Archive for the 'Hardware' Category
Immediately available and priced starting at $239.99, the new Mercury On-The-Go 320GB 7200RPM drive has models available with USB 2.0, USB 2.0+eSATA, FireWire 400+USB 2.0, and FireWire 800/400+USB 2.0 Interfaces. These portable drive solutions are built with the latest Hitachi 7K320 mechanism with OWC’s custom bridge interfaces and provide the highest performance of any portable storage solution available on the market.
Geared for the demanding “On-the-Go” professional road warrior who requires dependable, high-performance storage, the OWC Mercury On-The-Go 320GB 7200RPM portable drive solution offers options for virtually all computers and gadgets with an available FireWire or USB port, including all Macs and PCs, as well as digital cameras and camcorders for an instant on-the-go portable storage solution to quickly and safely store all your digital photos and video when traveling.
With The Mercury On-The-Go portable drive, you can back-up your entire desktop computer and bring it with you everywhere you go. For easy backup, the drive also includes the full retail versions of the latest award-winning Prosoft DataBackup III for OS X and NovaStor NovaBackup for Windows.
In addition to the 320GB 7200RPM drive, OWC also offers additional 7200RPM models with capacities of 100GB to 200GB, priced from $109.99; and 5400RPM Models from 60GB to 500GB, priced from $74.99. All drive solutions offer leading performance and reliability due to a well thought-out design, performance bridge interface, and the best hard disk drive mechanisms inside.
The Mercury On-The-Go 320GB 7200RPM portable storage drive is available immediately priced starting at $239.99 through OWC and other retailers. It includes a carrying case, connecting cables, Prosoft DataRescue III for OS X, and NovaStor NovaBackup for Windows. All Mercury-On-The-Go models are covered by a one-year warranty and are compatible with Apple OS Versions 8.5 through 9.2.x; Apple OS X (including the latest OS 10.5.x); and Microsoft Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, Vista.
For more information, see: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go.
When connected to an ultra-mobile device, the four-ounce Optoma Pico Projector allows users to share photos and videos, and enjoy a far better visual experience with an image that is up to 100 times larger than the small screen of the source device.
“The Pico Projector is the next step in sharing visual media for today’s ultra-mobile consumers. Fitting in your shirt pocket, the Pico Projector can display pictures, videos or any content from a mobile media player or smart phone” says Jon Grodem, director of Product Management for Optoma. “Optoma’s Pico breaks free from the limitations of the 2 or 3 inch displays found on today’s mobile devices. This category defining projector creates a new benchmark for sharing content-on-the-go.”
Optoma’s Pico Projector utilizes the latest LED technology resulting in a colorful and vivid image. The small and powerful unit is based upon DLP technology assuring the highest possible contrast.
“The handheld Pico projector represents the latest advancement in the mobile device display industry. We view the Pico projector as a completely new and exciting market – one which dramatically expands the reach and potential of projection products into new end user applications,” says Dr. William Coggshall, founder and president of Pacific Media Associates.
The product will be first shown at Texas Instrument’s InfoComm 2008 booth C909 and will be available in limited distribution in Europe and Asia in late 2008, with a worldwide launch in 2009.
Utilizing the latest technology advances in energy efficiency, the Guardian MAXimus eMAX is RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) certified to deliver maximum data protection and backup performance while using less energy. Compared to other low-powered 1TB external storage solutions, Guardian MAXimus eMAX provides a 15 percent power savings and up to a 50 percent power reduction versus traditionally powered 1TB drives. The Guardian MAXimus eMAX also provides the utmost in low noise operation, data storage stability, and per disk capacity for 1TB drives.
“The addition of the new Guardian MAXimus eMAX continues the product development mission of the Guardian MAXimus line,” said Grant Dahlke, Marketing Manager, NewerTech. “When only maximum performance, quality, ease of use, and now energy efficiency savings will suffice for data protection/backup needs, Mac and PC users alike will find their needs exceeded by a Guardian MAXimus model.”
The new Guardian MAXimus eMAX compliments the broad Guardian MAXimus lineup that has earned widespread praise and awards. “Easy to use, incredibly fast, and offers a lot of space for the price…the perfect space-to-speed ratio that’s so important to graphics professionals, digital photographers, and designers,” said PhotoShop User magazine about Guardian MAXimus in its Five Star rated review. “The fastest drive with the biggest oomph in the smallest form we’ve seen,” said Macsimum News in awarding Guardian MAXimus the Macsimum Macworld 2008 Award.
Guardian MAXimus eMAX is a 1.0TB Mirror (1.0TB + 1.0TB) 5400RPM w/64MB total buffer drive priced at $549.99.
Guardian MAXimus line pricing:
Hey, you can be a girly-man and use those little 500 GB hard drives in your computer, or - gasp! - your drobo, or you can be a mans-man and plunk in a couple of WD Black Caviar 1 TB drives. That’s right, I said ONE TERABYTE! We have crossed new territory in which the G drops for the T and soon we will all be storing masses of video in which we all once celebrated for doing the same for pictures.
