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- Optical Storage
Imation Corp. today announced that it has entered into a confidential settlement agreement ending all legal disputes with Philips Electronics N.V., U.S. Philips Corporation and North American Philips Corporation (collectively “Philips”). The companies had been previously involved in a complex series of disputes in multiple jurisdictions regarding cross-licensing and patent infringement related to recordable optical media. The settlement provides resolution of all claims and counterclaims filed by the parties without any finding or admission of liability or wrongdoing by any party.
As a term of the settlement, Imation will pay Philips $53 million over a period of three years. Other terms of the settlement were not disclosed. As a result of the settlement, Imation expects to record a charge, based on the present value of these payments, of approximately $49 million or $0.81 per share in the second quarter of 2009. The pre-tax cash impact for 2009 will be approximately $16.5 million, occurring during the second half of this year.
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- Software
Nero, creators of liquid media technology, today expanded their relationship with Acer Group, one of the world’s largest PC manufacturers. By the end of 2009, Acer Group will bundle Nero 9 Essentials, an OEM version of the Nero 9 integrated digital media and home entertainment software suite, on all desktop systems sold globally, including the Acer, Gateway, Packard Bell and eMachines brands.
“Consumers need to be able to take their new system out of the box and complete tasks like burning music or videos with ease, and share their favorite digital content with friends and family,” said Jackson Lin, vice president of Global Strategic Alliance, IT Products Global Operations at Acer Group. “Nero 9 Essentials gives them a quick and easy way to jump right into enjoying the power and functionality of their new computer.”
Currently, all Packard Bell branded desktop and notebook computers are bundled with the award-winning burning solution. By including Nero 9 Essentials on all desktop systems in the Acer Group family, consumers will be able to easily burn CDs and DVDs and access the easy-to-use Nero StartSmart 9 Essential interface for navigating through the product’s features. The Nero Toolkit provides the industry standard for testing and benchmarking optical recording drives. With LabelFlash, consumers can easily personalize CDs and DVDs with custom inscriptions of text or photos.
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- Duplicators
Acronova Technology, Inc. unveils QQcatcher, the office-automation software can instantly incorporate with third-party software to burn files from hard disk to multiple discs, on schedule or when new files come in to a folder, via Nimbie NB11 automated publisher.
Today, IT professionals run favorite software to regularly backup or archive files from hard disk to CD/DVD and Blu-ray discs for security, management and storage purpose. Yet, because most off-the-shelf software does not support disc autoloader, burning more than one disc requires frequent access to disc drive and manually loading and unloading discs. What a boring task for intelligent professionals and users!
Nimbie NB11 is a versatile 100-disc autoloader that is affordable to office and home users. Connected to personal computer via USB cable, it can rip music CDs, burn discs and grab images. QQcatcher is the new force to NB11’s software suite designated for the automation in monitoring a local and network-mapped folder and burning files to multiple discs on schedule or when new files are present, day and night, 7 days a week and all year round.
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- Flash Memory
Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today began shipping a 128GB USB 2.0 flash drive that includes AES-256 hardware encryption as a standard feature.
The new 128GB Luxio drive is smaller in size than most competing 64GB USB drives, measuring approximately 77 x 21 x 10 mm (3.0 x 0.81 x 0.37 inches). The pocket-sized drive stores up to 40,000 six megapixel photos or up to 32,000 MP3 songs. The 128GB Luxio is offered in three colors: black, silver and wood grain, and is packaged in an elegant gift box. Each drive comes with a custom black leather carrying case. Windows 7 compatible Luxio drives are now available in capacities from 16GB to 128GB.
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- Hard Disks
Verbatim Americas, LLC an industry leader in the data storage industry for 40 years, announced today its new SureFire™ line of portable combo FW800/USB2 HDDs. Available now with capacities of 250GB, 320GB and 500GB, the rugged palm-sized drives combine power, convenience and the reliability of the Verbatim brand with a compact, sleek design. With the ability to plug the drives into almost any computer, Windows® and Mac® users can quickly and cost-effectively increase the storage capacity of their laptop or desktop system, or quickly transfer large files between computers.
