Monday, July 13, 2009

IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 13/07/2009


TechConnect Magazine
IronKey unveils its most secure flash drive yet
Still going by the motto "better safe than sorry", IronKey has developed the S200, the first and only flash drive to meet the government security requirements of FIPS 140-2, Security Level 3, which means it can prevent intruders from gaining access to Critical Security Parameters (CSPs ) held within its precious cryptographic module. Keeping the module safe is also the tamper-resistant, waterproof rugged metal case, while the data stored is protected with hardware-based AES 256-bit encryption, the built-in anti-malware scanner and the AutoRun lock-down feature.

Coming in 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16GB capacities, the S200 also provides a Read-only mode to prevent infected hosts from compromising the drive, a dual-channel architecture for enhanced transfer speeds, and an Enterprise Management Cloud Service over the Internet for the enforcement of security policies, security and anti-malware updates, and the tracking and auditing of hundreds or thousands of devices.

For more info about the IronKey S200 check out this page.


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Intel loosens up on screen resolution limit for netbooks
Intel, together with Microsoft have set some pretty strict rules for Windows-powered netbooks, dictating everything from the size and resolution of the screen, to the maximum storage capacity and frequency of their CPU. Well, those still apply, with one exception - screen resolution, which can now be of 1366 x 768 pixels, up from 1024 x 600 for 10.x-inch panels.

Manufacturers didn't contemplate on the change much, with Sony already announcing the VAIO W netbook - with a 1366x768 10.1-inch LCD, and HP adding the option of a similar screen for the Mini 110 XP Edition. Sure, it's not much, since the size didn't change but at least now we'll be getting a lot more 'sharper' netbooks.

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Hitachi introduces two new portable hard drives
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has today announced the first SimpleTech-DNA'd products since its $2 billion acquisition of Fabrik - the SimpleTOUGH and SimpleDRIVE Mini portable HDDs. Seen below, the SimpleTOUGH comes in 250, 320 and 500GB capacities, has a USB 2.0 interface, a foldaway USB cable, and a Travelstar hard drive at its core, and features a water- and shock-resistant rubberized shell.

The SimpleDRIVE Mini also boasts USB 2.0 connectivity, has a sleek enclosure, and is ready to turn a few heads with its color options - red wine for the 250GB model, blue dusk for 320GB, and textured black for 500GB.

Both the SimpleTOUGH and SimpleDRIVE Mini drives come 'bundled' with the option to use 2GB of online backup space for free, to store needed files in the cloud(s). The 250, 320 and 500GB SimpleTOUGH/SimpleDRIVE Mini drives are priced at $99.99/$89.99, $119.99/$109.99, and $149.99/$139.99, respectively.

In addition to the portable drives Hitachi has also released the SimpleNET, a small network adapter that allows you to share and access existing USB hard drive content over a home or small business network. This works by simply pluging in a USB hard drive into SimpleNET and hooking up the SimpleNET into an Ethernet network. The SimpleNET adapter costs $79.

SimpleTOUGH


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Gigabyte's GA-P55M-UD4 microATX P55 board detailed
It's no secret that Tier 1 manufacturer Gigabyte is preparing quite a few P55 motherboards but that still doesn't take away the excitement of an early peak at some of those boards. Speaking of peaks, below is a sneaky one of the GA-P55M-UD4, a microATX P55-powered board that Gigabyte is finishing up in order to have it ready for the Lynnfield launch.

Looking a lot better than the GA-HD, the P55M-UD4 features the now classic blue PCB (with 2oz copper), support for LGA 1156 processors, four DDR3 memory slots, and two PCI-Express x16 slots providing SLI and CrossFireX readiness. The upcoming board also boasts one eSATA and seven SATA ports, Gigabit Ethernet, 7.1 channel audio, and FireWire. The GA-P55M-UD4 looks good enough to ship so it will probably start shipping around the end of August or early September.





Pictures courtesy of CPU3D.

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Acer's Android, Windows-loaded netbook said to debut next month
Acer's plans to introduce a netbook booting both the Android OS and Windows XP in Q3 are apparently going smooth with info pointing out that the release of such a machine is set for next month.

