Mobile Magazine » seagate

Archos G9 Honeycomb tablets get dual-core 1.5GHz cpu, 250GB HDDs, 3G stick

Michael Kwan — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:25:32 +0000

Even though Archos was already well established in tablets before Apple came around and popularized the format, the company has fallen a little bit behind the competition lately. That has now changed with announcement of the Archos G9 tablet range, because they are said to be the fastest.

The Archos 80 G9 and Archos 101 G9 come equipped with 8-inch and 10-inch displays, respectively, but both get their juice via an OMAP 4 processor with an ARM Cortex A9 dual-core chip running at 1.5GHz. That’s some serious performance, considering that it’s the same kind of power running your full laptop not that long ago. They say this offers 50% more raw computational power than Tegra2 at 1GHz. They’re backing it up with a 250GB HDD from Seagate to boot.

The other knock I had against Archos? Their Android tablets were still only running blown-up smartphone operating systems. The G9 changes that too, as they’ve bumped their way up to Android 3.1 Honeycomb. This includes full access to Android Market, as well as Flash support. Also, the G9 will work with a standard PC 3G stick for wireless connectivity and the $49 Archos G9 3G Stick “has been specially designed to fit perfectly into the back of any G9 tablet.”

With real Honeycomb, real Android Market access, and some real performance, you’d think that Archos would price the G9 tablets in line with the Xooms and Eee Pads of the world. Well, they’ve gone cheaper. The Archos 80 G9 starts at $279 and the Archos 101 G9 starts at $349. Look for them this September.

ARCHOS Unveils Fastest Tablets with G9 Tablet Range

The G9 range features the industry’s fastest dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, the largest storage capacity with a Seagate 250GB Hard Drive, Honeycomb 3.1, Android MarketTM, 1080p HD video and 3G capability

DENVER, CO – June 23, 2011 – Today, ARCHOS, an award winning technology innovator and pioneer in the tablet market, introduces an unrivaled combination of speed and storage with its latest tablets featuring an OMAP 4 processor with an ARM® Cortex™ dual-core A9 running at 1.5 GHz and Seagate’s 250GB Hard Disk Drive (HDD) capacity.

The 8” ARCHOS 80 G9 and 10” ARCHOS 101 G9 are powered by AndroidTM 3.1 “Honeycomb,’’* the latest Android version. ARCHOS G9 tablets come with Google’s full suite of mobile applications and Android MarketTM, giving users access to over 200,000 applications such as games, books, social media and news. With the latest version of Honeycomb, G9 tablets also offer a full web experience complete with Adobe® Flash® support for on-the-go web browsing, communication and applications.

Additionally, the G9 tablets feature a unique 3G ready solution where customers no longer need to choose between WiFi and 3G models at purchase. ARCHOS 3G Stick is a standard 3G stick for laptops which has been designed to be compatible with all ARCHOS G9 tablets. All G9 tablets come with a concealed USB port on the back of the device that when paired with the ARCHOS 3G USB Stick will enable 3G connectivity.

The G9 tablet range continues to push technological boundaries and features the following innovations.

Fastest Tablet Experience Ever

ARCHOS have decided to push their G9 tablets even further by loading them out with a 1.5 GHz dual-core OMAP 4 processor from Texas Instruments™. With 50% more raw computational power, ARCHOS G9 tablets have the power needed for a great Android experience.

For example, with the 1.5 GHz OMAP 4 processor the ARCHOS G9 tablet enhance a user’s web browsing experience with page load time reduced by up to 50% over tablets running the Nvidia Tegra 2TM processor at 1 GHz.

All your HD multimedia in your hands or on TV

With the best multimedia experience, ARCHOS G9 tablets are the only tablets able to decode 1080p H264 High Profile videos whilst current standard tablets are not even able to play 720p H264 High Profile smoothly.

ARCHOS have replaced the standard multimedia apps with ARCHOS boosted apps for video and music to give to users more format compatibility and a unique user interface.

