Intel announced today that it has begun shipping a 160GB version of its X25-M solid-state drive (SSD).  While offering twice the storage, space this new MLC-based SSD delivers the same level of performance as Intel's 80GB M-series drive. Along with a read latency of 85 microseconds, the drive is capable of sequential read and write speeds of 250MB/s and 70MB/s, respectively.

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Intel is expanding its award-winning Intel® X25-M and X18-M SATA Solid-State Drive (SSD) family by announcing the production release of a 160 gigabyte (GB) capacity drive in a 2.5-inch form factor. The product is shipping now, and a 1.8-inch 160GB version will begin shipping next month.

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IronKey announced today that its USB flash drives are now available with anti-worm malware protection. This patent-pending technology prevents AutoRun malware from infecting IronKey devices and corporate or government networks.

IronKey, maker of the world's most secure flash drive, today announced the availability of its patent-pending USB anti-worm malware protection capabilities. AutoRun worms are one of the fastest spreading new types of malicious software, with over 70 million computers infected in 2008. Even the U.S. Department of Defense computer network was infected in November 2008, prompting a temporary ban of USB flash drives and other removable media. IronKey's new USB anti-worm malware protection technology ensures that USB AutoRun worms cannot install themselves onto IronKey devices, or spread onto corporate or government computers from IronKey devices.

Unlike other USB flash drives and memory sticks, IronKey devices are intelligent, secure storage devices with on-board security co-processors, which allows IronKey devices to provide active anti-malware protection. IronKey Enterprise devices are managed remotely, and IronKey provides regular, automated security and anti-malware updates over the Internet or corporate network. IronKey devices are FIPS 140-2, Level 2 validated, ensuring the highest levels of compliance with government security regulations. IronKey devices are available in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB storage capacities.

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NU Inc. announces the introduction of a technical innovation of external Blu-ray combo drive. The model EBC100 is the world first slim BD combo external drive with USB-powered and 8X DVD writer & 2X BD-ROM. A perfect solution for those users who are looking for a compact-sized, trendy and portable BD combo.

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Easy portability & ultra-slim size are the important aspect of the EBC100. The carry-on external drive is the best companion of netbook devices. EBC100 weight of 400g and dimensions: 155 x 141 x 17.6 mm (WxHxD). It’s the slimmest and lightest external BD combo over the world so far. It can be powered through a USB connection instead of a traditional power adapter, so mobile users do not longer need to rely upon a power socket to operate it. You can enjoy your High-Definition Blu-ray movies anywhere anytime. The drive will consume its power directly from the laptop through the USB cable. Even so, a power adaptor is still included in the retail pack for traditional users.

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CoolIT Domino A.L.C. CPU Cooler @ Futurelooks
Kingston Data Traveler 150 32GB Flash Drive @ Everything USB
Palit Radeon HD 4670 Super 512MB Graphics Card @ TweakTown
Samsung YP-S3JCB MP3 Player @ Futurelooks
Sapphire Atomic HD4870 X2 2GB Watercooled Videocard @ Tweaknews.net
Sapphire HD4850 X2 Videocard @ High Tech Reviews
Seagate FreeAgent XTreme 1TB External Hard Drive @ ThinkComputers.org
Verbatim 3.5" External HDD eSATA & USB Combo Drive 500GB @ InsideHW

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Advanced Media, Inc., is a manufactuurer and marketer of the popular RIDATA brand of recordable Blu-ray, DVD, CD media, electronic storage products, and digital media accessories. The company is happy to introduce another exciting addition to its Ridata brand of Blu-ray media the fast 6X single layer Blu-ray disc.

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The Ridata 6X 25GB Blu-ray offers up to a 216 Mbps data transfer rate. Consumers are able to write and read large amounts of data at a higher speed.

"Now home theater buffs can archive video onto fewer discs. As high definition video becomes more widely accepted, Ridata Blu-ray discs will answer the increasing demand for large capacity storage," stated Harvey Liu, Advanced Media president. "The new Ridata 6X Blu-ray discs allow users to quickly record and enjoy high-definition TV programs."

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Earlier this month, BTC announced that in was going to shut down its ODD loader business and stop marketing drives under the BTC brand in China and Taiwan. BTC's loader business has apparently gotten a new lease on life as the company now plans to make loaders for Blu-ray Disc (BD) players. According to DigiTimes, BTC has already landed 4-5 clients and expects to have 8-10 in total in 2009.

BTC has adopted a SoC chipset developed by Taiwan-based IC design house Sunplus Technology and Sony-developed pick-up heads (PUHs) to make the BD loaders, and has so far landed four to five clients in China and Taiwan, the company indicated. BTC currently has an R&D team of more than 20 staff, the company noted.

