companies can save lots of money by saving seemingly small amounts of power across all the computers in their company. Power saved among computer users adds up to big savings in pollution overall.

NEC has unveiled a new LCD called the MultiSync EA222WMe. The LCD is LED backlit and designed with an eye towards being green in all aspects. The screen uses 20% less power than other panel types. It also consumes up to 52% less power and radiates up to 61% less heat than previous NEC LCDs.

I once tried to wire a projector up in my living room only to give up when I realized what a huge pain it was going to be to run an HDMI cable from the TV up the wall and across the ceiling. If I was trying the same thing today, I would be able to use wireless connectivity to connect the projector to my DVR like the new Rocketfish WirelessHD Adapter.

The adapter includes a transmitter and a receiver that can send 1080p HD programming at 60 fps up to 10 meters away. That means you can connect TVs and projectors to your DVR or Blu-ray player without needing wires between the two.