With film and TV series metadata automatically downloaded, even video files are automatically organized by title, actor, director, year, season and episode; ARCHOS have redefined the tablet device category by providing consumers more ways to experience HD entertainment.

ARCHOS G9 tablets also feature an HDMI output, giving users full access to their Android experience on TV including movies in 1080p resolution.

WiFi or 3G, no need to choose, it’s up to you whenever you want

This patented solution lets the consumer add a standard PC 3G stick to his tablet whenever and wherever. The ARCHOS G9 3G Stick has been specially designed to fit perfectly into the back of any G9 tablet. Just remove the cover and slide in the ARCHOS G9 3G Stick to unleash the full portability of your ARCHOS G9 tablet.

With this innovative USB 3G stick, consumers will no longer have to choose between a WiFi and a 3G tablet at purchase. For just a $49 upgrade, the users can purchase the ARCHOS G9 3G Stick and start enjoying 3G connectivity on his ARCHOS tablet or PCs compared to other tablets where 3G modules add over $100 to the cost and there’s no option to add it later.

This cutting edge 3G stick offers one 3G solution for both a tablet and a laptop and uses just one data plan1. Offered as a Pay-As-You-Go Plan, there is no subscription required and the consumer need only pay for what they need when they need it.
Top performance, best value

While the competitors’ tablets are priced starting at $499, ARCHOS is offering an 8’’ tablet starting at $279 and 10.1’’ tablet starting $349.

ARCHOS is offering cutting-edge performance such as a more powerful and faster processor, unique 3G solution, enhanced multimedia experience and more storage capacity with the built-in 250GB HDD from Seagate.

ARCHOS are the first in the industry to offer a tablet with a hard drive, bringing 8 times more storage at the same cost of a standard 32GB tablet.

ARCHOS are also the first to offer such high performance at such affordable price, making ARCHOS G9 tablets the best cost-performance value.

The ARCHOS 80 G9 and ARCHOS 101 G9 will be available at the end of September and will be shown beginning of September at IFA.
Two tablets to fit your lifestyle: ARCHOS 80 G9 and ARCHOS 101 G9

The ARCHOS 80 G9 is the portable tablet with perfect size for web browsing, ebook and newspaper reading with its 8” 4:3 screen and a resolution of 1024 x 768.

The ARCHOS 101 G9 is the perfect entertainment tablet to share the Android Honeycomb experience. With 250GB of storage space, users will be able to carry over 50 hours of full 1080p HD to watch on their 10.1” wide 1280 x 800 16:10 screen.
About ARCHOS

Archos, pioneer in the portable audio and video player market, and now specialized in Android powered Internet Tablets, has repeatedly revolutionized the market for consumer electronics since 1988. Today, ARCHOS offers Internet Tablets, Tablet PCs and MP3/MP4 players. In 2000, ARCHOS launched the Jukebox 6000, the first MP3 player combined with a hard disk. Then in 2003 ARCHOS introduced the first portable multimedia players with TV recording. In 2006 Wi-Fi is implemented and then touch screens in 2007. In 2008, Archos launched the first generation Internet Tablets, and then the first ever Android powered tablets in 2009. ARCHOS has offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. ARCHOS is quoted on Compartment C of Eurolist, Euronext Paris, ISIN CodeFR0000182479. Website: www.archos.com.

The post Archos G9 Honeycomb tablets get dual-core 1.5GHz cpu, 250GB HDDs, 3G stick appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Western Digital Buys Hitachi’s Hard Drive Wing for $4.3 Billion

Michael Kwan — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:07:30 +0000

You know how everybody owns everybody and even though you see different brands, they really are the same company? That kind of idea infiltrates just about every industry and the hard drive business is no exception. The latest deal sees Hitachi Global Storage Technologies snatched up by Western Digital for a cool $4.3 billion.

The deal is worth $3.5 billion in cash and $750 million in WD common stock. The brand and headquarters for Western Digital will emerge out the other end, but Hitachi GST’s president and CEO will take over as the president of Western Digital.

