Transcend StoreJet portable drive knows its job and does it well

The beauty of an external hard drive lies almost completely in its simplicity. It's designed to do one thing, and it better do it well: transfer data as fast as possible from a host computer, allowing the user to spend as little time waiting as possible. While other drives add automatic backup solutions or brag about their indestructibility, the US$175, 500GB Transcend StoreJet 25f portable hard drive only does what it's supposed to, and on the cheap to boot.

Via CNET Crave

HP's Firebird burns through our initial doubts

We admit we had doubts about HP/Voodoo's new Firebird gaming PC when we got an early look last December. We found the case attractive, and we liked the idea of an mainstream-oriented gaming PC with the polish of a boutique system. Our hesitation came from the fact that for its US$2,000 or so price tag, the system lacks a robust upgrade path due to its fixed laptop-style graphics cards and custom motherboard. We also wondered whether gamers would be interested in efficiency and style at the expense of raw horsepower.

After getting our hands on a review unit, our hesitation turned to admiration because the Firebird does so many things right. It really is a pretty-looking desktop, first of all. Its power efficiency embarrasses traditional gaming PCs in its price range by consuming significantly less juice (155 watts compared to 255 watts on a Dell under load, for example). The value is also there because its performance and features are exactly where they should be for the price. The Firebird can't dial up Far Cry 2 all the way, but it will certainly play it at most resolutions, and with decent image quality. The Blu-ray drive, the HDMI output, and the 802.11n WiFi even accommodate living room usage, which you might legitimately consider given the Firebird's attractive design.
Read more »

Meraki brings Wireless-N outdoors

Though Wireless-N (an 802.11n draft standard that offers throughput speeds up to 300Mbps or faster) has been used in home and small-office routers for a long time, routers for outdoor hot spots are still mostly based on the 802.11g standard that caps at 54Mbps. This is primarily because the 802.11n hasn't been ratified yet.

Nonetheless, Wireless-N standard's proven superiority over 802.11g both in throughput and range means hot-spot equipment makers and providers can't ignore it any longer.

Meraki, arguably the biggest provider of outdoor Wi-Fi mesh services, announced its very first 802.11n device, the MR58 outdoor wireless router.

Like most previous routers from Meraki and unlike all home Wireless-N routers, the new MR58 is a weatherproof wireless device that can be mounted outside to provide wireless signals to a large open space. According to Meraki, the MR58 can withstand temperatures ranging from from -20 degree celcius to 50 degree celcius and provide five times the speed of standard 802.11b/g wireless devices.
Read more »

OWC ups the speed of its external Blu-ray recorder

Exactly five months after the introduction of the quad-interface, external 4x Blu-ray burner, Other World Computing recently announced its latest upgrade to the Mercury Pro Blu-ray, which will now burn Blu-ray Discs at up to 8x.

This speed translates into about 2GB per minutes, meaning you can finish a double-sided disc (50GB) in about 25 minutes. Other than Blu-ray Discs, the new drive also writes DVDs (all formats) at up to 16x and CDs at up to 40x. Of course, like all burners, it can play back any of the formats it can record.

The new external drive also supports all four computer connections: USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and eSATA. So far, OWC is the only vendor that offers this quad interface in its external Blu-ray burners. Most other external burners lack the eSATA port.

The Mercury Pro Blu-ray burner comes with two 25GB BD-R discs, and a full retail version of Roxio Toast 10 Titanium for Mac. It also works with Windows, but you'll need to get a separate recording-software suite for it.


Read more »

A home server in a plug

Think your small form factor server is the epitome of space-saving technology? Think again. Though the SheevaPlug Dev kit from Marvell looks like a large power adapter (110 x 69.5 x 48.5mm) which jacks directly into a wall socket, it's actually a full-fledged home server with Gigabit Ethernet and USB 2.0 connectivity. Hidden inside is a 1.2GHz Marvell processor with 512MB RAM and 512MB flash storage. Despite having GHz performance, it only consumes a tenth of the power of a desktop PC. Though it probably can't run Windows, it has no issues with most Linux distributions as long as they can fit in the limited storage space.
Read more »

Crave is...

The name says it all. Crave is our blog about cool gadgets and other crushworthy stuff.

Drop us an email if you have tips or suggestions.

Crave for...

» Mobile Phones (2215)

» Digital Cameras (974)

» Notebooks (1227)

» PC & Peripherals (1304)

» Handhelds (584)

» Printers (82)

» Home AV (1138)

» Music & Play (887)

» Gadgets (1474)

» Future Tech (391)

» Green Tech (170)

» Lifestyle (154)

» Luxury (22)

» Home Appliances (57)

» Cars (99)

» Games and Gear (245)

» Software (93)

» Web (105)

Previously...

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

Hot Topics

Subscribe to
Crave

What's Hot

apple apple inc. apple iphone apple ipod asia battery camera game google inc. iphone microsoft corp. microsoft windows mobile phone photograph singapore smart phone software sony corp. video

Today on CNET |  Reviews |  Crave |  Blogs |  CNET TV |  Digital Living |  Downloads