Blu-ray Capacity Increase Via Firmware
LordofEntropy writes "Blu-ray.com reports that Sony and Panasonic have announced a new optical disc evaluation technology that increases capacity from 25GB to 33.4GB. The tech uses existing Blu-ray diodes and is accomplished via firmware upgrade. The article says it is not known if and when the upgrade will be adopted into the Blu-ray spec. However, given that Sony and Panasonic are behind it, 'it will likely happen later this year.'"
If I recall, Yamaha created a special version of a standard CD-ROM for the Sega Dreamcast. It was called a GD-ROM and could hold approximately 1.1GB. From what I remember, this was achieved with some sort of laser tweak.