IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 23/05/2014

Thursday, May 22, 2014

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 23/05/2014

TweakTown

Microsoft working with China following news of Windows 8 ban
Following news that the Chinese government has banned Windows 8 from government PCs, Microsoft is working with Chinese officials to evaluate the OS. The company was reportedly "surprised" to hear about the ban, receiving a memo released by the China Central Government Procurement Central.

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Although no official reasoning was offered by the government, Chinese news agency Xinhua said it was related to PC security. Most government PCs are currently running Windows XP, the aging Microsoft OS that reached end of support in early April - though there are growing political tensions related to organized cyberspying between both the United States and China.
"Microsoft has been working proactively with the Central Government Procurement Center and other government agencies through the evaluation process to ensure that our products and services meet all government procurement requirements," said Joanna Li, a Microsoft spokesperson located in Beijing. "At the same time we are working on the Windows 8 evaluation with relevant government agencies."

Public utilities struggle to try and meet growing cyberattack threat
Recent news of a brute-force attack that compromised a weak password system at an unnamed public utility is the latest example of a growing threat to public utility companies. The Department of Homeland Security and FBI are working with utility companies in an effort to beef up cybersecurity, hoping to avoid industrial control functions from being compromised.

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"It's not a question of if but when we are going to have some sort of cyberattack on the grind," said Philip Jones, U.S. energy regulator, during a recent speech. "My biggest nightmare is that there is a coordinated physical and cyberattack."
Many public utilities also rely on Windows XP, which reached end of support early last month, though likely are paying Microsoft for additional security. However, it's foreign-based cyberthreats that are especially frightening, with China, Russia, Syria, and North Korea reportedly trying to compromise U.S. utility infrastructure.

Lenovo outsold Apple in US personal computer market for three months
According to research firm IDC, Lenovo was able to outsell Apple in the past three consecutive months for the first time. By doing so, Lenovo is able to grab No. 3 spot behind HP and Dell. This is very impressive, considering that the PC business is not really well as of now.

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Lenovo however aims to be the world's number one tablet pc maker in two years. The chief executive of the gaming Yang Yuanqing said,"The record sales and profits that we delivered last year prove that Lenovo can grow and deliver its commitments, no matter the market conditions".
Most of the growth was due to strong lineups and offerings in ThinkPad and Yoga series lineups. The company is also growing its non-windows tablet and smartphone sales marketing. Now that it owns Motorola, its most likely that its growth in the smartphone market would go upwards.
In the last fiscal year which ended in March 2014, Lenovo was able to raise 14% profit year-on-year, with reported revenues of up to $28.7 billion. The company's profits also rose by 29% which amounts to $817 million.

Alienware Steam Machine will be the least profitable system ever sold
Dell was one of the companies who showed-off its Steam machines under its Alienware Brand. But during an interview with Alienware Chied Frank Azor with The Wall Street Journal, he revealed that making a branded Steam Machine was challenging for them. To add more burden to the challenge, it was the least profitable system they would ever sell.

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According to the interview, the only reason they've made a Steam Machine was to be associated with Valve. Azor added that they were very optimistic about PC gaming's future and with the functionality to be used with a TV.
In other words, the only reason Alienware have put so much effort in building their branded Steam Machine was because they believed in PC gaming, and wanted to be a part of Valve's goals.
In January, Alienware said that its Steam Machine will be priced competitively against Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The company also added that they're still working on the system hardware configuration. Its assumed that the system will be using Intel processor with NVIDIA GPU. Though the memory and other components are not yet decided upon, its expected that the unit will start at $699.
What's confirmed is that Alienware will be releasing its SteamOS gaming PC in September.

Company CEOs need to pay closer attention to cybersecurity
More companies face cyberattacks and potential data theft, with many C-level executives unsure how to combat these types of growing threats. CEOs should be extremely proactive to try and prevent cyberattacks, which will help protect employee and customer data from theft.

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CEOs should try to join an information-sharing organization, with additional cybersecurity-focused groups starting, and run security audits. It's also important - yet typically overlooked - to monitor what access third-party vendors have, especially when it comes to sensitive information.
As popular retailer Target learned, a massive data breach can have a major ripple effect for future business efforts. Former Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel resigned just five months after the data breach, while the company also shuffled its IT team around.