Will this help or hurt innovation? Will this help or hurt competition? Well, we already saw a similar deal six years ago when Seagate picked up Maxtor for $2 billion. With today’s announcement, the WD vs. Seagate battle just stepped up another notch, as if it wasn’t already clear enough that these are the two biggest juggernauts in the HDD game.

Western Digital to Acquire Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

Combination of Hard Drive Companies Will Create Industry’s Broadest Product Portfolio and a Significant Pool of Resources for Innovation

IRVINE, Calif. and SAN JOSE, Calif., March 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) and Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT / TSE:6501) announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby WD will acquire Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $4.3 billion. The proposed combination will result in a customer-focused storage company, with significant operating scale, strong global talent and the industry’s broadest product lineup backed by a rich technology portfolio.

Under the terms of the agreement, WD will acquire Hitachi GST for $3.5 billion in cash and 25 million WD common shares valued at $750 million, based on a WD closing stock price of $30.01 as of March 4, 2011. Hitachi, Ltd. will own approximately ten percent of Western Digital shares outstanding after issuance of the shares and two representatives of Hitachi will be added to the WD board of directors at closing. The transaction has been approved by the board of directors of each company and is expected to close during the third calendar quarter of 2011, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. WD plans to fund the transaction with a combination of existing cash and total debt of approximately $2.5 billion.

WD expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to its earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis, excluding acquisition-related expenses, restructuring charges and amortization of intangibles.

The resulting company will retain the Western Digital name and remain headquartered in Irvine, California. John Coyne will remain chief executive officer of WD, Tim Leyden chief operating officer and Wolfgang Nickl chief financial officer. Steve Milligan, president and chief executive officer of Hitachi GST, will join WD at closing as president, reporting to John Coyne.

“The acquisition of Hitachi GST is a unique opportunity for WD to create further value for our customers, stockholders, employees, suppliers and the communities in which we operate,” said John Coyne, president and chief executive officer of WD. “We believe this step will result in several key benefits-enhanced R&D capabilities, innovation and expansion of a rich product portfolio, comprehensive market coverage and scale that will enhance our cost structure and ability to compete in a dynamic marketplace. The skills and contributions of both workforces were key considerations in assessing this compelling opportunity. We will be relying on the proven integration capabilities of both companies to assure the ongoing satisfaction of our customers and to bring this combination to successful fruition.”

“This brings together two industry leaders with consistent track records of strong execution and industry outperformance,” said Steve Milligan, president and chief executive officer, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. “Together we can provide customers worldwide with the industry’s most compelling and diverse set of products and services, from innovative personal storage to solid state drives for the enterprise.”

Hiroaki Nakanishi, president, Hitachi, Ltd. said, “As the former CEO of Hitachi GST, I always believed in the potential of Hitachi GST to become a larger and more agile company. This is a strategic combination of two industry leaders, both growing and profitable. It provides an opportunity for the new company to increase customer and shareholder value and expand into new markets. Additionally, it is important to us that WD shares common values with Hitachi GST to create a more global company that is well positioned to define a broader role in the evolving storage industry.”

WD’s exclusive financial adviser on the transaction is Bank of America Merrill Lynch; its lead legal adviser is O’Melveny & Myers LLP. Goldman, Sachs & Co serves as financial adviser to Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi GST. Legal advisers to Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi GST are Morrison Foerster LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates, respectively.

The post Western Digital Buys Hitachi’s Hard Drive Wing for $4.3 Billion appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Seagate’s Momentus XT Under Fire for Lagging, Freezing

Raggy Jin — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 19:29:03 +0000

Seagate’s newest hybrid SSD/ATA hard drive has been facing issues with speed, freezing and aggressive spin-down/spin-up habits – the very issues solid state drive technology itself was designed to surpass – angering some of the new technology’s 350,000 users.

