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- Home Entertainment
Insignia, a Best Buy Co., Inc. exclusive brand, and Netflix, Inc., the world's largest online movie rental service, today announced the availability of two new Insignia Blu-ray Disc Players that enable Netflix members to instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix over the Internet to their televisions.
The new Insignia Advanced Series Blu-ray Player (NS-WBRDVD) and the Insignia Connected Blu-ray Player (NS-BRDVD3) are now on sale for $249.99 and $179.99, respectively, at all Best Buy retail stores and bestbuy.com. Both models are Internet ready, giving Netflix members on an unlimited plan access to a growing library to watch instantly on their TV. The Insignia Advanced Series model uses built-in Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet while the Insignia Connected player uses an Ethernet connection. The ENERGY STAR-certified players feature Dolby TrueHD to deliver exquisite high-quality sound and use up conversion to display standard DVDs with crisp clarity and precision.
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- Hard Disks
Flash memory manufacturer, Silicon Power follows their success of the Armor A10, a silicon rubber protected portable hard disk drive with an ultra protected portable hard disk drive that derived from similar concepts, the Armor A50. Set to be unleashed on Oct. 21, the Armor A50 further expands the concept of the A10. The result is a shock proof and ultra rugged portable hard disk drive with an elegant aluminum construction. It adds more option to the existing portable hard disk drive lineup.
In compliance with US MIL-STD-810F (transit drop test), it was tested for (1) product dropped directly onto a concrete floor (or harder surface); (2) on a drop-test machine, the product freefalls from a height of 122cm and from the freefall; (3) there are 26 contact points (8 corners, 12 cut surfaces and 6 major surfaces) that were tested. Silicon Power's Armor A50 passed the test with ease, ensuring the data stored is safe from damage! In addition to its similar ultra shock proof characteristics to the Armor A10, Silicon Power’s Armor A50 features hairline treated aluminum construction. The hairline surface is fingerprint proof and its raised imprint logo gives off an elegant aura, perfect for the business professional.
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- Flash Memory
EasyCo LLC announced the immediate availability of their new Flash SuperCharger™ software that dramatically improves the performance and life of USB Flash Drives. Flash SuperCharger changes how data is written to USB flash drives by writing data in clusters, as long linear strings, overcoming the massive write inefficiencies in USB Flash Drives today. Applying SuperCharger software to a Flash Drive results in faster performance, eliminates slow-downs as Flash Drives fragment, extends life of Flash Drives and adds to their use with portable applications. SuperCharger USB 2.0 support is available for Windows XP now, with support for Windows 2000 and Windows 98 to follow.
EasyCo President, Sam Anderson, said: “Our tests with leading Flash Drives show that Flash Drives running with our Flash SuperCharger software on them are dramatically faster … some even outperform hard disk drives (HDD).” In lab tests, SuperCharger wrote 4KB blocks up to 1,000X faster than Flash Drives without SuperCharger (see tests) and up to 15 times faster than HDDs. With larger files, SuperCharger can reduce the time it takes to copy 100 MB of data to a SanDisk Cruzer from 90 seconds to 12 (a 7.5-to-one improvement ratio).
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- Flash Memory
Flash memory leading manufacturer Silicon Power officially released a “Stylish USB Reader & M2 Combo Pack” to the masses. The combo pack is designated for the needs of modern day digital handheld devices. The M2 card is available in several capacities and the inclusion of the USB reader allows users to access all recorded data from the M2 card. Whether the data is recorded by your mobile phone, PDA, camera, etc., users can conveniently access all data on it.
Silicon Power’s M2 card & USB reader combo pack offers users flexibility and storage space to capture their favorite snapshot, record their exciting moment or simply just store everyday data. The stylish USB reader needs not use any cables, just plug in the M2 card, plug the reader into your PC and you’re good to go! Use the M2 card for your digital hand held devices or plug it into the USB reader and use it like a USB flash drive but once unplugged, the milky-white reader turns into a decorative accessory with its simple and elegant looks. Just attach it to your purse or keychain, it is easy to carry and serves a decorative purpose.
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- Flash Memory
SanDisk Corporation, the global leader in flash memory cards, today announced that the SanDisk® Cruzer® Enterprise FIPS edition secure USB flash drive has received Common Criteria EAL2 certification, making it the only USB flash drive to earn both Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 Level 2 certification and Common Criteria certification.
