The Tardis shed: Where Timelords keep lawn mowers

Posted in Home by Conner Flynn on July 5th, 2008

The Tardis shed: Where Timelords keep lawn mowersSheds are not gadgets, but sheds do house and hold many of our gadgets. Over at an interesting site called Readers Sheds they like to showcase all kinds of sheds.

One that comes up again and again is the Tardis. They have literally appeared everywhere throughout the UK. Apparently these sheds are also capable of being bigger on the inside and get frequently attacked by Daleks.

OCZ Core Series SATA SSDs are way cheap

Posted in SSD by Shane McGlaun on July 1st, 2008

OCZ Core Series SSDSolid State Drives may well be the future of data storage in the computer industry, but with the high price of flash memory at this time SSDs are not seeing much adaption in the consumer market. So poor is the uptake by consumers for SSDs that Seagate will not even target the consumer market with its SSD line launching in 2009.

Somehow OCZ has got around the cost issue normally associated with SSDs with its latest offering called the Core Series SATA II Solid State Drive. OCZ says that the Core series are the first truly affordable SSDs and that the retail price of 50% less than competing products on the market.

Maxtor makes Central Axis your home NAS solution

Posted in NAS by Nino Marchetti on June 25th, 2008

Maxtor Central Axis

Maxtor is betting your home network is bursting at the seams with data needing back up support and is therefore unveiling a new home NAS solution. It is called the Maxtor Central Axis and you’ll find it pricing at around $330.

The Maxtor Central Axis offers you a generous 1TB of NAS storage to fill with your travel photos and MP3s. The drive allows for each computer in the home to be automatically backed up and files can be accessed and stored from both Mac OS X and Windows operated PCs.

Imation drives USB flash drive form factor smaller

Posted in USB Flash Drives by Nino Marchetti on June 25th, 2008

Imation Atom Flash Drive

Ahh, USB flash drives, how small can you go? Imation is jumping into the tiny is better USB drive category with its new Imation Atom Flash Drive, priced between around $18 to $100, depending upon storage capacity.

The Imation Atom Flash Drive is tiny, measuring less that 1.5-inches long and .5-inches wide. Weight is around less than an ounce. Storage options on this small drive include 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB.

Nintendo is “working on a solution” to Wii storage

Posted in Wii by Conner Flynn on June 18th, 2008

Nintendo is “working on a solution” to Wii storageWe’ve seen the writing on the wall and it seems to indicate that Nintendo is working on some USB devices for the Wii, but Laurent Fischer of Nintendo Europe quashed that idea while another option now seems open. According to GamesIndustry.biz, he says that the company is “working on a solution” to the Wii storage problem, but he also says “definitely there’s no plan to issue hardware,” like a hard drive.

So the thinking now is that Nintendo is working on a firmware update that would allow downloaded games to be played directly from SD cards, but no one knows for sure. We may get more details as E3 approaches.

Steampunk usb memory is flashy

Posted in USB Flash Drives by Conner Flynn on May 23rd, 2008

Steampunk usb memory is flashy
If Flash Gordon had a laptop, this would be his preferred USB memory. It’s the creation of a crazy modder over in Russia and it’s full of retro steampunk shininess, hand crafted from polished brass and copper, with a lot of attention to detail. He got all of it just right.

Which makes me wonder why no company has yet taken advantage of the whole steampunk thing and started mass producing usb memory like this. They could move a ton of items. Geeks like me would eat it up. I shouldn’t have to rely on a modder from Russia for my usb needs, that’s all I’m saying.

Vertebrae vertical bathroom system

Posted in Home by Conner Flynn on May 22nd, 2008

Vertebrae vertical bathroom system
You can see right off the bat that this is an ideal way to save space in your bathroom. It uses very little floor space and so the Vertebrae vertical bathroom system is a perfect multi-purpose bathroom unit for luxury apartments with a space shortage. The name obviously comes from it’s design.

It houses everything you expect to find in a regular bathroom, it even has showerheads, a sink, a cistern, a potty and lots of storage units. This has got to be the ultimate space saving bathroom design.

Creative MuVo T200 storage doubled to 4GB

Posted in Portable Meda Players by Conner Flynn on May 13th, 2008

Creative MuVo T200 storage doubled to 4GB
Creative has doubled the gigabytes in their Shuffle-rival, the MuVo T200. The PMP had previously only been available in 2GB, but will now come in a 4GB version. The T200 has a compact 128 x 32 pixels 65k color display. With a non-replaceable rechargeable battery, Creative is promising up to 9hrs playback on a single charge.

