Posted 09/23/09 at 05:25:35 PM by Paul Lilly

There's always some jackass at every party who still thinks it's funny to push people into the pool while fully clothed. What if they were carrying around a portable hard drive filled with family photos, work documents, government secrets, and other data that's now drenched in water and chlorine?

Yeah, that's probably never happened to anyone in the history of portable hard drives, but there's always a first. If you're lugging around A-Data's new SH93 mobile drive, you won't have to lose any sleep at night wondering what you'd do in exactly that situation. Heck, you wouldn't even need to get out of the pool right away, because according to A-Data, it's SH93 portable HDD, wrapped in a rubber-plastic mix and special cushion materials, has passed the 1M waterproof test for 30 minutes. Go ahead and practice your backstroke!

You could even drop it out of a second story window for a quck air-dry. After all, the rugged drive also passed the military standard MIL-STD-810F drop test.

Available in 250GB, 320GB, 500GB, and 640GB capacities, you'll probably never subject your portable HDD to the above abuses, but hey, it's good to know you can fumble your beer while watching the Super Bowl and not worry about frying your portable backup.

No word yet on price or availability.

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Posted 09/11/09 at 07:46:41 AM by Paul Lilly

Amazon may not have invented the e-book, but it sure did popularize the genre of electronics with its Kindle reader, and now everyone wants in on the action. The latest with intent to enter the e-book fray is Time, Inc., says Owen Thomas from NBCBayArea.com, who claims to have seen an internal document detailing the company's intention.

According to Thomas, the presentation, titled "New Platforms & Business Models for Publishers," is dated June 25, 2009 and contains handwritten notes updating the paper. Thomas says the presentation was circulated as recently as August, which would indicate that Time, Inc. plans to make a move within the next few months.

"We're speaking with a number of hardware and software companies as well as other content companies about various projects," said Time, Inc. spokeswoman Dawn Bridges when asked about the project. "At this point we don't have anything else to say publicly."

Thomas says the presentation points out Time, Inc.'s awareness of the publishing opportunity presented by the emergence of e-book readers and other portable reading devices, and "whoever defines the interface wins."

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Posted 07/10/09 at 03:54:26 PM by Andy Salisbury

In the interest of bolstering their line of portable hard drives, Samsung recently announced their newest 1.8-inch drive, which supports capacities up to 250GB.

The new drive, known as the Spinpoint N3U, will come with a native USB controller instead of a PATA controller, allowing it to work without any data conversion. This also provides fewer potential points of failure. The drive will use up to 40 percent less power than a drive of similar capacity, and can withstand a free fall drop of up to 50 centimeters.

Shipments are slated to begin in mid-July, and the drive is expected to cost $199.

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Posted 07/06/09 at 10:30:00 AM by David Murphy

If you're like me, your USB key should come with its own flame retardant coating. That's because I tend to use my little four-gigabyte device to great excess on a near-daily basis. It's an easy fix for transferring files from a desktop PC to a laptop, and it's great for carrying batches of files I need to access (especially if I'm without an Internet connection, making Dropbox useless). If I'm heading over to a friend's house, I can slap a movie on the drive for us to watch on an attached PC or home theater device. I can throw down a game or two if I'm going to be travelling and don't feel like reading about overpriced devices that will pet my cat for me. USB keys are more than just a geek's trusty friends. They're uber-tools in their own right.

Application suites for USB keys are another popular way of extending the functionality of your desktop into the portable realm. Install these batches of software and you can take your favorite programs along with you wherever you go--perfect for when you're using a computer that isn't yours, yet you would prefer to be able to access to a better range of apps than Windows' default programs. Better still, you can stick these batches of applications on smaller USB keys to extend the life of these sub-gigabyte devices. The storage might stink, but the functionality will rule.

Click the jump to check out five, freeware application suites that will dazzle up your USB key faster than you can say, "universal serial bus."

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Posted 04/03/09 at 05:20:31 PM by Paul Lilly

A-Data's newest external hard drives employ you to "enjoy technology with a touch of style." And by that, A-Data means you should decide between rolling with sweet pink, sapphire blue, purple, or a white color scheme for your portable storage needs.

The color selection comes courtesy of A-Data's CH91 external HDD line. Coated in a metal-like paint spray, the new drives are available in capacities up to 500GB (250GB and 320GB also available) and support Microsoft's ReadyBoost technology. The USB powered drives measure 134mm x 82mm x 16.7mm, feature a blinking LED to indicate power and activity, and comes with a USB Y cable, suede pouch, and backup software.

No word yet on price or availability.

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Posted 08/14/08 at 11:00:00 AM by Gordon Mah Ung

If you still get warm and fuzzy thinking about those James Garner and Mariette Hartley Polaroid commercials, it’s time to let go of the past. Traditional film is barely hanging on, and Polaroid has completely ceased production of instant film.

But Polaroid hasn’t abandoned its interest in prints. The company is trying to rekindle the instant-print picture industry with its new Polaroid PoGo portable printer. This 4.75”x2.75”x1” device is the first to use Zink Imaging’s Zero Ink paper. Instead of shooting dots of ink onto a piece of paper, the PoGo uses a thermal head to heat up tiny crystals embedded in each sheet of paper.

Sounds rad, eh? Find out the skinny after the jump.

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Posted 08/08/08 at 11:02:25 AM by Paul Lilly

Power users who have dreamed of outfitting their portable backup solution in a RAID 0 array can now do so thanks to Addonics' new Portable Dual Drive RAID enclosure (AE25RDESU). Nervous Nellies are covered too, with RAID 1 providing a backup for your backup. The handheld device accepts up to two 2.5-inch SATA drives inside its "heat resistant aluminum" chassis, or pick up the optional SATA-CF hard disk adapter and install up to four CompactFlash cards. Other notable features include:

• Easy installation and removal of hard drive
• USB 2.0/1.1 and eSATA support
• RAID configuration with DIP switch or GUI configuration
• Supports RAID 0, RAID 1, JBOD, BIG (Concatenation), SAFE50, SAFE33, or GUI mod using built-in hardware RAID
• Can be powered by USB port

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Posted 08/04/08 at 12:41:51 PM by Paul Lilly

Laptops built around Intel's Centrino 2 platform are on the verge of marching into the market place en masse, and MSI appears ready to go with a pair of new gaming notebooks. The top-tier motherboard maker has launched the GX620 (15.4" WSXGA+) and GX720 (17" WSXGA+) Centrino 2 notebooks with each one sporting Nvidia's GeForce 9600M GT graphics with 512MB GDDR3. Other features include:

•  Intel PM45 Chipset
• Up to 4GB DDR2
• 2.0M Webcam
• 802.11 b/g/n
• 320GB SATA Hard Drive
• Blu-ray DVD Player
• HDMI port
• Windows Vista Home Premium

Quick launch sensors above the keyboard will give gamers the ability to activate MSI's Turbo Drive Engine Technology, which "overclock the GX620/GX720, increasing the speed of the Intel Core 2 Duo processor by as much as 15 percent." Users can also utilize MSI's ECO Engine and alternate between 5 different operating modes -- Gaming, Movie, Presentation, Office, or Turbo Battery -- to optimize battery life.

No word yet on pricing or availability, but don't be surprised to see more paper Centrino 2 notebook launches in the coming days/weeks.

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