US 'biosurveillance' program wants access to your medical records
The U.S. government is working on a national "biosurveillance" system that will provide an uncanny amount of personal medical records of U.S. patients, masked under national security, according to patient privacy advocacy group Citizens Council for Health Freedom. According to the group, biosurveillance efforts ramped up in 2009, when the Obama Administration created the Recovery Act, forcing doctors and hospitals to use computerized patient and medical records.

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Here is what Twila Braise, Citizens Council for Health Freedom co-founder, told CBSNews: "It's very broad. It doesn't seem to have any limits, except they say something about, you know, properly protecting the data. But from our perspective, if the government gets access to this kind of data, [and] is allowed to do research with the data...then our privacy has already been compromised. The government has already said that our data is their data for their purposes of national health security."
There is growing concern the U.S. government wants to be able to utilize real-time access to electronic medical records, which can be used for snooping, or covert research and analysis.

Government officials explain how mainstream media help promote hackers
As national governments try to better understand cybercrime, extreme publicity from high-profile attacks reported by mainstream media may have a bigger impact than the actual cybercrime itself, according to government officials.

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"Therefore, despite the low probability of destructive terrorist cyberattack occurring, such an event may have a high profile impact even if unsuccessful," noted Glenn Lemons, Homeland Security senior intelligence officer, in a speech before the House committee on cybersecurity and terrorism. "Success in this may be determined by press coverage [as opposed to] destructive network activity."
Even with more press coverage, it's clear that many governments and corporations are simply unsure how to address the changing hacker mindset. Years ago, hackers focused on defacing websites and vandalism - but many have evolved to focus on political or monetary gains.
Groups such as Anonymous, which continues to plague select targets, rally on social media to help garner more attention - in a strategy that works - while gaining even more followers. It's a technique that amuses supporters, but clearly antagonizes police and government officials trying to crackdown on hacking.

Intel outlines importance of users being proactive of security issues
Following news this morning that eBay has been hacked and users should change their passwords, it's another stark reminder that users should be more proactive to help themselves in case a company or online service is left vulnerable. Users are the first line of PC security defense, and even if a breach happens, it's still important to know what steps to take to ensure better security.

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Here is what Mike Fey, Intel Security CTO, said in a statement: "The loss of an unknown number of passwords has the potential to compromise more websites than just eBay's mainly because consumers tend to use the same password on multiple sites. We recommend a set of precautions consumers can take to protect themselves if they become aware of any incident like this."
Furthermore, Intel Security offered a few tips of advice to help keep users more secure, including changing passwords at least one every three months, monitoring credit and debit card accounts for unusual activity, and frequently tracking credit reports.

Former Navy sysadmin, pleads guilty, and waits sentencing
Following news earlier this month that accused a U.S. Navy sysadmin of leading a hacker group, the suspect, Nicholas Knight, 27, pleaded guilty to hacking charges. The alleged ringleader of the "Team Digi7al" hacker group, Knight and his supporters hacked everything from universities and companies to the U.S. Navy and other military assets.

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During a media interview, Knight seemed to shrug off the seriousness of his alleged hacking actions: ""Essentially, I am in trouble for posting all of the stuff on Twitter. Although a lot of people are saying I was the leader of some crime organization that was out to get people, which wasn't true. [We were] just a group of people that were dumb and did dumb things."
Knight now faces up to five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 for his actions, with another hacker group member facing the same punishment.
The U.S. government is scrambling to try and catch up to cybercriminals, especially when they target government and military servers. Unfortunately, many of the hackers are either located outside of the country, or do a clever job of making sure they remain anonymous.

Lavabit founder explains why he shut down service after Snowden leaks
Lavabit founder Ladar Levison recently opened up about why he was forced to shutter his secure email service following the fallout of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The Lavabit email service had 410,000 users, Snowden included, and with Levison rejecting U.S. government access to encrypted email accounts, he was found in contempt of court.

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When federal investigators wanted private encryption keys and user passwords of Lavabit users, Levison immediately rejected the idea. It only took a few weeks of legal proceedings that would ultimately lead to the company unraveling, and then eventually shuttering.
Here is what Levison said in an op-ed posted by The Guardian: " If my experience serves any purpose, it is to illustrate what most already know: courts must not be allowed to consider matters of great importance under the shroud of secrecy, lest we find ourselves summarily deprived of meaningful due process. If we allow our government to continue operating in secret, it is only a matter of time before you or a loved one find yourself in a position like I did - standing in a secret courtroom, alone, and without any of the meaningful protections that were always supposed to be the people's defense against an abuse of the state's power.

