I have to admit that I quite like it when manufacturers give their products uninspiring yet tremendously descriptive names. Call waiting tells you exactly what the service does, as does dry cleaning. Yet somehow, the phrase burning a CD never quite did it for my literal brain.

Perhaps the folks at Nichia Corp. heard my plea and took it to heart, or the bank, because they have announced a method of cementing data on a DVD that includes use of a super-high-powered laser diode. The result is a next-generation DVD that burns at ten times the speed it would now (assuming a dual-layer disc, of course).

You can take this burner to the bank for up to 1,000 hours of operation or 5,000 two-hour burns, whichever comes first. And by the way, it can work with both Blu-ray and HD DVD.

The burner will be ready for common consumption in the first half of next year.