Sharkoon Quickport Uses USB 3.0 for SATA Dock Station Boost
One of the most obvious avenues for USB 3.0 speed to make our lives a bit better is as an external hard drive access. Sharkoon, of Germany, is releasing an immediately useful SATA hard drive station with USB 3.0 connectivity. The Sharkoon SATA Quickport USB 3.0 is an upright drive station that should make cloning, migration and forensic drive analysis much faster. USB 2.0 drive stations are incredibly popular in those functions today and a 10-fold increase in speed will be welcome to all their devotees. This simple drive station allows for drives to be quickly inserted and removed quickly. Both 2.5 and 3.5 inch drives are supported and quickly locked into place.
Unlike the mighty all-in-one station, Sharkoon's Quickport is simple and to the point with only 2 LED indicators and a single eject button. Sharkoon only ships with a AC adapter but they probably should include some sort of seat-belt, not for the drives, but just for the break-neck speed we are greedily awaiting. The SATA Quickport should be available next week for about $73.
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Displaylink USB Video Engine on HP USB Thin Clients
Thin client appliance has always been on the roadmap for Displaylink, notable for its USB video invention. Today, Displaylink makes a joint announcement with MS and HP to roll out its virtual graphics for Windows Multipoint Server 2010 and HP MultiSeat Thin Clients. Essentially, they all work together to make thin clients more appealing to cash-strapped schools, which are already struggling with a problem of replacing aging PCs.
MS Multipoint Server 2010 allows any PCs to become a server which is connected to a small group (max. 10) of HP MultiSeat Thin Clients via USB 2.0. Each appliance can have its own keyboard, mouse, monitor and audio. Oddly, the only peripheral connections on the appliance are PS/2, which is effective in preventing hacking by rogue students using USB drives. The package also includes TeachNow for easy system admin and SchoolCloud for tracking students' usage and managing their apps as well as data (e.g. homework). HP MultiSeat is expected to become available in early 2010. There's no word yet on pricing.
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Creative Live! Cam Socialize HD Webcam
Not to be outdone by Microsoft, Creative launches its own HD USB webcam. The true high-def Live! Cam Socialize is able to stream 1280x720 video at 30fps. That is, of course, HD video streaming to your computer, but not necessarily to the other party in a video chat session due to possible bandwidth constraint.
Together with out of the box cross-platform support (being USB Video class-compliant device) and avatar / voice morphing software bundle, the Live! Cam sounds quite impressive and fun until we found out that its mono microphone, fixed focus lens and cheap plastic build are a let down. MS' LifeCam Cinema, in contrast, comes equipped with noise-canceling stereo mic, auto focus glass lens and an aluminum body for enhanced protection while traveling. Best of all, the Cinema goes for much less than the Creative USB webcam.
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Imation Wireless USB Drive is Back! Now Bigger & Faster
Imation - one of the believers in Certified Wireless USB - is giving UWB-based standard another shot with the Pro WX wireless hard drive. The Pro WX was meant to be released a year ago, but after losing its OEM WiQuest, Imation has put the product on hold, and went on with other projects, such as WUSB Project Link. It wasn't until recently Staccato - one of a handful of survivors in the industry shakeup of last year - that offered to resurrect the WUSB drive. The external drive houses a Seagate 3.5" Barracuda 7200-rpm 1.5TB, and has an antenna sticking out of it. You'll also find a HWA WUSB dongle as well as Memeo backup tool. And surprisingly, Mac support is built-in. Taking account of an early adopter premium, a very large 7200-rpm drive and some costly WUSB components, we can see why Imation puts a staggering $449.99 price tag on the drive.
Performance wise, the Pro WX tops at 15MB/s, and Imation makes sure you see it on the retail box, likely to avoid confusion that some consumers expect the WUSB drive to perform as as fast a wired counterpart. So, 15MB/s is more close to first gen. USB 2.0 storage, however, such speed can only be achieved at close range (between 3 to 5m). Compared to Wi-Fi- NAS, a major advantage of the Imation Pro WX is a dedicated incremental backup connection that bypasses snooping and avoids traffic congestion. But seriously though, Imation needs something close to 30MB/s for this to compete with 802.11n NAS offerings.
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