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Portable DVD Burner and Card Reader from Hama

Hama presented DataSafe III SE, a portable DVD burner, the successor of the model introduced in spring 2005. The company claims that the compatibility of the device has been improved and the write speed was increased thanks to a new chip technology.

DataSafe III SE burns data from many common memory card types on DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW and CD-R/-RW, and is also a mobile DVD, MP3 and media supporting JPEG, MPEG 1 and 2. It also functions as a USB 2.0 MultiCard reader.

The device’s battery offers long lasting use time (Li-Ion
rechargeable), making DataSafe III SE ideal for traveling. The burner connects to the computer using USB, and it is right away recognized as an external DVD burner and card reader. For Windows 2000, XP and ME there is no need of installing drivers, while for Windows 98SE drivers are included.

DataSafe III SE comes with the following bundled software: Ulead PhotoImpact XL SE, Photo Explorer 8.5 SE for managing and processing the stored files on your PC and PC Inspector smart recovery for retrieving lost data. Also included is the full version of the Ulead DVD MovieFactory 3 Suite for burning and processing data, music and video CDs and DVDs. Additionally, you will find in the package a remote control and various connecting cables.

H.264 compression uses less power

H.264 uses the latest innovations in video compression technology to provide video quality for the smallest amount of video data. This means sharp, clear video in much smaller files. H.264 offers the same quality as MPEG-2 at a third to half the data rate and up to four times
the frame size of MPEG-4 Part 2 at the same data rate.

Fujitsu announced that it had completed the development of the core circuits of a chip that encodes and decodes H.264 video. The company claims that the device will use less than 100 milliwatts to run H.264 content. The circuits are set to be included in battery operated devices like digital cameras and video cameras, multimedia players and also hard drives. Fujitsu says that H.264 encoding and decoding needs 10 times more processing performance than MPEG2 devices.

H.264 has good compression efficiency for a broad range of applications, such as broadcast, DVD, video conferencing, video-on-demand, streaming and multimedia messaging. H.264 delivers excellent quality across a wide operating range, from 3G to HD and everything in between.

Source: Softpedia

Creative Expands Neeon Series

Creative introduced four new MP3 players from the Zen Neeon series. Three of the new devices use flash memory that guarantees a skip free playback experience and have capacities of 512 MB, 1 GB and 2 GB. The new Neeons feature duo-tone OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) displays that offer better visibility from any angle.

The company also launched a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) model that has a 6 GB capacity, able to store up to 3000 songs. For the people that like to accessorize, Creative has launched 12 “skins” for the Neeon
players.

All new Zen Neeon MP3 Players feature an integrated FM radio and a voice recorder. Also, there is a line-in input that can connect to CD/DVD players and other audio devices for recording.

Creative’s new Zen Neeon Players measure in size just 79.9mm x 46.9mm x 15.9mm.
The Neeon players with 512 MB, 1GB and 2 GB capacities weight each 55 grams and their battery has a 32 hours lifetime of continuous playback per charge.

The 6 GB Zen Neeon weights 75 grams and its battery has a 16 hours lifetime of continuous playback per charge. Also, the device features 7 selectable backlit display colors and its backplate colors can be, by choice, blue, pink, silver, green, orange or red.

The standard package includes the Zen Neeon player, High-Fidelity Earphones, USB 2.0 Cable, Line-In Cable, Pouch, Neck-Strap, Quick Start Guide and Installation CD.

The prices for the new Zen Neeon players are: the 512 MB version – 209 USD, the 1 GB version - 279 USD, the 2 GB version - 349 USD and the 6 GB version - 369 USD.

How good is “Apple” ?

One thing is true that Mac OS X runs beautifully on Macs, there is no denying that… but from that point of view, it cannot be compared with Windows, which, despite all of its flaws, is able to run on PCs made up of really cheap components.

Apple come up with since the invention of the famous wheel? (not to mention that apparently Creative and Microsoft had something to do with it as well).

Apple produced the iPod, and Mac fans will have to forgive me for saying that since then, the Cupertino company has been feeding on iPod’s success. For example, would the Mac OS X 10.5 have enjoyed the same success if the iPod hadn’t been such a hit?

What would Windows users think if Microsoft said: “Do you want a PC that runs Windows smoothly? Then you have to purchase an Intel processor, an ATI video card, a Gigabyte motherboard and Samsung memory modules!”

And still, there are some people who think that Apple has no idea what monopoly means!

Widescreen Is The New Trend

LCD displays already started to gradually replace CRT ones. Although the manufacturers didn’t launch many widescreen models, they noticed that home users especially want this kind of monitors because their home activities are mainly multimedia oriented. Also, watching movies is one of the main activities home users do besides gaming and web browsing.

Major LCD displays producers like Acer, Samsung,
BenQ, ViewSonic and HP decided to pay more attention to the LCD widescreen monitors market segment. BenQ launched this year an LCD widescreen 20inch display with 8ms response time, priced at US$505, while Acer and Viewsonic launched 23 and 24 inch displays, priced at US$806 and US$1640.

It is estimated that in the next 6 months the price of LCD displays will drop by 30 percent and the widescreen display sales will represent 20 percent of the total number of LCDs sold. This year, widescreen displays represented only 2 percent of the total sales of LCD monitors.

Moreover, the market is expecting more graphic boards that will be widescreen compatible, because few support this standard at the moment. Subsequently, Microsoft’s Windows Media Center Edition OS will probably gain popularity and will sustain the sales of widescreen LCDs.

AMD’s Quad Core Processors Launched By 2007?

AMD officials stated that the company will launch quad core processors by 2007. Reports show that the quad cores will be linked by a revised type of HyperTransport that can support DDR3 (Double Data Rate 3), meaning that there will be servers with up to 32 CPUs (Central Processing Unit).

The quad core design is similar to the company’s Opteron and Athlon64 chips. The server version of these chips will add another cache memory level, improving performance. Cache memory stores frequently used data on the chip close to the CPU, where it can be accessed quickly than data stored in memory.

Also, in 2006 the existing AMD dual core chips will get a slight update to support the company’s
virtualization technology called Pacifica and a security technology called Presidio.

Intel launched this week its own virtualization technology for desktop computers as well.

As for the 2006 processors, they will require new motherboards, other than today’s Opterons require, but the change in the socket will allow future customers to add a quad core processor into their systems, if the mobos are bought in the second half of 2006.

AMD plans to improve its position in the business PC market, desktops and laptops, hoping that a focus on software optimizations will help the transition to future technologies.

Business Class USB Key

Almost everyone has a USB key these days. So many shapes and sizes, so many colors. There are enough models for everybody on the market. But what about a really special USB key. One that could pull you out of the crowd and make you feel really special.

For those who don’t know, Zero Halliburton is a company that specializes in high class products made from leather, carbon fiber and especially aluminum. The company teamed up with GreenHouse to develop a high end USB key for the ones that want to stand out in front of their friends.

Aluminum,
dubbed as a sign of professionalism is the material which covers the Zero Halliburton USB key, giving it a special sense of style. The gadget comes in only one model, with a 512 MB capacity, featuring USB 2.0 and 1.1 connectivity and claims transfer speeds of up to 480 MB/s.

The form factor is elegant, sporting dimensions of W18.6xD68.2xH12.0(mm) and weighing just 50 grams.

Although the Zero Halliburton USB key does not bring anything new on the market in terms of speed or size, its design is special and eye catching, especially because it features another aluminum case with black velvet padding.