Around the year 2000 there were a couple of major shifts that created a lot of technological change.  The first was the expansion of storage technology, which became large enough for a user to have everything they wanted on a computer with more than enough free space.  High speed Internet connections were also introduced during that time which allowed the Internet to thrive more than it ever had before.  High speed Internet connections gave birth to the power to share music amongst people considerably more quickly than ever before, opening up a new method of pirating. 

The arrival of MP3 players was huge because it allowed someone to carry around so much music, but at first did not burst with popularity.  About a year after the entrance of the first MP3 players onto the market, Apple introduced the first iPod to the public.  These units were unique because they could store gigantic amounts of music with their internal hard drives instead of flash memory.  The control wheel and ease of use of the interface were massive innovations.  Previous MP3 players utilized a button based design, which made it tough to go through huge amounts of music.  There are a tremendous amount of accessories available today, although an iPod case was the first accessory that started the trend.

The development of the iPod marked the first time the MP3 player and music pirating market sky rocketed.  This put an enormous hurt on the music industry since they were still only selling music on compact discs.  It was much easier to sell digital music after all this, and Apple released their music store which evolved the way music was distributed.

The iPod Touch is the most sophisticated and popular kind of the iPod today, mimicking the design of the iPhone.  Many people can hold their entire catalogue of music on them, though they have less storage than their iPod Classic brothers.  An iPod Touch case is often necessary to purchase, since it is the first accessory that people recognize they need after breaking theirs.   

Continue reading Samsung aggressively aggregating acronyms as eMCP assembly activated

Samsung aggressively aggregating acronyms as eMCP assembly activated originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading OCZ’s Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSD offers 2,800MB/sec, 500,000 IOPS, plenty of thrills

OCZ’s Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSD offers 2,800MB/sec, 500,000 IOPS, plenty of thrills originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Traditionally, flash has been used as a cache layer either within storage arrays or within servers themselves to speed delivery of hot data. The latter model is how Fusion-io’s flash components are delivered into data centers.

Recently, though, there has been a strong movement toward using flash for storing all an organization’s primary data, not just the hot stuff that needs special attention. This has been spurred by lower prices for flash memory at the component level, as well as by a greater understanding of the energy savings and and price-per-transaction savings that flash can provide. Flash might require a bit more capital investment upfront, but it pays off in the long run.

eBay is a prime example of the benefits of flash. Nimbus Data CEO Thomas Isakovich told me that eBay had only 2.5TB of flash installed six months ago before recently upgrading to 100TB. Within the PayPal division where Nimbus is deployed, Isakovich said eBay has cut power costs by 78 percent, cut its rack space by half and is able to better meet performance demand overall by spinning up virtual machines even faster.

Virtualization, actually, is another driving force behind the uptick in flash interest lately. Its benefits around consolidation and flexibility also bring performance overhead for storage operations.

As for the Nimbus gear, it comes in 2TB, 5TB and 10TB chunks and is scalable up to 250TB. It uses ELC NAND, which the company claims is 10 times more durable than standard MLC NAND, and runs a specially designed file system and software set. Among the features are advanced compression, deduplication, replication and thin-provisioning capabilities.

Isakovich claims that when one factors in lower file-system performance overhead and the fact that Nimbus doesn’t charge a licensing fee for its software, his company’s systems can actually come in at a lower price per gigabyte than spinning disks. His math must not be too far off: Nimbus has more than 200 customers just over a year into selling its product, and reached profitability on the back of angel funding alone.

Nimbus Data is just part of a greater market, though, which is why the notion of mass flash adoption seems more realistic than ever before. There’s also Nimble Storage and Tintri serving small enterprises with a hybrid flash-and-disk approach, Violin Memory serving the highest-performance customers, and even SolidFire serving cloud providers as its target market. And they’ve all been raising lots of money and building their customer bases.

Add in the recent surge of flash support by mega storage vendors such as EMC and NetApp, and customers soon won’t be able to escape the flash onslaught.

