Transcend Information, Inc., a worldwide leader in storage and multimedia products, today proudly announced the release of its exciting new Wi-Fi SD memory card that instantly adds wireless capability to an SDHC-compatible digital camera. With the Wi-Fi SD card and the exclusive Wi-Fi SD App, users can take advantage of the high resolution of their digital camera and the versatility of their smartphone or tablet to easily share beautifully shot photos to the world as soon as they are taken.

Perfect for Any Occasion

The Wi-Fi SD card operates in two modes: Direct Share or Internet Mode. Ideal for use on outdoor photo shoots and vacations, Direct Share Mode is automatically activated as soon as the camera is powered on, allowing peer-to-peer connections between camera and mobile device in any location. Thanks to the convenient Wi-Fi SD App, users can quickly switch to Internet Mode, which allows the Wi-Fi SD card to connect to a nearby Internet hotspot or even use the personal hotspot feature of smartphones and tablets. When connected via Internet Mode, users can browse and download photos from the Wi-Fi SD card and instantly email to friends or upload to their social network profile.

Elecom Japan announced three new portable multi-format memory card readers that take advantage of the USB 3.0 SuperSpeed interface, the MR3-C002, MR3-C003, and MR3-C004 (pictured below in that order). Built in a cabled form-factor, the MR3-C002 supports as many as 54 kinds of media across the CF, SD, mini-SD, micro-SD, MS, M2, and MS Pro Duo form-factors. The MR3-C003 is built in a capped form-factor, resembling USB flash drives, it supports 49 kinds of media in the SD, mini-SD, micro-SD, MS, MS Pro Duo, M2 form-factors. The MR3-C004 is the cheapest of the lot, also built in the capped form-factor, supporting 32 kinds of media in the SD, mini-SD, and micro-SD form-factors.

The three are available in black, graphite, red, and silver color options. The MR3-C002 measures 69 x 43.5 x 15 mm (WxDxH), weighing 42 g; the MR3-C003 82 x 21.5 x 14 mm, weighing 24 g; and MR3-C004 67.5 x 21.5 x 14 mm, weighing 18 g. The MR3-C002, MR3-C003, and MR3-C004 are priced at 4,095¥ ($51), 3,675¥ ($46.5), and 2,900¥ ($36.5), respectively. They are slated for November 2.

Samsung Electronics America Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today announced an expanded line of advanced SD and microSD cards with the introduction of a new Pro Series line featuring cards with capacities up to 64 GB and transfer speeds up to 80 MB per second.

Available now, the new cards are currently on display at PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo at the Javits Convention Center in New York City. These new memory cards offer added performance benefits for photographers looking to capture high-quality images, or for mobile users looking to expand the storage capacity and life of their smartphone or tablet device.

Green House today announced a new family of MLC-based SD memory cards, the GH-SDI-WMA. Going from 2 GB to 32 GB in terms of capacity, the cards deliver read and write speeds of up to 20 MB/s and 16 MB/s, respectively, they can operate at -25 to +85 degrees Celsius, and include technologies that prevent data loss.

The GH-SDI-WMA cards are backed by a three-year warranty.

Eye-Fi Inc., makers of the world's first wireless memory card, has announced today a new Eye-Fi Pro X2 16GB, Class 10 card that increases both storage and speed capabilities while continuing to deliver convenient, reliable wireless upload of photos and videos from cameras. The new 16GB card provides twice the storage capacity of the prior Pro X2 card, while the Class 10 performance delivers ultra-fast read and write speeds. That means more power and speed for the same retail price of $99.99. And, the new Pro X2, like Eye-Fi's other X2 series cards, enables you to wirelessly connect a camera to a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet, or use an authorized WiFi network to move content directly to a computer.

"Cameras have more megapixels, and pictures and videos are more demanding in terms of size. Moving to a 16GB, Class 10 card keeps up with these trends and delivers what our customers have been asking for," said Yuval Koren, CEO and co-founder of Eye-Fi. "Customers already know and love our Eye-Fi cards for instant wireless uploads, so the added space and faster speeds are a great addition, especially with the highest-volume photo days coming up."

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of computing, consumer electronics and communications solutions, today announced its innovative new Smart Display, aimed at changing the way people think about computing. The 22" (21.5" Vis.) VSD220 Smart Display pairs a 1920x1080 full-HD resolution monitor with the dual-core, ARM-based OMAP 4 processor from Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) and an Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" operating system, resulting in a whole new way to experience the web.

"The VSD220 Smart Display is engineered for today's cloud connected world," said Jeff Volpe, president of ViewSonic Americas. "ViewSonic is embracing the post-PC transition with what will be a full range of connected display solutions. For consumers, the VSD220 is perfect for surfing the web, engaging on social networks and enjoying a world of Android apps. For commercial opportunities, the VSD220 serves as a flexible solution that can address the needs of Android compatible vertical market applications such as signage, hospitality, point of information, and kiosk. Whatever the need, our new Smart Displays are the future of connected computing."