The Momentus XT is a 7200-rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive combined with 4GB of SSD capacity and 32MB of DDR3 cache memory, capable of tracking its user’s trends to serve up the most frequently accessed data from its flash memory while storing the bulk of data on the ATA drive component. But it’s another feature, the Advanced Power Management, that’s been causing some grief.

The drive’s APM feature automatically spins down the hard disk to cut down on power and physical wear while the SSD is in use. Which is pretty often, according to Darren Dittrich, CEO of the Sell.com Marketplace, who clocked one of his Momentus XT drives at 65,535 spin-downs in a month.

After Seagate’s “SD24″ firmware update for the XT, which was said to address the spin-down/spin-up frequency, Dittrich said the drive is still slower than the native hard drive that came with the MacBook and he’s still suffering from “odd lagging, and mysterious slowdowns.”

“They are temporary and bearable, but very annoying for me, even more difficult for some folks on the forums (video editors, musicians, etc),” said Dittrich. “I only have experience on the Mac side of the house, but there are plenty of PC users out there as well who are experiencing spin-down/up, drive stalls, and the like.”

Seagate says the problem is still persisting in Apple computers particularly, but the company is working on solutions.

“Most of these anomalies have already been resolved by the current SD24 firmware upgrade located on the Seagate support forum or through our technical support team,” the spokesman said. “The few remaining concerns include beeping sounds, no spin down in power-saving modes and intermittent hangs, most notably on MacBook Pro systems. Seagate remains focused on resolving these issues as well.”

The post Seagate’s Momentus XT Under Fire for Lagging, Freezing appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Seagate announces ultra-portable Time-Machine hard drives

Raggy Jin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 07:26:38 +0000

Seagate, arguably one of the most well-known names in external hard drives announced the release of four new ultra-portable “GoFlex for Mac” external hard drives at CES.

Formatted to work with Apple’s Time Machine backup system right out of the box, the 2.5-inch hard drives actually require PC users to download a specific driver to use the machines. Company representatives cite iTunes sales and growing market share as the reason behind their sudden Mac bias.

“With over 10 billion songs downloaded from the iTunes store and Apple’s market share continuing to grow year-over-year, the growing audience for Mac OS X will need external storage to backup all their digital content,” said Darcy Clarkson, vice president of Global Retail Sales and Marketing for Seagate. “Today’s product introduction addresses these current market trends and underscores Seagate’s commitment to delivering flexible, easy-to-use solutions that meet varying customer needs.”

According to their press release, Seagate even went as far as to design the drives’ exterior with Apple’s trademark metallic finish “to deliver a fresh look that fits seamlessly with today’s Apple product line.”

The drives will be compatible with other GoFlex devices, such as a net media sharing device and a TV HD media player, which allow users to view and share content from the drives on their TV, smartphone or iPad.

GoFlex for Mac drives are available now, ranging in size from 500GB to 3TB, and they’ll set you back between $150 and $280.

[Seagate]

Seagate Introduces GoFlex for Mac External Drives

New Collection of FreeAgent® GoFlex™ for Mac External Drives Are Designed for Mac Enthusiasts While Maintaining Cross-Platform Compatibility

2011 International CES
LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–2011 International CES — Addressing the personal preferences of the Mac community, Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) today introduced a new collection of GoFlex™ for Mac external drives designed to make it easy for those who use Mac OS X and Time Machine to backup, shuttle, or share their digital content.

“Today’s product introduction addresses these current market trends and underscores Seagate’s commitment to delivering flexible, easy-to-use solutions that meet varying customer needs.”
These new portable and desktop solutions are HFS+ formatted out-of-the-box, making them fully compatible with Apple Time Machine® backup software, while maintaining the ability to work across both Microsoft® Windows® and Mac OS X computers. A truly unique feature, GoFlex for Mac drives can also be used with computers running Windows by simply downloading an HFS+ driver for Windows from Seagate.com, which will provide full read-write access to the drive from a Windows computer.