Music is transferred via the built-in USB 2.0 plug, which also recharges it. MP3, WMA/WMA (DRM9) and Audible Format 2,3,4 files are supported, and Creative says that you can fit 133hrs of WMA-encoded music onto it. You also get an FM radio, with 32 preset slots and voice recording. No US price yet.

Newman M8000 has tons of storage space

Posted in Portable Meda Players by Conner Flynn on May 9th, 2008

Newman M8000 has tons of storage space
The Newman M8000 looks pretty nice. Even better when you find out it has 250GB of hard drive inside! That’s a TON of space to carry around all of your entertainment, and it will likely take you quite a while before you use it all up.

If budget is a consideration, you can choose from the 80GB, 120GB, and 160GB models. Some features include: 4″ TFT display at 320 x 240 resolution,TV out, Supports MP3, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 formats, 1.3 megapixel camera, SD memory card slot, Game emulation and PVR functionality

Iomega eGo camouflaged 250GB portable drive

Posted in Storage by Darrin Olson on May 8th, 2008

Iomega 250GB eGo Camo har driveIomega has released a new drive called the Camo eGo hard drive for those that may want to stand out from the crowd at the office but blend in with the forest. The new eGo portable hard drive is powered solely by USB 2.0 and has a very decent capacity of 250GB inside its camouflaged frame.

The drive is also surrounded with a black “Power Grip” to help keep a hand-hold on it, but if you do end up losing your grip you can hope that the DropGuard technology does all that is says for drops up to 5 feet. The eGo Camo Portable drive is compatible with Windows Vista/XP/2000 and Max OS X.

Speaker media cabinet hides your stuff

Posted in Furniture by Conner Flynn on April 14th, 2008

Speaker media cabinet hides your stuff
If you like recycling objects and have some extra time on your hands, then this Speaker Media Cabinet might be just the thing. You can store anything you like inside, though it won’t fit a body, you’ll have to continue using the old fashioned car trunk for that.

It would be a great place to store your entertainment media, like DVDs and console games. All you need is a pair of large junked speakers, several chopping tools, the usual array of nuts and bolts, and the will to succeed.

IBM introduces new ‘racetrack’ memory solution

Posted in Storage by Darrin Olson on April 13th, 2008

Stuart Parkin and colleagues at IBM introduce a new type of memory dubbed ‘racetrack’ memoryDr. Stuart Parkin and colleagues at IBM have recently published a paper in Science introducing a new type of storage technology dubbed ‘racetrack memory’.

The memory uses something called spintronics which uses the storage of bits generated by the magnetic spin of electrons rather than their charge to identify each as “on” or “off”. This new storage solution offers some advantages over the most popular current options. It’s faster than traditional hard disk drives and has a lower failure rate since there are no moving parts.

Phase change memory from Numonyx within sight

Posted in Memory by Darrin Olson on March 31st, 2008

Numonyx Phase Change Memory (PCM) could be coming yet this yearAccording to an announcement by Numonyx CEO Brian Harrison, the company is expecting to have phase change memory (PCM) commercially available and start shipping this year. PCM is a new type of memory that would be in competition with Flash memory and has been in the works for decades but has yet to see commercialization.

Numonyx is a joint venture between STMicroelectronics and Intel and appears to be the first to announce a real-sounding time line for this type of memory. A number of companies have been working on phase change memory including an announcement from IBM in late 2006. Harrison says they are shipping samples now and will have the new memory widely commercially available in the next year or two.

Zana wood engraved USB flash drives

Posted in USB Flash Drives by Conner Flynn on March 13th, 2008

Zana wood engraved USB flash drives
Zana is hopping on the “tech with wood on the outside” bandwagon and so they will be selling wood-engraved USB flash drives that feature silver as well as “precious stones” for about $59. That will get you about 1GB of storage.

If you want a name or some other personal message engraved on it, you’ll probably have to pay more. I guess this is for the stylish geek who wants to make an impression, but frankly I’m not all that impressed. I would think they would get dented and dinged pretty easily. Then there’s termites too.

Keyboard Organizer cuts down desk clutter

Posted in Keyboards by Conner Flynn on March 5th, 2008

Keyboard Organizer
Look around your desk and keyboard area. Go ahead. I’ll wait. You see all that clutter that’s taking up valuable real estate? I’m not judging you. It happens. The Keyboard Organizer wants to help you keep your keyboard area tidy and organized. It’s the world’s first patented storage caddy inside of a working keyboard!

Think of all the stuff you can hide from your friends. Granted, it’s probably going to be all useless stuff like paperclips and Rainbow Brite stickers, but it’s always cool to have a hiding place. It works all the latest PCs as long as you still have PS/2 input. And you can get one for only about $50.


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