58692543
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Within the next 6 years, Seagate expects to produce a 60TB hard disk drive using HAMR technology. But WD and Seagate are currently on separate paths toward expanding capacity. Seagate with Singled Magnetic Recording (SMR) and WD with helium-filled drives. Computerworld has published a series of slides explaining what has been used up until this point and what will be needed to reach the 60TB end goal.
58614371
submission
Lucas123 writes:
MediaFire today went live with its cloud storage service, offering 1TB of capacity for $2.50 for people who initially sign up for the service. The price will go to $5, eventually. MediaFire's Desktop storage and file sharing service is also offering 50GB of free capacity upfront. MediaFire's service has virtually no limits on file sizes for uploads. Users can upload files up to 20GB in size, "when using native 64-bit browsers such as Firefox." MediaFire Desktop, a free application for OS X and Windows, allows users to upload, store and share content in the cloud, directly from their desktop and mobile devices. The service synchronizes data to a customer's OS X and Windows computers that are also connected via its application. The company is also working on iOS and Android apps.
58528673
submission
Lucas123 writes:
SK Hynix today announced it has manufactured a 128GB DDR4 memory module and plans to begin mass producing it early next year. The new module, which the company plans to begin sampling in 64GB and 128GB capacities, can process up to 17GB of data per second, according to Hynix. The memory is based on 8Gbit DDR4 chips manufactured with 20nm process lithography. The new module runs at 2,133Mbps with 64-bit I/O. It also runs at ultra low-voltage of 1.2V, compared to 1.35V of existing DDR3 memory modules.
58520309
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Seagate has released what it said is the industry's fastest hard drive and it has up to 6TB capacity, matching one released by WD last year. WD's 6TB Ultrastar He6 was hermetically sealed with helium inside, something the company said was critical to reducing friction for additional platters, while also increasing power savings and reliability. Seagate, however, said it doesn't yet need to rely on Helium to achieve the 50% increase in capacity over it's last 4TB drive. The company used the same perpendicular magnetic recording technology that it has on previous models, but it was able to increase areal density from 831 bits per square inch to 1,000. The new drive also comes in 2TB, 4TB and 5TB capacities and with either 12Gbps SAS or 6Gbps SATA connectivity. The six-platter, enterprise-class drive is rated to sustain about 550TB of writes per year — 10X that of a typical desk top drive.
58328301
submission
Lucas123 writes:
A presentation released today by Intel revealed images of the USB 3.1 Type-C cable and connectors, which is symmetrical and will no longer require a user to correctly orient the plug. Initially, the USB 3.1 Type-C specification will support up to 10Gbps data transfer speeds. The Type-C connectors resemble those of Apple's Thunderbolt cabling in that they are much smaller than today's USB SuperSpeed connectors. The receptacle opening is 8.3mm x 2.5mm.The first iteration will have a 5 volt power transfer rate, but it is expected to deliver up to 100 watts for higher power applications in the future.
58301851
submission
Lucas123 writes:
While Audi plans to use laser beam headlights this June in its R18 E-Tron Quattro racecar in the Le Mans 24 Hours, BMW is saying it will be the first carmaker to bring the technology into production with its i8 plug-in hybrid sports car. The car is due out this fall. The headlights are brighter and project up to three times the distance of today's LED lamps — up to 1,800 feet or about a third of a mile. The lights do not cause eye damage because of the way the headlamps refract the laser light. The laser technology also allows the headlamp units to be smaller and lighter. BMW's laser diodes are 10 times smaller than conventional LED diodes.
58155839
submission
Lucas123 writes:
A new study by International consulting firm Eclareon found that the cost of solar- and conventional-powered electricity has the same per kilowatt hour (kWh) price tag in Germany, Italy and Spain. The report covered 19 cities in 10 countries (Australia, Brazil, U.S., Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain and the U.K.). In Latin America, while the cost of renewable energy has gone down, high installation prices still prevent PV technology from being competitive against grid electricity. Meanwhile, in the U.S., there has been a 50% reduction in the cost of renewable energy over the past five years, according to an August 2013 report from global financial adviser and asset manager firm Lazard Freres & Co. In areas of the U.S., the dropping costs of solar, wind and hydroelectric power has spurred utilities to sign contracts to use renewable energy rather than conventional fuels like gas in power plants, according to Cory Honeyman, a solar power analyst with GTM research.
57701585
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Imagine that in 1952, an IBM RAMAC 350 disk drive would have been able to hold only one .MP3 song. Today, a 4TB 3.5-in desktop drive (soon to be 5TB) can hold 760,000 songs. As much data as the digital age creates (2.16 Zettabytes and growing), data storage technology has always found a way to keep up. It is the fastest growing semiconductor technology there is. Consider a microSD card that in 2005 could store 128MB of capacity. Last month, SanDisk launched a 128GB microSD card — 1,000 times the storage in under a decade. While planar NAND flash is running up against a capacity wall, technology such as 3D NAND and Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) hold the promise of quadrupling of solid state capacity. Here are some photos of what was and what is in data storage.
