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- IRL: iPhoneTrip, PDP Afterglow headset and Western Digital's My Net Wi-Fi Range Extender
- Sony quietly gets PlayStation 3 certification in China, we hope for a few more Dynasty Warriors players
- Inhabitat's Week in Green: Tetris pumpkin, giant cardboard ghetto blaster and the world's largest offshore wind farm
- Evernote 5 for iOS coming soon: new UI, revised places view, same inability to forget (video)
- MAG II Gun Controller reports for FPS duty on PS3 and PC from Nov 20th
- Microsoft posts Build 2012 session videos for eager Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 coders
- Baidu buys control of streaming video portal iQiyi, raises stakes in China's media wars
- Ask Engadget: what's the best way to arrange a protected AirPlay setup?
- Mobile Miscellany: week of October 29th, 2012
- Bell gearing up for November 15th HTC 8X release
- Microsoft explains the origins of Windows Phone 8's home and lock screens
- Alt-week 11.03.12: zombie animals, martian methane and self healing buildings
- A*STAR unveils 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, touts affordability and improved energy efficiency
| IRL: iPhoneTrip, PDP Afterglow headset and Western Digital's My Net Wi-Fi Range Extender Posted: 04 Nov 2012 08:00 AM PST Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.  It's a mixed bag this week, with Zach trying out the SIM rental iPhoneTrip, Jason adding a budget gaming headset to his collection and Darren finding success with a Western Digital WiFi range extender. Turns out, it's thumbs up all around. Click through to see what we liked. iPhoneTrip Have you ever crossed a border without swapping out your SIM? It's a rookie mistake or, for the deep-pocked, a convenient solution. Tracking down a local data plan can be time-consuming and sometimes even impossible, leaving travelers to surf the web using a foreign SIM card, at agronomical rates. Want to load a webpage or tweet a picture? That'll be 50 bucks, please. Sure, roaming is an option, but it's far from the best. There is a way to get the best of both worlds, though.A new service called iPhoneTrip brings the convenience of roaming with tolerable pricing tiers. Packages start at $8 (100MB of data in a single country) and range all the way up to $17 per day (unlimited data in more than 200 countries), with a few options in between. There are discounts on offers for longer trips as well. Those daily rates net you a standard or micro-SIM that you can use in any unlocked device -- despite the company name, compatibility goes far beyond iPhones. If you opt for the World package, you can hop from country to country without skipping a beat -- your handset will switch to a new network as soon as you cross a border, or you can manually select from any of the available carriers, just as if you were roaming with a SIM from AT&T. I used a free trial of iPhoneTrip's service during my trip to IFA in Berlin and IBC in Amsterdam. The included SIM was programmed for unlimited use, so I often used it for laptop tethering, and even to share data with other smartphones over WiFi. It worked flawlessly -- I was even able to hop onto AT&T before and after the trip, and an unscheduled stop in Belgium didn't trip up the SIM, even though it wasn't one of the two countries I listed. The service I tried would have run $17 per day -- compared to about $40 monthly for a local SIM with plenty of data in Germany and Holland. For short trips, it's definitely a cost-effective solution, but if you're planning to be in one country for a week or longer, buying a prepaid SIM once you arrive is likely the better bet. Still, considering what you'd spend for regular roaming service, it's a bargain. iPhoneTrip has surely earned a spot as my default global data service -- when I can afford it. -- Zach Honig PDP Afterglow Universal Wireless Headset Sometimes, people confuse value with cheapness. Eschewing a trip to a steakhouse to cook up a romantic dinner for your date? Based on my personal experience, that's good value. Bringing your date to Burger King on Valentine's Day? I think most of us can agree that's cheap. This brings me to the Afterglow Universal Wireless Headset by Performance Designed Products. As someone with $200-plus gaming headsets by Astro Gaming and Turtle Beach, the Afterglow's $90 price tag seemed relatively affordable. To be honest, though, I wasn't really expecting much. Then I put it on: this thing sounds way better than its price tag would suggest.Featuring 50mm drivers and a honking set of earpieces, the Afterglow delivers crisp sound across all ranges with some clean bass. The sound quality extends to video game systems when using the Afterglow as a wireless headset. Despite lacking Dolby support, its Immersive Audio mode still does a decent job of conveying surround sound. It also has Pure Audio and Bass Boost modes to help round out your audio choices. To connect to a console, the Afterglow uses a USB transmitter dongle and a pair of red-and-white RCA cables. Digital purists might be dismayed by the decision to use an analog connection, which PDP says is necessary to lower costs. On the plus side, you can use the headset and mic functions on the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and even a computer. The wireless range also proved to be farther than my other headsets, though you start getting degradation on your mic's signal if you walk too far away even while your game audio still sounds fine. Battery life is more than 10 hours. As far