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Imation announced today that it will begin shipping its TDK Life on Record Blu-ray 6x media to the U.S retail market in October. Available in both 25GB and 50GB capacities, these new discs have a maximum data transfer speed of 216Mbps.
Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN), exclusive licensee of the "TDK Life on Record" recording media brand, today announced the first 6x Blu-ray recordable (BD-R) and Blu-ray recordable double layer (BD-R DL) media for the U.S. retail market. Imation is also launching a full line of TDK Life on Record Blu-ray disc cleaning and storage accessories to protect and maintain high-definition content on this new media format.
"As more consumers create new digital memories in high definition, those memories will be relived on Blu-ray media," said Jean-Paul Eekhout, global brand director of the TDK Life of Record brand, Imation Corp. "The TDK Life on Record brand continues to be a sought-after Blu-ray pioneer both as the first- to-market with 6x Blu-ray recordable media, and for unique technology and accessories that make TDK Blu-ray media more durable and compatible with Blu-ray players."
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While the sales of DVD's are flattening, its not the fault of digital downloads. A new report by NPD shows that Americans still spend most of their movie budget on buying and renting DVDs. According to the report, consumers spent 81% on DVD purchases or rentals with only 0.5% going toward TV shows or movies downloaded from the web.
DVDs are still the most popular format when it comes to how U.S. consumers choose to purchase movies and other video content. On average, U.S. consumers spend $8 out of every $10 of their budgets buying or renting DVDs, according to information presented today by The NPD Group’s Senior Industry Analyst for entertainment, Russ Crupnick, at the DisplaySearch HDTV 2008 Conference in Hollywood, Calif. Less-than one percent of Americans’ movie budget is currently spent downloading movies and TV shows from the Web.
“Everyone is guessing when video on demand and digital downloads will spell the end for packaged media” Crupnick said. “At this point, though, digital video is still an extremely small part of overall consumer entertainment spending.”
According to information from NPD’s recent “Entertainment Trends in America” report, 41 percent of dollars budgeted for movies and video was spent on DVD movie purchases, 11 percent for purchases of TV programs on DVD, and 29 percent on DVD rentals (including Netflix and other video-subscription services). In addition, 18 percent is spent on movie tickets, but just 0.5 percent is currently spent on renting or purchasing TV shows or movies in digital format from the Web.
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Super Talent announced today that it has added two new series to its MasterDrive family of Solid State Drives (SSDs). Based on anew multi-channel SATA-II controller, the MLC-based MasterDrive OX is available in capacities up to 128GB and is capable of 150 MB/sec read and 100 MB/sec write speeds. The SLC-based MasterDrive PX offers greater reliability and endurance as well as support for170MB/s read and 130MB/sec write speeds.
Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today added two new series of SSD products in their MasterDrive family that deliver substantially faster performance than existing SSDs.
These new SSDs are based on a sophisticated new multi-channel SATA-II (3.0 Gbits per sec) controller. The MasterDrive OX uses MLC NAND Flash to transfer data at speeds up to 150 MB/sec (sequential read) and 100 MB/sec (sequential write). The MasterDrive OX is offered in capacities up to 128GB, and is backed with a 1-year warranty.
The MasterDrive PX employs SLC NAND Flash to deliver the best possible reliability and endurance. Furthermore, it supports breath-taking sequential read and write speeds, up to 170 and 130 MB/sec read and write speeds respectively. MasterDrive PX SSDs are available in 32 and 64GB capacities, and includes a 3-year warranty.
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Addonics has announced a new hard drive kit that allows any 2.5-inch SATA hard drive or SSD to be used as a removable drive cartridge or an external eSATA storage device. The Ruby Cipher drive kit features a rugged anodized aluminum housing, shock and vibration protection for the hard drive and native 256-bit AES hardware encryption.
Addonics Technologies www.addonics.com today announced a hard drive kit with built-in eSATA and SATA connectors that allows any 2.5-inch SATA hard drive or SSD to be used as a removable drive cartridge or an external eSATA storage device with the highest level 256-bit AES hardware encryption.
The Ruby Cipher Drive Kit comes with all the important features required in a portable hard drive: rugged anodized aluminum housing for rough handling and efficient heat dissipation; shock proof and vibration protection for the hard drive; and light weight and compact size. The kit is also 100 percent operating system transparent for easy integration into any computing environment.
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While once the top dog in the optical storage industry, Plextor is now a shadow of its former self. It's parent company, Shinano Kenshi Co., Ltd., has scaled back its operations and partnered with companies like LG and Pioneer to provide its drive designs.
In early 2007, we reported that Plextor had turned to Lite-On to fill at least some of their orders. These Lite-On manufactured drives never materialized and reports of their existance eventually ceased. Thanks to an unnamed source, we've learned that Plextor's first Lite-On manufactured DVD writer is finally on the way.
Based on the Lite-On DH-20A6S (iHAS120), the Plextor PX-806SA features an SATA interface and is capable of 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±R and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds. By itself, this isn't very exciting. However, Plextor is trying to recapture some of the enthusiast market by offering a new utility that will allow users to tap into the drive's more advanced features. Like PlexTools, this utility will perform various write quality tests and can measure things like FE/TE and jitter rates. Most likely, it will also control Lite-On's SmartWrite and SmartErase functions, which are already very similar to Plextor's own AUTOSTRATEGY and PlexEraser technologies.