BTC is making efforts to introduce PUHs from other Japan-based suppliers to reduce the production cost of BD player loaders and expects to have 8-10 clients in total in 2009, according to the company.

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Royal Philips Electronics N.V. has reached consensus with each of CMC Magnetics Corporation and Ritek Corporation on long term patent licensing agreements for CD and DVD recordable and rewritable discs. The licensing agreements will not only settle the past use disputes between Philips, the patent holder, and Ritek and CMC, two Taiwan-based leading optical disc manufacturers in the world, but also covers the use of the relevant Philips’ patents until 2012. The parties also have agreed to stop all legal actions against each other.

Ben Beune, Senior Vice President from Philips says: “We are encouraged that the joint efforts of the Taiwan industry leaders and Philips over the past one year and a half can finally bring a positive result. Philips never gives up the hope to work with the manufacturers to find a win-win solution. The new agreements not only serve both parties’ interests but also mark the start of a renewed relationship. We believe this is a positive and healthy development for the industry going forward and we highly appreciate the frankness and sincerity shown by CMC and Ritek in the negotiations.”

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Micron announced this week that ithas worked with Sun Microsystems to developa new single-level cell (SLC) NAND technology that dramatically extends the lifespan of flash-based storage. With this new technology, the companies have produced devices capable of achieving one million write cycles.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced it has worked with Sun Microsystems, Inc., to develop a new single-level cell (SLC) enterprise NAND technology that dramatically extends the lifespan of flash-based storage for enterprise applications. The result of the collaboration has yielded production devices capable of achieving one million write cycles, a milestone that will help prepare the industry for new uses in solid state storage set to come from Sun, Micron and others. The new technology delivers the highest write/erase cycling capability of any NAND technology available on the market.

"Micron is pleased to work with Sun on this landmark achievement, enabling the use of flash in new applications that were previously not possible because of the inherent write/erase cycle limitations of standard SLC and MLC NAND," said Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron’s memory group. "We expect this technology to revolutionize the enterprise storage hierarchy and be adopted by a wide range of transaction-intensive applications, including solid state drives and storage systems, disk caching, as well as networking and industrial applications."

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Toshiba sent out a press release this morning, announcing the launch of its new family of 1.8 and 2.5-inch solid state drives (SSDs) based on 43 nanometer (nm) Multi-Level Cell NAND flash memory. Available in capacities up to 512GB, these new drives utilize an advanced MLC controller which allows them to reach read and write speeds of 240MB/s and 200MB/s, respectively.

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Toshiba Corp. (Toshiba) and Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC)*, its subsidiary in the Americas, today announced the expansion of their line up of NAND-flash-based solid state drives (SSD) with the industry's first 2.5-inch 512-gigabyte (GB)(1) SSD and a broad family of fast read/write SSDs based on 43 nanometer (nm) Multi-Level Cell NAND. The new drives provide a high level of performance and endurance for use in notebook computers, gaming and home entertainment systems, and will be showcased at International CES 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 8 - 11, 2009.

In addition to the 2.5-inch, 512GB drive, the 43nm NAND SSD family also includes capacities of 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB, offered in 1.8-inch or 2.5-inch drive enclosures or as SSD Flash Modules. Samples of the new drives will be available in the first quarter (January to March) of 2009, with mass production in the second (April to June) quarter.

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ASUS EEE PC 4G 701 Netbook @ Bigbruin.com
AMD Phenom X4 9850BE Processor @ Rbmods
DFI LANParty JR P45-T2RS Motherboard @ Hardware Zone
ECS GF9300T-A Black Series Motherboard @ Virtual-Hideout
EVGA X58 3X SLI Core i7 Motherboard @ HotHardware.com
Jetway NC92 Atom IPC Motherboard @ Phoronix
Kingston DataTraveler Mini Slim 4GB USB Drive @ ASE Labs
Logitech Alto Cordless Notebook Stand and Keyboard @ ThinkComputers.org
M-Rock Zion 525 Camera Backpack @ Futurelooks
MSI GX720 and MSI GT735 Gaming Notebooks @ InsideHW
Noctua NH-C12P INTEL/AMD Heatpipe CPU Cooler @ Tweaknews.net
Samsung 10.2" Digital Photo Frame with UbiSync USB Monitor @ Everything USB
TeknMotion PulseWave PC Gaming Headset @ OCModShop
TOM BIHN Checkpoint Flyer Laptop Briefcase @ Futurelooks
Toshiba Portege R600 @ Hardware Zone
VIZO Armada II vs Thermaltake RamOrb @ BCCHardware
ZOTAC NITRO VGA Overclocking Controller @ Futurelooks

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