as fit goes, the Afterglow uses a strap-based mechanism that's quite snug. Admittedly, it might be too tight for folks with large noggins. Its plastic band is also pretty sturdy and can withstand abuse, but is laughably large. In fact, I think the Afterglow's design might be alienating for some -- and by that I mean it can make you look like an alien from an old B-movie. Folks who don't like its light effects can simply turn them off. There isn't much you can do about its imposing size, though, which limits its use as music headphones when you're out and about. Despite its faults, the Afterglow arguably provides the best bang for your buck among gaming headsets. If you're looking for a sub-$100 headset that works with all major consoles, then the Afterglow is worth a look. -- Jason Hidalgo Western Digital My Net Wi-Fi Range Extender For those holed up in studio apartments, the notion of needing a range extender is a silly one. For Rich Kids of Instagram, however, covering a mansion in internet waves is quite the challenge. In all seriousness, even smaller homes with thick walls -- not to mention complex office buildings -- frequently need a boost when it comes to distributing WiFi. The only router I've found with genuinely impressive range is Netgear's N900; the rest could use a little help when it comes to blanketing two-story adobes.That's where WD's My Net Wi-Fi Range Extender comes in. The unit itself looks pretty much exactly like a router -- it's got your typical "black box networking equipment" kind of vibe. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to hide, and setup is shockingly simple. I tested the unit in a home with a conventional Westell DSL modem-and-router combo. It's a pretty cheap box with no WPS support to speak of. All I did was plug the Range Extender in some 100 feet away, and the Dashboard process walked me through everything. I connected the extender to the router, punched in its WPA password, and then reconnected to the router's SSID. Once the setup is complete, you'll never know it's there... save for all that extra range you'll enjoy. In my testing, it added another 150-some-odd feet of range, and that's through two walls and up a flight of stairs. Oddly, WD hasn't published an expected range boost, but I'm guessing that's because each home / office will see varying results based on the layout. Even with only the first set of boost LEDs lit (out of three), I was able to take that relatively weak signal and enjoy the same download rates as I could being right next to the aforesaid Westell router -- despite being two rooms away. For $80 or so, it's a fairly reasonably priced way to boost your signal without forcing devices to latch onto a new access point, and the inbuilt Ethernet port means that you can use it to install an original Slingbox in places you couldn't before. Nifty! -- Darren Murph |
| Posted: 04 Nov 2012 06:12 AM PST
Ever since 2000, game consoles have effectively (if not very assertively) been banned in China. There's already been signs of a warming attitude with official plans for the Nintendo 3DS XL coming this December, but Sony may have slipped out hints of a fuller thaw without anyone noticing until now. A Sina Weibo user just discovered that the 160GB and 320GB versions of the previous-generation PlayStation 3, the CECH-3012, passed through China Compulsory Certificate approval in July -- an odd move when the console couldn't actually go on sale in an official capacity in current conditions. Certification is still far from a guarantee that Sony will actually sell the PS3 in the country, most of all when it's a slightly outdated model of a console line that's edging ever nearer to a replacement. The government certainly hasn't commented on what the regulatory clearance means. If it ultimately leads to more gamers in Chengdu or Shanghai, however, we're all for it. |
| Posted: 04 Nov 2012 06:00 AM PST Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Hurricane Sandy dominated the news cycle this week as the storm surge flooded large swaths of New Jersey and New York, knocking down trees, crippling the New York subway system and leaving thousands of people in the dark after a ConEd station in lower Manhattan exploded. The storm caused an estimated $10 billion worth of damage in Manhattan and Brooklyn alone, and it caused lasting environmental contamination when 336,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled between Staten Island and New Jersey. And it reminded us of the potential dangers of nuclear power when the storm forced three nuclear reactors offline and New Jersey's Oyster Creek power plant was placed on alert. |
| Evernote 5 for iOS coming soon: new UI, revised places view, same inability to forget (video) Posted: 04 Nov 2012 04:36 AM PST
Evernote? More like ever tease. Just this week it was tempting badly organized Mac owners with a beta release of Evernote 5, now the team is back to dangle its 5th version for iOS in front of our noses. The theme here is speed, with the new design putting everything just two taps away -- along with quick note buttons right on the home screen. The places view also gets a lick of paint, to help you better pin down those moments of inspiration (or panicked remembering). Other tweaks include a new "recent notes" bar, and -- generously -- easier access to premium features. Ironically, the creators forgot to give us a release date, leaving us only with "coming very soon" for reassurance. While you wait, however, why not watch the preview video after the break for solace.
