Intel Corporation and Micron Technology Inc. today introduced a new, finer 20-nanometer (nm) process technology for manufacturing NAND flash memory. The new 20nm process produces an 8-gigabyte (GB) multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash device, providing a high-capacity, small form factor storage option for saving music, video, books and other data on smartphones, tablets and computing solutions such as solid-state drives (SSDs).

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The growth in data storage combined with feature enhancements for tablets and smartphones is creating new demands for NAND flash technology, especially greater capacity in smaller designs. The new 20nm 8GB device measures just 118mm2 and enables a 30 to 40 percent reduction in board space (depending on package type) compared to the companies' existing 25nm 8GB NAND device. A reduction in the flash storage layout provides greater system level efficiency as it enables tablet and smartphone manufacturers to use the extra space for end-product improvements such as a bigger battery, larger screen or adding another chip to handle new features.

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Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, announced today its new family of hard disk drives, including two portable drives and a desktop storage station. Supporting the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface, the new external hard drives can provide data transfer speeds of up to 5 gigabits per second, delivering a maximum 10-fold higher data transfer rate over the USB 2.0, allowing users to transfer a 25-gigabyte full HD movie in just four minutes.

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Samsung's portable drives come in two designs, the entry-level M2 Portable and the premium C2 Portable 3.0. The M2 Portable comes with a wave-like matte finish that covers scratches and fingerprints, with curved sides for a comfortable grip. The drives are available in densities of up to 1 terabyte, USB 2.0/3.0 interface, and four colors: Brown Black, Noble Beige, Mist Gray and Clay Orange.

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Today, Aleratec Inc. added two new types of 6x Blu-ray BD-R media to its existing lineup of duplicator grade media. The new lineup consists of a 25-pack of white inkjet printable BD-R 6x media and a 10-pack of traditional silver BD-R 6x media.

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"Our customers look to us for the latest technology in hardware and media," said Perry Solomon, President and CEO of Aleratec. "We are pleased to offer 6x BD-R in both inkjet printable and standard silver formats for faster disc burning. In fact, we've gone a step further and optimized our Aleratec Stand Alone Blu-ray Duplicators (part #260201 and 260202) to burn at speeds up to an amazing 10x with this new media!"

Unlike other Blu-ray media, Aleratec's new 6x BD-R media is designed for use in demanding professional duplication applications, resulting in fewer bad copies due to poor disc quality. Additionally, the white surface of the inkjet printable 6x BD-R media produces professional quality labels and supports high-resolution color graphics. The company also offers a wide assortment of duplicator-grade LightScribe and traditional blank media, which have all been optimized for maximum reliability when used with Aleratec duplicators.

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Toshiba Corporation today announced the launch of the world's first series of Self-Encrypting Drives (SED) equipped with Wipe Technology, Toshiba's proprietary suite of security functions that bring an unsurpassed level of data protection to IT equipment. Wipe Technology allows users to determine a range of security settings, including invalidation of encryption keys and data invalidation when a drive is removed from its housing or connected to an unauthorized host system.

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The five models in the 2.5-type MK6461GSYG family range from 160 gigabytes (GB) to 640GB and are designed for use in copiers, printers, POS systems, PCs and other IT devices. Sampling will start from the end of April with mass production following at the end of June.

IT departments must contend with various security risks, from lost and stolen PC through to compliance with increasingly strict privacy laws and regulations governing data security. These concerns also go beyond PCs. Today, most office copier and printing systems utilize HDD capacity and performance to support productivity and the security of recorded document image data that must be maintained. Furthermore, data invalidation required overwriting for hours or physically disrupting until now.

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The ASUS O!Play Gallery takes all-around high definition enjoyment to the TV with the ASUS exclusive O!Direct streaming function and extensive internet-based services and content management. The multi-role design of the O!Play Gallery offers easy connectivity with the iPhone and iPod, the latest USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s devices and support for 7.1-channel Dolby TrueHD audio. It provides a true home entertainment center that’s perfect for video, photos and music, with support for all major media formats.

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Entertainment on demand! The O!Play Gallery allows users to plug and play media content from an iPod and iPhone in full HD on the living room TV, with no additional software needed. The intuitive remote control with a built-in rotary wheel bundled with the O!Play Gallery helps users make their multimedia experience fun and easy to use.

The ASUS exclusive O!Direct function offers consumers fast and reliable one-click streaming of content from PC to TV. Hassle-free streaming brings broader enjoyment in the living room in both wired and wireless modes, without the need for USB storage devices and their storage restrictions.