“WD Caviar Black hard drives offer the highest capacity and performance in a desktop class drive available on the market today enabling users to maximize the features and functionality of power computing applications such as multimedia, video and photo editing,” said Don Bennett, WD vice president and general manager of desktop storage. “Selection of a WD Caviar Black drive ensures WD customers receive the best WD has to offer in terms of features, performance and reliability.”
These are far from fishy as they’ll spin at 7200 RPM equipped with the SATA 3 Gb/s interface and 32 MB cache. Western Digital is positioning these toward high-end OEM systems as well as for those desiring to upgrade to some wicked drives.
Stop by WD Caviar 1 TB site to get the full spec run down. The drives become available next week through select distributors and resellers. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD Caviar Black 750 GB is $199 and the 1 TB is $249 USD. Both drives are covered by a five-year limited warranty.
I bet there are a lot of you starting to get jealous of those other people that can listen to their tunes from their Bluetooth device, such as a smartphone, right on their car stereo without every plugging in a wire to anything. With rumors of the iPhone update supporting full Bluetooth stereo, the doors may just be blown open wide real soon with Bluetooth audio.
Now if you’re one that spent all their cash on such a device and can’t yet afford the upgrade to a nice slick Alpine or Pioneer that supports Bluetooth connectivity, then maybe you should take out that old mix tape and throw in the Flexii Bluetooth Cassette Adapter. With this sweet adapter, you’ll be able to do what those other cassette adapters for portable CD players did and play music from a really cool high tech gadget! Cheap. For $40, you’ll get to play jams from your PDA, smartphone, or laptop all without a single wire. In fact, the Bluetooth Cassette Adapter has a built-in rechargeable lithium battery that will give you up to 5 hours of play time. The included USB cable lets you charge that bad boy in not time!
So now enjoy your high tech gadget on your “low” tech radio. Bring your car into the future, baby!
Sender and receiver units connect the A/V source to the remote display using category-5 cables that transmit 1080p full HD resolutions as well as RS-232, IR back channel and HDCP-compliance. Up to 100 meters (330-feet) can support hi-def resolutions to 1080i.
“Entertainment venues, retail spaces and presentation rooms using HDMI sources and displays can use this product to deliver a hi-def source or computer to any location with real-time RS-232 control,” said Hagai Gefen, president and CEO, Gefen Inc.
The Gefen HDMI RS-232 CAT-5 Extender (MSRP $599) is engineered to deliver flawless HDTV signals over CAT-5 cables by compensating for possible cable skews, ensuring hi-def video is delivered with zero signal loss.
Installation of the system is simple, requiring a local connection of the A/V and RS-232 equipment to the sender, and the display to the receiver. Source connection cables are included in the package.
It seems I’ve been throwing a lot of difficult problems toward Apple Care to become baffled on. I wrote about my odd iCal problem back in December of last year that neither Apple Care nor Microsoft could figure out (to which I later solved on my own genius bar) and now I have another one to add to the list.
I purchased one smokin’ Mac Pro last July and it was pretty much at the top end when all the features where added. Even with a 10% discount, the baby was a tad under 5k. So when after a month I started experiencing some really annoying slow downs due to constant hard drive spinning, I got on the phone and gave Apple Care a holler. After getting over the hurdle of what “swap” space was, I attempted to explain to the customer care representative that my hard drive was spinning more than an old 78 rpm record. After not getting anywhere with the first tech, I was sent to the second level. I defeated Level 2 as well. No answers. No wait, reformat and install was a suggestion which I had already tried prior to the call. So I lived with the spin for nine months.
Yesterday I added two more drives to my Mac Pro filling up all available slots. I now had the original drive and three added drives. I like cleaning out the inside of my computers every so often, so I pulled out the two already installed SATA hard drives and got a can of air and sprayed until it was exhausted. I secured back the two hard drives as well as added the two new ones. I closed up the Mac Pro and booted up. Guess what? No more hard drive dance floor spins!
So what could have caused the constant hard drive spinning is hard to say. It could have been a number of things such as dirty contacts on the SATA interface, not a fully seated hard drive, or the hard drive controller freaking out on just having two hard drives plugged in. I doubt it was that later and most likely just a hard drive not fully seated. Dirt could be it, but I really think it was the hard drive not being fully secured.
So, if you’re having a similar problem and Apple Care along with its forms offer no help, then give this a try. It may help.
Corsair, a worldwide leader in high performance computer and flash memory products, announced today the launch of their new Corsair high-density Memory Line for Mac Pro desktop systems. Made especially for the high performance demands of the Mac market, the new Corsair Mac Pro Memory Kits are fully buffered 667MHz solutions, available immediately in 2GB (2 x 1GB modules) and 4GB (2 x 2GB modules) DIMM kits.