Sony rolls out Android 4.4 to its Xperia Z, ZL, ZR and Tablet Z
Since Android 4.4 was first announced by Google, handset manufacturers have been racing to update ROMs for their devices which would bring in the resource sipping next-gen mobile OS from Google. Today it seems like Sony has finally accomplished the task of bringing KitKat to several of its most popular devices. Android 4.4 updates have begun to roll out to the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR, and the Xperia Tablet Z.

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We've been building new Sony experiences on Google's KitKat release to create some neat / sweet features (if we say so ourselves) - in addition to a few performance tweaks here & there, some of the functionality you can look forward to includes:

Google's Android 4.4; KitKat as standard - bringing improved performance & user interface (UI) optimisation...

If you've got a Sony PlayStation 4, you might recognize our new user interface - we've added the same sleek launch animation and live wallpaper across the lock and home screens. You'll also spot a revamped Status Bar and Quick Settings... now more intuitive and customisable (also with a fresh new look)... cleaned up to ensure you only get the notifications you really need

As you might expect, we're also uplifting Sony's entire native app portfolio to the latest versions bringing tweaked / improved / current experiences for one and all... some of our favourites look like:

Messaging - a few UI adjustments here & there, including a slicker "send" animation, and deeper Emoji support for some expressive fun... also worth noting, you'll find smileys wherever there's an app with a keyboard :) :)

Email - you'll be able to both load and see more mails... but don't fret, navigation of said load is easier with a more responsive viewing pane - split screen modes divide info for easy digest... especially useful / works a treat on Xperia Tablet Z

Smart Social Camera - our social imaging experience makes its debut on our first Z Series devices; a selection of Xperia Camera apps directly accessible from your viewfinder... including personal favourite "Creative Effect", and more for download to boot!

Battery STAMINA Mode - level-upping our unique power management feature, bringing smarter data management & more for prolonging your juice

Sony's Media apps: WALKMAN, Album and Movies, with Sony Entertainment Network cloud service integration* - a more converged and full Sony entertainment experience - Sony Entertainment Network & PlayMemories integration with a more intuitive UI, better download speeds, and more...

And proving pretty popular, now totaling over 2 million downloads (!) - our unique custom interface experience: "Xperia Themes", with downloadable UI packs from Sony Select - skin up to 280 assets across your Xperia smartphone with a variety of styles...

Compatibility with our SmartWear Experience; SmartBand SWR10 and Lifelog app - enabling you to record social, physical and entertainment activities and have them all visualised in a beautiful interface... reminisce at that past, make the best of the present and plan for the future

Next up, we'll start rolling Android 4.4 KitKat for Xperia T2 Ultra, Xperia E1 and Xperia M2 (and dual variants) from July - we'll be back with more details; bespoke feature sets and timings as things progress.

Google may plan to bring ads to Nest products and other devices soon
It's no secret that Google makes the majority of its revenue from advertising, but it looks like desktop and mobile ads may not be enough for the tech giant. Today a new report from the Wall Street Journal is suggesting that Google is looking into displaying ads on other platforms such as Nest thermostats and more.
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Google has reportedly began the process of approving advertising streams on more than just PCs and mobile devices. The fling suggest that Google would like to see ads appearing on "refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches, to name just a few possibilities." Google went on to say that

"Our expectation is that users will be using our services and viewing our ads on an increasingly wide diversity of devices in the future."

With Google's acquisition of Nest, it seems to be more than half way there already.

Spotify now has 10 million monthly paying subscribers
Today Spotify confirmed that it has a total of about 40 million monthly users, but the biggest news is that the service has managed to attract about 10 million of those users to join Spotify's Premium subscription service that cost $10 per month. This number is significant because during the first quarter of 2014, Spotify only had about 6 million Premium subscribers, meaning that they have added 4 million paying members in the last three months.

