Plextor has released the PX-B120U external USB Blu-ray drive, which plays BD discs at speeds up to 4x.

The travel-friendly PX-B120U is powered via the USB cable so it doesn’t require a separate power source.

Plextor’s drive also supports “multiple media formats including DVD+ /- R, DVD +/-RW, DVD +/- R DL, DVD-RAM and CD-R”.

The BD reader is priced at $99.99.

Transcend has launched the PNU3, a two-port USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapter.

The ports on the ExpressCard fully support SuperSpeed USB 3.0 standard with connection bandwidth of up to 5Gb/s and are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1.

Transcend’s PNU3 USB 3.0 ExpressCard Adapter is compatible with Windows 7 and is backed by a 2-year warranty.

The adapter can be found for $33.90 at Amazon.com.

Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux 10.10 OS, codenamed “Maverick Meerkat”, will support multitouch gestures.

“Our multi-touch work began in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, when we worked to get additional touch hardware supported in the Linux kernel, particularly the Dell XT2, HP tx2 tablets and the Lenovo T410s laptops. With that in place, and active development in X well under way, we reviewed our options for gesture recognition in Linux. The Maverick cycle has seen us produce several prototypes for gesture recognition software and the Ubuntu archives now include the results of that effort,” says Canonical.

The new feature is enabled by Ubuntu’s uTouch multi-touch and gesture framework.

Maverick Meerkat is currently in Alpha 3 stage. The final Ubuntu 10.10 release is expected in October.

Intel Corporation announced today that new netbooks based on the dual-core Intel Atom N550 mobile processor are available in stores today.

“The netbooks – available now and through the end of the year from manufacturers including Acer, ASUS, Fujitsu, Lenovo, LG, Samsung, MSI, and Toshiba – enable new levels of support for applications like games, as well as Adobe Flash technology for access to a number of Web pages including online hotel booking systems and multimedia sites such as YouTube and Hulu,” Intel’s press release says.

However, we were not able to find any Atom N550-powered netbook at online retailers in the U.S. at the time of this writing.

The N550, the first dual-core Atom CPU for mobile computers, supports up to four computing threads and is clocked at 1.5GHz. The 64-bit 45nm chip has 2×512KB of cache, a maximal thermal design power of 8.5W, and a 200MHz graphics core.

Nvidia has officially released the GeForce 400M Series dedicated video cards for laptops.

Besides the recently launched GeForce GTX 480M, which is the top of the line model, the 40nm “Fermi” architecture-based 400M series now includes the hgih-performance GTX 470M and GTX 460M, as well as mid-range GT 445M, GT 435M, GT 425M, GT 420M and GT 415M.

The new GPUs support DirectX 11, Nvidia Optimus, CUDA, 3D Vision, and PhysX technologies, and performance-boosting Verde notebook drivers.

According to Nvidia, the GeForce 4xxM series GPUs are up to 40% faster on average than their 3xxM counterparts.

The 400 Series chips will be initially incorporated into laptops by Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba.

Seagate has announced the Momentus XT, a 2.5-inch laptop-use solid state hybrid drive which combines solid state memory with traditional hard disk.

The Momentus XT has a 7,200rpm spin speed, 4GB of solid state memory, and Seagate’s Adaptive Memory technology to deliver “world’s fastest” hard drive performance. According to the manufacturer, it boots the operating system “up to 100% faster” than standard 5,400rpm notebook HDDs and “sets new benchmarks for real-world system performance for notebooks and gaming systems”.

The new SSD/HDD hybrid will be used in Asustek´s G73 gaming notebook, according to the press release.

We have no info on availability or pricing.

At Computex 2010, AMD has demonstrated the Fusion Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that combine CPU, GPU, video processing and other capabilities in a single die.

The APUs support DirectX 11 gaming and HD video content.

In a Fusion whitepaper, AMD has disclosed that its first APUs, code-named “Llano” and “Ontario,” are designed for mainstream desktop and notebook platforms, “thin and light” laptops, netbooks, and tablets. Both of these APUs will combine multiple superscalar x86 processor cores with an array of programmable SIMD engines leveraged from AMD’s discrete graphics portfolio.

“The key aspect to note is that all the major system elements – x86 cores, vector (SIMD) engines, and a Unified Video Decoder (UVD) for HD decoding tasks – atach directly to the same high speed bus, and thus to the main system memory. This design concept eliminates one of the fundamental constraints that limits the performance of traditional integrated graphics controlers (IGPs),” AMD says.

The launch of the AMD Fusion Family of APUs is planned for the first half of 2011.

Samsung has announced the SE-S084D, a new slim external DVD burner, designed for use with laptops and netbooks.

According to the manufacturer, the Samsung SE-S084D optical drive is 20% smaller and 25% lighter than other DVD writers. It is round shaped and available in seven colors.

The SE-S084D has the following recording speeds: 24X CD-ROM, 24X CD-RW, 8X DVD±R, 5X DVD-RAM, 6X DVD±R dual layer, 8X DVD+RW, and 6X DVD-RW. It features Buffer Under Run technology to prevent writing errors and enables PC multi-tasking. The drive is compatible with all operating systems including Windows 7 and Mac OS.

The Samsung SE-S084D is available worldwide for $69.99.

Intel has launched Core i7-940XM, i7-840QM and i7-740QM quad-core laptop processors priced at US$1,054, US$546 and US$364, respectively.

The company also plans to release more 2010 Core mainstream notebook CPUs – the Core i7-640M, i5-580M and i5-560M priced at US$332, US$257 and US$225, DigiTimes reports.

Regarding ultra-low voltage chips for thin-and-light laptops, Intel has launched the Core i7-660UM (US$305) and i5-540UM (US$241), and plans to release dual-core Core i7-680UM and i5-560UM models at the end of September. The company will also release several low-voltage CPUs including the Core i7-660LM in September, according to DigiTimes.

“For entry-level processors, Intel recently launched the dual-core Celeron U3400 (US$134) but has no plans to release any more upgrades before the end of 2010. In September, Intel will launch the 32nm Celeron P4600 (US$86) and 45nm Pentium T3500 (US$80), while the Celeron P4500 will be phased out of the market and the Pentium T3300 will see its price drop from US$86 to US$80,” the report says.

DigiTimes also writes that Intel’s next-generation notebook platform Huron River is scheduled to launch in January.

All the prices listed in this post are in 1,000-unit tray quantities.

Antec has launched three new coolers for laptops – the Notebook Cooler Basic, Notebook Cooler Designer, and Notebook Cooler Mini.

The Notebook Cooler Basic is made of perforated aluminum and weighs 0,7lbs. It passively cools notebooks with up to 14-inch displays and has an integrated flip-up stand.

The Notebook Cooler Designer is for laptops up to 15-inch in size. It weighs 1.1lbs and has a 4.33-inch fan that operates at speeds of up to 800 RPM.

Antec’s Notebook Cooler Mini is the smallest model that weighs 0.44lbs, but supports up to 17-inch laptops. It features a 3.15-inch fan that runs at up to 1,200 RPM.

The Antec coolers have a three year warranty. The price for the Basic model is $24.95, $39.95 for Designer, and $39.95 for Mini model.