The price and specs of the Android-loaded netbook are unknown but we could be talking about a 'regular' 8.9-inch or 10-inch Aspire One that would appeal to those who want to try an alternative OS. The presence of Windows XP ensures that buyers won't return the netbook if they don't like Android, with the downside being that the price of the overall machine will not be lower than that of current offers since the Windows license still has to be included in the cost. Even so, a sub-$400 netbook running Android (and Windows XP) will be an interesting appearance in the market. Not long now.

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Sony readies 32GB Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX card
Still killing us softly with its desire to roll out more Memory Stick storage solutions, Sony has now announced a 32GB Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX card. The upcoming high-capacity card works with Sony's latest Cybershot series cameras, delivers maximum read and write speeds of 20 and 15 MB/s, respectively, and comes bundled with an USB adaptor for quick connectivity with your PC.

Unfortunately, Sony hasn't said anything about when we'll see the 32GB card in stores or how much it will cost.


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Delkin Devices intros new microSD memory card line-up
California-based manufacturer Delkin Devices has today announced a new family of industrial-grade microSD memory cards. Going from 128MB to 2GB, the cards are shock-resistant, have an operation temperature range of -10أ‚آ° to 85أ‚آ° C, a MTBF (mean time before failure) of over 2 million hours and, thanks to the use of SLC NAND memory, they support up to 2 million write/read cycles.

As for speeds, the fresh microSDs can read and write at up to 17 and 16 MB/s, respectively. No word on pricing though.


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Intel Lynnfield launch rumored being set for September 7th
Just like the song says have no fear, cause the Lynnfield processors are coming and according this quarter, and its launch date is reported to be September 7th.

From what has been floating around the Internet's rough seas, it seems that Intel is preparing to introduce three Lynnfield models in September - clocked at 2.66, 2.8 and 2.93 GHz, all of which are made on 45nm, come in an LGA 1156 package, have an integrated dual channel DDR3-1333 memory controller, 8MB of L3 cache and a TDP of 95W (note that the 2.8 and 2.93 GHz processors will feature Hyper-Threading, while the 2.66 GHz CPU will not). It's currently unclear if all the Lynnfield CPUs will bear the Core i5 brand but by the looks of it, the new chips will be priced at $196, $284 and $562 respectively, and that's probably more important.

Also, even before the Lynnfield parts will come into play, sometime in August, Intel is expected to introduce the P55 chipset, and enable manufacturers to release motherboards based on it. Exciting times are rolling in, we just hope the ol' wallet can survive them.

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Adobe rolls out ColdFusion 9 and ColdFusion Builder beta versions
Adobe Systems is kicking off the week in third gear by introducing public beta versions of its upcoming ColdFusion 9 and ColdFusion Builder software. Providing Flash and SharePoint integration, ColdFusion 9 is a set of tools, frameworks, clients and servers for the development of Web applications, content and video that will run on a wide range of devices. The application made with ColdFusion 9 are able to easily access data from existing enterprise infrastructure including Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Office files and portlet standards.

ColdFusion Builder is dev tool that offers a unified, customizable and extensible development environment to code applications, manage servers and deploy projects. It includes tools for debugging applications within the IDE, remote support and custom code generation, a customized development environment and support for applications built with ColdFusion 7 and 8.

"ColdFusion adoption has accelerated since we introduced support for Flex, AJAX and PDF with ColdFusion 8," said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president of the Platform Business Unit at Adobe. "The increased integration with everything from Adobe AIR applications to enterprise-based Adobe LiveCycle ES software enables companies to meet critical business needs quickly, while ColdFusion Builder provides developers with an enhanced workflow between ColdFusion and the Flash Platform for RIA development."

Those interested in trying out ColdFusion 9 and ColdFusion Builder can check out Adobe Labs (free membership required).

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Logitec intros new external DVD writer
Japan's own Logitec Corp. has announced the addition of a fresh optical drive to its line-up, the LDR-PME8U2L Series external DVD drive. Coming in black or red, the new netbook-loving drive measures 136.5 أƒآ— 143 أƒآ— 19.2mm, weights 300 grams, has a USB 2.0/1.1 interface and is bundled with ArcSoft's TotalMedia Backup & Record.

The LDR-PME8U2L drive is backed by a one-year warranty, provides top writing speeds of 8x for DVD-R/+R and DVD+RW, 6x for DVD-RW and DVD-R/+R DL, 5x for DVD-RAM, and 24x for CD-R, CD-RW. As for the price tag, the burner goes for $92.


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