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"Today we are thrilled to announce a special milestone - we now have 10 million paying subscribers and more than 40 million active users across 56 markets! Wow - we're incredibly grateful to the thousands of artists and millions of music fans around the world who have helped us reach this point," Spotify said in a release. To celebrate, Spotify released the following infographic.
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G.Skill to host the OC World Cup 2014 at Computex 2014
This morning G.Skill announced that it will be hosting the OC World Cup 2014 finals at the Computex 2014 show in Taipei, Taiwan. The world finals will consist of six of the world's best overclockers competing for a $10,000 USD cash prize. The OC World Cup participants include "der8auer" from Germany, "8 Pack" from UK, "ZeR0_Dan" & "Hero" from China "Xtreme Addict" from Poland and "Splave" from USA.

The G.SKILL OC World Cup live finals will be held at G.SKILL booth I0218, Nangang Exhibition Center, Computex 2014, going head-to-head for a shot at the largest single cash prize in competitive overclocking history, $10,000 USD! Hardware used will be G.SKILL TridentX Memory, MSI GTX 750Ti Gaming VGA cards, Seasonic 1000W Platinum PSUs and 4th Gen Intel Core™ processors, and more.

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eBay's user records have been hacked, change your passwords ASAP
This morning, eBay announced that its internal and customer databases were compromised earlier this year. Sometime between February and March of 2014, hackers managed to compromise a number of employee accounts and were able to obtain log-in credentials that allowed them to access eBay's internal and customer databases. eBay says that the security breach remained undetected until just two weeks ago.

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Customer information was stolen, and included log-in information, email addresses, encrypted passwords, physical addresses, phone numbers and date of birth information. Fortunately, the database that stores customer financial information was not compromised, and all of that information remains secure. eBay is however urging every account holder to change their passwords as soon as possible, and personally, I would suggest changing your PayPal password as well even though it was not part of the breach.
"Information security and customer data protection are of paramount importance to eBay Inc., and eBay regrets any inconvenience or concern that this password reset may cause our customers. We know our customers trust us with their information, and we take seriously our commitment to maintaining a safe, secure and trusted global marketplace," eBay said in a statement. "Beginning later today, eBay users will be notified via email, site communications and other marketing channels to change their password. In addition to asking users to change their eBay password, the company said it also is encouraging any eBay user who utilized the same password on other sites to change those passwords, too. The same password should never be used across multiple sites or accounts."

Avast: 75% of users unaware of threat Heartbleed continues to pose
Despite widespread media attention, 75 percent of users remain unaware of Heartbleed and its potential threat to user security, according to a survey of 268,000 conducted by security company AVAST. Furthermore, 41 percent of respondents aware of Heartbleed didn't want to change passwords, saying they didn't believe they were affected.

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At the very least, security experts recommend changing passwords now, with most major websites already fixing the vulnerability. Security companies continually urge users have multiple passwords, and recommend utilizing a password manager instead of trying to memorize - or write passwords down on paper - to stay secure.
Heartbleed garnered significant attention among casual users, with local newspapers and TV stations covering the vulnerability - but that still didn't ultimately change how users reacted. Earlier this month, it was estimated at least 300,000 servers were still vulnerable to Heartbleed, while the Department of Homeland Security even stepped up to offer security tips.

Skype for Xbox One update adds full Snap support
Microsoft has announced an update for Skype for Xbox that gives the app full Snap support. That means that the gamer can receive a Skype voice or video call while they are using other apps or playing a game. That will bring a new wrinkle to in-game chats with friends.

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Before this update, you could only snap other apps to Skype for Xbox One. The big difference here is that Skype doesn't have to be the main app on the screen now. Your game or movie can now be the main app on screen with your Skype call on the side.
The update also brings with it some other changes. Those changes include bug patches and other improvements to fix startup time. Being able to Skype with a friend or group of friends while watching a movie or playing games is a great feature.

Samsung Project Glued video streaming service for Asia announced
Streaming video is a big business all around the world with firms like Netflix leading the pack. Samsung is working on its own streaming video offering for Asia with a service called Project Glued. Project Glued will be available in Q3 and when it launches it will have a batter name.

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The service will give users the ability to rent an entire season of a TV show. While it is aimed at Asian users, the service will only offer TV shows from the US and UK to start with. Customers will be able to stream or download each episode in HD to their Samsung devices.
Rentals using the service will cost $6.50 per season and will give you 30 days to watch all episodes in the season. I wish that there were a service in the US that would allow you to rent shows at that rate and give you a while to watch them. Project Glued will launch first in Singapore and the Philippines.

