Hybrid SATA/SSD drives now in stores!

You surely heard all the hype about the flash Solid State Drives (or “SSD”), great performance, fantastic for laptops, but price-wise, not so good.

A laptop priced at 1,000 can cost you almost another grand if you want a 250GB SSD drive in it.

But Seagate has created a very clever invention: a hybrid drive that has Flash Memory on a SATA drive, and thus, offering the advantages of both worlds.

Tom’s Hardware gave the first model an award for excellent performance. Here are some highlights, for a laptop 2.5″ Seagate Momentus SATA/SSD 500GB hybrid drive:

PROS

• Price: $129.99 (CompUSA), $149.99 (at your local Best Buy); the Desktop version is only $69.99 (Dell) 
• Improvement over SATA 7200-rpm: 40-% faster
• Adaptive Memory: your frequently used programs will run faster after the 3rd time of using them.
• Warranty: 5 years

CONS

• Power Consumption: 0.3-0.9W more than conventional SATA for laptops which means a decrease in battery life.
• Performance: overall Tom’s Hardware called it “impressive” but not “revolutionary”.

Bottom Line

Excellent choice for Workstation laptops, so you should probably wait and follow the news to see if Seagate releases Firmware updates or releases a revision of their entry models.

Is Apple your friend or foe?

Apple has applied for a patent that will allow it to take measures if “unauthorized” users get a hold of someone’s device. With its new patent application Apple is trying to become proactive in deterring theft, and cracking of its devices.

What  does this mean for rightful owners could mean good news, if you have an untouched device or in other words a device that has not been hijacked or jailbroken.

If, on the other hand your device has been jailbroken could mean you may not be able to use after Apple disables the device. Using some sort of “listening” or interactive application Apple could determine if an unauthorized user has gotten a hold of a device and disable it remotely alerting the owner and even authorities of the location of such device.

This method however will disable purchased devices that had been tampered to allow applications other than those sold by Apple. Learn more HERE

The New Bionic Era

In a surgery operation 2 bioengineered prosthesis were implanted in the rear legs of a cat named Oscar, by Noel Fitzpatrick, a veterinary surgeon based in Surrey, England. The surgery is a first in the world and provides an idea as of how much this technology can change the future of prosthesis implants.

The innovative technology is under testing in humans and promises to be a success in modern technology to replace lost limbs.

You can read the entire article clicking on the following link:

Bionic Cat

We have the technology!

New and slimmer XBOX 360

This week on E3, -you know, the biggest game development convention- Microsoft announced a new streamlined XBOX 360.

It sports built-in 802.11N WiFi, a 250GB Hard Drive, and it also has Kinect-ready ports.

The hardware is now quieter and it has a neat shiny black finish and it will cost $299.00, the same price as the Elite console.

Source: XBOX.com

AT&T to eliminate Unlimited Data Plans for iPhone & iPad

Beginning on June 7, new iPhone users will no longer be able to get Unlimited data plans, but rather choose from a 15GB plan for $15/month, or 2GB for $25/month. Each extra GB will cost you $10. 10 bucks!

Existing users get to keep their existing plans, but if you want to save money AT&T won’t extend your contract for another 2 years if you want to switch.

AT&T will send you warning text messages when you approach your limits.

Tethering will also be available but at an extra $20/month (or perhaps it’s time to unlock your phone, screw the warranty and use PdaNet to do it for free).

iPad users will face the same luck.

Hasta la vista unlimited!

Match 5 speed!

Check the X-51A hypersonic aircraft!

It can reach speeds of Match 5, although is not the fastest one, but unlike other “supersonic combustion ramjet” or better known as “Scramjet” the X-51A burns oxygen from the atmosphere

Scramjet X-51A

You can also check the video:

Google Video

What’s next in Branson’s mind?

He set up to sell you music, move on to take your money for flights across the Atlantic, already started to make reservation for space travel, and now he wants to send you diving 36,000 feet underwater

Enter Sir Richard Branson, the eccentric millionaire owner of Virgin Group, LTD, and his vision of a travel empire, an empire he plans to based at Necker Island, part of the Virgin Islands

The polemic millionaire is building a small plane that will “fly” under the sea. Onboard, the three passengers this small submarine will carry can go on and take a look to the depths of the Atlantic, disbursing $88,000 for a week’s rental. The Necker Nymph is projected to dive down up to 36,000 feet, currently the prototype goes down only to 130 feet, but the technology will allow for a stronger model

I guess snorkeling is taking a different path for those who can shell for one of these rides.

The iPad has Arrived!

The iPad finally arrived

As reported by The Huffinton Post  in ““Apple Tablet News: UPDATES On Expected “iPad” Release(PICTURES)” the pics of the new iPad look like those pics in the report

Many arrived at the Yerba Buena Center this morning to attend the Apple event, with the curiosity for the unveiling of the so awaited iPad

Steve Jobs himself began the presentation giving a little history of his company since its start back in 1976, following by some financial statements and a comparison among Sony, Samsung, and Nokia with Apple, which according to Jobs Apple is larger than Sony and bigger than Samsung and Nokia

Jobs then continue through pics of the releases of Apple products like the MacBook, iPod, and the iPhone as the expectancy for the iPad unveiling climaxed

At this point jobs was talking about the netbooks and their slow response to apps, he show pics of the new iPad and then the physical unveiling of the iPad

Jobs proceeded to demonstrate how the apps would work, making some browsing on the internet, flicking through pictures, playing a game, opening calendar and email apps, zooming maps, etc

But to all of this you may be asking yourself, Steve what are the specs of the new iPad? Here you go

iPad Specs:

Casing                         0.5 in

Weight                        1.5 lb

Display                        9.7 ISP

Full capacity Multi-touch screen

Processor                    1.0 GHz Apple A4

Bluetooth                    2.1 + EDR

WiFi                             802.11n

Speaker

Microphone

30-pin connector

Accelerometer

Compass

Battery                        10 Hours (video) or more than one Month standby

The iPad will be offered in 16, 32, and 64 Gb storage models

and one model with 3G network

Apple has struck a deal with AT&T to have a 250MB/14.99 a month plan or an unlimited data plan for 29.99 a month, and free AT&T WiFi hotspots

So, now you have it and hear it here!

UPDATE:

The iPad cost?

16 Gb – WiFi $499

16 Gb WiFi+3G $629

32 GB WiFi $599

32 Gb WiFi+3G $729

64 Gb WiFi $699

64 Gb WiFi+3G $829

WiFi Models ship in 60 Days

WiFi+3G Models ship in 90 Days

AT&T will keep the exclusivity for the time being with Apple

Blast from the Past

Next Wednesday Apple will show the world the so awaited Apple Tablet, but this time it will not be the “Bashful”

In the eve of this announcement Frog Design thought just right to show some unearthed pics of what Apple was working on in 1983, but I will not spoiled it for you with pics

Take a look at some of the pics and read more about it here

See-through Fashion at CES

CES keeps bringing new gadgets and technology that makes people drool

Take for example the see-through display Samsung (AMOLED)

See-Through Display

Still in R&D the display is not ready for retail, but it sure got a lot of attention at today’s show

Samsung is taking the TV display to thin territory with the new 9000 series, a crisp look and thin case mark the newcomer style

Samsung 9000 Series