VUDU announced this week that it is the first on-demand service to sell movies in high definition. The company currently has more than 50 HD movies available on its 1080p Internet Movie Player, including the 2009 Academy Award winning documentary, Man on Wire. Movies are priced between $13.99 and $23.99 and can be stored on a consumer's VUDU box or in the VUDU Vault.

VUDU, Inc., a leading provider of digital on-demand entertainment products and services, today announced it has achieved another industry milestone by becoming the first on-demand service to offer high definition movies for download to own on its popular 1080p Internet Movie Player. HD movies are available for purchase today to all VUDU owners.

Until now consumers have been restricted to renting HD movies from on- demand services, including VUDU's library of over 1,400 HD movies, the largest HD library in the world. Today VUDU unveiled a collection of over 50 HD movies from top independent studios that are available for both rental and download to own. Movies offered in this collection will be available for purchase in both instant HD and VUDU's industry-leading HDX format at the same price. HDX is the highest quality on-demand format available anywhere on cable, satellite, broadcast, or the Internet.

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With today’s release of the 433X CF card, Pretec is breaking its own world record of previous fastest CF card (333X) by more than 30%. Using a specially-crafted controller IC and SLC NAND flash technology, the Pretec 433X CF card reaches 65MB/s read speed and 50MB/s write speed. The Pretec 433X CF card is sampling now to key customers, with volume delivery by March, 2009.

Pretec, creator of the highest capacity CompactFlash card in the world (64GB) and the fastest CF card in the world (333X) will demonstrate the new Pretec 433X CF card, another speed breakthrough in flash memory at “Focus on Imaging 2009”, Europe’s biggest annual imaging event in Birmingham's NEC. The Pretec 433X CF card will be on display at stand Q20 together with Peartree and Leaf, a world leading manufacturer of digital medium format camera systems and digital backs.

The Pretec 433X CF card is the newest member of Pretec’s family of innovative flash memory cards, consistently first to market in high speed and capacity products; 233X and 333X CF cards were launched by Pretec at Taipei in 2007 and 64GB CF cards started shipping in Sept. 2008. With today’s release of the 433X CF card, Pretec is breaking its own world record of previous fastest CF card (333X) by more than 30%.

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Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced that it has agreed to acquire Fabrik, Inc., a privately-held supplier of personal and professional storage solutions. Fabrik, whose leading storage brands include G-Technology and SimpleTech, strategically positions Hitachi in the fast-growing external storage business.

Industry analyst firm IDC expects worldwide personal storage device shipments to grow from approximately 52 million in 2008 to 123 million in 2012. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Closing of the acquisition, which is subject to customary conditions, is expected to occur early in the second quarter of 2009.

Fabrik’s business will continue intact and form the core of Hitachi GST’s newly-formed external storage business. Hitachi GST will fully support the G-Technology and SimpleTech product lines, building upon their success and differentiation in the market. The combined company will also leverage operational, technical and product development resources, distribution channels and global reach to accelerate delivery of a full portfolio of traditional hard drives, solid state drives and branded personal and professional storage products.

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After releasing the 128 GB 2.5-inch SATA II SSD, Silicon Power, the leading brand among Flash Memory Manufacturers, is expanding its SSD product line with a larger, 256GB version. Except for its larger capacity, a new version SSD delivers an outstanding performance in data transfer rate. It can reach a read speed of 165 MB/s and a write speed of 95MB/s. High-speed transfer rates, as well as the very low (0.2ms) latency, it's a benefit for SSD-equipped computers to provide faster functioning speed and boot times.

With the mentioned high speed data transfer, the new units provides the cutting edge controller and flash memory shock resistance, minimum vibration, low power consumption, no noise, no latency delay, no seek error and high reliability, enabling the operating system to work well even if it is on the move. The new 256GB SSD also features an integrated ECC (Error Correction Code) to ensure an accurate data transfer, as well as built-in wear leveling technology that guarantees long-term reliability and ultra-long storage lifespan. Customers can easily install the SSD in laptops, PCs or other devices that support SATA II SSD. Silicon Power 2.5” SSD with SATA II or IDE interface is fully compatible with RoHS requirement, with capacities ranging from 8GB to 256GB.