I-O Data released its newest lineup of portable hard-drives under the HDPS-U series. The drives come in capacities of 160 GB, 250 GB, 320 GB and 500 GB in black and white shells. Connectivity includes USB 2.0 for transfer speeds of 43 MB/s, 39 MB/s (read/write).

The shell encloses a 2.5 inch hard drive which is protected from mechanical damage by a reinforced frame with rubberised corner grips. The unit weighs around 170g. The company will be shipping these drives by mid-December in Japan, with price tags of roughly US $110, $121, $166 and $221 depending on the capacities in the above order.

Scythe has manufactured yet another front panel, called Kama Panel, that may suit well to your case and needs. The Kama Panel takes one 3.5-inch and offers a card reader that supports all current flash formats, 2-channel fan controller and the possibility to relocate one SATA / USB port and the rear audio connection (Headphones, Microphone) to the front panel. Already shipping, the Kama Panel 3.5" comes in black color and has a recommended price tag of $27 or 21 Euro.

WiQuest Communications Inc. today went bankrupt, and thus unofficially announced that the work on the Wireless USB standard will stop permanently. The Allen, Texas, company employed about 120 people focused on the wireless USB protocol. WiQuest was shipping a two-chip wireless USB solution adopted as an optional add-on to notebooks from Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba as well as consumer devices such as hubs from Belkin, D-Link and others. According to the source of this story, WiQuest couldn't resolve the technical difficulties in bringing the wireless technology to the market. The whole wireless USB solution requires two chips instead of a single one to work, also the first generation wireless USB devices offered very limited transfer speeds. Another problem that was present during all the time were the power requirements set by the OEM adopters. After the little success of the first generation wireless USB standard, WiQuest was sampling a single chip device announced back in August, but this one won't make it to production now.

We've been looking for a variety of alternatives for awhile now including new investors and acquisitions, but none looked like positive alternatives to our investors so we decided to shut the doors today,

said Todd A. Brown, vice president of worldwide sales at the company.

Without any official release from Western Digital, a new product of theirs has emerged on Best Buy called the WD TV HD Media Player. It is a very small device not much bigger than the remote it comes with, but what is unique about this gadget is that it allows you to plug in a USB flash drive or USB hard disk drive (HDD), and play full 1080p high definition videos, pictures and music, on to your TV. It supports two USB2.0 devices simultaneously, measuring only 1.6x4.9x3.9 inches and weighing a mere 10.7 oz, it could be the answer for many people instead of having HTPC's or trailing cables from their main PC's. The RRP of the device appears to be $129.99, however it is currently on sale at Best Buy for $99.99.

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today launched a new family of high performance, feature rich Luxio USB drives in capacities up to 64GB.

A 64GB Luxio drive can store as many as 20,000 six megapixel photos or 16,000 MP3 songs. Luxio drives are housed in a sleek 21 x 76 x 10 mm UV coated ABS/PC case with chrome plated zinc trim. All models include advanced AES-256 hardware encryption as a standard feature for fast, convenient data security. Offered in three colors, black, silver and wood grain, Luxio drives are packaged in an elegant gift box and also include a custom made black leather carrying case.

Catering to consumers on-the-go with the world's most popular portable storage offerings, WD today introduced its new 500 GB capacity My Passport Portable USB Drives which are designed to make it easy to store a half a terabyte of music, videos or photos and carry them in the palm of your hand. Available now at WD's online store, the new 500 GB capacity is offered on the My Passport Elite and My Passport Essential portable drive models.

Reports suggest that Zotac is working on - and seems to have prepared - an external overclock controller for graphics hardware. The device is named Zotac NITRO Hardware OC Controller. It connects externally to a PC and provides the user with a quick display on the card(s)' important measurements such as the various clock speeds and the fan's speed along with temperatures on a LED composite display. The user can control it with three buttons The device sits on a desk stand. It connects to your PC using what looks like a USB connection and installed software manage its controls over the graphics hardware installed in the PC.

It aims to give users control over the graphics hardware even when say playing a game or benchmarking the hardware on the fly. As a standalone device this device could be priced at € 89 in Europe and US $99 in the USA and could be out by end of October.

Creative on Friday announced the introduction of Sound Blaster X-Fi Go!, a USB 2.0 flash device with 1GB of built-in memory that also serves the role of a fully functional sound blaster. Sporting a sleek and distinctive black finish, the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! is incredibly lightweight (less than 20g) and compact. It is compatible with USB 2.0 computer devices and features many of the sound enhancements found in other X-Fi sound cards, like X-Fi Crystalizer that restores details lost during compression of MP3 music or movie files and X-Fi CMSS-3D that expands the stereo signal into virtual surround over 5.1 speakers or headphones. The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! also supports Creative EAX Advanced HD 4.0 which provides a better and more realistic gaming experience for users. The 1GB onboard memory is there to store the essential software for instant simple installation on any notebook or desktop PC without the need of a CD, you just plug in the X-Fi Go! and enjoy it. The included software has drivers for both Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista as well as some bonus software that includes Creative Karaoke Player, Creative Mediasource 5/Organizer and Creative WaveStudio. The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! will be available in Singapore at the end of August 2008 at a suggested retail price of $79.00.

