Hitachi to Build 5TB Hard Drive

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, PC / Laptop, Storage,

Hitachi is planning to release a 5TB 3.5-inch hard drive within the next two years. They will accomplish this with Current-Perpendicular-to-Plane Giant Magnetoresistance (CPP-GMR) magnetic read heads. The company’s Dr. Yoshihiro Shiroishi says that two of them will “provide the same storage capacity as the human brain.”

The way we figure it, if we only use one of them, we would still have plenty of space left. We know we lost a few cells back there somewhere in the last decade or so.

Read More | Register Hardware

Olympus LS-10 Linear PCM Recorder

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Music, Portable Audio / Video,

Let the bootlegging begin. Olympus has released the LS-10 Recorder, which they claim is like having a portable recording studio with results that are “better than CD quality.” Features include an LCD panel with level meter and peak indicator, built-in stereo mics, 2GB of storage space, and an SD card slot. Once you record, editing is possible with CUBASE LE4 software with 48 soundtracks and an assortment of effects. Compatible with either PC or Mac, the LS-10 can be had for ~$532.00.

Read More | Olympus via Switched On Set

MyGlobalTalk $50,000 Gear Live Beta Giveaway

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Smartphones, Hot Deals, Software,

EDIT: Wow. Those went quick. We just talked with the guys at MyGlobalTalk, and we will have 1,000 more to give away tomorrow. How do you like that? Stay tuned!

If you are into chatting on your cell phone, beta testing different services, and getting free stuff, then you are going to like this one. MyGlobalTalk has just given us $50,000 worth of calling services on their new VoIP application for Windows Mobile phones to give away to Gear Live readers. We are giving that away to 1,000 readers, in $50 increments. That’s good for over 2,000 minutes of international talk time. There are just three prerequisites:

• You have a Windows Mobile smartphone/Pocket PC.
• Your Windows Mobile Operating System is 5.0 or 6.0. For Windows Mobile 5.0 click here to download the .NET Compact Framework update.
• Give MyGlobalTalk your honest feedback on the application. They know it’s not perfect yet but with your help, they can improve.

Now just head over to the MyGlobalTalk Gear Live signup page, download the app, and you are up and running. Once you get logged in, you will find $50 waiting for you in your account. Not too shabby, right? The best thing about the service is that you don’t need to be within range of a WiFi signal or hotspot to use it.

Read More | MyGlobalTalk Gear Live beta

NEOSSat Tracks Asteroids and Satellites

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Misc. Tech, Transportation,

Canadian scientists have been hard at work building the planet’s first space telescope that will detect both satellites and asteroids with continuous tracking. The NEOSSat (Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite) cost $12 million to build, is only 15cm and weighs 65kg. It will be launched off other spacecraft and should improve surveillance of space objects as well as evil doers checking us out by satellite. Look for the the NEOSSat, which is funded by the Defence Research Development Canada (DRDC) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA,) to take off in 2010.

Read More | NEOSSat

water buoy Saves Gadgets in Water

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Transportation,

There you are, tooling around in your kayak and you drop your keys. Aren’t you lucky that you have your own water buoy? When the gadget hits water it inflates its enclosed balloon and your keys return to the surface. There is also an LED light that blinks for up to 24 hours for night time losses. Because the water buoy can hold up to 1kg, your can attach other necessities that tend to slip out of your pockets. Get your own for € 30,00 (~$47.00.)

Read More | b 100 it (Italian)

Greenhouse Buta Pig Earphones

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Music, Portable Audio / Video,

We wish that GreenHouse had photographed these earbuds with a head so we could have seen just how ludicrous they look when in actual use. The Buta Earphones go in one ear and out the other and were designed to cut out extraneous noise. They have an impedance of 16 ohms, a playback frequency of 20Hz-20KHz, weigh only 17 grams, and have a 0.9m cable. Available in small, medium, and large, and in colors of pink, white, and black, you can pick up a pair for $35.99.

Read More | Audio Cubes

Chinavision Super Thin MP4 Player

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Movies, Music, Portable Audio / Video, USB,

Claiming to be the thinnest MP4 player on the planet, Chinavasion’s device is only 4.5mm wide and holds 4GB of internal flash memory. It also features button control, a mic recorder, and FM tuner. Fluent in almost 20 languages, it is USB 2.0 and 1.1 compatible, has a 1.8-inch (160x280 resolution) screen, and a bit rate of 32 to 320Kbps. Compatible with Windows and Mac, it supports MP4s, MP3s, WMAs, ASFs, and WAVs. The MP4 Player comes with a USB cord and earphones at a price of $39.38.

Read More | Chinavision

MD iChime Doorbell

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smart Home, Misc. Tech, Music,

No more dull “ding-dong” with the iChime. Microsystems Development has come up with a doorbell that comes with 50 pre-recorded songs, spooky sounds, animal noises, tv and movie themes, and traditional chimes. In addition, the “play anything” device has a built-in mic so that you can record your own tunes or sound effects. The unit sells for about $90.00 and the company claims that the iChime is simple to install. Auxiliary speakers are also an option.

Read More | iChime

Canadian Apple Stores won’t be selling iPhone 3G!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds, Portable Audio / Video,

So, remember that story we posted yesterday about Canada’s Rogers Wireless ripping off iPhone 3G customers? Well, apparently, that wasn’t the end of that story. Since yesterday, we have found out that Apple has decided to reroute some of the iPhone 3G units that were meant for Canada, and they are instead sending them to Europe. Now, just a few minutes ago, the news broke that Apple Stores up in Canada will not be carrying the iPhone 3G as planned. This decision is obviously a direct response to the ridiculous prices ($60 per month for 150 minutes of talk time) that Rogers Wireless has decided to place on the iPhone 3G plans. This is getting juicy!

Read More | AppleInsider

Data Robotics releases second gen Drobo

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, PC / Laptop, Storage,

Yesterday, we would have said that Drobo is the best external storage solution out there, but today’s news cements that statement. The folks at Data Robotics have just announced the second generation Drobo, and this one is a doozy. The new Drobo is faster inside and out, and we are impressed. First and foremost, Drobo now features two FireWire 800 ports, while maintaining the USB 2.0 connection of the original Drobo. The two ports mean you can daisy chain these bad boys together. The core processor has also been upgraded, so Drobo feels snappier to boot. They’ve also done some firmware tweaking, so now heavy load won’t start bogging down Drobo’s software. What does all this mean? The new Drobo is more than twice as fast as the original at reading data, and almost twice as fast as writing data as well.

In terms of pricing, the good news is that there is no price increase. The second generation Drobo can be purchased on its own for $499 USD. If you want a couple of 1TB drives thrown in, then the bundle will run you $899. If you want to go all out and bundle in 4 1TB drives, then that will cost you $1,299. That’s the best deal on the market quite frankly, as Data Robotics just buys their drives direct from drive manufacturers and doesn’t mark up pricing when bundling them with Drobo units. With the new speeds, Drobo is starting to look like a location for primary storage rather than just secondary. We like where this is heading.

The second-gen Drobo is compatible with the DroboShare NAS add-on, and if you are upgrading from the older model, you can simply pull the drives right out of those and drop them into the new model, and you will be up and running immediately. If you prefer to keep the older version, and just want to chain it to the newer model, you can do that too.