Each GoFlex for Mac product comes bundled with FireWire® 800 and USB 2.0 adapters and cables—the most popular interfaces for Apple computers — but also delivers the flexibility to change the drive’s interface to USB 3.0 or powered eSATA for use with Windows computers. The GoFlex™ interface cables help deliver the speed, performance and connectivity people need, as well as to help safe guard their investments against changing technology. To deliver a fresh look that fits seamlessly with today’s Apple product line, each 2.5-inch, ultra-portable drive in the family features a durable, soft-touch, metallic finish, which is also designed to withstand scratches, fingerprints or other marks incurred from travel.

The new line-up of GoFlex™ for Mac external drives include:

GoFlexTM for Mac ultra-portable drive — This 2.5-inch portable drive is now designed specifically for use with Apple’s Time Machine right out-of-the-box, easily go back in time to access changes or file updates were before they were made. MSRP $199.99 for 1TB, and $249.99 for 1.5TB.
GoFlexTM for Mac Limited Edition ultra-portable drive — The GoFlex™ for Mac Limited Edition ultra-portable drive packs 1TB of storage into the standardized 2.5-inch form factor, making it the slimmest high-cap drive available on the market today. With a depth of 12.5mm and shorter in length than an iPhone, the GoFlexTM for Mac Limited Edition is perfect for use with GoFlex TV or GoFlex Net. MSRP $199.95 for 1TB.
GoFlexTM Pro for Mac ultra portable — This 7200RPM, 2.5-inch drive delivers advanced performance for those professionals who place high demands on their storage, such as graphic artists, musicians, videographers or photographers. Using the included FireWire 800 cable to achieve transfer speeds up to three times faster than USB 2.0. MSRP $149.99 for 500GB; $179.99 for 750GB.
GoFlexTM Desk for Mac drive — This 3.5-inch high-capacity external drive includes a flexible design that can sit horizontally or vertically to fit your workspace. Back up files using Apple’s Time Machine. Optional software displays the drive’s real-time capacity with lights on the dock and includes other useful tools. MSRP $219.99 for 2TB; $279.99 for 3TB.
In addition, each GoFlex for Mac drive can be used with other devices in the GoFlex™ Storage System such as the GoFlex™ Net media sharing device and the GoFlex™ TV HD media player1. These solutions provide the flexibility to enjoy content on a TV or a mobile device, such as an iPad or smart phone. There is also an option to download additional software for use with all GoFlex for Mac drives that will provide helpful utilities such as a control to turn the activity lights off and a tool to verify that the drive is functioning properly. Each drive in the family also comes backed by a Seagate three-year warranty, helping to protect your investment and providing peace of mind.

“With over 10 billion songs downloaded from the iTunes® store and Apple’s market share continuing to grow year-over-year, the growing audience for Mac OS X will need external storage to backup all their digital content,” said Darcy Clarkson, vice president of Global Retail Sales and Marketing for Seagate. “Today’s product introduction addresses these current market trends and underscores Seagate’s commitment to delivering flexible, easy-to-use solutions that meet varying customer needs.”

About Seagate

Seagate is the worldwide leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions. Learn more at http://www.seagate.com.

facebook.com/seagate

twitter.com/seagate

media.seagate.com

© 2011 Seagate Technology LLC. All rights reserved. Seagate, Seagate Technology, the Wave logo, FreeAgent, and GoFlex are trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. When referring to drive capacity, one gigabyte, or GB, equals one billion bytes and one terabyte, or TB, equals one thousand billion bytes. Your computer’s operating system may use a different standard of measurement and report a lower capacity. In addition, some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and will not be available for data storage. Actual data rates may vary depending on operating environment and other factors. The export or re-export of hardware or software containing encryption may be regulated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (for more information, visit www.bis.doc.gov) and controlled for import and use outside of the U.S. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications.

1 Note, due to the thickness of the 750GB and 1TB ultra-portable drives, they must be connected to the GoFlex TV HD media player using one of the two additional USB ports on the product.