No word yet on pricing or availability. However, our sources indicate that the PX-806SA is ready to go into mass production and will be shipping very soon. We'll keep you posted as we find out more.
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- Hard Disks
Western Digital announced this week that its family of My Passport portable drives are now available in 400 GB and 500 GB capacities. Like previous versions, WD's new My Passport Elite and Essential drives are USB-bus powered, weigh less than 7 ounces and are small enough to fit in a pocket or backpack.
Catering to consumers on-the-go with the world's most popular portable storage offerings, WD® (NYSE: WDC) today introduced its new 500 GB capacity My Passport™ Portable USB Drives which are designed to make it easy to store a half a terabyte of music, videos or photos and carry them in the palm of your hand. Available now at WD's online store (www.shopwd.com), the new 500 GB capacity is offered on the My Passport Elite™ and My Passport Essential™ portable drive models.
A recent consumer study conducted by WD of 1,559 external hard drive users revealed that 54 percent of survey respondents wished that there was an automatic way to back up their computer without having to think about it. My Passport Elite portable drives are equipped with software to automatically back up consumers' ever-growing collection of personal media and digital files.
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BFG GeForce 9600 GT OCX @ HotHardware.com
BFG LS-Series 680w Power Supply @ Virtual-Hideout
iLuv i222 Bluetooth Stereo Backphones with DSP @ Futurelooks
Intel's X25-M Solid State Drive @ Hardware Zone
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Tagan A+ Monolith Full Tower Case @ HardwareLogic
Tagan Icy Box IB-3218 Enclosure @ NGOHQ.com
Western Digital My Passport II 320GB Mobile Hard Drive @ EventDV Add a comment
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Dell announced today that it has partnered with Sonic to bring the first Qflix-enabled drive to market. The Qflix drive is available today as a $120 option on Dell's Inspiron, Studio and XPS laptops as well as through the company's Entertainment, Software and Accessories online store. With this drive, consumers are able to download movies from CinemaNow, transfer them to digital devices in their home and then create a permanent copy on Qflix DVD media.
Dell and Sonic Solutions have teamed to make downloading and recording DVD movies easy with the first PC-based Qflix™ drives. Using an intuitive application, Roxio® Venue, movie collectors can search and select from a variety of major Hollywood hits available from CinemaNow, download them on their PC, transfer them to multiple digital devices in their home, and then create a permanent and portable DVD-format copy on Qflix DVD media.
The Qflix drive bundle is available in the U.S. today as an option on most Inspiron, Studio and XPS laptops for $120, as well as through Dell’s Entertainment, Software and Accessories online store, and will be available soon as option on select consumer desktops. The bundle includes an external Qflix-enabled drive, which also supports standard DVD read/write functions, two recordable Qflix DVD discs, Roxio Venue and CinemaNow software and a USB cable.
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Seagate sent out a press release this morning, announcing the Fall 2008 lineup of its FreeAgent external hard drives. Along with its new 3.5-inch FreeAgent Desk and Xtreme drives, the company has introduced an updated version of the Go that fits in a docking station. Seagate will also be offering special versions of the Desk and Go that are formatted for use with Mac OS X and are Time Machine ready.
Seagate, the world leader in storage solutions, today announced the Fall 2008 lineup of the company’s award-winning FreeAgent™ external hard drives. This new generation of the Seagate® FreeAgent™ family includes attractive desktop and mobile options, for both Mac® and Windows® operated PCs that make it a breeze to back up, share and protect valuable digital content like photos, videos and music.
Seagate’s flagship offering, the FreeAgent Go portable storage solution, is the slimmest external drive available today. At a height of only 12.5mm, the new FreeAgent Go easily fits in a pocket while still including all the advanced shock and vibration protection people have come to expect from Seagate. Another industry first, the new FreeAgent Go is the first external hard drive to offer a docking option, providing a practical way to move from the desk to the road, while leaving the hassle of fumbling with cables and locating USB ports to the history books. With up to 500GB of capacity, the FreeAgent Go bridges the gap between standard portable solutions and desktop solutions with enough storage to carry entire libraries of movies, pictures and music. No longer does one need to sacrifice capacity for portability, Seagate FreeAgent Go provides the benefits and convenience of both in a truly seamless on-the-go package.
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Sony recently unveiled two new Blu-ray equipped notebook PC's. The VAIO NS features an optionalBD-ROM drive as well as a 15.4-inch widescreen display, Intel Core 2 Duo processor and an instant A/V mode. The VAIO CS notebook sports a smaller 14.1-inch display. However, it makes up for it with an A/V slide control and a 12-tone music analyzer that translates your music into a colorful LED light show.
Sony today introduced two notebooks with Blu-ray Disc™ technology— the VAIO® NS and CS models.
“With these new units, Sony is now offering consumers a host of multi-media PC options to choose from,” said Mike Abary, senior vice president of VAIO product marketing at Sony Electronics. “And with a starting price of around $1,000 for the NS model, we’re expecting a new audience to experience HD entertainment on their computers.”
