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SanDisk announced today that it is bringing the world's first 16GB microSDHC and Memory Stick Micro (M2) memory cards to market. Along with mobile phones, these finger-nail sized cards can be used in other devices, including video cameras, GPS receivers or MP3 players.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash memory products, today announced it is bringing to market its 16GB* microSDHC™ and Memory Stick Micro (M2)® mobile memory cards - the world’s largest removable storage capacity for mobile phones. Best Buy Mobile (NYSE: BBY) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) stores are the first major retail outlets in the United States to carry the 16GB capacity.
The fingernail-sized 16GB memory cards allow consumers to “wake up” the many storage-intensive features offered by today’s portable handsets such as music and video playback, high-definition digital camera functions, gaming and GPS applications. In addition to the mobile phone, consumers can use the 16GB microSDHC card in a multitude of other devices, including video cameras, GPS receivers or MP3 players with a microSD™ slots such as SanDisk’s Sansa® players.
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Nero, creators of liquid media technology, today announced the release of Nero 9, the next generation of one of the world's most trusted and best-selling integrated digital media and home entertainment software solutions. Developed in direct response to customer feedback, Nero 9 gives consumers ONE solution to easily create, edit, rip, copy, backup, convert and share their music, videos and photos within their connected digital home, on online communities or on portable devices. This latest release builds on Nero's established technology leadership while delivering on the company's commitment to liquid media, allowing content to be created and distributed anytime, anywhere and on any device.
"In developing Nero 9, we polled more than 3,000 of our worldwide customers to determine the functionality that they really wanted from the suite," noted Jürgen Kurz, senior vice president, Business Line PC and Consumer Electronics, Nero AG. "This type of feedback has been invaluable to us over the last decade and has shown us that our consumers are increasingly living digital lives where the PC is the center of the home. They require cutting-edge multimedia capabilities which allow them to enjoy and share their content online and across devices with unparalleled ease of use."
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In a recent interview with Pocket-lint, Samsung UK's director of consumer electronics forecasted that Blu-ray would last only another five years before it was replaced by something else. While it took longer than expected, someone from Sony has finally responded to this statement. Rick Clancy, senior vice president for Corporate Communications at Sony Electronics, fired back on the Sony Electronics Blog, stating that the Samsung exec's comments "couldn’t be further from the truth." With millions of Playstation 3 consoles in consumers' homes, Clancy believes that Blu-ray should be around for a least another decade.
Now, I can understand why Microsoft and Toshiba would not be immediate adopters of the format (although I predict market demand will eventually persuade them otherwise) and try to move the discussion onto networked content and DVRs, but what throws me is a recent comment by a European marketing manager of Samsung, the world second-largest seller of BD players (after Sony), who said to the press that the format only "has five years left."
In my opinion, he couldn’t be further from the truth.
First of all, there are millions of BD-based PlayStation 3 videogame consoles in consumers’ homes around the world and this number is growing fast as the device is introduced to new global markets and to new consumers every day. I believe the value of this product is only going to increase for many years to come — perhaps a decade — as developers realize the true power of PS3 in the new games they create, and as the device’s real world features like Blu-ray compatibility blend with new virtual and, yes, networked world features like PSN and Home.
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Toshiba has announced the launch of its new 256GB solid state drive (SSD). Featuring an original MLC controller, the THNS256GE8BC is capable of 120MB/s read and 70MB/s write speeds. The company also introduced a series of small Flash Modules for netbook computers. Available in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities, these Flash Modules offer read and write speeds of 80MB/s and 50MB/s, respectively.
Toshiba Corporation today announced enhancements to its line-up of NAND-flash-based solid state drives (SSD) with the addition of an industry-leading 256-gigabyte (GB) SSD and the launch of a series of small-sized Flash Modules for netbook computers ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs) and other mobile and peripheral applications. The new drives will be showcased at the CEATEC in Makuhari, Japan, from September 30 to October 4.
Samples of both the 256GB SSD and the Flash Modules are available now, and mass production following in the fourth quarter (October to December) of the year.
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Panasonic announced this week that it has developed the world's first 3D full HD Plasma Theater System. The system uses a 103-inch plasma television and a Blu-ray Disc player capable of decoding and playing back 3D images, consisting of left and right-sided 1080p full HD images. To experience the 3D images, a user then wears a pair active shutter glasses to distribute the images to left eye and right eye.
