Gadgets Future

by Donald Melanson, posted May 12th 2008 at 11:25AMIt’s far from the first SATA-compatible SSD drive, but TDK seems to think its new GBDisk RS1 series drives will be just the ticket for some very particular users (though not likely you or us). Apparently designed specifically for industrial use, the drive uses single level cell NAND flash memory (as opposed to multi-level cell) and a GBDriver RS1 SATA controller, which TDK says will together help it maintain data reliability while standing up to frequent, high-speed data writing. You will have to make do with some fairly small storage capacities even by SSD standards, however, with the drives topping out at 16GB, all of which come in 2.5-inch drive enclosures. No word on prices just yet, but you can look for them to start rolling out this June.

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Filed under: Storage

Remember that innovative Wi-Fi-enabled SD card aptly named the Eye-Fi? Well Eye-Fi, which is what the company is also called, must have been overwhelmed by the success of their product that they decided to add not just one new model, but three to the Eye-Fi SD card series. So, we now have the Eye-Fi Share, Eye-Fi Home and the Eye-Fi Explore.

Actually, there’s not too many differences with these three models. It is still the same Wi-Fi enabled SD card that was launched not so long ago. For instance, both the Eye-Fi Share and Eye-Fi Home are almost identical to the current Eye-Fi models in terms of features. However, Eye-Fi home is geared for users who want to sync their SD card to their PCs only. While the Eye-Fi share lets users to automatically sync their SD card to both their PCs and websites, such as Flickr.

On the other hand, the Eye-Fi Explore is more of a tie-up with Wayport, a major hotspot provider in the US. So, the Eye-Fi Share lets users to automatically upload their photos while connected anywhere there is a Wayport hotspot without the need to authenticate for each location. In addition, the Eye-Fi Share also allows geotagging and supports Skyhook’s Wi-Fi triangulation for GPS purposes.

The Eye-Fi Explore, Eye-Fi Share and the Eye-Fi Home are now available for $129, $99, and $79 respectively.

Via [Ubergizmo] Via [Gizmodo]

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If you think your laptop bag has enough room in it for a gadget that will give you more USB ports than you’ll ever need, then you’ll be glad to set your sights upon Elecom’s newest little number. It’s a small USB hub that offers not three, not five, but a total of seven free USB ports for you to connect your other gadgets simultaneously. It measures only 23×144x23mm, and weighs 66g. Other than an external hard drive, ipod and digicam, I don’t know what else you’d want to plug in it. But if you want to get a feel of its 480Mbps transfer rate, then by all means, feel free.

Via [Akihabara News]

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Apple has agreed to offer refunds to people who bought sparking power bricks for PowerBooks and MacBooks. Apple recalled over half a million adapters back in 2001, and the inevitable class action lawsuit started in 2006.

It looks like the San Jose court’s ruling only applies to replacement adapters, so those of you left with the poorly made, sparking power supplies that shipped with your Macs are out of luck. I’ve had a lot of PowerBooks and MacBooks go through my hands for repairs and the like, and I’d say the majority had sparking adapters, to the extent that I always hook the brick to the wall before putting the DC tip anywhere near the Mac.

The lucky winners can expect between $25 and $79 from Apple. We wouldn’t be surprised, however, if it comes in the form of iTunes vouchers. If so, may we offer a recommendation? (The clue is in the picture).

Apple to provide refunds for power adapters [LA Times]

Cycling has obviously many advantages, especially when you live in a central area where everything is pretty much close by and driving a car will be too much of a hassle. Unfortunately, most bicycles aren’t too easy to carry around if you’re planning to be more adventurous from getting from point A to point B. The SwissBike XO is one mode of transportation that will change your mind - this full size mountain bike with 26″ wheels can be folded into a 36″ x 28″ x 12″ size in less than half a minute through a quick-release system that doesn’t even need a toolbox handy. All that is made possible thanks to the company’s Foldable Integrated Technology System and CLIX Wheel Retention System. SwissBikes aren’t cheap though, retailing from $679 all the way up to the high end $2,250 XO model.