California DMV approves autonomous vehicle testing on public roads
Google and other automakers have been testing autonomous vehicles around the country in an effort to get the tech ready for mainstream use in the coming years. While several states already have rules in place to allow the testing of autonomous vehicles on the road, California didn't, at least not until recently.

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The California DMV has announced new rules that will allow the use of autonomous vehicles on the road. The new rules go into effect on September 16, 2014. The new rules say that a manufacturer that wants to test an autonomous vehicle has to apply for a testing permit.
It then has to certify drivers to test the cars, put up a secure $5 million insurance or safety bond, and then renew the testing certificate in a year or it expires. While testing an operator has to be in the driver's seat at all times. Drivers are also required to get something called an Autonomous Vehicle Testing (AVT) Program Test Vehicle Operator Permit from the DMV. The DMV also requires testers to notify it if the autonomous systems have to be disengaged by the driver for any reason.

Brute-force attack compromises weak password system at public utility
The Department of Homeland Security has announced that a public utility company in the US has been compromised. It's unclear which utility company was hacked at this time. Homeland Security says that the utility's control system was accessible via internet-facing hosts and used a simple password system.

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The system was compromised using a brute-force attack with the hackers trying different passwords until a correct one was found. Investigators say that the systems at the utility company were exposed to numerous security threats and previous intrusion activity was noted.
The Department of Homeland Security continues to warn that utilities in the US are vulnerable. Many major utilities like electric and water plants haven't been audited for security and remain unsecured against intrusion.

Virzzmo VR headset is powered by your smartphone
VR headsets have been in the news a lot of late with the major purchase of the Oculus Rift VR headset and talk of Sony Project Morpheus. The problem with those two VR headsets is that they are very expensive. An Oculus Rift will set you back around $350 and when it gets old, you need to spend that much again to upgrade.

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A new VR headset has turned up in Europe called the Virzzmo. Rather than being an actual headset like the Oculus, this device is a harness system for your head that will hold your smartphone in front of your face. It doesn't only hold your smartphone in front of your face, it also has some optical lenses inside that can turn what you see into stereoscopic 3D.
The Virzzmo will work with any smartphone that has a 4.7-inch or larger screen. The gyroscope inside the smartphone is also used for head tracking. One of the best things about the Virzzmo headset is that it is very cheap with a price of €50. Development kits are expected to land in June.

PetMatch app for iOS users helps you find the perfect pet
A strange new app has turned up for users of iOS devices called PetMatch. The app is cool in that it is designed to help people find the perfect pet to adopt in their local area. The odd part about the app is that it is designed to help people find a pet that looks just like they want.

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The app lets you upload a photo of the type of dog or cat that you are looking for. An algorithm inside the app then takes that uploaded image and measures the shape of the face, distance between the eyes, and other parameters.
Once those measurements are done, it looks through millions of photos from shelters across the country to find adoptable pets that looks similar to the photo you uploaded. The app might also work if your pet is missing helping you to find it at a shelter. The app is available for download on the App Store right now.

Verizon unveils new XLTE rebrand for its AWS 700 MHz spectrum
Verizon Wireless has announced the launch of a new high-speed wireless service called XLTE. XLTE is actually a rebranding of an existing offering that Verizon has had for a while previously called AWS. AWS is a 700 MHz spectrum that will be called XLTE in the markets where it is offered moving forward.

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Verizon says that the new XLTE service will allow devices capable of operating on that network to get faster data speeds and additional bandwidth during high-traffic periods on the network. Sprint made a similar move to get bandwidth for people to use during peak times with its Spark service.
Verizon says that XLTE is supported by 35% of devices that are running on its network. Compatible devices include the iPhone 5C and 5S. Android devices including the Galaxy S4, S5, and Note 3 are also XLTE compatible.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Active turns up on video
If you are a fan of the Samsung Galaxy S5 line of smartphones a new and unannounced version of the S5 has turned up on video. The smartphone is claimed to be the Galaxy S5 Active. There have been several versions of Galaxy smartphones to carry the Active moniker. These devices are typically water resistant and aimed at people who are on the go.

