No sooner do I buy my latest piece of hardware — the iPod Touch — my gadget lust moves on to something new. That something is a PlayStation 3.

Already impressed with the device’s next-generation gaming potential, media playback options, and the inclusion of a Blu-Ray player — and further tempted by the recent price drop — today’s news that DivX support on the PS3 will be arriving shortly, may have just pushed me over the edge.

Ars Technica reports:

DivX has announced that the Sony PlayStation 3 will soon support the DivX video codec. We suspected as much when the PS3 2.0 firmware was released, as it includes the ability to detect both DivX and Xvid files. According to the DivX team, full support will arrive with a future software update. DivX CEO Kevin Hell said in a statement, “We are excited to work with Sony Computer Entertainment to bring DivX to PS3. Our technology will expand the multimedia functionality of PS3 by enabling users to enjoy access to the broad library of content in the DivX digital media format.”

Of course that “broad library of content” which Kevin Hall refers to, includes lots of pirated content such as Hollywood blockbusters or PVR’d television programs (which don’t expire seven days after download).

DivX content may not always sit on the right side of the law, but until the big studios deliver their content online in the way that people want, DivX will continue to be the MP3 for video, and to that end, every digital video device needs to support it.

Miro, the free open-source video player, has reached 1.0 and launched a spiffy player for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Drop what you’re doing and go get it.

Miro is that good.

Miro is an alternative to Joost, Windows Media, and iTunes for downloading, watching, and organizing your video. We wrote on it extensively in July, and since then it has improved even more.

Its advantages are listed on the Miro Website, but to summarize:

• It’s open-source
• It’s DRM-free
• It’s friendly to all content creators, professional and user-generated alike
• It’s high definition
• It’s BitTorrent enabled
• It has 2,700 channels listed in the Miro Guide
• Of those 2,700, about 200 are from commercial broadcasters
• It connects you to all the video-sharing sites like YouTube
• Miro uses the VLC video engine to play nearly every video format known to man

And so on.

The social networking wars are pretty intense these days. Bebo, the global social site popular in the U.K. and Ireland, is differentiating itself from MySpace, Facebook, and the Google Open Social effort by aligning with TV, film, and music companies.

Bebo announced today Open Media, a new “platform” that gives users the ability to add top-shelf video and music content to their profile pages and share it with others on the network. They become “fans” of a series the same way they can add people as “friends.”

At the same time, Bebo is allowing its diverse content partners like the BBC, CBS, Channel 4, ESPN, Ministry of Sound, MTV Networks, Turner, Ustream, and Yahoo! to use their video players to distribute their content and retain all of the advertising-related revenue.

I want to scream. The reason I like downloading TV shows from iTunes or Amazon Unbox is I can watch them later, when I have time. I pay for that privilege, and for no advertising during the show.

So here comes NBC Direct, the now-in-beta ad-supported service from NBC that lets you download full episodes of the network’s shows to your computer. But guess what? You’ve got 48 hours to view them. In fact, NBC makes the shows available for only seven days after initial airing.

That episode of “The Office” I missed two weeks ago when the DVR failed to record — gone, no longer available on NBC Direct. Same for the first few episodes of “30 Rock.” So what’s the point of a video download service that makes you stick to a schedule, just like network TV?