DTR @ CES 2010 – New USB 3 and PCI Express SSDs from OCZ Technology

Wow, I can’t wait for this!! I have a few SSD reviews pending, but this tech is exploding right now.

- Press Release -

San Jose, Calif.—January 6, 2010—OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and flash-based storage as an alternative to hard disk drives, plans to unveil an array of next generation solid state drives (SSDs) along with other premium hardware at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. With its finger on the pulse of emerging and booming markets, OCZ’s impending line of SSDs are designed to optimize entire businesses as well as the computing experiences of everyday consumers.

“This CES we continue to build on our lineup of SSD solutions designed for enterprise class applications,” commented Ryan Petersen, CEO of the OCZ Technology Group. “In addition to our robust lineup of 2.5” solid state drives we will be launching new drives with interfaces that include SAS and PCI-E which make it easier than ever for enterprise clients to replace expensive-to-maintain, traditional storage media with a higher performing and more reliable solution.” OCZ storage products not only continue to revolutionize performance, durability, and power efficiency compared to
traditional hard drives, but address a wide range of applications from enterprise-class data management to personal notebooks. By continuously enhancing the technology and broadening partnerships, OCZ is on a path to make SSDs the superior choice over HDDs for OEM-clients, business storage infrastructures, and the average end-user who all place a premium on performance, low power consumption, and total cost of ownership (TCO).

SATA II 2.5” SSDs

OCZ has paved the way in consumer solid state drives, addressing the demand for performance and affordability. As OCZ’s next SSD generation, the Vertex 2 Series pushes the envelope even further and provides a truly viable MLC-based enterprise storage option. The Vertex 2 line features an innovative, higher performing architecture designed to serve the needs of the entire range of computing environments.

USB 3.0 SSD

In addition to internal storage solutions, OCZ will demonstrate the ground-breaking performance of the highly-anticipated USB 3.0 interface with their ultra-slim portable SSD. Geared toward the early-adopting enthusiast, the OCZ USB 3.0 SSD sets the bar early for high performance storage devices.

SAS and PCI-E SSDs

OCZ has a proven track record in the design and manufacture of 2.5 inch solid state drives and is in a unique position to be able to do the same with PCI-Express and Serial-attached SCSI (SAS) SSDs in the enterprise space. With a 2nd generation PCI-Express design and 1st generation SAS SSD, customers can reliably enable the usage of lower cost, MLC-based SSDs for intensive data processing with these drop-in solutions and gain exceptional bandwidth, while scaling down necessary rack space.

Gaming and Enthusiast Hardware

OCZ remains committed to the gaming and enthusiast industries and other sectors of the market where stability and performance are of utmost importance. OCZ’s latest DDR3 memory solutions provide world-class speeds at low voltages requirements, while the new Fatal1ty 750W and PC Power Silencer mkII power supplies offer unwavering stability to support a wealth of power-hungry components and push cutting-edge systems to the limit.

DTR @ CES2010 – Boxee Box Officially Announced

This may be a great competitor for the Netflix streaming appliances out there!

Press release:

D-LINK DEBUTS BOXEE BOX AT CES 2010; DIRECTLY LINKS INTERNET ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES TO TVs EVERYWHERE

Networking pioneer and popular entertainment software
create the best way to get the free entertainment the Internet has to offer with no monthly fee

LAS VEGAS, CES Booth 36232, South Hall, LVCC, Jan. 5, 2010 – D-Link made lots of geeks and early adopters happy today by introducing the revolutionary Boxee Box by D-Link, winner of the CES Best of Innovations award in the Home Entertainment category.

The Boxee Box by D-Link reinterprets what TV should be. The Boxee Box delivers movies, TV shows, music, and photos from a user’s computer, home network, and the Internet to their HDTV with no PC needed. Additionally, Boxee’s core social features make it easy for friends to discover new content from each other through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Internet Entertainment
Boxee is a popular PC, Mac, and Linux software program that lets users watch hundreds of thousands of popular TV shows and movies. Instead of sifting through millions of confusing Web sites, when users search on Boxee, TV shows and movies are delivered to them with the click of a remote control. Nearly a million Internet users around the world have already downloaded Boxee to enjoy their online entertainment.

The Boxee Box by D-Link takes the same popular software and offers it up as a great device — the perfect companion to a high definition TV. The Boxee Box by D-Link provides access to more than just traditional TV content. It includes a huge library that spans the Internet, such as university courses, panel discussions, academic lectures, presentations, web-only videos and more from TED, Stanford, FORA.tv, Kid Mango, Next New Networks and others. Boxee also makes it easy for users to add their own favorite entertainment sources with simple RSS or XML feeds available for most online video.

