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- Network Storage
Extending the company’s line of easy-to-use storage solutions that help people enjoy, share and store their digital content, Seagate today announced the next evolution of network storage – FreeAgent DockStar™ network adapter, an amazingly simple way to access and share your digital content with anyone from anywhere.
Increasingly, people are enjoying the benefits of being always connected, yet there still remains a gap in easily connecting people back to their content at home and sharing it with others. The DockStar network adapter reinvents how people think of anywhere access and the concept of sharing their digital files. It allows the FreeAgent Go™ portable hard drive to be added to a network, giving access to its content from anywhere within or outside of the home, as well as allowing for selective sharing of files with friends and family. In a matter of minutes a drive can become accessible through any Internet connected computer, as well as through an innovative iPhone application.
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- Software
Whether you're watching a Blu-ray Disc® or an AVCHD™ or SD home movie, WinDVD Pro 2010 provides the life-like video quality that people expect from an HD experience. Increased format support lets you watch popular video formats, even direct from your camera or camcorder. New support for BD-Live gives access to bonus features and exciting new ways to interact with your disc content. The software is also designed for the latest technologies in Windows® 7, giving users hands-on control when used with Windows Touch enabled hardware.
"With more than 200 million units sold around the world, WinDVD is widely recognized as the industry’s best DVD and Blu-ray playback software and with the latest version we wanted to take our users’ experiences with the software even further. Every enhancement in WinDVD Pro 2010 was designed to provide the best possible PC movie experience. Thanks to the new performance enhancements, actions across the entire application are faster, fine details and special effects are clearer and users can now have full access to interactive content. And it is all delivered through a clean and easy-to-use interface that supports Windows 7 and Windows Touch,” said Nick Davies, Senior Vice President of Product Management and Product Marketing at Corel.
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- Home Entertainment
Seagate, the worldwide leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions, today unveiled its new FreeAgent Theater+(TM) [Plus] HD media player, the next generation home theater solution designed to instantly and easily connect your digital media library to your home entertainment system.
The FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player leverages a docking system unique to Seagate FreeAgent Go(TM) portable drives and accessories, providing a quick and easy way to connect your external hard drive to your television or home entertainment center. After loading the drive with your favorite movies, videos, music and pictures from the home PC, simply slide it into the FreeAgent Theater+ dock to get instant access to your digital media library. With the FreeAgent Theater+ player, you can just sit back, relax, point, click and enjoy as digitally captured memories and your favorite movies come to life in 1080p HD video, DTS(TM) 2.0 + Digital Out, or Dolby Digital technology. The interface is easily navigated with the included remote control, and you can choose from video, photos or music with the up/down arrows on the remote to make your selection.
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- Optical Storage
With Sanyo, Sony and Hitachi manufacturing most of the world's Blu-ray pick-up heads (PUHs), many smaller companies have been faced with ongoing shortages. To boost the supply, optical drive manufacturers from Taiwan and Japan have joined together to open their own Blu-ray PUH facility in the Central Taiwan Science Park. According to the Taiwan Economic News, the facility will eventally have 15 production lines, capable of producing 18 million pick-up heads a year.
Seven manufacturers of optic-disc drives from Taiwan and Japan yesterday announced their plan to open 15 lines for Blu-ray optical pickup unit production in the Central Taiwan Science Park at a cost of NT$2.5 billion (US$75 million at US$1:NT$33).
The seven manufacturers include Forward Electronics Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), Genius Electronic Optical Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), Tera Autotech Corp., Inc. (Taiwan), Sunext Technology Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), and TDK-owned SAE Magnetic Ltd. (Japan).
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- Flash Memory
SanDisk Corporation, the global leader in flash memory cards, today introduced a new line of SanDisk Extreme® Pro™ CompactFlash® memory cards, setting a new standard for fast, reliable, high-capacity memory cards designed for professional photographers. SanDisk Extreme Pro CompactFlash cards feature a new SanDisk® Power Core Controller™, an advanced memory controller that enables lightning-fast read and write speeds of up to 90MB/s, doubling the performance from previous SanDisk high-end camera memory cards. The cards are shipping worldwide now with storage capacities ranging from 16 gigabytes (GB) to 64GB.
“The new SanDisk Extreme Pro CompactFlash line is the direct result of SanDisk’s passion, commitment, and break-through engineering innovation to provide best-in-class flash memory cards for professional photography,” said Eric Bone, vice president, retail product marketing, SanDisk. “The SanDisk Power Core Controller delivers unmatched write speed and reliability, providing photographers with a spectacular combination of performance, capacity and peace of mind that images are safely stored.”