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| MAG II Gun Controller reports for FPS duty on PS3 and PC from Nov 20th Posted: 04 Nov 2012 02:03 AM PST
Last time we saw a MAG gun controller, it was being splayed all over the FCC. But, that was some time ago; gamers with a gun habit will be twitching those trigger fingers for something new. One option? How about the MAG II? Initially seeing the light of day back at E3, the PS3- and PC-compatible controller has three sensitivity settings, along with motion sensing and gyroscopic induction-based motion tracking. Makers, All Interactive Entertainment, also say that future updates will enable new functions and game play modes. Pre-orders are open now, at a cost of around $150, with the full release set for November 20th. Aim and fire at the PR below if you want more info. MAG II Gun Controller – Your Mission starts November 20th on the PlayStation®3 entertainment system and PC. Sydney, Australia – 1 November, 2012 – All Interactive Entertainment (AIE) announced today the MAG II Gun Controller will be available in stores from November 20th. Fully compatible with the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC, the MAG II is the immersive and realistic new way to play First-Person-Shooter (FPS) games. The MAG II is instantly compatible with ALL shooting games on PS3™ and PC. This is not a light gun; this is a compact, ergonomic, ultra responsive, precision FPS controller. Designed and built with both casual and serious FPS gaming in mind, the MAG II features 3 pre-programmed sensitivity options and is the only gun controller to incorporate Motion Sensing and Gyroscopic Induction movement tracking. The MAG II Gun Controller is supported by a team of engineers who are dedicated to enhancing the FPS experience. Future downloadable updates (via PC) will be available to unlock new functions and gameplay modes accessible via the MAG II Gun Controllers' Function Dial. The MAG II will be available in Australia for RRP $149.95. Pre-orders open now. Support website www.magcontroller.com Further Features of the MAG II Gun Controller - Compatible with ALL First-Person-Shooter games |
| Microsoft posts Build 2012 session videos for eager Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 coders Posted: 04 Nov 2012 12:39 AM PDT
Not every developer had the luxury of putting a flight to Redmond on the corporate tab so that they could attend Microsoft's Build 2012 conference in person. Much to their delight, they won't have to. The company has posted streaming video for every session addressing Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and beyond, ranging from the two keynotes through to nuts-and-bolts framework talks. Be warned: most programmers will want to know Visual Studio and similar tools like the back of their hand before tackling some of these sessions. If they emerge unscathed, though, they'll be well-equipped to live in Microsoft's Windows Store world. |
| Baidu buys control of streaming video portal iQiyi, raises stakes in China's media wars Posted: 03 Nov 2012 10:43 PM PDT
The merger of China's video giants Youku and Tudou this August must have struck a nerve over at Baidu: the search engine just bought out equity firm Providence's controlling stake in iQiyi, an already large video service built solely around streaming professional movies and TV shows. Should the deal wrap up as planned in the fall, Baidu plans to keep its new partner as a separate badge but weave its content throughout mobile sites and search results. The company is unsurprisingly taking a Google-like strategy to make sure it isn't left on the sidelines as searchers go elsewhere for video. Pragmatism aside, its deal could represent more for China as a whole -- when hundreds of millions of people are exposed to commercially-oriented video as a matter of course, it could tip the balance in a way that we didn't see with YouTube rentals. Baidu Announces Acquisition of Providence Equity Partners' Stake in iQiyi BEIJING, Nov. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), the leading Chinese language Internet search provider, today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement with Providence Equity Partners ("Providence") pursuant to which Baidu will purchase shares of iQiyi.com ("iQiyi") held by Providence for an undisclosed amount. Upon completion, Baidu will have a substantial majority stake in iQiyi. iQiyi, launched in April 2010 and known as "Qiyi" until November 2011, is the first online video platform in China to focus exclusively on fully licensed, high-definition and professionally-produced content. In August 2012, iQiyi was ranked as the number one online video platform in China in terms of average time spent per user and number two in terms of total monthly time spent, according to iResearch, a China-based research firm. "Online video is a key strategic vertical for Baidu as user numbers and time-spend continue to increase exponentially, underscoring the tremendous potential in the sector," said Robin Li, chairman and CEO of Baidu. "We are very pleased with the progress iQiyi has made and have confidence that iQiyi's management will continue to grow its leading position. Going forward, we see users spending more and more time on online video and we will integrate iQiyi's content more seamlessly into Baidu's overall search and mobile services." Mr. Li added, "I want to extend my appreciation to the Providence team for their contribution to and support of iQiyi over the last two-and-a-half years." Dr. Yu Gong, founder and CEO of iQiyi, added, "iQiyi has established a great business foundation and strong brand recognition and we look forward to leveraging our relationship with Baidu to further drive superior user and advertising customer experience." |
| Ask Engadget: what's the best way to arrange a protected AirPlay setup? Posted: 03 Nov 2012 07:57 PM PDT
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, then here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from Wes, who needs to ensure that Delta Tau Chi don't start interfering with his band practice sessions. If you're looking to ask one of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.