Mac Pro Memory is 100% Apple Compatible – Lifetime Warranty
The Corsair Mac Pro memory modules are qualified at the Apple Test Labs in California and are 100% compatibility guaranteed with a lifetime warranty. “We are excited to extend our Corsair memory solutions to support the high performance Mac Pro Desktop Systems,” said John Beekley, VP of Applications at Corsair. “These modules offer end users the ability to greatly maximize the amount of memory in their Mac Pro,” added Beekley.
Corsair Mac Pro fully-buffered Memory Modules are immediately available:
VSA2GBFBKIT667D2 - 2GB Kit (2 x 1GB modules): $165 USD MSRP
VSA4GBKITFB667D2 - 4GB Kit (2 x 2GB modules): $225 USD MSRP
Corsair Mac Laptop Memory Line
In addition to the new Corsair Mac Pro desktop line of memory products, Corsair also recently launched the first high performance memory modules made especially for Mac laptops. The new Corsair memory modules are the industry’s first low latency modules specifically tuned for the new Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro laptop computers.
Pricing & Availability
The new Corsair Memory Line for the Mac Pro is immediately available through Corsair’s authorized distributors and resellers world-wide priced at $165 for the 2GB kit and $225 for the 4GB kit. Corsair memory products are backed by a Limited Lifetime Warranty. Complete customer support via telephone, email, forum and Technical Service Xpress is also available.
For more information on the Corsair memory products, please visit www.corsair.com.
First unveiled during CTIA WIRELESS 2008, the Verizon Wireless XV6900 is a stylish, compact and versatile touch-screen smartphone that gives busy professionals the high-speed connectivity of the Verizon Wireless broadband network. In addition to its luxurious white package, the XV6900 includes:
- EV-DO, 1XRTT-capabilities
- Touch technology allows finger and stylus input
- Virtual, all-touch QWERTY keyboard with additional input options
- Five-way ENTER/NAVIGATION button
- 2.0 megapixel camera with auto-focus, zoom and video capture
- Built-in speakerphone
- One-touch access to e-mail, text messages, calendar appointments and contacts, weather conditions and forecasts
- Equipped with Windows Mobile® 6 Professional with access to Microsoft® Office Word Mobile, Excel® Mobile, and PowerPoint® Mobile; Adobe® Reader® LE PDF viewer
- View, edit, create Word and Excel files; view only PowerPoint and PDF files;
- view, extract, create Zip files
- Web browsing with Internet Explorer® Mobile
- Windows Media® Player 10
- Instant Messenger capabilities with AIM®, MSN®, and Yahoo!®
- Bluetooth® v. 2.0 with support for stereo, hands-free, and headset profiles
- microSD™ memory card slot with support up to 8 GB
- Voice command-capable
- Security locking features
- Text, picture and video messaging
- BroadbandAccess Connect-capable
- Wireless Sync-capable
- ActiveSync® (v.4.5) and Windows Mobile Device Center®
- Support for Office Outlook Mobile and Microsoft Exchange® with Direct Push
- 256 MB ROM / 128 MB RAM
- 2.8” TFT-LCD touch-screen with LED backlight: 240 x 320 pixel; 64K color TFT
- 3.98” (l) x 2.35” (w) x 0.56” (d)
- 3.95 ounces
- Battery: 1100mAH standard, and 1880 mAH for XT Battery
Standard battery usage times:
- Usage: 210 minutes
- Standby: 250 hours
- XT battery usage times:
- Usage: 360 minutes
- Standby: 427 hours
- SAR: Head – 1.250 W/kg; Body – 0.457 W/kg
The XV6900 is available for $349.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. An additional $100 credit toward the purchase of the handset is available for customers who sign up for qualifying voice and data plans at the time of purchase.
For more information on the XV6900 and other Verizon Wireless products and services, customers may visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com. Business customers should call 1-800-VZW-4BIZ or contact their Verizon Wireless Business Sales Representative.
DisplayLink announced today that its USB display technology is providing core functionality for the Samsung SyncMaster 2263DX, a 22-inch LCD monitor with an attached 7-inch tandem monitor (rear view).
DisplayLink’s USB Display Technology provides the hardware and software that connects and powers the 7-inch tandem monitor to the main monitor by a simple USB cable – without the need for additional power connections. This provides the flexibility to allow the 7-inch tandem monitor to be positioned above or on either side of the main 22-inch monitor. DisplayLink software enables users to easily switch between portrait and landscape modes.
The SyncMaster 2263DX has attracted significant attention from reviewers and users alike, and was an Innovations Award honoree at CES 2008. Its unique 7-inch tandem monitor provides extra screen space without consuming desktop space. With its compact size, the 7-inch monitor offers surprising utility, providing ample space for instant messaging, media players, Skype, calendars, or application toolbars.
“Samsung is now the world’s leading manufacturer of LCD displays for the PC market, and DisplayLink is helping them stay at the forefront of innovation with our one-of-a-kind USB display technology,” said Dennis Crespo, executive vice president of marketing and business development for DisplayLink.