Isakovich thinks Nimbus Data can become a billion company — “the next NetApp” — by capturing the hype around flash and maintaining its competitive pricing model versus hard disk drives. That’s a long way off, and Nimbus has plenty of competition, but someone has to make that money.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• Infrastructure Q2: Big data and PaaS gain more momentum
• Infrastructure Q1: IaaS Comes Down to Earth; Big Data Takes Flight
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Whether you need to print documents for the corporation, your home office, or your favorite club, you can get them finished at 20ppm using letter-size, and at 19ppm for A4-size paper. The first document gets completed and presented in less than 8 seconds. HP is known for being an industry leader in providing high speed machines, at affordable pricing.

The HP 3380 also has a USB port that is 2.0 compatible and complies with industry standards, and the printer connects using the IEEE-1284B parallel port to finish off your connectivity requirements. You can use your computer at work, connect to your laptop, or hook it up to the network system and get the same degree of high quality printing from the computers.

When it comes to paper handling, it has one 50-sheet ADF, one 150-sheet input tray, and one 1-sheet priority input slot, with maximum media size of up to 216 x 381 mm (8.5 x 15 inches). The flatbed scanner accommodates full legal size documents which makes this unit perfect for any office or home user need. Having the proper paper trays to handle the printing job is vitally important, and this unit provides you with the standard paper size capacity.

For your situations where resolution really counts, this device provides 1200 x 1200 dpi, with PCL Level 5e and 6 giving you bi-directional printing communications between your computer and the printer. With PS Level 2 emulation allowing you to handle most of your PostScript printing needs. The ability to add font choices to this printer makes it a productive unit for most of your customized printing needs.

The HP 3380 handles your faxing requirements with full functionality of the V. 34 Fax allowing you to fax from ADF, the flatbed scanner or your PC. It has built in delayed faxing features and even includes a phone book feature. With 4MB of flash memory, it can store up to 250 documents to be faxed.

When you need to make copies of printed matter that you already have, this unit can reduce and enlarge your documents. You can set it for automatic collation and it will organize them at speeds up to 20ppm, making it a nice addition to your home office. Having the ability to make a fast copy of a receipt or statement can be a very handy feature for busy people who don’t have the time to stop by an office supply store to make a quick copy.

The flatbed scanner is conveniently located at the top of the unit, and the HP LaserJet 3380 printer toner produces 600 dpi (9600 interpolated) color scanning with a resolution factor of 24-bits. Adding this fax capability to the HP LaserJet 3380 Printer and HP ink and toner, HP provided a means of producing any result by giving you single document scanning to handle all of the possible document printing and sending needs for your busy life.

• WD Caviar Blue hard drives have a multitude of features to deliver rock solid performance and ultra-cool and quiet operation.
• WhisperDrive technology minimizes noise to levels near the threshold of human hearing.
• SoftSeek technology streamlines read/write seeking algorithms, resulting in more efficient operation.
• 3 year limited warranty.
• 1 TB capacity holds up to 200,000 digital photos, 250,000 MP3 files, and 120 hours of HD video.

WD Caviar Blue hard drives are available with either SATA or EIDE interface in a variety of cache sizes with a multitude of available features to deliver rock solid performance and ultra-cool and quiet operation. Pick the drive that suits your needs with the confidence in knowing that all WD Caviar Blue drives are built to the highest standards of quality and reliability. With capacities ranging from 40 GB to 1 TB, these drives are the perfect solution for family and business computing.

Rating: (out of 9 reviews)

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Coby 2 GB MP3 Player with FM Radio, USB Drive, and LCD (Black)

• MP3 player with 2 GB flash memory, FM radio, and USB drive with LCD display
• High-contrast LCD display with seven-color backlight
• Plays MP3 and WMA digital music files; plays digital music from most online stores; ID3 tag support for song information display
• Integrated FM radio; mobile data storage function; convenient integrated USB plug (no cables required)
• USB 2.0 high-speed for fast file transfers

Coby MP305-2G MP3 player 2 GB flash memory FM radio and USB drive with LCD, high-contrast LCD display with 7-color backlight, plays MP3 and WMA digital music files, plays digital music from most online stores and subscription services, ID3 tag support for song information display, integrated FM radio, mobile data storage function, convenient integrated USB plug( no cables required), USB 2.0 hi-speed for fast file transfers, black

Rating: (out of 291 reviews)

List Price: $ 44.99

Price: $ 19.41

• 512MB Built-in Flash Memory – Allows you up to 200 hours of recording. Record lectures, seminars, or important day-to-day notes, without the worry of running out of time!
• Built-in, Flip-out USB – No Cables Needed! Built in USB port allows file download to PC. Once transferred to the PC, listen, share and save with our Digital Voice Management Program.
• Automatic Voice-Activated Record (AVR) – Allows recorder to sense the sound and start recording automatically. Recording stops when sound stops.
• Variable Speed Playback – Select from multiple playback speeds so you can listen to your recorded files at your own pace.
• Intro Scan – Preview message content to quickly find messages.