Wes, we'll help you on one condition: the next time you're directing a half-time show, the band has to stand in the shape of the Engadget logo. Deal? Good.
Of course, this wouldn't be Ask Engadget without some audience participation, so, dear audience, participate! Share your knowledge, tell us tales and spread some love this weekend -- but only if said love is related to the world of AirPlay passwords. |
| Mobile Miscellany: week of October 29th, 2012 Posted: 03 Nov 2012 06:55 PM PDT
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This past week, Cricket added a compact smartphone to its lineup, new press images landed for Verizon's next QWERTY-enabled handset and Canadian carriers grabbed a rugged smartphone from Samsung. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of October 29th, 2012. HTC Desire C comes to Cricket for $180 The Desire C has been lurking around parts of Europe and Canada for a while, but Cricket's subscribers can now get in on the action, as the pint-sized smartphone is selling for $180. Budget-minded folks will find the slab combines Android 4.0 with a humble 600MHz CPU and a diminutive 3.5-inch HVGA display. The Desire C also combines a 5-megapixel rear camera that records video at 720p, along with a microSD slot for expansion and support for Cricket's Muve Music service. [Cricket PR] Press images leak for Samsung Stratosphere II at Verizon It's been a while since we've seen any mention of the Samsung Stratosphere II for Verizon Wireless, but the recent leak of its press images suggest that the QWERTY smartphone is still in the carrier's pipeline. We last knew that the Stratosphere II would combine a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, support for the carrier's LTE network and a possibility of global roaming. Unfortunately, that's where the story ends until we learn additional details. [@evleaks (Twitter)] Samsung Galaxy Rugby LTE arrives at Bell and Telus Canadian carriers Bell and Telus added a new rugged smartphone to their rosters this week in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Rugby LTE. Like the Galaxy Rugby Pro at AT&T, the Android 4.0 handset sports a dual-core 1.5GHz CPU, along with a 4-inch WVGA display, a 5-megapixel rear camera that shoots 720p video and a 1.3MP front-facing cam. The phone also features NFC capabilities, and as a slight differentiation, Bell has enabled the push-to-talk capabilities for its handset. Telus customers can expect to pay $49 on a three-year term or $460 outright, whereas Bell subscribers must cough up $80 with a three-year agreement or $450 to snag it without contract. [MobileSyrup 1, 2] CyanogenMod adds root-enabled file manager in latest nightlies CyanogenMod developers caused a bit of a stir with the announcement that the custom ROM would ship by default with root capabilities disabled, but as the team has proven, it's more than capable of providing a nice blend of security and functionality. In the latest nightly builds of CyanogenMod 10, users will find a new file manager that offers a choice of three access modes: safe, prompt user and root. Those who'd prefer not riding along the bleeding edge should be able to snag the revision as part of the team's latest milestone build, which is currently scheduled for November 11th. [Android Police] |
| Bell gearing up for November 15th HTC 8X release Posted: 03 Nov 2012 05:39 PM PDT
Windows Phone fans in the Great White North shouldn't have to wait long to get their hands on HTC's latest piece of kit -- a internal Bell document obtained by MobileSyrup pegs the 8X for a November 15th launch. The reported Canadian launch date trails T-Mobile's availability by a mere day, noting that pre-ordered devices could ship out as early as November 9th. Not too surprising, considering the phone just skipped through the FCC with support for the entire north American continent. No word on pricing, but the page's listed specs nicely match the brightly colored 4.3-inch, 1.5GHz dual-core slab we reviewed. Not a Bell customer? Don't worry -- MobileSyrup is hearing murmurs that the same date applies to Rogers, as well. |
| Microsoft explains the origins of Windows Phone 8's home and lock screens Posted: 03 Nov 2012 03:29 PM PDT
We've delved into just what we think of Windows Phone 8's interface, but not what led Microsoft to the final layout. The company isn't content to let us wonder -- a pair of new company blog posts explain some (though not all) of what was involved in that birthing process. Ignore the marketing spin and you'll learn that the wider, more densely packed home screen was chosen as much for balance as to stuff in more home tiles, and that it caused a momentary crisis for the app list as a result. The Redmond team goes on to justify choices behind the lock screen, such as why notifications are as customizable as they are, why the music controls fade and why there's a failsafe for PIN attempts. Don't expect to come out of the explanations suddenly craving a Lumia 920; just expect to make more sense of the OS inside. |
