Items tagged with odd
You have to hand it to the European Commission--those folks are not shy about going after tech companies with guns blazing if they believe there have been antitrust violations. The latest alleged offense is a bit of a doozy, as it pertains to a baker’s dozen optical drive companies selling their wares in Europe; the EC believes they may have colluded in a worldwide cartel. No companies have been fingered by name, but an EC press release indicates that there were two major OEMs organizing a bid rigging endeavor that has lasted five years. Bid rigging is “one of the most serious breaches of EU antitrust rules”, and the EC is concerned that it affected customers who bought drives...
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Microsoft isn't too keen on discussing the Xbox 720 or whatever it plans to call its next generation game console, and apparently the Redmond outfit isn't all that keen on optical drives, either. We've heard reports that the next Xbox iteration might ditch optical storage hardware entirely, and now at least one website claims to have confirmed as much with an un-named source. The source tells MCV that Microsoft's hardware and software partners are under "the strictest NDA" they have ever signed, nevertheless they were willing to leak the fact that the Xbox 720 will ship sans a disc drive. Instead it will use a type of solid-state card storage, though it's unclear if that means it will have a...
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Introducing a new optical drive may not be top priority these days for tech companies -- particularly with many machines going without one altogether -- but Samsung's looking out for those of us who still rely on those tried-and-true coasters. The company has just revealed a new pair of drives, with one in particularly being especially exciting. The SE-208BW is a new hybrid product that combines an external ODD with a wireless module. It offers traditional CD/DVD playback and writing capabilities, but also features Samsung's own app to enable smartphones, tablet and PC users to wirelessly stream and play CDs/DVDs to their smart devices. Not bad! It basically doubles as a wireless access point,...
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Samsung announced the new SH-222AB internal DVD writer which features ultra fast load times. Using new technology from Samsung, the SH-222AB DVD writer claims to reduce Lead-In-Time by up to 60 percent, letting users enjoy the content on a disc much quicker than with other DVD writers. The SH-222AB internal DVD writer uses a SATA interface and supports the following speeds: 48X CD-ROM reading, 40X CD-RW reading, 22X DVD±R recording, 12X DVD-RAM recording, 16X DVD+R Dual Layer recording, 8X DVD+RW recording and 6X DVD-RW recording. Samsung's SH-222AB is currently available for about $29. Samsung Unveils New DVD Writers with Ultra Fast Load Times SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung...
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Not long ago, we saw some of the newest external Blu-ray drives hit the market. Those were useful for adding BD support to machines that lacked it, particularly smaller netbooks and ultraportables that lacked an optical drive altogether. Now, Samsung is taking it the next level with the addition of 3D. The new SE-406A optical disc drive is an external 3D Blu-ray combo drive, complete with an anti-fingerprint surface, CyberLink TrueTheater software and the ability to transform 2D DVD movies into 3D movies. The drive also handles CDs and DVDs, and it's completely powered via USB. The SE-406A drive is engineered to be compatible with all major operating systems, including Win7 and Mac OS. In addition,...
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LaCie may be offering a portable Blu-ray drive for those who own ODD-less notebooks, but not everyone is ready or willing to invest in BD. Lite-On, which is a company that has made a name for themselves in the storage sector over the years, is catering to that group with the new eNAU608 8X External Slim DVD Writer. They're also catering to the folks who love to style things up, offering one of the only (if not the only) portable DVD writer with lids that can be swapped out. These decorative interchangeable top cover inserts are included with the drive, and they provide a unique level of customization to a kind of product that is rarely tweak-able. Moreover, users can create their own inserts...
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On thing that could bother some netbook buyers is the lack of an internal hard drive. Even Apple's MacBook Air line lacks them. Many machines are shipping these days without an optical drive, partly because more and more things are streaming and partly because it's a cost/space savings. But sometimes, there's just no good alternative for having an optical drive on hand. LaCie's new Slim Blu-ray is meant to be your go-to drive in those situations. This new USB 2.0 Blu-ray burner is sleek and slim, meant to fit in your laptop carry-on and be accessible for those times when you need to burn or watch a Blu-ray or DVD (or CD). At $249.99, it's actually fairly cheap to be a BD burner, with a max burn...
