USB thumb drives that are bigger than my hard drive circa 2001 are great. Waiting 5, 10, 15 minutes for the files to move to that USB 2.0 drive isn’t so great. Now that USB 3.0 is becoming a common thing in laptops and devices, we can finally get faster flash drives as well. More »

Gizmodo

It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen a new Classmate PC from the folks at CTL, but the company’s now back at CES with a pair of new models. Those include the 2go Classmate PC NL3 convertible tablet (above), and the 2go Classmate PC E12, which takes on a more traditional laptop form-factor. Both models pack a 10.1-inch screen (with the NL3 employing a resistive touchscreen to accommodate a stylus), and each boast some relatively similar specs across the board, including a 1.6GHz Atom N2600 processor, 1GB of RAM, and your choice of either a standard hard drive or SSD for storage — plus the same ruggedness found on the company’s earlier Classmate PCs. Look for both to be available early next month, with the NL3 starting at 9 and the E12 coming in at 9. Videos of each are after the break.

Continue reading CTL refreshes 2go Classmate PC range with new convertible tablet, laptop models

CTL refreshes 2go Classmate PC range with new convertible tablet, laptop models originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget

It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen a new Classmate PC from the folks at CTL, but the company’s now back at CES with a pair of new models. Those include the 2go Classmate PC NL3 convertible tablet (above), and the 2go Classmate PC E12, which takes on a more traditional laptop form-factor. Both models pack a 10.1-inch screen (with the NL3 employing a resistive touchscreen to accommodate a stylus), and each boast some relatively similar specs across the board, including a 1.6GHz Atom N2600 processor, 1GB of RAM, and your choice of either a standard hard drive or SSD for storage — plus the same ruggedness found on the company’s earlier Classmate PCs. Look for both to be available early next month, with the NL3 starting at 9 and the E12 coming in at 9. Videos of each are after the break.

Continue reading CTL refreshes 2go Classmate PC range with new convertible tablet, laptop models

CTL refreshes 2go Classmate PC range with new convertible tablet, laptop models originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  CTL (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments
Engadget

Broadcom is expected to show off silicon that offers 1.8 gigabit per second Wi-Fi at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. The technology will help prepare home networks for the era of whole-home video streaming. To promote the chips, which will use the 802.11ac standard, Broadcom has highjacked the G used by cellular networks, calling the new standard 5G Wi-Fi.

Terminology aside, here’s why this latest iteration of Wi-Fi is so cool:

1. It’s fast. The standard can deliver up to 3.6 Gbps around the home, although initial chips offer 1.8 Gbps. The current top-of-the-line Wi-Fi chips (802.11n) top out at 600 Mbps.
2. It’s designed for video. The technology uses the 5 gigaherz band as opposed to the 2.4 gigaherz band. The gigahertz band has wider channels to deliver more capacity and competes with fewer other wireless devices, which means the channels can carry more data such as fat high-definition and maybe even 3-D video streams.
3. It’s designed for multiple devices and concurrent streams. Those wider channels also mean a home can support more devices trying to send lots of data, such as sending multiple, concurrent HD video streams around the home, while someone else plays a game or video conferences. So while you might not think you need a gigabit home network without a gigabit pipe leading to your home, if you’re streaming cached content from a hard drive or another device, this helps.
4. It’s more power efficient. The wider channels allow for more data to travel over the network, which means downloads take less time. At that point the radio powers down to save on battery life or power. This doesn’t help when streaming, but would be good for keeping devices and hard drives synced.
5. It goes the distance. The physics of transmitting data using airwaves over distances and through certain materials doesn’t change, but because the standard can deliver faster speeds from the router, folks will get proportionately faster speeds as they move away from the router in their homes and offices. It also uses beamforming technology (basically it compresses the signal like a laser compresses light to make it more powerful) to better pass through buildings, especially through those made of concrete. The end result is a better signal even if it must pass through a few walls — and a decent end-user experience.

Broadcom expects to start shipping chips in the middle of this year and appearing in a wide variety of products from phones and laptops to set-top-boxes and home routers that will ship in the second half of the year. In November Quantenna, a chipmaker startup that has raised more than million, announced its own 802.11 ac chips, and in September I spoke with Craig Barratt, president of Qualcomm Atheros about that chipmaker’s vision for the next generation of Wi-Fi.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• The future of Wi-Fi in the enterprise
• The Case for Increased M&A in 2011: Actions and Outlooks
• Bluetooth to Feel Blue as Personal Area Network Battles Loom

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GigaOM

It’s taken the pair a fair few months to hammer down the details, but it’s finally official: Seagate now holds the figurative keys to Samsung’s hard drive business. According to the press release, Seagate will retain some Samsung employees as well as gaining access to the electronics manufacturer’s solid-state storage for future products. Samsung will hold onto a 9.6 percent stake of Seagate and cash money said to total around .375 billion. You can still expect to see remnant Samsung hard drives floating around next year while Seagate decides how it’s going to further its storage business — hopefully involving more than just shrinking warranties.

Continue reading Seagate shores up its hard drive business, finalizes Samsung purchase

Seagate shores up its hard drive business, finalizes Samsung purchase originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget

HP boss Meg Whitman says that companies trying to build their own servers — without the help of traditional server giants like HP — are having little success due to the global hard drive shortage.

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