| Alt-week 11.03.12: zombie animals, martian methane and self healing buildings Posted: 03 Nov 2012 02:00 PM PDT Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. After a week where large numbers of people found themselves at the mercy of mother nature, many will be reminded just how vulnerable we really can be at times. That said, science still provides us with a pretty big stick to whack many other problems with. After the break we look at how crumbling buildings could soon be self-healing, why some UK-based scientists think they are one step closer to answering the "is light made of waves or particles" quandary, and NASA reveals its latest results in the hunt for martian methane. Oh, and there's some zombie animals too. This is alt-week. Zombies. One of the mainstays of horror movies, but largely just a creation of the overactive imagination, right? Right? Wrong. In fact, zombie-like behaviour isn't unheard of in the natural world, it just has less of the brain eating, and limping marches toward locked-down shopping malls. Scientific American whipped up a short video that looks at real life zombies in nature. Mainly these revolve around parasitic creatures manipulating their host for their own survival, such as the mutant fungus that infects ants, leads them to fertile ground, before killing them from the inside and sprouting roots to infect others. Nasty. Worst of all? Turns out we humans might not be immune either, with up to 22 percent of Americans potentially infected by the protozoa Toxoplasma gondii. A parasite that is potentially causes people to be more sociable and less cautious. If that's the case, zombies are more common than we first thought, and can be found in bars across the land most evenings, with a prevalence on weekends.
Quantum physics, the merest utterance of the words is often enough to conjure up images of blackboards chalked with squiggly equations, and scientists rolling out the gag about how if you understand it, then you don't understand it. One of the better known corners of this puzzling area of science is the Double-slit, or Young's experiment -- a demonstration that matter can display properties of both waves and particles. Up until now, however, experiments have only ever shown the matter as one or the other, never both states simultaneously. Some new research from a team at Bristol University, UK, has resulted in new measurement apparatus that spotted matter in both states at the same time. The team observed strong "nonlocality" (another tricky concept of quantum mechanics), which Dr Alberto Peruzzo -- Research Fellow at the Centre for Quantum Photonics -- claims "represents a strong refutation of models in which the photon is either a wave or a particle." The process uses a quantum photonic chip, something developed by the Bristolian team themselves. While this experiment might go some way to answering the question of whether light is wave- or particle-based (or, it seems, potentially both), it could also benefit quantum computing in general. It might sound like the start to a terrible joke, but what happens when a microbiologist and a concrete technologist get together? The answer is a special mix of the popular building material, that might be able to "heal" itself. The idea is the result of a collaboration between the two aforementioned professionals at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands. Spores of a special bacteria that produce limestone are added into the concrete mix, along with the nutrients they need to feed on. The clever part being what's missing: water. Without this, the spores remain dormant. When concrete cracks, it's the penetration of water that causes a lot of the damage. With this new material, however, H2O is like the egg in a cake mix. The addition of which brings the bacteria to life, causing them to create limestone, thus healing, or at least extending the service life of the building. Under lab conditions, cracks as wide as 0.5mm have been successfully healed. The material has been under development for some time, but now is just about to undergo outdoor testing under different conditions, before hopefully being commercialized in the next few years. Normally, when there's an outbreak of methane, you'll find people moving swiftly away from it. Not if you're one of the Curiosity rover scientists. The presence of the gas is considered a good potential indicator to the existence of life (the vast majority on Earth coming from biological sources). One of Curiosity's tasks is to search for methane using a laser spectrometer to analyse the air, and look for the relevant chemical signatures, the outcome of which has been hotly anticipated. Unfortunately, so far, the results aren't promising, with Christopher Webster of NASA apparently reporting -- with a level of 95 percent confidence -- that levels of the gas are somewhere between zero and five parts per billion. Despite this, the quest will go on with NASA assuring that, even though nothing conclusive has been found at this time, that could still change. Until stronger indications of the gas show up though, we're not holding our breath. Seen any other far-out articles that you'd like considered for Alt-week? Working on a project or research that's too cool to keep to yourself? Drop us a line at alt [at] engadget [dot] com. [Image credit: Wikipedia, NASA, Delft Technical University] |