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The S5 Active has some slight changes on the outside of the device with the soft buttons of the original S5 turned to hard buttons on the Active. Inside the smartphone, the hardware gets a slight boost with a Snapdragon 801 processor that is a bit faster than the normal S5.

The S5 Active has the same 16MP rear camera and 1080p AMOLED screen. The original S5 was already water resistant with an IP67 rating. Check out the hands-on video and the video showing some of the specs of the S5 Active for more details.

Netflix expansion eyes Europe, spreading into France and Germany soon
Netflix is spreading its wings throughout Europe, where it has announced it is launching in six new countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Luxembourg later this year.

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The company hasn't spilled the pricing, launch dates or content selections - something we should hear in the near future. Are you based in any of these countries? Excited to hear that Netflix is coming to you soon?

Kingston 32GB microSD Mobility Kit Review

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MicroSD cards have been around since mid-2005. Initially designed to be used in smartphones where space was at a premium, these cards have now evolved and are being used in many devices.
Kingston, being one of the largest vendors in non-volatile memory solutions, has put together what they are calling the mobility kit. This solution gives you a 4, 8, 16, or 32GB microSD card in your choice of Class 4 or UHS I Class 10 with the added bonus of a SD adapter and USB adapter. The model we had sent over for review today is the 32GB UHS I Class 10 solution.
Compatibility extends to modern Windows operating system, OS X 10.5+, and Linux kernel 2.6+ support.
MSRP for the Kingston Mobility Kit in the 32GB flavour is listed at $19.99 with a lifetime warranty.

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Scope of delivery includes the microSD card along with both adapters.

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The USB adapter for the kit allows you to insert the microSD card in the back of the unit.

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Here we have the microSD to SD adapter.

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The 32GB Kingston microSD is factory formatted with the FAT32 file system, ensuring compatibility between Windows and Macintosh computers. The usable capacity after formatting is 29.8GB.

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The previous image shows the results from CDM. As you can see, our card was able to touch 30 MB/s read and 10 MB/s write, which is right in line with class standards.

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Above, we have our Price/Performance chart where we find the Kingston kit coming in at 80 percent thanks to its amazing price and relatively good performance.
The Kingston Mobility Kit is one of those products that you really don't know you need until you have it. At this point, you find yourself using it on a consistent basis just because it's so handy to have both adapters.
Performance of the 32GB microSD was on par with UHS I specifications, coming in at 10.7 MB/s write, while read speeds were topping 30 MB/s.
For anyone that needs storage on their smartphone or a small digital camera that uses the technology, the Kingston Mobility kit is the all-in-one solution for you to take video, photos, and store data on your mobile devices, and then return home and offload to your PC or Macintosh.
MSRP of the 32GB Kingston Mobility Kit is set at $19.99 with a lifetime warranty. Current market pricing can be found below.
PRICING: You can find the 32GB Kingston Mobility Kit for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The 32GB Kingston Mobility Kit retails for $19.95 at Amazon.
Canada: The 32GB Kingston Mobility Kit retails for CDN$29.98 at Amazon Canada.

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Toshiba PX03SN 12Gb/s SAS3 Enterprise SSD Review

Introduction

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Toshiba offers a refined 12Gb/s product stack with a flavor for every taste. The Toshiba PX02SS offers unmatched endurance in the 12Gb/s segment, while the Toshiba PX02SM provides solid endurance and serves as the mixed-use model for mainstream applications. The PX03SN steps in to provide amazing 12Gb/s performance at a much lower price point. The two heavier-use Toshiba SSDs utilize 24nm eMLC to provide robust endurance, but the PX03SN switches to 19nm consumer-grade MLC to provide a friendlier price point. Pairing the 19nm with the same design and controller as the leading Toshiba SSDs provides blistering performance in a more economical package.
The PX03SM comes in the familiar 2.5-inch form factor, and most notably features a 12Gb/s SAS3 connection. One of the greatest aspects of the PX03SN line is found in the capacity listing. The PX03SN is available in 200, 400, and 800GB capacities in the 7mm form factor, but a whopping 1.6TB version is available in 15mm. This tremendous capacity outstrips all HDDs in the 2.5-inch form factor and provides enhanced density for small servers. Performance density is also important, and the PX03SN brings outstanding performance in a small package.
The PX03SN features 130,000/26,000 random read/write IOPS. Random speed is matched by an impressive 1,100 MiB/s in sequential read, but only 380 MiB/s of sequential write speed. The PX03SN is designed for light-duty storage and read-caching applications that are not overly dependent upon sequential write performance. These read-centric applications tend to rely more upon serving relatively static data repositories at a high rate of speed. The PX03SN also features up to 63,000 IOPS in random workloads with a 70/30 read/write distribution.
Bringing High-Availability features to a read-centric SSD is impressive. The 12Gb/s dual-port SAS provides multipath and failover capabilities, and Toshiba leverages its proprietary Quadruple Swing by Code, a layered ECC system, to provide protection for user data. Another nice inclusion on a value SSD is the power capacitors that flush data to the NAND in the event of host power loss. Toshiba covers the bases for data security compliance with available security models and support for SANITIZE instant secure erase.

