At CES eyeIO claimed its software suite was “studio grade” 4K ready and it will be put to the test soon, since Sony Pictures is licensing it to deliver movies to the FMP-X1 4K media player this summer. Sony didn’t have any more details to reveal about its 4K delivery plans just yet, but eyeIO’s press release claims its tech is being used on 4K video (3,840 x 2,160) encodes with support for extended color gamut. Besides easier downloading / streaming on bandwidth-constrained connections, it also helps out on the server side by requiring less storage space and distributing files more efficiently. Netflix is another recent licensee of the tech, and while not all responses to some of its new streams have been positive, we’ll wait and see what it can push to Sony’s $699 box and the Sony 4K TVs it attaches to.
Buffalo has revealed its latest external drive, the DriveStation DDR HD-GDU3, slotting more RAM into the USB 3.0-connected enclosure so as to rival SSD speeds, allegedly, with HDD pricing. The new drive, available in 2TB and 3TB capacities, uses traditional spinning-platter disks to keep prices down, but Buffalo claims that thanks to a combination of caching and other tweaking it’ll reach write speeds of up to 400 MB/s.
That’s a pretty impressive number for an HDD-based external drive, if Buffalo can sustain it, while the quoted read rate of 330 MB/s is also ample. In fact, Buffalo claims, it’ll take around 3.5s to shuttle 800MB of photos from a PC to the DriveStation DDR.
So far, high-speed has generally been synonymous with SSD, with solid-state drives cropping up in models like LaCie’s Little Big Disk. That uses not only solid-state storage for performance, but hooks up via Thunderbolt.
Buffalo has stuck with USB 3.0, which is theoretically a “narrower pipe” than Thunderbolt, but arguably makes up for it by being more commonly available (plus backward-compatible with USB 2.0, albeit with a speed hit). It’ll work with both PCs and Macs.
The DDR’s trick is more cache than you’d usually find in an external drive: in this case, 1GB of DDR3 memory. Buffalo is being coy with the details, but says that by buffering files during larger jobs, it can bypass the bandwidth limits of traditional HDDs and push content through the USB 3.0 connection more readily.
We’ll have to wait until we can test the DriveStation DDR out ourselves before we know how accurate that all is – in our experience with drives that use caching systems, we’ve generally found that the performance isn’t necessarily consistent across all content stored. The drive is shipping now, priced at $159.99/£129 for the 2TB model and $209.99/£169 for the 3TB model.
Most monitors these days are able to display Full HD resolutions at 1920×1080, but with UHD/4K televisions starting to emerge, there could be a day in the future where 4K is the new standard. If you’re an early adopter and […]
When Microsoft unveiled the Surface tablets last year, many were shocked as many did not expect Microsoft to launch their own branded tablet, especially since they had many OEM partners on their side. Acer was probably the most vocal, even […]
Good news Crysis 3 gamers, if you’re done with the game and you’re looking to get a little bit more from it, you’re in luck as EA has announced a new DLC for the game. Dubbed Crysis 3: Lost Island, […]
While the Asha line lacks the glamor of Nokia’s WP8 smartphones, it outsells its big-shot siblings by a wide margin. Now, owners of those handsets will be able to grab Nokia’s Music with Mix Radio, an app that was previously available only on Windows and Windows Phone 8. Other WP8 hand-me-downs like Transit and Xpress Now have already hit the budget platform, showing it’s far from being Nokia’s neglected child. While missing some WP8 features, Asha Music users will get 2G/3G and WiFi streaming, 100 channels of curated content and offline storage of up to four mixes. You’ll likely have to wait a few weeks to grab it though — unless you’re in the launch country of Russia.
COWON Japan released Wi-Fi compliant full HD drive recorder “AUTO CAPSULE COWON AW1″ last April. They have received requests from their users that they want to record more data, so a new 16GB model will be released on June 7.
Cadillac’s first 2014 ELR hybrids have been snapped leaving the production line, though the “range-extended” car itself still isn’t expected to arrive in showrooms until early in the new year. The initial ELR cars – which borrow much of their mechanical and technological magic from the Chevrolet Volt, but wrap it up in a coupe shell with various luxury extras – are destined for further testing, similar to the cold-weather conditions tests GM put the ELR through back in February.
The photos, shared by GM, were taken at the car company’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant this week, where various Chevy and Cadillac race drivers had been invited to watch the first ELR models be completed. Among the guests was Team Chevy IndyCar driver Simona De Silvestro, shown in the photo below.
Cadillac’s goal with the ELR is to ween its luxury customers off of their big gas engines as well as lure a younger audience onto the forecourt. Outwardly based on the 2011 Converj concept, under the skin there’s a 1.4-liter four-cylinder gas engine that’s used solely to recharge the ELR’s batteries, rather than to actively drive the wheels.
“Cadillac ELR pre-production vehicles will be used to validate manufacturing, engineering and other quality measures before production vehicles are assembled at the end of the year for sale in 2014″ GM
Drive itself is provided by the electric motors, and Cadillac says the ELR will run for up to 35 miles on a full charge. However, with a full tank of gas, the coupe can manage in excess of 300 miles, the company claims.
Interestingly, GM leaves gearchanges to the ELR’s digital brain, and instead puts the driver in charge of regenerative efficiency. The steering wheel paddles, rather than flitting through ratios, actually adjust how much of the car’s momentum is converted back into power for the batteries. Dubbed “Regen on Demand”, when the driver takes their foot off of the accelerator and pulls one of the paddles there’s a downshift-style jump in deceleration, with the resistance of the electric motors turning speed into a useful power top-up.
That works in tandem with the regenerative braking system, which also converts momentum to electricity when the driver hits the brakes. However, Cadillac expects Regen on Demand to be more popular with sportier drivers, given it allows the ELR to shed speed more rapidly, build up a boost of energy, and keep their foot close to the accelerator, all at the same time.
A couple of weeks ago we reported that EA was going to remove the Online Pass feature due to poor feedback from their players. At that time of posting, it was said that the Online Pass feature would be removed […]
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