In addition to video content, Boxee users can access great music from sites like Pandora, last.fm, shoutcast, and We are Hunted as well as stunning photos from sites like flickr, Picasa and Facebook.

Personal Entertainment
For entertainment lovers who have built their own collections of digital media stored on their computer hard drive or home network, Boxee automatically identifies their content and downloads relevant cover art, synopses, reviews, subtitles, lyrics and more. This feature turns boring files and folders into beautiful media libraries that make it simple and appealing to navigate a collection of favorite movies, TV shows, and playlists with a simple remote. Furthermore, the Boxee Box by D-Link has extensive format support (see below) which ensures that when users hit the play button, they get instant gratification, with no need to download codecs or drivers. Also, with built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi support, it can transfer files without delay and from longer distances within a user’s home.

Social Features
The Boxee Box by D-Link keeps people connected with social features to help users discover new content from friends, experts, and tastemakers.
The first step to discovery is sharing, and Boxee makes this easy by letting people recommend any playing content to friends. Additionally Boxee automatically uses recommendations from a user’s Twitter and Facebook friends so they can find new content and instantly enjoy it on the big screen. Since anyone can build on top of Boxee’s open App platform, users can craft their own truly custom experience by creating or downloading plug-ins, add-ons, games, and more.

“We are pleased to partner with Boxee and to be the first with such a ground-breaking device,” said Nick Tidd, vice president of sales of D-Link Pan America and vice president of marketing for D-Link North America. “This powerful device with its unique form factor truly leverages Boxee’s service and is the best way for consumers to quickly access the growing volume of Internet content, organize it and stream it to their TVs and home entertainment centers.”

“D-Link’s successful track record in bringing to market, award-winning digital home networking products, and its global marketing, distribution and channel sales capabilities made them a great fit for our first hardware vendor.” stated Andrew Kippen, vice president of marketing for Boxee, “The Boxee Box by D-Link gives consumers what they want – an easy way to watch Internet or personal entertainment in their living rooms with a simple set-top box that costs under $200 and has no monthly fees.”

The Boxee Box by D-Link is scheduled to ship in the first half of 2010 through the company’s vast network of retail and e-tail outlets, and at D-Link’s online store, www.dlinkshop.com.
Supported Codecs & Formats
Boxee can be used to play/view practically all common multimedia formats, including:

VIDEO:
Adobe Flash 10.1
H.264 (MKV, MOV)
VC-1
WMV
MPEG-1
MPEG-2
MPEG-4
AVI
Xvid
Divx
PCM/LPCM
VOB

AUDIO:
MP3
WMA
WAV
AIFF
FLAC
AAC
DTS
Dolby Digital
Ogg Vorbis

PHOTO:
JPEG
TIFF
BMP
PNG

About D-Link
D-Link is the global leader in connectivity for small, medium and large enterprise business networking. The company is an award-winning designer, developer and manufacturer of networking, broadband, digital electronics, voice, data and video communications solutions for the digital home, Small Office/Home Office (SOHO), Small to Medium Business (SMB), and Workgroup to Enterprise environments. With millions of networking and connectivity products manufactured and shipped, D-Link is a dominant market participant and price/performance leader in the networking and communications market. D-Link Systems, Inc. headquarters are located at 17595 Mt. Herrmann Street, Fountain Valley, CA, 92708. Phone (800) 326-1688 or (714) 885-6000; FAX (866) 743-4905; Internet www.dlink.com.

About Boxee
Boxee is the first “social” media center, whose free, downloadable software and enabled devices are changing the way consumers experience home entertainment. On a computer or on a dedicated device connected to an HDTV, boxee gives users a simple way to bring all their entertainment into one place including personal movies, TV shows, music and photos, as well as streaming content from websites like Netflix, MLB.TV, Pandora, Last.fm, and flickr. Users can also share information about what they’re watching so friends can enjoy it too through legal sources online. Nearly a million people use Boxee to get their entertainment. Learn how you can join them at www.boxee.tv.

D-Link, Boxee Box by D-Link and the D-Link logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of D-Link Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other third party marks mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright © 2009. D-Link. All Rights Reserved.

DTR @ CES2010 – Skype HD

Skype beta now supports 720p HD video calls on PCs and embeds Skype software into Internet-connected TVs. Very cool.

PR: http://about.skype.com/press/2010/01/new_era_in_face_to_face.html

DTR @ CES 2010 – 8GB Eye-Fi Pro X2

A pre-CES treat. Eye-Fi released a new 8GB Eye-Fi Pro X2 that supports 802.11n and is finally at a respectable size, 8GB. Pretty cool. Press release below.

