Best computer news

Here’s the picture of the month. This is an Asus P6X58 Premium – first motherboard with dual SuperSpeed USB ports powered by none other than NEC µPD720200 – the first USB 3.0 certified chipset.

The board comes with support for Core i7 CPUs, six DDR3 memory slots, 3 PCI-Express 2.0 slots, plentiful of USB 2.0 jacks and of course two USB 3.0 ports as well as SATA 3.0 interface capable of delivering 6Gbps (USB 3.0 maxes at 4.8Gbps.) The blue connectors are USB 3.0 and the ones in black are USB 2.0. It’s fairly easy to tell them apart. So, the host ports are here now, drivers will likely be supplied by NEC, and what we need are some USB 3.0 gear for real world tests.
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Could this be another small evidence that a shift in purchasing power from USA to the rest of the world is underway? Kingston has decided to introduce its outrageously expensive Data Traveler DT300 256GB flash drive in almost every part of the world except America. Then again, who in the right mind would want to drop $800 for a thumbdrive that can only transfer at a pitiful 20MB/s. If we were to spend this much on storage, a real SSD with dual SATA and USB makes much more sense, not to mention more flexible.

For those who aren’t too good in math, Kingston’s DT300 256GB flash drive is twice the capacity of its DT200 128GB announced last month and eight times the size of the DT150 32GB thumbdrive reviewed last year. In term of cost per gigabyte, however, the DT300 is about $3.1 which is par with a solid state drive of the same capacity. The Kingston 256GB drive definitely has a market, until SuperSpeed USB comes along and more capable flash controller is able to boost transfer rate beyond 200MB/s.
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Japanese firm, KDDI R&D Laboratories Inc is releasing a supercharged version of IrDA. This USB 2.0 IR technology is able to send data via infrared signal at nearly 1Gbps. This is approximately 30 times the speed of IrDA. Having lost much ground to Bluetooth as the wireless flavor of choice IR is still capable of transmitting data significantly faster than Bluetooth 2.0. This new technology would be a quantum leap forward and could revitalize IR communications applications. This might actually put it on par with Certified Wireless USB

In the past IR has lost out on possible integrations due to proprietary device specifications that couldn’t keep up with the USB communications standard. This new chipset has been engineered to specifically adapt to those challenges. The recipient creates a virtual USB extender that keeps the bus happy while data is being transmitted and converted. KDDI hopes that this will enable low power wireless transmission of the large amounts of data that many portable devices are generating. Camcorders, video phones and media players could all benefit from being able to completely drop the wire in favor of wireless transfers. KDDI will be showcasing this at the Wireless Japan conference next week.
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SimpleTech SimpleTough drive for X-treme computing needs. Simpletech-Hitachi has launched a new set of drives aimed at those of us who take our data everywhere. Capable of withstanding a 3 meter drop (~10 feet) the drives should keep on ticking regardless of what you throw at them. Available in 3 sizes at launch, 250GB, 320GB and 500GB just about everyone should find a drive that will suit their rugged needs. I mean who hasn’t thought of mountain biking or skateboarding with a hard drive. About once a month, I’m on my way back from an IT staff meeting and Carl from Accounting wants to do some Muay Thai sparring. No time to put your briefcase down, FIGHT!

Sadly we’ve all seen the not-so-extreme accidents that end business trips and set projects back months. Losing family photos or MP3 collections has probably affected just about everyone reading this. If you aren’t investing something in backup solutions now you’re just asking for Murphy’s Law to come smack you down. The SimpleTough drives are capable of withstanding bad karma up to and including being run over by a truck. To top it off Hitachi is bundling 2GB of free online storage via their Hitachi Ultimate Backup service as well as Local Backup. The drives cost a meager $99 to $139 depending on size and should be available soon. No word yet about a Tony Hawk or Dave Mirra special edition but we can keep dreaming.
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A speaker system with a USB dongle that connects together wirelessly. That’s exactly how Bose SoundLink works. The SoundLink is the company’s first dedicated network audio streaming package for PC (and hopefully for Mac as well). It’s touted as a time saver for consumer joe to set up a hassle-free wireless music system without worrying about Wi-Fi configurations. The PC treats the wireless adapter as any USB audio device so any software media players (e.g. iTunes, WMP, Pandora) are compatible with the Bose SoundLink.