Use the VR5220 digital voice recorder by RCA for taking notes at lectures and seminars or to simply record important day-to-day notes. With 512MB of built in flash memory, you can enjoy up to 200 hours of recording. The digital voice recorder features a multi-function LCD display that shows the time, low battery indicator, recording countdown and other information. The built-in USB allows for direct PC connection, helping you listen, share, save and organize with ease. Enjoy worry-free recording with the Automatic Voice-Activated Record (AVR) mode which will sense sound and start recording automatically once sound begins and stop recording when sound ends. Choose from three different playback options: bookmark, variable speed and pitch correction for slow/fast play. By using the date/time stamp you can quickly find specific recordings without the hassle of listening to complete recordings. Additional features include editing functions, headphone jack/external microphone jack, selectabl

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List Price: $ 49.99

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• Records crisp high definition video directly to two removable SD memory cards
• Genuine Canon 10x HD Video Lens
• Canon 1/2.6″ 8.59-Megapixel Full HD CMOS Image Sensor
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• Dynamic SuperRange OIS corrects a full range of motion

Canon’s VIXIA HF S200 Flash Memory Camcorder, with two SD memory card slots, offers Canon’s most sophisticated feature set to date – blurring the line between consumer and professional. Canon’s superlative proprietary imaging technologies help deliver video and 8.0 megapixel photos with incredible detail and lifelike color. Touch & Track allows you to achieve sharp focus and precise exposure for any subject, simply by touching the generous 3.5″ High Resolution (922,000 dot) Touch Panel LCD. Native 24p Mode perfectly matches the frame rate of film. And 5.1-Channel Surround Sound ensures your audio complements the stunning realism of your video.

FEATURES: Flash Memory – The VIXIA HF S200 can record crisp, high definition video directly to two SD memory card slots, but it gets even better. With Relay Recording, the camcorder automatically switches video recording from one SD memory card to the next available SD memory card, when the first card becomes full. It will be ea

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Price: Too low to display

• Sleek, ultra-thin digital audio/image/video player with 4 GB of flash memory
• Compatible with MP3, WMA, and WMA-DRM10 music files (PlaysForSure)
• FM tuner with record capability and voice recorder; bright 1.8-inch color TFT LCD
• Convert most popular video formats (MPEG-4, WMV, DivX) to play on device
• User-replaceable rechargeable lithium-ion battery for up to 20 hours of life

SanDisk Sansa e260 – Digital player / radio – flash 4 GB – WMA, MP3 – video playback – display: 1.8″

Marketing Description

The Sansa e200 Series MP3 players are the flagship products of SanDisks audio line. Created by the leaders in flash memory, this flash-based player provides everything you need for music, photo, and video clip playback.The very attractive, sleek design includes a 1.8 TFT color screen with advanced navigational features and an easy to use interface. You can also avoid scratches and cracks with the durable metal backing. The Sansa e200 provides superior sound playback and supports Microsoft PlaysForSure subscription music. The SanDisk Media Converter supports most image formats to enjoy photos and small personal videos.You can take it with you. Keep your media in your pocket with the SanDisk Sansa e260 flash memory digital audio/video player with 4 GB of storage. This sleek, light device enables you to enjoy music, video, and photo slideshows on-the-go.

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Question by 0carina: My Ipod Nano dropped a short distance to the ground. Do I hace anthing to worry about?
I accidentally pulled the cord of the headphones, making the ipod fall. There are no scratches, but is there anything to worry about internally? And aren’t nanos built in with flash memory?

Best answer:

Answer by Lore
If it works…then no. If it doesn’t work…then yes.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!