Green House Japan announced a unique multi-format card reader that supports tablets, smartphones and PCs, which is compatible with the Android operating system. The GH-CRAD-SUAK from Green House is a lightweight device with a micro-USB 2.0 connector on one end, which plugs into the latest Android tablets and smartphones with the connector, or to a PC with a micro-to-standard USB cable. On its business end, the card reader sports a standard SDIO slot, a micro-SD slot, a micro-USB port (so you don't end up losing the only such port of your device), and a full-size USB port. Measuring 61.2 x 10.6 x 19.7 mm (WxDxH), the GH-CRAD-SUAK is feather-light, at 9.5 g. Slated for late-September, it is expected to be priced at 2,480 JPY (US $31.7).

HP today announced four new consumer all-in-one (AiO) PCs, including two additions to the HP ENVY line that feature the latest touch-technology innovation in a small footprint, one-cord solution.

"The clean look of an all-in-one PC and the ease of one-cord set-up are key reasons customers turn to HP," said James Mouton, senior vice president and general manager, Personal Computer Global Business Unit, HP. "The Spectre design is art as well as a powerful entertainment hub. Across our rich line of all-in-ones, we continue to drive value and differentiation that have earned us sales of more than 5 million all-in-ones."

Sharkoon is expanding their portfolio of USB3.0 devices: New products now available are an internal card reader, an external card reader and an external 4-Port USB3.0 hub for a SuperSpeed interface.

The Sharkoon Internal USB3.0 Card Reader can be mounted in either a 3.5 inch bay or with the illuminated adapter frame in a 5.25 inch bay to the PC case. To connect the external USB3.0 mainboard a 100 cm long USB3.0 cable with matching compatible bracket is attached. The unit supports SD (HC), SDXC, MMC, MS and CF, the most common card formats. In particular: SDXC (capacity up to 2 TB), SD(HC), microSD(HC), mini SD; CompactFlash: v4.1 with PIO mode 6 and Ultra-DMA mode 6, v5.0 with LBA48 (capacity up to 144 PB); MultiMediaCard (MMC): MMC specification v3.x, v4.0, v4.1 and v4.2, Databus x1, x4 and x8 Bit; Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick Micro, Memory Stick PRO-HG and Memory Stick XC (capacity up to 32 GB), the card reader is compatible with the "Memory Stick Series" specifications MS v1.43, MS PRO v1.05, MS Micro v1.04 (MS HG Micro v1.00), MS PRO-HG Duo 1.03, MS XC Duo v1.00, MS XC-HG Duo v1.00, MS XC Micro v1.00 and MS XC-HG Micro v1.00.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced that Fujitsu has selected the SanDisk iSSD integrated storage device for use in the new Fujitsu LIFEBOOK lineup of Ultrabook computers.

The 32 gigabyte (GB) SanDisk iSSD provides fast, reliable storage in the Fujitsu LIFEBOOK U772, UH772 and UH572 models, which Fujitsu introduced today. SanDisk iSSD technology is combined with Condusiv Technologies ExpressCache software in the new Fujitsu LIFEBOOK computers to deliver improved system performance. This software and hardware combination reduces system startup and application loading times to deliver a better overall user experience.

Green House Japan unveiled a new line of industrial SDHC cards that are designed to endure operating temperatures as high as 70°C, and as low as 0°C, which makes them fit to serve as removable storage media in IPCs and outdoor static cameras. The cards further pack ECC logic to prevent data corruption. The cards make use of SLC NAND flash, and come in capacities of 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, and 8 GB. The 256 and 512 MB models provide transfer rates as high as 19 MB/s reads with 7 MB/s writes, while the other models provide speeds as high as 20 MB/s reads with 13 MB/s writes. Green House left pricing to the open markets.

Lexar introduced a new variant of its Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader, which it launched back in May, 2011. The new variant supports faster UDMA7 mode for the CompactFlash bay, which allows users to take advantage of the company's recently-launched Professional 1000X Series CompactFlash cards. The new transfer mode, combined with the new CF cards, churns out transfer rates as high as 167 MB/s. In addition, the reader's SDXC/SDHC/SD card slot supports SD UHS-I with maximum transfer rate of 104 MB/s. To make sure there is zero interface bottleneck with the host PC, the reader takes advantage of the 5 Gb/s USB 3.0 SuperSpeed interface. Measuring 69.9 x 63.5 x 25.4 mm, the reader weighs about 69 g. Its pricing is not disclosed, yet.