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For those requiring high endurance, the Toshiba series offers the PX02SM and PX02SS. The PX03SM only offers 1 Drive Write Per Day (DWPD) of endurance. Endurance measurements are measured under worst-case scenarios. The drive is filled to capacity, which significantly reduces endurance, and endurance-killing pure small-block random data is used for testing. With sequential or mixed-workloads, the endurance will likely be incrementally higher, and any spare area increases endurance. Many users manually appropriate extra spare area to boost endurance to accommodate heavier workloads. The lower price associated with MLC provides users a bit more room for endurance optimization.
Read-centric SSDs provide amazing acceleration in read-only caching applications. Server-side caching implementations boost performance of underlying disk storage in SAN/NAS and DAS environments. By only caching read data, lower-endurance SSDs deal with relatively static data sets but deliver big results. The higher capacity versions, such as the 1.6TB PX03SN, allow for plenty of dynamic adjustment of cached data if the dataset changes frequently.
The Toshiba PX03SN offers the standard five-year warranty available with most enterprise SSD products. The read-centric 12Gb/s SSD market is relatively limited as 12Gb/s makes its way into the datacenter. With no other read-centric 12Gb/s SSDs available for testing, we will compare the PX03SN to its higher-endurance brethren.
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ASUSTOR AS-604RD 4-bay Rackmount NAS Review

Introduction

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We tested the Asustor AS-604T pedestal NAS exactly one year ago and found its performance above par compared to other products on the market in the same price range. Asustor took that same DNA and built two rackmount versions for the SMB / SME market. The first model, the AS-604RS, uses a single power supply, and the second model, the AS-604RD, uses redundant power supplies.
The AS-604RD is a cross-platform storage server. It works with everything, including Windows, Android OS, Apple, and even Linux. The ADM software is also quite powerful. Asustor's operating system has several built-in features, but the add-on packages deliver flexibility so that you can customize the server for multiple tasks that run at the same time like a virtual server but without the complication.

Hardware Specifications and Pricing

Modern NAS servers have moved beyond data storage through a wired network. In order to get the most out of a NAS, you need to look at the extra I/O hardware and the mountain of potential software features.

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Powering all of the applications is an Intel dual-core Atom processor with HyperThreading. Asustor ships the AS-604RD with only 1GB of DRAM, but you can easily increase the capacity to 3GB by adding a single 2GB stick. We'll show that process later in this review.
The AS-604RD is different than the AS-604RS model in that it ships with a redundant power supply. The dual power supply does add around $100 to the cost. The single power supply unit sells for $997.99, and the redundant power supply model we're testing today sells for $1099.99 (all prices from Google Shopping).
Neither system ships with drive rails, so you'll need to purchase an Asustor Rail Kit, $145.99, to mount the system in a 4-post rack.
On the features side, the AS-604RD has four drive bays for either 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch disks. The NAS can run RAID 0, 1, 6, or 10 with an EXT4 file system. Two eSATA ports expand the total capacity of the system. Two USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports increase the system's flexibility.
Two independent gigabit Ethernet ports can connect to separate networks or run one of six Link Aggregation modes. The NAS is a 1U design, so it easily fits in your existing rack.
PRICING: You can find the Austor AS-604RD for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The Austor AS-604RD retails for $1,099.00 at Amazon.
Canada: The Austor AS-604RD retails for CDN$1,741.93 at Amazon Canada.
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