The Common Criteria is an internationally recognized ISO standard (ISO/IEC 15408) used by governments and other organizations to assess the security functional requirements and security assurance requirements of technology products. With its certifications recognized in 26 countries, Common Criteria is an important global evaluation standard for security products.
"Common Criteria evaluations require a thorough examination of the entire device to certify its effectiveness in protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of sensitive information, including a comprehensive review of company internal processes," said David Matot, product marketing manager, enterprise solutions, SanDisk. "Cruzer Enterprise flash drives are the only USB drives in the world to hold both FIPS 140-2 and Common Criteria certifications, making them the USB flash drive of choice for organizations that require proven solutions from a leader in secure removable storage."
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- Optical Storage
Transcend Information, Ins. (Transcend®), a global leader in storage and multimedia products, today introduced its first portable CD/DVD writer, offering customers a slim and stylish choice to go with their thin-and-light laptops—or even netbooks—for more diverse entertainment and enhanced productivity.
As notebook computers become increasingly smaller and lighter, built-in CD or DVD drives and writers are often not included. Transcend’s new 8X slim portable CD/DVD writer was created specifically for use with compact notebooks, and features an ultra-thin and sleek design, making it stylish, compact and easy to carry around. No external power adapter is needed, as the CD/DVD writer is entirely USB powered, drawing its electric power directly from the computer’s USB ports. Whether relaxing at home or traveling abroad, notebook users now have the freedom to enjoy DVD movies, install essential software or create data backup discs anytime, anywhere.
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- Network Storage
Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash and computer technology, today announced the release of GearBox; a device that can make any USB 2.0 flash device an instant NAS resource.
GearBox is a simple and convenient way to connect, share and stream your multimedia files in a small economical form factor. Armed with (2) USB 2.0 connections and boasting features like FTP, Print Server and UPnP support, GearBox has the functionality of larger NAS devices but at the fraction of size and more importantly, cost. Just plug in any USB flash device and instantly get access to your files through your network at your home, work or even across the globe.
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- Flash Memory
Active Media Products, manufacturer of SSDs and innovative USB drives, today announced imminent arrival of a line of Predator-X7 2.5-inch SATA-II 3Gbps Windows® 7 compatible SSDs built with the new Jmicron JM612 controller.
Predator X7 SSDs will be offered in capacities from 32GB to 256GB. At the heart of these SSDs is the JMF612 controller, which boasts numerous advances in features and performance. The 8-channel flash controller combined with 128MB of DRAM cache achieves sequential read speeds up to 230MB/sec and sequential write speeds up to 180MB/sec. "One big advantage of this controller is its support for a USB 2.0 port, which can be used for cloning the contents of your old hard drive onto the Predator X7. The mini USB port makes installation and setup a lot faster and easier." stated Active Media Products' VP of Sales, Jerry Thomson.
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- Other
Dane-Elec, a global leader in memory-based consumer electronics, today introduced its So SuperSpeed line of External USB 3.0 Hard Drives (HDD) to the U.S. market. The line includes the world's first USB 3.0 Solid State Drive (SSD), capable of true data transfer speeds of 250MB per second. Consumers will be able to purchase these high-speed USB 3.0 devices from Dane-Elec and its U.S. retail partners starting December 11th, coinciding with the Thanksgiving launch of USB 3.0-compatible laptops and PCs from leading OEMs.
"The eagerly awaited USB 3.0 revolution is finally here, and Dane-Elec is thrilled to be at its forefront," said Jon Christeson, Director of Marketing for Dane-Elec U.S. "With transfer speeds of up to ten times faster than USB 2.0 devices, these powerful products will be game changers for consumers and small businesses that regularly work with large files such as video content."
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- Flash Memory
When designing solid-state storage for enterprise applications, standard SLC NAND has been the technology of choice because of its reliability and endurance. But customers are often challenged on how to cost-effectively reach their capacity requirements. Micron Technology, Inc. is meeting customers’ requirements by announcing today that it has leveraged its award-winning 34nm NAND process to manufacture an MLC Enterprise NAND device, which provides enterprise organizations a way to cost-effectively and reliably double their flash-based enterprise storage capacity (since MLC provides twice the capacity in the same die size as SLC). Micron’s new MLC Enterprise NAND device achieves 30,000 write cycles – a 6x increase in endurance when compared to standard MLC NAND. And for enterprise applications that are more performance driven, Micron today also introduced a 34nm SLC Enterprise NAND device that achieves 300,000 write cycles – a 3x increase in endurance when compared to standard SLC NAND.
