Seagate has released its 3TB Barracuda XT Hard Drive-Breaks the 2.1TB Limit without additional Hardware

Barracuda XT high-performance desktop drives deliver 3TB capacities with a massive 64MB cache and the fastest SATA interface–SATA 6Gb/s.

Key Features and Benefits

• 3TB of capacity easily configurable with Seagate® DiscWizard™ software to overcome legacy capacity limits of 2.1TB with no additional hardware required.
• Massive capacity meets the demands of today's storage-craving applications, such as high-performance game systems and video production systems.
• SATA 6Gb/s interface enables the use of the industry's newest and fastest hard drive controllers targeted for high-performance desktop, gaming and entry-level server systems.
• 7200-RPM drive complements the massive capacity, delivering a powerful combination of storage and high-end desktop performance.
• 64MB cache optimizes burst performance and reduces data throughput bottlenecks.

Best-Fit Applications

• High-performance PC gaming systems
• High-definition video editing and production systems and workstations
• Home and small business servers
• Desktop RAID
• Performance-demanding external storage devices

Can’t wait to see what comes out next. Seagate and others are saying that this drive is release but I don’t see in distribution yet. I’m sure it will be there soon. This is great because we should start seeing a drop in 2TB drives as these come out and are available.

Resources:

• Barracuda® XT Product Overview
• Barracuda® XT Data Sheet
• Break the 2.1TB Barrier with Barracuda® XT Drives and DiscWizard™ Software
• Barracuda® XT DiscWizard
• Beyond 2TB on the Desktop

I have only found it SKU’d at one of our vendors and they are not expecting their first shipment until April 4th. Price should be some where around $300.

Samsung’s 9 Series Notebook Looks Really Interesting

PRESS RELEASE: Yes, I’m locked into the Microsoft World of PC’s so when I look at hardware I naturally am not looking into the Apple world of hardware for my mobile and desktop computing needs. Samsung has announced its Series 9 notebooks at this January’s CES show and I must say it looks really nice. It is very thin with artistic curves. This 13.3 inch notebook weighs in at just 2.89 pounds and is only .64 inches thick. It claims a 6.5 hour battery life with 4GB RAM, a 128GB SSD and a 1.5 watt subwoofer.It is also supporting USB 3.0 and has built-in WiMax 4G.

The 13.3-inch 9 Series offers mobile professionals and power users a sophisticated laptop equally suited for work and entertainment. Thanks to a stunning design, Samsung’s hallmark SuperBright Plus display and Intel performance processing power, the notebook ushers in a new era in mobile computing.

Key Specs:
• CPU: Second Generation Intel® CoreTM i5 Processor 2537M (1.40 GHz, 3MB; turbo up to 2.3 GHz)
• Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 bit) / Windows® 7 Professional (64 bit)
• Memory: 4GB DDR3
• Storage (max): 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
• Screen: 13.3-inch HD LED-backlit SuperBright Plus display (400 nit)
• Resolution: 1366x768
• Graphics: Intel HD GT2 Integrated Graphics
• Speakers: 3 watt (1.5W x 2) stereo speakers and 1.5 watt sub-woofer
• Battery: Lithium Polymer; up to 6.5 hours
• Wireless: 802.11b/g/n; WiMaxi
• Weight: 2.89 lbs.

These units were supposed to be available in February 2011 but I think that since they are based on the Intel’s Sandy Bridge CPU the recall of the supporting chipset by Intel may have caused a set back on the delivery schedule. We are starting to see some movement on deliveries from other manufacturers with their Sandy Bridge products so hopefully this notebook will be showing up shortly. Starting at around $1,599 you may want to put in your order soon!

3D Printing has been getting a lot of focus lately…

Here is another potential use for the 3D printer, body part replacements! Referred to as Bioprinting, the process is used to make biological tissue such as skin, bone and cartilage. 3D printing has been around for over twenty years but researchers recently began using it to create biological structures. The idea is to make custom designed tissue and organs from a patient’s own cells which may in turn eliminate the need for donated organs. While the research is ongoing there has been some interesting research being done at the Medical University of South Carolina by Vladimir Mironov who is the director of the Bioprinting Research Center at the university.

Dr. Mironov MD, PhD explains that Bioprinting is a mixture of both Art, Science and Technology. In his mission statement titled: On Art and Science: Bioprinting & Pygmalion’s Dream? he discussing how his vision of this science was born from his artistic beginnings. He talks about how in the scientist’s everyday life they are constantly using art to describe and show their ideas, whether it is through description, drawings, photography, or modeling they use artistic methods to present their ideas to others.

Their Roadmap shows the starting with creating blood vessels to carry blood and nutrients to the cells in the tissue that they want to create. This is the first step in creating the infrastructure of the organ replacements. It certainly is an exciting time to be alive and it will be interesting to see how this research progresses in the years to come.

So you want to access your Skydrive Storage on your Android device

Microsoft hasn’t written an app for this yet but there is a beta product available for your android device called Sorami that will give you access to the 25GB’s of free space that is available from your Microsoft Windows Live SkyDrive account. If you haven’t set one up yet click here! I have always been a little partial towards Dropbox but you only get 2GB’s of free storage. What I like best though is the ability to synchronize the files between all of my devices. SkyDrive is a cloud based storage area that allows you to use Microsoft’s Cloud applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) and store the documents that you create from these applications in the cloud for access from any of your computers. You can also use your desktop Office Apps to store documents to your SkyDrive account and use that to provide access using other devices as well.

The Sorami program can be downloaded from the Android Market which has the following Description of the Application:

DESCRIPTION

sorami is skydrive client.

sorami is SkyDrive client App.
You can download and upload your files.

If authorization failed, create new Windows Live Account.

* You can't access [Photos] and [Favorites].
So, put your file in SkyDrive [My Documents] Folder.
* Don't put your file on root dir.

Tested
- Galaxy S
- Android Dev Phone 2
- Android Emulator

Artistic tendencies? You may want to consider adding this stylus to your iPad hardware…

While this brush stylus was specifically designed for iPad, it should also work with other capacitive screen devices. Artist and architect Don Lee designed the Nomad Brush that has capacitive fibers in the brush to allow artists to make lifelike brush strokes in painting applications.Lee says that the brush has an extremely responsive feel to it. He added that this makes the “brushstrokes immediate and effortless”. Priced at $24. They were currently on backorder when I wrote this but if you want the brush make sure that you get your order in.

Here is what Don Lee has to say about his creation:

I am an architect and an artist.  I love to sketch and paint, and like many of you, I found the iPad to be a great digital sketchbook and canvas. However, I found that drawing with my finger was awkward. After trying out many styluses, I failed to find a suitable one…so I invented the Nomad Brush. Each Nomad Brush is carefully handcrafted and made with exceptionally conductive materials. This allows the brush to be extremely responsive, making brushstrokes immediate and effortless on any capacitive touchscreen device.

This device makes me wish that I had some artistic talent like my daughter Morgan. So if you are a artist or want to dabble a little in painting without dropping a bucket load of money on art supplies, this little $24 stylus brush and a program like Sketchbook Pro might be just the thing to get started. The people at Nomad Brush suggest a few other applications for your iPad: Artrage, Brushes, Auryn Ink and Zen Brush.

Nomad Brush in action:

Nomad Brush in action…