57593169
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Audi is set to became the first car company to offer native, in-vehicle broadband in its 2015 A3 models through AT&T and it has just listed pricing for the service. Audi and AT&T will offer two data plan options: a 5GB, 6-month plan for $99 and a 30GB, 30-month plan for $499. Audi and GM first announced the upcoming availability of in-car 4G LTE during the CES show this year. GM plans to roll out 4G LTE in vehicles later this year and will eventually have more than 30 models supporting it. Audi said it plans to expand 4G LTE capability across its entire lineup as new or refreshed models come to market.
57346473
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Apple's introduction of its iPhone automotive integration platform, CarPlay, yesterday signaled its entry into in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems — a market that up until now has consisted mainly of proprietary platforms with extremely limited mobile app capabilities. But open software efforts by the Linux Foundation and standards such as the Car Connectivity Consortium's MirrorLink and Google's recently launched Open Automotive Alliance are hoping to open up IVIs to any number of smartphones and related apps. ""The Apple [CarPlay] is just one standard. Right now MirrorLink is not compatible with iPhone..., but it can be," said Mark Boyadjis, manager of Infotainment & HMI systems at IHS Automotive. Alan Ewing, president of the Car Connectivity Consortium said we he first looked at Apple's CarPlay, he thought: "That's what we've been doing for two years. "It really validated the approach we'd already taken. But, we think the best mousetrap should win."
57200907
submission
Lucas123 writes:
As the sophistication of automotive electronics advances, from autonomous driving capabilities to three-dimensional cameras, the industry is in need of greater bandwidth to connect devices to a car's head unit. Enter Ethernet. Industry standards groups are working to make 100Mbps and 1Gbps Ethernet de facto standards within the industry. Currently, there are as many as nine proprietary auto networking specifications, including LIN, CAN/CAN-FD, MOST and FlexRay. FlexRay, for example, has a 10Mbps transmission rate. Making Ethernet the standard in the automotive industry could also open avenues for new apps. For example, imagine a driver getting turn-by-turn navigation while a front-seat passenger streams music from the Internet, and each back-seat passenger watches streaming videos on separate displays.
57070665
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Terrafugia, a company that has been working on flying car prototypes for years, said it is now leaning toward an autonomous vehicle for safety reasons. Carl Dietrich, co-founder, CEO and CTO at Terrafugia, said at MIT last weekend that the company wants to build something that is statistically safer than driving a car. "It needs to be faster than driving a car. It needs to be simpler to operate than a plane. It needs to be more convenient than driving a car today. It needs to be sustainable in the long run," he said. The company's flyable car is designed with foldable wings and falls into the light sport aircraft category. It's expected to take off and land at small, local airports and to drive on virtually any road. Dietrich said the next-generation flying car is a four-seat, plug-in hybrid that doesn't require the operator to be a full-fledged pilot. A spokeswoman said today that the company is probably two years away from production.
57031619
submission
Lucas123 writes:
In a little less than a decade, the microSD card has gone from 512MB of capacity to 128GB today. SanDisk just announced they're now shipping a 128GB microSD card that can store 24-hours of HD video or 75,000 photographs. The SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Card has a top transfer speed of 30MB/s and a price ranging from $29 for an 8GB card to $199 for the 128GB model. The card is compatible with Android smartphones and tablets.
57020699
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Here are 10 intriguing items in development or currently being made with 3D printers, including printed circuits boards from an Australian company whose machine lays down conductive inks (made of silver nano particles) onto wearable items, such as fabrics, as well as acrylic boards, plastics, MDF, FR4 and other fiberglass substrates. At Intellectual Ventures Laboratory in Bellevue, Wash., researchers are creating ink cartridges filled with freeze dried, pulverized food that could someday be used in third world nations where, by adding water, it could be printed and cooked by a laser at the extruder's nozzle. And, then there's the "Chemputer", a 3D printer that can produce pharmaceuticals, meaning ultimately, you may someday be able to print your own medicine.
56682893
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Music streaming services, forced to give from 60% to 70% of their revenue to the record industry, will never be profitable in their current state, a new report shows. Unless the services can monetize their user base by entering new product and service categories, or they can sell themselves to a larger company that can sustain them, they're doomed to fail. One method that subscription services might be able to use to achieve profitability is to up sell mobile deals or bundles to subscribers. For example, a select package of mobile services would be sold through the music service provider, the report from Generator Research suggested. "Services like iTunes Match and Google and Amazon are already heading in this direction," the report states. Another possibility would be for a larger company to purchase the music service or for the service to begin offering sanitized user behavioral data to advertisers, who could then better target a customer base.