Buffalo Japan introduced the RMSD-C6SA series of Class6 microSDHC cards. Pictured below, the cards are available in capacities of 4 GB (RMSD-4GC6SA), 8 GB (RMSD-8GC6SA), 16 GB (16GC6SA RMSD), and 32 GB (RMSD-32GC6SA). As Class6 devices, transfer rates of at least 6 MB/s are guaranteed. The packages include adapters that convert these cards into standard-size SDHC cards. Compatibility with devices such as the Nintendo Wii, 3DS, DSi, and DSii, is guaranteed. The 4, 8, 16, and 32 GB variants are priced at 2,880 JPY (US $34.6), 3,880 JPY (US $46.7), 8,880 JPY (US $107), and 17,880 JPY (US $215), respectively.

Crucial, a leading global brand of memory and storage upgrades, today announced the immediate availability of the Crucial Adrenaline Solid State Cache Solution for enhancing Windows 7-based PC performance. A simple upgrade that allows users to keep their existing hard drive, Crucial Adrenaline enables PCs to boot up to twice as fast and increases data access speeds by up to eight times. Crucial Adrenaline provides users with the best of both worlds: SSD-like performance with the high capacity of a traditional hard drive, all at an affordable cost.

Comprising a 50 GB Crucial m4 SSD, 3.5" adapter bracket, SATA cable, and NVELO Dataplex caching software, Crucial Adrenaline improves performance by intelligently placing, or "caching," the most frequently needed files on the SSD and leaves less frequently used files on the hard drive. Crucial Adrenaline is available now through select global channel partners, or directly at www.crucial.com/ssc, with an MSRP of $117.99.

Buffalo Japan announced two new lines of memory card readers that take advantage of the USB 3.0 SuperSpeed interface, the BSCR09U3 series, and the BSCRD04U3. The BSCR09U3 has a typical desktop form-factor, it measures 85 x 13 x 49 mm (WxDxH), weighing about 35 g. It supports a variety of media formats, including SD/SDHC/SDXC (standard, mini, and micro), MS-Duo, M2, CompactFlash, and XD Picture Card, with zero interface bottlenecks.

The BSCRD04U3, on the other hand, resembles the shape of a flat highlighter pen. It measures 33 x 15 x 69 mm, weighing 17 g. Once uncapped, it can be plugged directly to a USB 3.0 port, or extended via a cable. This reader only supports SD/SDHC/SDXC (standard, mini, and micro). Both card readers are available in black and white options. Slated for April, the BSCR09U3 is priced at 3,402 JPY (US $41.8), while the BSCRD04U3 goes for 2,826 JPY (US $34.7).

Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, announced today that it is now shipping a new line of advanced SD and microSD cards that are ideal for digital imaging and mobile devices. The seven new models of SD and microSD cards are now available as part of either the High Speed Series or the Plus Extreme Speed Series, both of which deliver up to 24 MB/sec read speeds on cards with a capacity of 4 GB or higher.

We have previously reported on the super cheap ARM-based Raspberry Pi hobby computer that's been under development from the Raspberry Pi foundation. However, it's now going into production and is generating a lot of interest, so gamesindustry.biz interviewed its founder, Eben Upton, about it (free registration required).

The computer's primary purpose is as a computer science teaching aid in schools and colleges and also for home brew use by enthusiasts who want to tinker with it and make specialized solutions out of it. However, it seems that enthusiasts will have a nice surprise in that the onboard GPU is surprisingly good. The actual ARM implementation is a Broadcom BCM2835 System on Chip (SoC) containing an ARM 11 CPU and a custom graphics core, which has been designed by the Raspberry Pi team, including Upton. In the interview, Upton claimed that it can double iPhone 4S performance and handily beats NVIDIA's Tegra solution, because of its tile mode architecture.

At CES 2012, Sony announced it is expanding its line of SD cards with a new flagship series designed for ultra-high speed interface (UHS-I) compatibility, giving DSLR users superb speed and high performance. The new cards are available in capacities of 32 GB (SF-32UX), 16 GB (SF-16UX) and 8 GB (SF-8UX).

The new cards offer significantly higher transfer speeds up to 94 MB/s (read) and 45 MB/s (write, for SF-8UX, write speed is 22 MB/s), ideal for the burst shooting and HD video modes of today's DSLR cameras and HD camcorders (based on Sony tests and dependent on host hardware). They can also realize rapid data rates when transferring content - even large, high-resolution HD files - back to their PCs. And when used with non-UHS-I supported hardware, the new Sony cards will still maintain Class 10 speed.

A new SD memory card standard can transform millions of everyday consumer electronics into wireless LAN devices with portable storage and communications. The Wireless LAN SD standard announced today is the SD Association's first wireless SD memory card standard combining storage and wireless capabilities. Consumers will be able to transfer pictures, videos and other content wirelessly from most existing digital cameras and digital video cameras to web-based cloud services and between SD devices over home networks.