The post Seagate announces ultra-portable Time-Machine hard drives appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

SSD prices fall while HDD prices rise

Sufyan bin Uzayr — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 02:30:30 +0000

If you are planning to buy a Solid State Drive (SSD), it may very well be the right time to do so. Going by the present trends, Solid State Drive manufacturers such as Intel and Adata Technology have been dropping SSD prices by as much as 10-15% in order to increase sales and market penetration rate.

On the other hand, Hard Disk Drive (HDD) prices have gone up substantially in the fourth quarter of 2010. The rise in HDD pricing can be attributed to the fact that all major Hard Disk Drive manufacturers, including the likes of Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and Hitachi GST, have recently cut down their production capacity in the final quarter of 2010. Judging by unofficial figures, the price rise in the HDD segment is estimated to be as high as 4-5% (for 500 GB models).

Since the SSD prices have shown a decline and most major manufacturers — such as Samsung Electronics, Micron, Intel, Toshiba and Hynix — have all shown an affection for the development of 20nm processes, it is expected that the sales of SSDs shall rise by year end.

So does this imply that SSD may finally pose a threat to HDD? No, definitely not. With Solid State Drives still 10 times costlier than traditional Hard Disk Drives, the fall in price won’t affect the HDD sales much. Yet, for those who were inhibited by the awkwardly high pricing of Solid State Drives, 2010 year end may perhaps be the much anticipated and eagerly awaited ‘auspicious’ occasion to buy one!

Source: Digitimes

The post SSD prices fall while HDD prices rise appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

REVIEW: Seagate FreeAgent Go Portable Hard Drive

Jeff Cutler — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:00:03 +0000

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how cool it is to have dependable storage for everything from contact lists to music files to photographs. In that post I think I also mentioned that a longer review was on its way. This is that longer review.

Once you get it out of its package, the Seagate FreeAgent Go is a dream. But Seagate is still using some of those crazy, form-fitting plastic packages that threaten to slice off your limbs if you slip while pulling them apart. It might look sleek on the shelves of the Apple Store or local Best Buy, but I’d rather Seagate start using a less hazardous type of packing.

Aside from the danger zone of unwrapping the drive, the rest of my experience with the drive was superb.

While many gadgets tout their ‘plug and play’ capabilities, Seagate’s drive delivers. In mere moments – really – I was moving files via USB from my Macbook to the 500GB drive.

In mere minutes I had changed the setting on SuperDuper to recognize the FreeAgent Go as my backup drive. And that was seamless as well.

In fact, in the months I’ve been putting the drive though the rigors of daily life – including regularly shuffling info on and off of my laptop to make room for podcasting, photos and client work – I have yet to have a snag.

Sure, drives are warranted against failure for years but the resolution to a drive failure is just a replacement drive from the manufacturer. It’s better to not have a drive fail in the first place and the Seagate looks to be up to the task.

Here’s where it’s been…

Eight plane flights including X-ray machines and banging around in my laptop bag
A car ride from Detroit to Austin, ending at South by Southwest (SXSW) with three other guys who relied on me to process audio files in a moving vehicle
Multiple scooter rides into Boston where I set up my remote office in various coffee shops
and making regular trips from a desk drawer to the countertop at my house for my twice weekly backups

Here’s what I’ve used it for…

Moved 65GB of music to and from the drive three times to keep space clear on my laptop
Copied audio files for iRoadTrip to the drive for sharing among the group during that car ride from Detroit to Austin
Used it to backup articles, interviews and sound and video files during SXSW and other conferences
Organized my iPhoto and regular photo library by moving 40GB to and fro
and as mentioned above, twice-weekly backups of my 235GB of data on my Macbook’s 250GB internal drive

What’s the next step?

For me, I think I’m going to see if I can get a Seagate 500GB to install into my laptop. I think I’m going to replace the other large externals I have around the office for these pocket-size dream devices. And I think I’m going to finally start using the dock that comes as a FreeAgent Go accessory.

