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CyberLink Corp. today launched the new PowerDVD 12 Ultra, the latest version of the world’s leading Blu-Ray and Media Player. With its new companion apps PowerDVD Mobile v.4 and PowerDVD Remote v.2, PowerDVD 12 is the ideal single solution for the multi-platform home, as the world’s only universal multimedia player to provide a unified solution for the Windows, iOS and Android platforms. Now, users can easily stream, store and share their multimedia content across any device in their home—including iPhones, iPads and Android tablets and smartphones. With enhanced TrueTheater® technology, users can enjoy a unique experience and enrich any content to its best possible HD & 3D quality, including DVDs, low-resolution videos and content from popular social media sites.
“PowerDVD 12 Ultra delivers the total freedom to enjoy all types of media content in enhanced quality on any device at home or on-the-go,“ said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. “With the proliferation of devices and operating systems, PowerDVD automatically converts videos at the optimal quality to play on iPads, iPhones and Android devices. PowerDVD 12 Ultra is truly a premium media experience for the consumers.”
The latest version of PowerDVD comes with more than 30 new features and additional media format support, including the ability to intelligently sync media gallery content with Android devices, convert Blu-ray movies from 2D to 3D, and deliver 7.1 channel surround sound audio from DTS and Dolby, together with new lossless audio format support for OGG and FLAC files.
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- Flash Memory
During Macworld this week, Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, will display its new Mercury Aura Envoy. The Envoy is the industry’s first bus-powered enclosure for utilizing the factory Flash SSD from any 2010 or 2011 Apple® MacBook® Air model as an external drive when upgrading to the higher-capacity and higher-performance of an OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SSD. Complementing a MacBook Air both visually and digitally, the new Mercury Aura Envoy will be shown in Other World Computing’s Macworld booth #513 in San Francisco’s Moscone Center.
The Mercury Aura Envoy’s sleek size (5.9in L x 1.79in W x tapered .279in to .466in H) makes it an ideal portable storage and/or backup solution that slips easily into a laptop bag or coat pocket. Made from brushed aluminum and offering bus-powered (no AC adapter needed) convenience, its 1.5-ounce (no drive installed) housing is nearly light as air. The Mercury Aura Envoy isn’t a lightweight in the performance department however; its USB 3.0 interface offers up to 500MB/s data rates for high performance, on-the-go backup and file storage as well as grab-and-go enjoyment of music, movies or videos.
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Western Digital, the world's leader in external storage solutions, will demonstrate the ultra-fast data transfer rates of its upcoming My Book Thunderbolt Duo dual-drive storage system at the Macworld/iWorld show (booth #401). Thunderbolt technology will dramatically improve workflow speed and efficiencies for enthusiasts and professionals dealing with large digital files such as video, audio and still photos.
Thunderbolt technology is capable of producing up to 10 gigabits per second of throughput on each of two channels in both directions. Users can experience very fast read/write speeds especially during applications such as video editing, 3D rendering, and other intense graphics projects. To put Thunderbolt's speed into perspective, HD media creators will be able to transfer a standard size full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds, or backup an entire year of continuous music (approx. 8,600 hours of music) in roughly 10 minutes.
"Thunderbolt technology offers the speed needed for creative professionals and enthusiasts who produce, edit, or need quick access to large files, including HD video," said Jody Bradshaw, general manager of WD's consumer storage solutions. "During the demonstration, twin Thunderbolt ports show amazing flexibility while allowing daisy-chaining of up to six My Book Thunderbolt Duo systems or other high performance peripherals for an enhanced workflow process. The combination of storage, backup, and speed could make the My Book Thunderbolt Duo the only drive a creative pro would ever need."
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Aleratec today announced the Aleratec 50mm mSATA SSD to SATA Adapter which makes three of Aleratec’s most popular hard disk drive duplicators compatible with 50mm mSATA drives.
The Aleratec 50mm mSATA SSD to SATA Adapter makes it possible, using selected Aleratec hard drive duplicators, to duplicate solid state drives with a mini-SATA interface connector. Depending on the HDD duplicator used, other options include copying from mSATA to SATA or vice versa, or from mSATA to IDE or vice versa.
Mini-SATA drives offer the advantages of the SATA interface in a drive with a smaller form factor. About the size of a business card, mSATA SSDs are often used in notebooks and netbooks.
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Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking, today announced a suite of Linksys HomePlug AV Powerline solutions that allow consumers to use their home network by using their existing home electrical wiring. The HomePlug AV Powerline standard provides speeds of up to 200 Mbps to bring streaming video, gaming, and other data-intensive applications to computers, tablets, consoles, televisions and other Ethernet-enabled devices.
“Cisco’s Linksys products set the standard for great home networking experiences with their ease of use and outstanding performance,” said Scott Kabat, director of marketing, Cisco Home Networking business unit. “Our new Powerline products deliver on this promise. Just plug them in, and they start working.”