The Wireless LAN SD standard combines the world-leading memory card storage standard with the ubiquitous wireless standard IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n, part of the Association's strategy to expand SD services and features by incorporating other global standards. This standard is applicable to full size SD/SDHC/SDXC and microSD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards. It taps into a billions-strong SD standards market for which manufacturers can develop products and consumers can reliably use Wireless LAN applications.

Cavium, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM), a leading provider of semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing for networking, communications, and digital home applications, today announced a technology and marketing collaboration with Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) to offer Intel(R) WiDi-based products designed to enable superior wireless display consumer experience. The resulting end-to-end solution will combine Intel(R) WiDi's ease-of-use and innovation with Cavium's super low latency technology and advanced video processing techniques to further enhance Intel(R) WiDi's interactivity and broaden its target applications. As a part of the marketing collaboration, Intel and Cavium will work together to expand and grow the market for wireless display products. A range of OEMs will soon be offering Intel(R) WiDi compatible receivers with Cavium's PureVu(TM) media SoC. Live demonstrations of Cavium's new Intel(R) WiDi receivers are available at Cavium's suite at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, between Jan 10th and 13th.

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a worldwide leader in storage and multimedia products, today announced the launch of its new Copy Protection SD/microSD Memory Cards. By recording data in a CDROM style partition, Copy Protection SD/microSD cards ensure the safety of valuable intellectual property against unauthorized copy, modification, and deletion.

VR-Zone have been having a little chat with Intel 'sources', who have leaked some juicy tidbits for us to enjoy in the form performance and power news. The upcoming next generation Medfield platform is Intel's first true System on a Chip (SoC) and is designed to compete with various low power ARM offerings in the tablet space. To help achieve this, they've gone through an internal restructure, merging four business units into just one: Ultra-Mobility, Mobile Wireless, Mobile Communications and Netbook & Tablet PC. The business unit is now simply known as Mobile and Communications. It's being run by Mike Bell and Hermann Eul and the first product to emerge from it will be is the 32 nm Medfield SoC solution.

VR-Zone explained that the competition will be "Apple's A-Series, NVIDIA Tegra, Qualcomm Snapdragon, Samsung Exynos, Texas Instruments OMAP and the likes. Out of all the chips mentioned above, only Samsung's Exynos is currently manufactured in 32nm process, just like Medfield."

Way back in 2008, we reported that Seagate was lowering warranties of its hard disk drives from 5 years to 3. This trend quickly spread throughout the HDD industry and unsurprisingly, wasn't something that customers were too happy about. Now, Western Digital is lowering the warranty on some of its HDD lines from 3 years to a mere 2, with the affected lines being the Caviar Blue, Caviar Green and Scorpio Blue. Lines not affected are the Caviar Black, Scorpio Black, A/V drives and externals. Also, as the stock feeds through the channel, there will be a transition period where the same model in a store will have either a 2 or 3 year warranty, depending on its serial number, which can be checked on WD's support site. It will be interesting to see if retailers will clearly differentiate to customers which drives have which warranty, as it might be rather convenient for them not to.

Channel partners have received a letter from SelectWD about this:

Racetrack memory, is a new type of magnetic memory that has magnetic domains "racing" along tiny nanometer sized wires, giving performance similar to conventional DRAM. Invented by IBM Fellow, Stuart Parkin, it has been in development since about 2004, with a working prototype having now been unveiled containing 256 "racetrack" cells, each containing a single wire. The technology works by sending very fast electric pulses down these wires, measured in nanoseconds, which transmit very fast moving magnetic domains which are then read by a magnetic head either as a one or a zero, depending on their direction. IBM said in a statement: "This breakthrough could lead to a new type of data-centric computing that allows massive amounts of stored information to be accessed in less than a billionth of a second."

Thermal Solutions specialist GELID Solutions reveals the GX-7 CPU cooler of its GAMER product line. Engineers at GELID Solutions have created an outstanding new CPU cooler with 7 power heat pipes. Contrary to traditional heat pipe arrangement for this GAMER CPU cooler "GX-7", a special array of heat pipes was used to take full advantage of all 7 heat pipes heat transfer capacity. Further V-shaped aluminum fins were used in the center of the heat sink to allow airflow to reach the heat sink more evenly. Openings inside of the heat sink and near the heat pipes let fresh-air flows in from the top and the bottom to zones normally poorly ventilated, and eliminate the creation of hotspots. The unique heat sink shape supports dual fans.

Included in the GX-7 is the multi-award winning Wing 12 PL fan, allowing the cooler to reach remarkable temperature. The Wing 12 PL Blue features blue LEDs and unique Nanoflux bearing which ensures a friction-free and silent operation. Thanks to the clever design and magnetic bearing, the impeller can be detached for easy cleaning. Additionally, fan blade winglets were designed to achieve larger airflow and greater static pressure. The fan also includes a premium PWM control, so the temperature can be controlled precisely by the BIOS.