The speaker itself can reportedly operate through walls and floors, and is powered by a Li-ion battery that provides at a minimum three hours of playback at full volume. An auxiliary input is in the back for 3.5mm audio source connection. What we would like to confirm is the wireless radio chosen by Bose in the SoundLink as none of the marketing material gives us any hints. What’s certain is that the $549.95 price tag is going to make everyone jaws drop, in this economy.
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For a portable home theater, an aesthetically pleasing form factor is as important as versatile format support. What we have here is LG’s first mobile multimedia hard drive – XF1. Measuring a 20.8mm in thickness, the XF1 features a gorgeous gloss-black finish with smooth curves, and internally, it has a 500GB and a codec decoder that only reads exclusively FAT32 and NTFS. So, it’s not as Mac-friendly as we would have hoped.

Around the back, you’ll find a HDMI connector, a power plug, a composite AV output, and a mini-USB jack. The drive, unlike the WD TV HD, has on-onboard touch-sensitive buttons for navigation when you forget to bring along a remote. Video and sound codec compatibility are isn’t too shabby, including OGG Vobis and AC3 for audio, but the lack of H.264, WMV and MKV is really a letdown even if the XF1 can playback MPEG-2, DivX and MPEG-4 in HD resolutions, up to 1080i. With choice like LaCie Rugged HD, LG will be fighting an uphill battle if they don’t rectify their mistake.
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Online shopping just got a little bit safer with SmartWipe. In a nutshell, it’s a USB reader that decodes the magnetic strip on your credit card, encrypts the data, and sends it to the online store. What’s secure about this SmartWipe is that it protects card info from ‘phishing’ sites and malware attempting keystroke logging since you no longer have to reveal your credit card in unencrypted state. In practice, when you arrive on the check-out page, press SmartSwipe button in the browser, swipe your card, and the software will automatically fills the info for you.

SmartSwipe isn’t without flaws. For starter, it only works with Internet Explorer 6 or higher, yet there are reports IE7 users running into problems. We also believe SmartSwipe should have fingerprint authentication or password as an added layer of security. Either way, SmartSwipe is something we would drop $89.99 CND for some peace of mind during shopping sprees.
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Samsung HMX-U10 ultra mobile camcorder is kind of late in the game. Granted it has SC-MX20, but that’s not as handheld as we want. The HMX-U10 will now have everything it takes to go head-on with Flip Ultra HD, Kodak Zi6 and Creative Vado HD alike. Let’s see what Samsung brings to the table. The U10′s abilities to record in 1920×1080 H.264 and to capture at 10-megapixel are a leapfrog improvement in comparison to the aforementioned competitors. It is however equipped with a fixed focus 1/2.3″ CMOS lens which will suffice if you don’t intend to capture at low-light conditions and extreme close-ups.

There’s also a YouTube upload software which we take it for granted these days, but the popular file sharing site only accepts 720p source so the demanding video conversion is why we got a quadcore PC. Last but not least, the HMX-U10 camcorder’s Li-ion battery can be recharged via USB or AC, and SDHC cards will provide storage as much as 32GB. The camcorder is expected to hit retail for under $200.
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The market for personal media players is definitely a hot place and the companies keep pulling down each other by offering features that are alien to the other. Take for instance the latest Samsung YP-M1. The unannounced Korean PMP leaked on Bluetooth.org mostly shares the same youthful UCI interface as YP P3 that allows you to customize themes and icons and that includes Widgets to provide quick access and useful info. Touch-sensitive interface and small applets naturally work better on a bigger screen. So, the M1′s 3.3″ touchscreen should be a welcome improvement.

Other details are still sketchy, but what’s certain is that the Samsung M1 has a rounded form-factor and chrome edges, unlike the P3. It also supports a wide array of Bluetooth profiles, from audio/video remote control profile to hands-free profile (using the M1 as a BT headset), object push (wireless file sharing ^_^) and advanced audio distribution profile (stereo steaming). Hopefully, Samsung hasn’t forgotten about long over-due Wi-Fi.
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Designed and assembled in USA, the original S100 IronKey has been highly praised for its physical security with its tamper resistant chassis; the crypochip that provides AES 256-bit encryption in CBC mode; remote and local self-destruct capability; Autorun worm protection; and last but not least, Mac, Linux support. So, what’s more could you ask for? Perhaps gaining another level in FIPS 140-2 validation – a set of criteria the U.S. government came up with to ensure security of digital information on encryption products.

The latest IronKey S200 recently has received what it claims to be the highest level of the FIPS 140-2 ever validated for a USB flash drive. There are others that also achieved Level 2, but the IronKey S200 is the first to reach L3. There are 4 levels in total, with the highest validation for products that operate in physical unprotected environment. As a flash drive, IronKey S200′s dual-channel architecture SLC NAND boosts performance for small file operations, optimizing the drive for virtual machines and bootable mobile desktops alike. If S100 pricing is any indication, the S200 will cost upwards of $200 for 8GB and about $150 for 4GB.
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