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Netbooks now come standard with dual-core processors, and some of them even sport respectable graphics (Nvidia Ion). But save for a very small few, the vast majority of netbooks still don't ship with an optical drive. What's an optical disc-toting user to do? Buy an external optical drive, of course. Samsung hopes you'll be drawn to its new SE-S084F extneral DVD writer, which the company promises will be on store shelves in time for the holiday shopping season. "Weighing less than one pound and available in five distinct colors, the Samsung SE-S084F DVD Writer was built for netbook and mini PC users, who require the flexibility of a smaller device, but do not want to sacrifice the benefits of...
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We know things innovate quickly these days. Really quickly. In the CPU world, a new processor barely stays "new" for six months now, and the same is true in the GPU world. There's a saying that explains how your "new" PC is probably old by the time it actually gets to your doorstop, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Life's short, we might as well enjoy the innovation while we can! Hitachi-LG introduced a unique new product a few months back at the Computex trade show in Taiwan, and already a second generation version is being introduced. Hitachi-LG Data Storage, known as HLDS, has revealed the AT 6.0Gbps based 2nd Generation, 'Hybrid Drive,' which is the follow-up drive to the product shown...
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Slim is definitely in, just ask Samsung, who has gone and introduced one of the skinniest external optical drives you're ever likely to see before the technology is supplanted by whatever storage medium the future holds. Called the SE-S084D (we would have gone with AN0R3X1A), the new drive brings sexy back to a peripherals that perhaps never had it in the first place. Apparently we're not the only ones who think so - the sleek design and stylish metallic centerline were enough to win an iF Product Award Design, Samsung says. "With a more compact footprint and lighter weight than competitive offerings, the new external DVD writer delivers high performance with a USB power source to eliminate electrical...
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In case you haven't noticed, very few netbooks have ever shipped with an optical drive. You've either had to get a more expensive ultraportable, a thin-and-light or an external ODD in order to have the ability to read/burn a disc while using a compact mobile computer. There's now a good chance that the trend may be shifting, and while optical drives do indeed take up a lot of precious space and require a lot of precious power, we aren't quite in the world yet where not having one isn't a pain at some point. Hitachi-LG just might be the company that convinces thin and light notebook makers to add an optical drive, and they've got a fairly interesting proposition to do so. Today, the joint venture...
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A sad statement on humanity, as in Pennsylvania a two-year-old was beaten and killed by her mother's boyfriend - with a video game controller. Still worse, it was reported that the boyfriend had abused the child previously, yet the mother had not left him.It was clear from the bruises and other injuries on the little girl's body that Sunday was not the first time she had been abused, Dauphin County coroner Graham Hetrick told WGAL-TV. He said it was one of the worst cases of child abuse he has ever seen.Baez, 19, called for an ambulance Sunday and said (Harve) Johnson had brought the unconscious child to her, limp and wet from an attempt to revive her in a bathtub, a police affidavit said.Johnson,...
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As with all rumors, please take the following news item with a grain of salt until we can receive official confirmation or denial from either Intel or NVIDIA.Rumor has it that Intel doesn't want to share all of its secrets in regards to Common System Interface (CSI) technology with NVIDIA.“And the same sources claimed that while Intel hasn’t exactly fallen in love with AMD, it appears happy to talk to Nvidia’s bitter competitor, which, of course, now owns ATI.Olive branches are being wafted in the direction of Sunnyvale.”One possible reason is that the crystal ball for NVIDIA is not very clear, but many are wondering how they'll survive the merging of the GPU back onto the CPU die, something...
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XBox Live allows users to connect their systems to the Internet and play games online. Apparently some systems have been banned in the recent past due to "hardware modifications" that violate certain agreements. But that hasn't stopped crafty modders from going about their business. In fact, the development of new firmware allows one's XBox 360 to fly under the radar. "A new firmware version has just been released for all 360s with the TS-H943 DVD drive preventing against any Xbox Live detection attempts and allowing the 360 to play all "backup" game copies. This firmware update ultimately prevents Microsoft from "seeing" the modded 360 thus not allowing them to ban the console from Xbox Live."...
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