Powerline uses industry-standard HomePlug AV technology to turn any home wall socket into a network connection. Because no electrical reconfiguring or rewiring is necessary, networking can be delivered to remote areas of a house without expensive and inconvenient drilling and cable-laying. The compact, space-saving design of the Linksys Powerline family of products leaves room for other appliances to be plugged into the same outlet. Regular household 120-volt electrical service is unaffected by Powerline, nor will most household appliances interfere with Powerline transmissions.
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Aleratec today announced the Aleratec Compact Flash to SATA Adapter which makes three of Aleratec’s most popular hard disk drive duplicators compatible with Compact Flash or IBM MicroDrive media.
Compact Flash memory cards are small mass storage devices. About the size of a matchbook, these solid state drives provide reliable, removable mass storage for portable devices such as cameras and PDAs. MicroDrives are hard disks that have applications similar to Compact Flash cards and are designed to fit into a CF Type II slot.
The Compact Flash to SATA Adapter is ideal for use with a laptop or with selected Aleratec HDD Duplicators. It converts a Compact Flash memory card (Type I/II) or IBM Microdrive media to a low power, high performance 2.5” SATA hard drive. It supports any size compact flash card up to 2TB.
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Pioneer Japan sent out a press release this morning, announcing its new professional-grade Blu-ray Disc writer, the BDR-PR1. Designed for businesses, libraries and museums looking to archive important data to Blu-ray Disc, the BDR-PR1 features like a SATA 3 Gb/s interface and is capable of 6x BD-R, 6x BD-R DL, 6x BD-R LTH, 2x BD-RE and 2x BD-RE DL writing speeds. The drive also comes with software which can be used to check the recording quality by measuring the RSER (Random Symbol Error Rate) and the number of Burst Errors. The BDR-PR1 is scheduled to ship at the end of January and, while a price has not been announced, its expected to cost about three times as much as a consumer grade Blu-ray writer ($300-$400).
In support of Pioneer's new Blu-ray Disc writer, Mitsubishi Chemical (MKM) has released its new professional, archival-grade 50GB BD-R DL media. Designed to work with the BDR-PR1, these new discs have a lifetime of more than 50 years when stored at room temperture (25° C) and 80% relative humidity. Contrary to earlier reports, Mitsubishi's archival-grade BD-R DL media has been developed in-house and will continue to be manufactured in the company's own factory.
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OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the release of new enhanced IOPS firmware (v1.13) for the Octane SATA 3.0 Series SSDs. The random write performance has been significantly improved, in some capacities over double that of the previous specifications, for users looking to push their SSD performance to new heights.
For all Octane SATA 6Gb/s models, the improved IOPS made possible by this new firmware allow for greater transactional performance, especially during small file and random access speeds in everyday computing applications. When compared to the previous revision, random write IOPS performance doubles across nearly all capacities when tested in Iometer 2008:
OCZ strives to offer the fastest, highest performing solutions on the market and continues to support customers by offering firmware innovations to their storage investments. The new enhanced IOPS firmware will begin shipping in the next batch of drives to resellers, and the upgrade file will be made available to existing customers via the company's website.
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The ASUS O!Play TV Pro upgrades living room TV viewing to a completely digital HD and live experience, enabling easy content consumption and distribution. Features open up playback and recording of digital programs, as well as almost any multimedia file currently available with over 50 formats supported, including 3D. Exclusive O!Easy technology adds specific one-click functions that cover file streaming, sharing, and replay, while an always-on design affords direct access to many major online entertainment and content services, all from a single user-friendly device.
The O!Play TV Pro comes with a built in DVB-T digital tuner for immediate access to free-to-air high quality digital TV programming. Consumers can readily plan ahead with the Electronic Program Guide (EPG), which offers location-sensitive scheduling for up to a week in advance. Plus, content can be recorded onto an internal 3.5” hard drive* using the included Personal Video Recorder (PVR). ASUS has integrated TimeShift into the device, which can pause and resume digital broadcasts in real time should consumers need to get away from the screen, but wish to avoid missing out on their favorite shows.
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Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the latest addition to its SSDNow family, the SSDNow V+200. The new Kingston® SSDNow V+200 solid-state drives are the ideal high-performance upgrade solution for the performance minded yet cost-conscious business or home user.
The SSDNow V+200 features the second-generation high-speed SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) SandForce® SF-2281 Processor and outstanding sequential read and write speeds of up to 535MB/s and 480MB/s. The SSDNow V+200 enables fast system start-up, rapid data access and speedy copying of large files such as videos, presentations and graphics illustrations.
“Kingston constantly strives to offer the perfect upgrade solution to cover each market segment. The SSDNow V+200 drive has been specifically designed to meet the needs of both business and home users looking for an inexpensive yet powerful upgrade,” said Ariel Perez, SSD business manager, Kingston. “The SSDNow V+200 is equipped with all essential tools needed to extend the lifecycle and boost a system’s performance to the maximum. The balance between performance and price makes this SSD deliver the best ROI as an upgrade for a fleet of corporate notebooks or desktops or the home PC.”