USB 2.0 has been around for quite some time now, it's already become a serious bottleneck with storage devices where its "up to" 480 Mbps speed limits transfer-rate significantly compared to what today's devices demand. External-SATA had proven to eradicate that bottleneck by providing speeds for external storage devices on par with internal fixed drives. A newer standard of the USB is in the works, this newer interface on paper promises 10-times the amount of bandwidth USB 2.0 did, that's 4.8 Gbps, more than three times over that of e-SATA, 1.5 times over e-SATA II.

At the ongoing Intel Developer Forum (IDF) event, prototype USB 3.0 boards and cables were shown transferring at 307+ MB/s. The USB 3.0 coalition proclaims this is fast enough to transfer a 27 GB HD in just 60 to 70 seconds. This interface is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 (HiSpeed) and USB 1.1 (FullSpeed), and will be referred to as SuperSpeed. A representative from Ellisys said current flash memory and hard drive storage capacities are outstripping USB 2.0 transfer speeds.

NEC Electronics today expanded its suite of Wireless USB devices with the introduction of the µPD720171 Wireless USB host controller. Building on the company's first host controller (part number µPD720170), the new µPD720171 controller for PCI Express bus interfaces, enables high-speed, wireless data transmission between PCs that have MiniCard or Half-Minicard expansion cards and PC peripheral devices such as wireless hubs, printers, external storage equipment and digital cameras. The new host controller also provides laptop computer connectivity through an ExpressCard slot. Providing greater throughput and higher performance than previous host devices, the µPD720171 controller enables consumers to enjoy wireless lifestyles while maintaining wired USB functionality and ease of use.

Intel Corporation today announced the availability of the Extensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI) draft specification revision 0.9 in support of the USB 3.0 architecture, also known as SuperSpeed USB. The xHCI draft specification provides a standardized method for USB 3.0 host controllers to communicate with the USB 3.0 software stack.


Interoperability among devices from multiple manufacturers is important for consumer adoption of SuperSpeed USB products. The Intel xHCI draft specification revision 0.9 supports compatibility among various implementations of USB devices and will make it easier to develop software support for the industry.

Toshiba Europe Storage Device Division, the world leader in high performance hard disk drive (HDD) technology, today launched three new external and fully portable HDDs that meet the performance requirements of today's technology-savvy and style-conscious consumers.

The colourful new high-quality external devices are Toshiba-built throughout and further extend the company's pioneering design pedigree in HDDs. Highly ergonomic, sleek and ruggedised to withstand the demands of being constantly in transit, the products feature a 2.5 inch drive and fit into the palm of the hand. They are ideal for users with large volumes of video, picture and audio files that want to use that data wherever they are, whether that be with friends and family, when entertaining or for professional uses. Compatible with both PCs and Macs, they are ideal for anyone needing to store and carry information and entertainment files.

That's right, a new 22" widescreen monitor by AOC, the 2230Fm is a PC monitor. It supports DVI-D and D-Sub VGA and HDMI inputs and sports a native resolution of 1680 x 1050 px. Stylish looks aside it adds a nifty feature that makes it a media-center in itself, the feature is called HD3.

Says AOC: "HD3 defines a new category in high definition displays with its built-in media player, allowing consumers, for the first time, to view movies without the use of an external DVD player or PC. With the 2230Fm, simply load a film onto a memory device, plug it into the display and use AOC's proprietary, user-friendly menu and remote control to enjoy a movie PC-free. AOC's first HD3 Display is the 2230Fm, a combination of multi-functional high-definition video capabilities and stylish, 360° design that provides a stunning array of features all developed to cater to the digital needs of today's consumers."

Simply put, the monitor has a 4-in-1 digital media reader and has three USB 2.0 ports. You can connect a USB flash-drive. You do have flash-drives with really high capacities these days capable of carrying Hi-resolution videos, also that in some European countries a new video-download facility has come up where you download movies onto a flash drive in public shacks a-la ATMs. Apart from videos, this device can view images up to 8000 x 8000 px, and play audio files from its integrated stereo speakers. It remains to be seen if the USB 2.0 hub could connect to external hard drives or external optical drives. That would make it a full-on media center. It lacks a TV-tuner though. The embedded media software looks pretty intutive, The 2230Fm supports MPEG-1, 2, and 4 video formats. the supported audio format are too numerous to list, but they include MP3, WMA, WAVE, OGG-Vorbis, FLAC, and M4A. Supported photo formats include JPG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, and GIF images with resolutions up to 8000x8000 pixels.