Panasonic, the leading brand by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known, has developed the world's first 3D full HD Plasma Theater System, which enables the viewing of true-to-life 3D images by using a 103-inch plasma television and a Blu-ray Disc (BD) player, distributing full high-definition (HD) (1920 x 1080 pixels) images to left eye and right eye. Panasonic will present this system at CEATEC JAPAN 2008, which is due to be held at Makuhari Messe from September 30 to October 4, 2008.
Human beings feel the 3D impression because each of the left and right eyes recognizes different images. Panasonic's system comprises a 103-inch plasma television and a BD player that plays back BD onto which 3D images, consisting of left and right-sided 1080p full HD images, are recorded. By wearing active shutter glasses that work in synchronization with the plasma television, the viewer is able to experience 3D images formed with twice the volume of information as regular full HD images, and enjoy them together with high quality surround sound. This system enables full HD signal processing on each of the left and right images in every process -- recording, playback and display.
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Toshiba sent out a press release this morning, announcing its new line of high-performance 1.8-inch hard drives. Available in 120GB, 160GB and 250GB capacities, these new drives feature a 15msec seek time, 5,400 RPM rotation speed and a SATA 3.0Gb/s interface.
Toshiba Corporation, the industry pioneer in small form factor hard disk drives (HDDs), today announced expansion of its market-leading 1.8-inch lineup with three new high-capacity, high-performance Serial ATA HDDs for mobile PC applications, including the industry's first 250GB1) 1.8-inch HDD.
Toshiba's third-generation 5,400 RPM SATA 1.8 HDD family also features 120GB and 160GB capacities, along with the throughput power of the SATA 3.0Gb/s interface. In addition, the new series includes Toshiba's state-of-the-art free fall sensor option, which enhances protection from external shock and vibration events by responding to drops as low as five inches in height.
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Despite the increased cost of polycarbonate, the price of recordable DVD+R/-R to has remained relatively unchanged over the last year or so. Unfortunately, the price of DVD+R/-R media is on its way back up. After raising its prices by 10% in August, CMC and Ritek plan to further increase its OEM quotes for the fourth quarter of 2008. In CMC's case, the company plans to raise prices by as much as 15%.
CMC Magnetics and Ritek will increase OEM quotes for DVD+R/-R discs for the fourth quarter of 2008, with CMC to raise prices by 10-15% while Ritek will look at order volumes before determining rates, according to the two companies.
As many small blank optical disc makers in China and several second-tier makers in Taiwan have withdrawn from the market, the global production capacity of blank optical discs has fallen short of global demand since the beginning of the third quarter 2008, CMC pointed out. In light of the favorable situation, CMC hiked its OEM prices by an average of 10% in August and Ritek followed suit soon after, industry sources pointed out.
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CyberLink PowerDVD featuring support for BD-RE 2.1 and BD-R 1.1 certification allows the playback of Blu-ray recordable and re-recordable discs, providing users with superb video playback performance including recorded HDTV programs on the latest Blu-ray Disc formats.
CyberLink PowerDVD delivers proven quality of HD movie playback on consumer PC’s and has already been certified for significant Blu-ray Disc standards, including BD-Video Profile 1.0, BD-Video Profile 1.1 (Bonus View), BD-Video Profile 2.0 (BD-Live), BD+, BD-RE 3.0, AVCHD, and AVCREC.
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Plextor Europe has announced its first digital TV tuner, the ConvertX PX-DVBT100U. Along with the ability to watch digital TV anywhere, this pocket sized device doubles as a PVR, allowing users to save TV or radio programs to their hard drive with real-time or scheduled recording.
Plextor launches its first Digital TV tuner that enables users to watch digital TV anywhere via their laptop/PC. The Plextor ConvertX PX-DVBT100U doubles as a recorder - turning any laptop into a PVR - enabling digital terrestrial TV or radio programmes to be saved to the hard disk drive with real-time or scheduled recording.
Expanding the company’s portfolio of personal & SMB storage, media player, video converter devices and optical drives, Plextor’s pocket-sized gadget is ideal for ‘Freeview on the move’. Just the size of a memory stick, it is perfect for people who are increasingly carrying around laptops for entertainment and business purposes.
