Storage
Gold nanoparticles turn light into electrical current
Turning sunlight into electrical power is all but a new problem, but recent advancements made by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have given a new twist to the subject. While not currently aimed at solar panel technology, their research has uncovered a way to turn optical radiation into electrical current that could lead to self-powering molecular circuits and efficient data storage. Read More
Seagate touts Savvio 10K.4 HDD as world’s highest capacity, most reliable 2.5-inch drive
Flash-based Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) may have stolen most of the spotlight in recent years when it comes to data storage, but the traditional HDD still has some life left in its platters. For proof of this look no further than Seagate’s new Savvio 10K.4 enterprise hard drive. Seagate bills the new drive as the world’s highest-capacity, most reliable small form factor enterprise drive with its 600GB capacity and two million hour mean time before failure (MTBF) in a 2.5-inch drive. Read More
Canon has turned up the heat in the "somewhere between entry level and professional photographer" market with the announcement of its new addition to the EOS family, the Rebel T2i. As well as a new 18 megapixel sensor, the feature and function heavy T2i also includes improved ISO control and better metering, the facility to shoot full HD movies, a brighter 3:2 aspect LCD display and support for SDXC cards. Read More
zoomIt gives access to SD card content on an iPhone
The zoomIt is an SD card reader for an iPhone or iPod Touch that, in conjunction with the zoomIt app, lets users access all iPhone OS 3.0 file types contained on an SD card including photos, music, video and miscellaneous files such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word and PDF files. It also lets users copy files stored on the iPhone or iPod Touch to an SD card without needing to connect to a camera, Mac or PC. Read More
Future cars: Auto bodywork composite doubles as a battery
The problem is clear. Hybrid cars and EVs rely on batteries for power, but batteries are bulky and heavy, causing the car to use up more energy. But what if a car's bodywork was made of a strong, lightweight material that could store and discharge electrical energy just as a conventional battery does? In pursuing this goal, researchers at the Imperial College London are developing a key building block for the hybrid car of the future, and the implications go way beyond automobiles - think wafer thin mobile phones and laptops that don't need a separate battery because they draw power from their casing. Read More
Trexa has revealed details of a lithium-powered, all-wheel vehicle development platform that will enable engineers and developers to create custom "vehicle apps", doing for builders of electric vehicles what the iPhone did for application developers. Modular and scalable, the standard Trexa platform will feature an aluminum, carbon steel tubing and thermoplastic shell containing open source and user programmable electronics and advanced battery technology. Read More
Aleratec has released its new portable hard disk drive duplicator, the HDD Copy Cruiser Mini. Designed for the budget-conscious consumer, the Copy Cruiser Mini offers 1-to-1 copying of 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA I and II hard disk drives. Aleratec says the device is aimed at consumers who want copy their HDDs for backup or when they move to a new computer, but who don’t need the bulk and high price of an industrial model. The Copy Cruiser Mini can also be used for external storage or data backup by connecting it to a computer using its USB port. Read More
Most Gizmag readers should be aware of the importance of backing up data, and this is probably because at one time or another countless hours of work have been lost due to hard drive failure or any other of a number of disaster scenarios. Taking the hassle out of backing up would therefore seem a good idea, and Clickfree is back at this year’s CES with some follow-ups to its 2009 Transformer. Read More
Iomega's new iConnect Wireless Data Station is like a Pogoplug on steroids. Just plug in up to four of your existing USB storage devices, and connect it to your (wired or wireless) network, and you've got a web-accessible, Time Machine-compatible, UPnP-streaming, torrent-downloading and print-serving Network-attached storage (NAS) device - and it's only US$100. Read More
LaCie has unveiled the CooKey and WhizKey, two new USB keys inspired by the award-winning iamaKey, both featuring the water- and scratch-resistant gold SIP connectors of their inspiration. The USB keys are available in sizes from 4GB to 32GB, and all include 4GB of online storage with LaCie's Wuala service. Read More