The monitor has a 2ms response time making it ideal for gaming consoles and gaming PCs, it has a respectable 20,000:1 contrast ratio. It is priced at a US $399 and will be available next month onwards. Talk about convenience.

Avalon Technology Group (ATG), specialists in biometric data protection, announced the ATG 8GB USB Biometric 256 AES Speedster. This USB flash-drive features two close to fool-proof levels of data security. First, it's the fingerprint sensor that allows access only to one person with the right print. Second, the data is encrypted using 256-bit AES encryption algorithm, something which even government security agencies find hard to crack.

The drive offers impressive 34 MB/s read and 20 MB/s write speeds with hi-speed USB 2.0. The metal casing provides water-proofing to its components, the drive slides open. It is priced at US $79.00 and offers 8 GB of space.

Gigabyte announced that a new low-priced tablet PC, the M912V. This ultra-portable and affordable tablet PC has a 8.9" frame has a screen that swivels 180 degrees. It has a screen resolution of 1280 x 768 px. The LCD is backlit to enhance battery life. At the heart of this is a 1.60 GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of DDR2 memory, a 160GB SATA HDD, 802.11b/g wireless, Bluetooth, and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. Connectivity includes 3 USB 2.0 ports, 56k modem, NIC, an ExpressCard slot, and an internal expansion slot for HSDPA.

With so much packed, the M912V tipps the scales at only 2.86 lbs. Gigabyte's new netbook will be available for purchase later this month with a price tag of $699.

MCE Technologies released MCE Drive, which allows Mac users to read, write and print labels on optical discs.

The drive can read and write up to dual-layer Blu-ray discs at 2X speeds for BD-RE, 4X for BD-R. It can read BD-R at 6X and BD-RE at 2X speeds. The drive can read HD-DVD at 6X speeds. All DVD and CD reading and writing formats are supported. The drive comes with Toast 9 Titanium as an option for $100 extra.

This drive comes in two major variants, the external drive which connects using Firewire or USB 2.0 for use by all Mac users, or the internal drive version for Mac Pro and Power Mac users. The external drive sells for US $750, and the internal drive for $500.

As of today, AMD is close to over a year and a half behind Intel with the implementation of the DDR3 system memory standard, and it doesn't look like we are going to see a DDR3 AMD platform only until late this year or early next year. Chilian website CHW.net published slides of the roadmaps for AMD chipsets in the months to come, also published are slides refering to the details of the next generation southbridge by AMD, even though the latest entry, the SB700 is only teething and only the latest motherboards with 7-Series chipsets feature this.

Contrary to our previous article here, Intel today informed that it will make the USB 3.0 specification freely available for anyone during the second half of this year. The specification will be made available under a contract that doesn't require royalty payments.

USB 3.0 is not an Intel specification; it is being developed by the USB 3.0 Promoter Group (HP, Intel, MSFT, NEC, NXP, and TI). The USB 3.0 Promoters issued a call for contributors in November 2007 and since then the USB 3.0 Promoter Group has been joined by over 180 USB 3.0 Contributor companies (Including other chipset makers such as AMD and Nvidia) who are helping to finalize the USB 3.0 specification. This spec is expected to be made publicly available by the USB 3.0 Promoter Group along with an adopter agreement early in the second half of 2008. (Very soon)

, posted today Nick Knupffer in the official Technology@Intel blog.

NVIDIA Corporation today announced that the Enthusiast System Architecture (ESA) communications protocol has now officially been adopted by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), paving the way for widespread industry adoption. As a result, the ESA protocol, which details the way PC peripherals can communicate with each other, will now be added into the next revision of the USB human interface device (HID)-class definition. Continued development and refinement on the ESA specification standard will now be controlled by a USB-IF sub-committee, made of up voting members from the USB-IF.

Intel has announced the formation of the USB 3.0 promoters group, a consortium that aims to create a "super speed personal USB interconnect."

The first members of the promoter group (HP, Intel, Microsoft, NEC Corporation, NXP Semiconductors and Texas Instruments) said that USB 3.0 will deliver more than ten times the data transfer bandwidth of USB 2.0, which tops out at 480 Mb/s. The new interface will be designed to be used in consumer electronics and mobile applications and able to deal with digital media file sizes that are likely to exceed 25 GB.

Intel stated that USB 3.0 will be based on current USB technology and ports and cabling will be backwards compatible; however version 3.0 will offer enhancements for better protocol efficiency and lower power consumption. The development group will also integrate an upgrade path to optical capabilities for USB. A completed USB 3.0 specification is expected to be released in the first half of 2008.