That’s correct, in the five months I’ve been using the drive, the dock has sat in that same plastic packaging. Mostly because I work in lots of places and the dock is a great device if you have one work space where you can just drop your drive when you arrive and work.

But a friend I spoke to has the Seagate FreeAgent Go 320 with 400/800 Firewire and USB, and he uses the dock every day. It defaults to the highest speeed he said. And he loves that he can use the drive on the road and at his office.

The Bad…

Silly packaging
USB cord is fairly short so if you’re really using a laptop on your lap, you might need to balance the drive on your thigh

The Good

Tiny size – really is about the size of your passport in width and about the thickness of a Tic-Tac box (for the USB version), the Firewire drives are a little thicker
Grippy surface on the bottom of the drive keeps it from skipping off your desk
Plug and play is the way all drives should behave
Price – for the size and the capacity, you can’t get much better than $199 list and $149 actual for 500GB – including the dock

Bottom Line

Storage is a moving target. It will ALWAYS be cheaper tomorrow than it is today. But your memories and your data are always worth more than you can imagine, so spend the money now. The FreeAgent Go is a great solution for anyone who wants to keep their data safe and backed up. It’s small enough to fit in a safe deposit box if you so choose. It fits in your shirt pocket. It holds 500GB (comes in 250GB and 320GB and 640GB too). It also comes in USB 2.0 or Triple Firewire 800/400 and USB 2.0. I say get it, you won’t be disappointed.

The post REVIEW: Seagate FreeAgent Go Portable Hard Drive appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Cutler’s iRoadTrip Gadget Bag

Jeff Cutler — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:53:25 +0000

In March I hopped in a car with three other guys to drive from Detroit to Austin ending up at South by Southwest (SXSW). We were documenting the journey and collecting content along the way.

Well, the trip’s been over for a few months, but I wanted to share with you a few of the gadgets that made the trip – and the sharing of content possible.

I delivered my messages to the world via these items…

Macbook – as a writer, this is my preferred communications tool. With it I can write, blog, tweet, email and even record sound and video. This item won’t be far from my lap during the journey.

Zoom H2 recorder – As a technology reporter for NPR and as a lapsed podcaster, I’ve found this device to be an amazingly versatile and powerful tool for capturing all sorts of sound. It records in WAV and MP3 formats and is lighter than my cell phone.

Seagate FreeAgent|Go external hard drive – I’m still working on getting a video camera to document some of the events along the way and in anticipation of shooting video I know we’re going to need some storage devices. This little drive is 500GB of pure portability. I’m doing a separate review of this drive, but what I’ll let out of the bag right now is that there’s no better feeling than having digital room to expand when you’re creating content on a regular basis.

Sound, video and even written files have to go somewhere and there’s no way I’m deleting all my Jonathan Coulton songs off my Macbook’s HD.

**By the way, if you ever need to know about a tech gadget – search MobileMag.com – they’ve done…we’ve done reviews of nearly every gadget you’ve ever heard of from micro projectors to Google phones to iPhone apps to cases. We even put up recaps of big tech events and slice-of-life sharing of how we use gadgets in our day-to-day life.**

iPhone – ‘nuf said. Although during SXSW the unmodified iPhones required a visit from AT&T to boost local connectivity in downtown Austin as attendees at the show were sucking up all the bandwidth. My iPhone is on another network.

Olympus 720SW digital camera – It’s waterproof to 10 feet, it’s crushproof and it’s shock-proof. I’ve taken this thing to about 47 other countries and I’ve no doubt it can survive the comfy 1500 mile ride in a 2010 Ford Escape. It also returns great photos like this one at the 2006 Tour de France.

Various dongles, cables, batteries and headsets.

So, when you’re hitting the road make sure you figure out what you need and then see if we’ve used it and reviewed it.

Safe journeys!

The post Cutler’s iRoadTrip Gadget Bag appeared first on Mobile Magazine.