News for Thursday, 23 October 2008

Hereafter are photos of the SSD unit shipping with then new MacBook Pro models (2.5" SATA):


As indicated by the labels, this SSD is based on MLC chips. As the cover only features 4 screws, we could not resist longer to get them out:

Nothing really amazing behind the cover: a printed circuit, an ARM chips and 8 memory chips.


The SSD is surprisingly light, 2 to 3 times lighter than a standard 2.5" HD. We will not be able to run a complete test, including SSD vs. HD before this week-end. Samsung announces that this SSD should deliver 90 MB/s in reading mode and 70 MB/s in writing, really promising...

When former Apple employees decide to further develop an idea or a concept one can expect great results. Driven by Alex Grossman, who leaded the creation and development of the Xserve RAID at Apple, the new company, Active Storage, intends to provide 'the evolution of storage for Apple users': XRAID.

Yes, the Active Storage XRAID shares some similarities with the discontinued Apple Xserve RAID, but it bring some impressive specifications which will please most Pro users. It provides up to 16 TB of storage in a 3U rack space, with a native Mac OS X management suite featuring Bonjour discovery, a Cocoa-developed monitoring application, a Cocoa admin application, a Dashboard Widget, and an iPhone management applications.
What can you do with such system? You can get 1570 MB/s on standard direct-attached server benchmarks, when associated in Xsan 2 installation, Active Storage claims that one single XRAID can deliver up to 4 streams of 8-bit 1080p uncompressed video!!!
Retail prices ranges from 10,999 USD for a 6 TB SATA II configuration to 14,999 USD for the 16 TB unit, while an expansion unit of 16 TB will be available for 12,999 USD. For sure, Pro Mac users who were looking for high performance and large storage system will have a new opportunity, and might even replace their old Xserve RAID by the Active Storage XRAID.

If one would have expected to find Apple Cinema Display on the Refurb Store, due to the release of the new 24" LED backlighted model, it is not for today. However, Apple offers refurbished Apple TV: the 40 GB model is now available at 187.04 € while the high-end model and its 160 GB storage space is priced 267.04 €. You might be tempted to buy the entry model and to install a larger PATA HD of 250 GB which can easily be found for less than 80 €. The HD swapping procedure is described in one of our previous article: here (in French but easily understandable)

A report from Nicolas:

To improve the safety and security of my wireless network at home, I performed some tests and modified the emitting power of my Airport Extreme (802.11n) station. I am using a MacBook Pro and I almost always use the wireless network in my office or my living room.
I went down to 10 % of the max emitting power of the station without affecting the quality of my wireless network; it does not seem to affect data transfer speed even for the wireless Time Machine.
I think it is worse adapting its wireless network for at least 2 reasons:
- Reducing the "bubble" of waves, despite claims from manufacturers it is better for our safety.
- Avoid your neighborhoods to be tempted to crack your wireless network to use.
I am sure that my wireless network is not stable/usable outside the defined area I selected. Of course, one can not directly act against the waves from your neighbors wireless network, however you could explain them why it would be interesting for them to apply such strategy.

Some of us might remember the famous and glorious Motorola Startac mobile phone, "so small in size but so big in price": 1,500 €. Then, Motorola went through difficult periods and could not follow the wave of iPhone-like mobiles to compete with Apple popular mobile phone. To catch its second breath, Motorola decided to target the market of high-end mobile phones; one would say a niche market of the most expensive models:

This model will cost 2,000 USD, and instead of bringing new useless functions, Motorola concentrated on the quality of manufacturing. The rotating system is not a dumb plastic ring, but a dedicated rotating part including 130 balls and designed to be opened/closed 100,000 times. The display will offer 16 millions colors and be covered by a sapphire-type of glass almost scratch-proof.
As the iPhone is now a mass market product, stars from Hollywood and other places on the planet will look for an alternative device to be "different".

Scientists from the Nanyang Technology University in Singapore announced to have successfully developed a new wireless system based on 60 GHz radio frequencies. If this technology is not really new in laboratories, the new antenna is compatible with mass manufacturing.
Scientists expect to be able to apply this technology for offering short range high speed wireless network for audio video application, wireless USB or data sharing between hardware. Indeed, with such frequency the amount of data in packets is huge. The other advantages is linked to regulations, as this frequency is so far free for use worldwide, unlike Wi-Fi frequencies which are regulated and different from one country to another.

According to recent studies and estimates, the economic crisis, already felt strongly in the United States, will have a significant impact on the sales of TV HD and those of Blu-ray readers. The new estimates have a 25% reduction in sales.
This is certainly the reason for the 'sales' that have already started in the United States.
Thus, Best Buy markets a reader at $199,99 accompanied with a coupon for $100 worth of Blu-ray films. The price of the other readers has also dropped significantly.
This is rather a good news for the consumers, all at least for those who will decide to take the step. We are however curious to know if the Majors will promote this market by also proposing a matching cut in the price of their films.