| A*STAR unveils 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, touts affordability and improved energy efficiency Posted: 03 Nov 2012 12:27 PM PDT
Move over, Western Digital. A*STAR's Data Storage Institute (DSI) has developed its own 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, and it's packing a 1TB HDD and a 32GB SSD within its 2.5-inch confines. Aptly dubbed A-Drive, the firm's razor-thin hardware relies on a new proprietary motor and 30 additional design patents to lower power consumption and achieve its diminutive form factor. The outfit envisions the drive being put to work in tablets, where it could stretch battery life by up to 30 percent, and in ultrabooks or business-centric storage solutions. To top things off, A*STAR says its hybrid drive will be cheaper than SSDs currently used in ultrabooks, and Yahoo! News reports the device could ring up at roughly $73. Can't wait to have the hardware in a machine of your own? Hold your horses, vaquero. According to DSI Executive Director Pantelis Alexopoulos, it might take six to eight months to kick off production after they strike a deal with a manufacturing partner, which hasn't happened quite yet. [Image Credit: Yahoo! photo/ Deborah Choo] A*STAR's Data Storage Institute Launches Next Generation 5mm Hybrid Hard Disk Drive SINGAPORE, 1 November 2012: The "A-Drive", one of the world's thinnest 5mm hybrid hard drive in a 2.5'' form factor, was officially launched by Mr. S. Iswaran, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade & Industry, to commemorate the Data Storage Institute's (DSI) 20 years of R&D in the area of data storage capabilities. The "A-Drive" represents the next generation of storage innovation providing capacities of up to 1 TB Hard Disk Drive (HDD) with 32 GB Solid State Drive (SSD). This potentially allows the "A-Drive" to store over 250,000 songs in its 5mm body. The "A-Drive" also addresses limitations of the popular, yet expensive, flash-based SSD, as well as the conventional HDD for the consumer and business industry. DSI's "A-Drive" is set to change the consumer and enterprise landscape, targeted specifically for tablets, ultrabooks, and future data centres. With its slim form factor, the "A-Drive" could fit into tablet devices, greatly expanding its storage space while extending battery life by up to 30%. The "A-Drive" will be a cheaper alternative to the SSDs currently used in ultrabooks, offering the same instant-on capability but with larger storage capacity. In addition, the "A-Drive" can be extended for enterprise storage applications, reducing power consumption by up to 50%, resulting in greener and more efficient data centres with better optimisation of the already limited rack space. "Today, our year-long vision of creating a 5mm thin hybrid hard drive in 2.5'' form factor with increased storage capacity and reduced power consumption at a lower cost for manufacturers has become a reality," said Dr. Pantelis Alexopoulos, Executive Director of DSI. "We have managed to fit an amazing amount of innovation and advanced technology into a thinner, cheaper, and faster design, and we think the consumer and enterprise impact will be significant." One of the main challenges in reducing the thickness of current 7mm hard disk drives by almost 30% without compromising on its performance and stability is its spindle motor design. To achieve a reduction in size, DSI researchers developed a proprietary axial field motor which runs smoother, quieter, more efficiently, lowering power consumption by up to 70% yet at a fraction of the cost of SSDs. The motor's design has been patented, along with 30 other unique designs for the "A-Drive". In addition, DSI has collaborated with multinational corporations and local companies, such as Seiko Instruments, Miyoshi, and Unisteel, to develop key components for the "A-Drive". "Our capabilities today have been the result of two decades of collaboration with industry partners around the world. This has enabled DSI to develop groundbreaking solutions like the 'A-Drive'. We look forward to future partnerships as we continue our drive towards new innovations that will shape the data storage landscape," said Dr. Alexopoulos. |
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