The bus-powered drives are equipped with one USB 2.0 port, and one FireWire® 800 port to deliver high-speed transfer rates of up to 800MB/sec. for FireWire 800 connections and 480MB/sec. when connected with USB 2.0--without requiring an AC power adapter. Ready to use right out of the box, all cables are included.
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- Flash Memory
Active Media Products, maker of unique storage solutions including the WWF endangered species USB drives, today announced immediate availability of their new SaberTooth SSDs that are custom designed for Asus Eee PC upgrades.
This new line of SaberTooth SSDs is built with MLC NAND flash to deliver exceptional performance. These SSDs have been tested with and are guaranteed to operate with Eee PC S101, 900, 900A and 901 models. The SaberTooth SS, offered in 16, 32 and 64GB capacities, is the fastest available SSD upgrade for the Eee PC, supporting sequential read speeds up to 155 MB/sec and write speeds up to 100 MB/sec. The SaberTooth S is offered in 16 and 32GB capacities, and supports sequential read speeds up to 90 MB/sec and write speeds up to 55 MB/sec. All these products use standard 3Gbps SATA-II signaling and a Mini PCI express connector, as used in compatible Eee PC models.
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- Flash Memory
Sony has launched the largest-ever capacity Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX, crowning the range with a massive 32GB model. Memory Stick HX already delivers impressive speed, so the introduction of a 32GB version makes it the perfect choice for handling the very large files created when filming in High Definition video. The huge amount of space is also ideal for still photography, whether you are using a sophisticated DSLR like the Sony α, or a compact, go-anywhere Cybershot.
Camcorder users can shoot in Full HD mode (1920 x 1080) for an impressive 225 minutes using a single 32GB Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX, virtually eliminating the nagging worry about how much space is left.
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- Flash Memory
Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash and computer technology, today announced the release of their Xporter Mini II USB.
Designed around today's advancing computer technology, the Mini II provides a lightweight, cap-less slider architecture that makes it portable and convenient. With its sleek design, the Mini II allows for easy plug and play across multiple platforms.
"Our Xporter Mini II is a novelty of ingenious design," says Eric Akerson, Patriot's Director of Marketing. "The Xporter Mini II, now available up to 16GB, is an affordable portable storage solution allowing users to be on the go and have the convenience of large data storage."
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- Home Entertainment
Blockbuster Inc., a global leader in entertainment, and Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today announced they are joining forces to enable consumers to access Blockbuster's vast and growing library of premium digital entertainment via select new Samsung HDTVs, home theater systems and Blu-ray players. The new services will be available in the fall of 2009 and are expected to provide millions of homes across America access to Blockbuster's digital library of movies. Additionally, as part of the agreement, Blockbuster OnDemand will have preferred positioning on the Blu-ray interfaces.
The BLOCKBUSTER OnDemand service provides comprehensive on-screen search and browsing capabilities, as well as full details, ratings, trailers, and other information about each movie directly on the television, eliminating the need for customers to manage a viewing queue on their PC. Once a customer rents or buys a movie, they simply press play to begin instant viewing. Blockbuster's adaptive streaming technology ensures quality viewing with immediate and uninterrupted playback.
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- Hard Disks
Seagate today announced it is now shipping its technology-leading Cheetah® 15K.7 enterprise-class hard drives into the worldwide distribution channel. As the highest performing, highest capacity 3.5-inch mission critical hard drive with best-in-class reliability for Tier 1 environments, the Cheetah 15K.7 drive is ideal for a wide range of server and storage applications. With the Cheetah 15K.7 hard drive, Seagate’s technology leadership moves firmly past the competition as it delivers the industry’s first 15K-rpm drive to reach the 600GB capacity point while providing record reliability of 1.6 million hours MTBF.
The Cheetah 15K.7 drive is available with the latest 6Gb/s SAS or 4Gb/s FC interfaces, and includes Seagate PowerTrim™ technology, which dynamically reduces power consumption. Together, these features enable system builders to deliver lower-cost, multi-drive servers and storage systems, making the Cheetah 15K.7 ideal for use in environments ranging from small and medium-sized businesses to the largest enterprises.