Eye-Fi Introduces Eye-Fi Center, Software that Makes Sharing Photos and Videos Easier

INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW, LAS VEGAS — Jan. 5, 2010 — Eye-Fi Inc. has developed the next generation Eye-Fi experience, which includes an entirely new platform and more flexible sharing options. Unveiled today, the 8GB Eye-Fi Pro X2 is powered by Eye-Fi’s proprietary X2 engine and is the company’s revolutionary step in achieving high-end memory card performance. Photo enthusiasts will benefit from increased storage capacity, Class 6 performance for faster read/write speeds, faster-than-ever wireless photo and video uploads and increased Wi-Fi range.

Eye-Fi Pro X2 users will also benefit from a new feature, Endless Memory mode, which enables the Eye-Fi card to automatically make space available after photos and videos are uploaded. Last, Eye-Fi is introducing Eye-Fi Center, a new desktop application that gives users more options in sharing their digital memories.

“With the introduction of our first wireless memory card, we made backing up and sharing photos effortless. Now, we’re again redefining what is possible with a leap forward in technology, performance and user experience,” said Jef Holove, CEO of Eye-Fi. “The new X2 engine delivers further on the promise of a connected device – more convenience and virtually endless storage capacity, so there is no cap on the memories that can be captured.”

The Eye-Fi Pro X2 has been honored this year as a CES Innovations Honoree. More information will be available in Eye-Fi’s CES booth in the Digital Imaging Zone of South Hall Three at the LVCC, #31916.

Eye-Fi Pro X2 – Faster than Ever
The 8GB SDHC Eye-Fi Pro X2 is powered by Eye-Fi’s proprietary X2 engine which includes an exclusively designed chip and an 802.11n radio. The X2 engine enables greater flexibility in memory capacity and faster read write/speeds, achieving Class 6 performance. The 802.11n radio and a new antenna design enable faster wireless uploads and increased Wi-Fi range, and still support the 802.11b and 802.11g standards.

The Eye-Fi Pro X2 wirelessly uploads JPEG and RAW images and videos from the camera to computer and one of 25 online photo and video sharing sites, such as Flickr, Picasa or Facebook. It also allows users to create an ad hoc connection directly to their computer to wirelessly upload photos and videos while away from a wireless router. Or users can upload away from home at more than 10,000 Wayport and open hotspots. Pro X2 automatically geotags photos with information about where the images were taken.
It is available for pre-order on www.eye.fi and at select online retailers such as Amazon.com for an MSRP of $149.99.

“More and more we’re seeing smart devices like the Eye-Fi card that enable a better user experience. With the volume of photos and videos that are taken every day, consumers want a fast, convenient way to get their images off their camera to their computer and the Web for further processing and sharing,” said Alan Bullock of InfoTrends. “Eye-Fi allows consumers to add these capabilities for far less than the cost of a wireless camera.”

Endless Memory – No Cap to the Number of Memories that Can be Captured
In Endless Memory mode users can choose to have Eye-Fi automatically make space available on their Eye-Fi Pro X2. Using the card’s ability to communicate with the Eye-Fi Service, it receives confirmation whenever photos and videos are safely delivered to the user’s computer and/or online sharing site. When the card reaches the user’s pre-determined amount of space used, it will remove files that have been safely uploaded, beginning with the oldest – even when the card is not connected to the network. If files have not yet been uploaded, the Pro X2 will not remove them. This option can be set up in Eye-Fi Center.

Eye-Fi Center – Easier Storing and Sharing on Multiple Sharing Sites
Eye-Fi also introduced Eye-Fi Center, a new desktop application for managing the Eye-Fi card and experience. Eye-Fi Center has a redesigned interface that is easy to navigate and use, with drag and drop capabilities. Eye-Fi Center allows users to easily select and republish photos and videos to different online locations, so users can share on multiple sites. It also allows users to get any photos or videos on their computer (even those not uploaded with an Eye-Fi card) into the Eye-Fi system, where they can be easily published online. And it allows users to access some features, even when not connected to the Internet, such as adding a wireless network to their card.

Eye-Fi Center will be available for download later this month.

CES Innovations Honoree
The Eye-Fi Pro X2 has been named an International CES Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Award Honoree for the X2 engine’s innovative design qualities. Products entered in this program are judged by a panel of independent industrial designers, engineers and members of the media to honor cutting edge consumer electronics products. It will be on display in the Grand Lobby of the LVCC during the 2010 International CES.

Eye-Fi’s current line-up of wireless SD and SDHC memory cards range in price from $49-$149 and are available at www.eye.fi, in store at Apple Retail Stores and Best Buy locations, and at major online retailers such as Amazon.com and Walmart.com.

Eye-Fi has received numerous product awards including Popular Photography’s 2009Photography’s Outstanding Products (POP) awards and “Last Gadget Standing” at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for the second year in a row. For more information, please visit www.eye.fi or follow us on Twitter @EyeFiCard.