Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re a computer user that builds your own machines somewhere around your house, you have old hard drives that you didn’t want to throw away, but you don’t use. I think I have four or five around my house sitting there collecting dust. They are still full of data and on occasion, I get curious about what’s on the drive and go through the hassle of plugging them into my computer to see.

If you have any 2.5-inch SATA hard drives or SSDs laying around your home that you would like to get some use out of, Satechi has a new aluminum external hard drive enclosure that works with both USB 3.0 and eSATA ports. The enclosure will allow you to turn those forlorn hard drives that have been relegated to a desk drawer into external storage.

If you have a small SSD lying around, the combination of a speedy SSD and fast USB 3.0 connectivity could make for a very fast portable external hard drive. The enclosure works for 2.5-inch SSDs or hard drives of 9.5 mm or 12.5 mm thickness. The enclosure gets power to operate through a USB cable and needs no external power adapter.

The aluminum enclosure measures 5.3 x 0.6 x 3.5-inches and weighs 6.8 ounces. If this sounds like something you need, you can order the enclosure right now for $39.99. The company also has a matching memory card reader available for $29.99. Both of these products will look perfect beside your iMac or MacBook.

[via Satechi]

Satechi unveils new USB 3.0 aluminum external hard drive enclosure is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Over the past week we’ve seen several reactions to the death of freedom of information activist Aaron Swartz, one of the most disturbing being the planned protest of his funeral by the Westboro Baptist Church. It would appear that today the hacktivist collective known as Anonymous has saved the day, having promised action against the WBC if they did, in fact, show up at the funeral in Highland Park, Illinois. The WBC’s lawyer has reportedly since contacted local police, stating that the group would not be attending the vigil – and by the looks of it here the day after the event, they did indeed stay away completely, not a one of them showing up.

The Anonymous message sent out this week made it clear that they were sorry that the WBC was targeting Swartz and his family, and that they felt responsible for the fact that it was happening. They go on to state several ways in which they’ll make sure the WBC would not make an impact on the funeral for Swartz, saying how it’s important that the Department of Justice is the focus here surrounding Swartz’s death, not the WBC cult.

“Before discussing the operation, there is something that needs to be said to Aaron’s family and his friends: We’re sorry. It is likely that our continuous condemnation and attacks against this cult is the very reason Aaron is being targeted by them. We would do anything to stop them from attending Aaron’s services. Aaron deserves peace and we will not allow this cult to overpower what should be the media’s focus, the monsters at DOJ who ruthlessly targeted your son.

We encourage organizations who would like to form protective human shields near Aaron’s funeral to listen closely for any announcement by the family on this action and respect their wishes.” – Anonymous

Twitter is currently flowing with the hashtag #OpAngel, also the title of the “operation” as run by Anonymous. Anonymous is also holding a peaceful protest proposed for the 25th of January, 2013, that will include discussion surrounding the DOJ and freedom of information across the web.

Have a peek at the brief timeline below to learn more about Aaron Swartz and the events that lead up to his death – and the impact his life is having here in his wake. Operation Angel, as they’re calling it, will continue through the future with Anonymous, but you can get involved in any number of open source friendly events in the future as well.

Anonymous forces Westboro Baptist Church out of Aaron Swartz funeral protest is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you have a compact notebook or ultrabook, there’s a good chance the device uses a very compact mSATA SSD. There is also good chance that you have used all the storage space available on the small SSD that many of these machines come with. Mushkin has announced the US availability of a new upgrade drive for any device using a mSATA SSD with lots of storage later this month.

The drive is called the 480 GB Atlas mSATA SSD and it will be available online soon. The SSD uses a SandForce SF-2281 processor with unthrottled IOPS. The drive supports features such as ATA APM, Security Set, and NCQ. If your machine has an OS and drivers that support it, the SSD also features TRIM support.

The storage drive also has integrated ECC and is able to correct up to 55 bits per 512-byte sector. Mushkin uses high-speed MLC NAND. The form factor for the tiny SSD is the standard MO-300 mSATA measuring 50.80 x 29.85 x 4.85 mm.

The drive has user upgradable firmware and is covered by a three year limited warranty. As you probably expect, an SSD with 480 GB of storage isn’t exactly cheap. You can pick up the drive at the end of the month on Newegg.com for $499.99.

[via Mushkin]

Mushkin unveils 480 GB Atlas mSATA SSD upgrade drive is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

There are many programs that track the speed and health of your Internet connection; many routers even have this functionality integrated in their admin page. But Zak Kemble wanted a way to check those stats at a glance without logging on anywhere or opening an application, so he made a small network monitor.

Zak used an ATmega328P microprocessor, a 1.8″ LCD, a Bluetooth module and a paper display holder to make the device. It gets its information from a Netgear DG834Gv3 router running OpenWRT. The router runs a shell script that obtains the data – which include upload and download speeds, ping, packet loss and even a clock and an email notifier – and sends it to a serial port. Finally a Bluetooth module attached to the serial port sends the date to the monitor. The monitor also has two display modes – the one pictured above and a simpler graphical display.

Another day, another tinkerer with an awesomely complex solution to a simple problem. Head to Zak’s website for his build guide.

[via Lifehacker]

This morning we’re jumping right in on rumor bashing with LG’s own response to the suggestion that they’re ending production of the Nexus 4. We’re ready for the Huawei Ascend D2 as it’s released tomorrow, a rather strange invention that’ll allow you to work with your smartphone with long fingernails, and Kayak’s Price Trend – a new update made for travel cost saving in a big way. There’s also an auto show going on right this minute (NAIAS 2013), if you did not know, with beasts like the Lexus 2014 IS being revealed for the first time.

Delta has revealed a fabulous new app for the iPad bringing a glass bottom to your airplane ride. The PlayStation 4 has been teased for a pre-E3 reveal in May. The case known as ClamCase Pro has been shown off this week as a way to turn your iPad into a notebook.

The newest version of MySpace has been revealed with Justin Timberlake luring in new users with a promise of a brand new music track. You’ll want to have a peek at the Hyundai HCD-14 concept as it shows its face for the first time at the North American International Auto Show.

The Cadillac ELR has been brought forth with a blend of EV and luxury styling. Panasonic appears to have pushed forth past CES with a release of a full array of 3D cameras complete with 3D panorama modes. Check out the new Borderlands 2 DLC this week in Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt – it’s strange! And if you’re in China this week, you’ll be seeing the cellular versions of the iPad mini and the iPad 4 (with retina display) hitting stores for the first time!

SlashGear Morning Wrap-up: January 15th, 2013 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.