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Sharkoon expands their portfolio of internal removable frames for SATA drives. The two new models of the "Sharkoon SATA QuickPort Intern" series fit in a 5.25 inch PC bay, and offers a respective four or six installation bays for SATA hard drives and SSDs in a 2.5 inch format.

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The storage medium can simply be removed and re-attached by use of the screwable mounting frame, the lockable front covers guard against unwanted access. Cooling is provided by the fan on the backside of the case. To connect the hard drive slots with the main board SATA ports each has an appropriate number of SATA cables. Power is supplied via a 4-pin power connector.

The removable frame supports SATA Standards I to III, and provides a transfer rate of up to 6 GB/s. The case measures 146 x 150 x 41 mm (L x W x H) and weighs 573 grams (4-Bay) or 683 grams (6-Bay), respectively. Shipping includes an instructional manual, assembly screws, two keys plus the respective four or six SATA cables.

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superspeed usb.jpgThe USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) today announced the first certified SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) chipsets. The A75 and A70M FCH chipsets from AMD represent a major milestone for broad SuperSpeed USB adoption among manufacturers, as built-in USB 3.0 support enables designers to seamlessly incorporate SuperSpeed USB into their systems. Certification of AMD A75 and A70M FCH chipsets provides assurance to manufacturers and consumers that the SuperSpeed USB chipsets are interoperable and comply with the USB 3.0 specification.

“The ramp of the SuperSpeed USB ecosystem has been unprecedented, and the first certified SuperSpeed USB chipsets from AMD are a momentous step in the industry,” said Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF President & COO. “SuperSpeed USB integration into the chipsets is a strong incentive for manufacturers to bring an even broader range of SuperSpeed USB solutions to the market.”

“The integration of SuperSpeed USB into AMD’s Fusion Controller Hubs demonstrates AMD’s commitment to providing the industry’s latest, most innovative connectivity technologies,” said Chris Cloran, AMD Corporate Vice-President and General Manager, Client Group. “AMD Fusion Controller Hubs will provide competitive performance while consuming low power with active USB 3.0 traffic for high definition video and fast connectivity with the latest SuperSpeed USB devices.”

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Active Media Products, a world leading manufacturer of DOMs and small form factor SSDs, today announced eight new low-profile IDE DOMs for server, industrial and embedded computing applications in capacities from 8GB to 64GB.

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AMP's new Type-3 and Type-4 IDE / PATA DOMs are both designed in a low-profile orientation to fit into very tight enclosures. Both types are available in 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities. Type-3 models have an industry standard 40-pin female IDE connector, and Type-4 models have an industry standard 44-pin female IDE connector. These two new types give AMP a complete line of IDE DOMs.

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addonics cf cfast drive.jpgAddonics Technologies today announced the CF/CFast Drive, which lets you create a solid state drive with a high speed SATA interface by simply using any CF card or a high speed CFast card.

The CF/CFast Drive can be installed into a standard 5 1/4" drive bay of a desktop or rack mounted system to accommodate up to six CF/CFast media. The media can be configured as six independent drives or combined into a RAID group to form a large capacity, high performing solid state drive.

Any of the six media slots can be used as an internal storage application so that the media cannot be accessible from outside the system. This flexibility enables the CF/CFast drive to be used as a bootable storage device, as six removable drives or as a combination of a boot drive and removable storage -- all inside a 5 1/4" drive bay.

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tmpgenc video mastering works.jpgPegasys, Inc., the company that takes video to the next level, announces the release of the English version of TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 5. This software is the highly anticipated successor to TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress. The new software provides original video mastering and outputs in the most popular formats available. Visit Booth # SU9120 at NAB 2011 April 11-14 in Las Vegas NV. for a demonstration of this comprehensive encoding solution.

"According to a recent report the move to mobile devices is growing quickly. By January 2011, seven percent of Americans reported owning some kind of electronic tablet, almost double the amount just four months earlier. We have expanded the TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 5 software feature set required  for video sharing websites ,mobile devices with video playback, and more. These types of output displays are becoming a large market segment for high definition video content.,” commented Tak Ebine, Pegasys CEO.

TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 5 includes improved editing or filtering functions, popular MKV or WebM format support, and other new features, which are expanding the limits of the encoder, becoming a complete encoding solution. It also supports many input and output formats, detailed parameter settings, and offers a fast and precise cut-edit function, video format conversion, compression, material creation and more.

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