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- Flash Memory
Active Media Products (AMP), manufacturer of netbook SSD upgrades and unique USB drives including the Obama drive, today announced a 3-pack of WWF endangered species USB drives that includes a Panda drive, a Penguin drive and a Polar Bear drive packaged in an elegant gift box. These Windows® 7 compatible USB drives are crafted in the likeness of endangered species and benefit WWF.
The panda, penguin and polar bear drives are designed for carrying data on the go. Each drive measures only about 2.2-inches in length and includes a keychain for attaching the drive to a backpack, zipper pull or keys. These lead-free and PVC-free drives are made of soft non-toxic silicone rubber. The WWF Trio is an ideal gift. AMP offers the Trio as a triple pack of 1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB USB drives, and contributes five percent of the retail price of this product line to WWF.
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- Optical Storage
Sonic Solutions, today announced that a broad and diverse range of professional authoring facilities across Europe have recently acquired Scenarist(R) BD systems, representing a major expansion of the region's Blu-ray Disc (BD) production capacity. The newly Sonic-equipped BD-capable studios, which include premier facilities in the United Kingdom, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Italy, Poland, and Russia, underscore Pan-European confidence in BD as an immediate and long-term growth and profit opportunity in professional content production.
"For years Sonic has provided the technology, products and support that have enabled facilities across Europe to produce millions of DVD titles. Now, as BD has proven its appeal in the European market with significant player expansion and title sales over the last 12 months, Sonic is on-hand to provide the products and expertise our customers need as they expand their business services with BD," said Chris Neely, VP of European Operations, Sonic Solutions. "With owners of movie content eager to build on BD's momentum, Sonic has been able to tap the resulting demand for BD production capacity with products like Scenarist BD and CineVision(R) which combine proven performance and stability with a feature set tailored to the needs of the post-format-launch era. We've invested in a strong product line to make sure we're able to meet the demanding needs of our family of customers as they take advantage of this growing market opportunity."
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- Hard Disks
WD®, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its new, smaller, sleeker My Book® Essential™ and My Book for Mac® desktop external hard drives equipped with the new WD SmartWare™ software and hardware-based encryption. The new appliances visually present consumers' data in a software control center, providing them peace of mind that their precious photos, videos and files are securely protected. Available now at select retailers and the WD online store (shopwd.com), the new My Book Essential and My Book for Mac drives are offered in capacities ranging from 500 GB to 2 TB.
According to research firm Parks Associates, the average U.S. broadband household currently has over 120 gigabytes (GB) of digital media and files, which is expected to grow to over 1 terabyte (TB) of data by 2013. The accelerating shift from physical media (such as photo negatives, CDs and DVDs) to digital media (such as digital photos, videos and downloads) means that consumers' real lives and digital lives are increasingly overlapping. And while 70 percent of consumers back up their content, the majority of these people are using manual, cumbersome methods such as copying and pasting to multiple CDs and DVDs, and less than 18 percent use software that automatically and continuously backs up their content. As a result, many consumers' digital lives are unprotected and at risk.
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- Hard Disks
Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., the industry pioneer in small form factor hard disk drives (HDDs), today introduced a new line of 1.8-inch HDDs with up to 160GB of capacity in a single-platter, five-millimeter-high design targeted for next-generation portable media players, digital video cameras and other consumer electronics products.
Toshiba's new MKxx34GAL family of 1.8-inch HDDs offers consumer electronics manufacturers a thin and light package with the industry's highest storage capacity, best power consumption efficiency, most durability and quietest seek operation of any HDD on the market.
Equipped with a PATA interface, 4,200 RPM rotational speed and acoustic-reduction features, Toshiba's MKxx34GAL HDD is ideal for audio and video playback applications that require high-capacity in a small footprint with quiet operation to maximize the entertainment experience of the host device. Leveraging Toshiba's long history of technology expertise in miniaturization and the 1.8-inch HDD form factor, the MKxx34GAL is the quietest hard drive produced because of its size and the advanced acoustic management techniques that Toshiba has incorporated into all of its recent mobile HDD platforms.
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- Home Entertainment
Sharp today expands its suite of Blu-ray players with the introduction of the Full HD 1080p BD-HP52U AQUOS® Blu-ray Disc™ (BD) player. When paired with an AQUOS HDTV Liquid Crystal television, consumers can enjoy the latest Blu-ray Disc titles, as well as standard-definition DVDs, in the highest resolution possible. The BD-HP52U will also provide consumers access to premium streaming video content for a first-class home theater experience. The BD-HP52U also adds advanced audio decoding, additional playback options and Deep Color™ for the purest color available on video images, as well as an RS-232 port for management by external control systems.
The BD-HP52U supports BD-ROM Profile 2.0 for BD Live interactive features through an Ethernet jack-enabled Internet connection. Users can download and stream bonus content such as additional scenes, shorts, trailers and multi-player interactive games, providing the consumer full access to content otherwise unattainable.
