Hasta La Gadget!

I-O DATA is releasing 3 models (4GB, 8GB, 16GB) of the “ED-HB” series security USB memory stick. They will be available in early July, with the 16GB model only available on request.

There has been USB memory that supports software password authentication, however these sticks cannot be used with an OS that is not compatible with the software. With “ED-HB”, the process of password authentication is very simple – password authentication is done with buttons on the USB memory stick before inserting it into a PC.

4GB – ￥10,400
8GB – ￥14,800
16GB – ￥19,800

So you need to transfer files from your portable hard drive to a USB drive, but you don’t have access to a PC or laptop. It’s a huge emergency and you need to get it done, pronto. Unfortunately, there’s not an easy way to do it but with a computer – or is there?

Designer Dongwook Kim is aware of the inconvenience of needing a computer to access and transfer files between drives, which is why he came up with Without PC. It’s a neat little gadget that lets you access and transfer files between the two drives without, as the name indicates, needing a PC to do so. It’s compact and features a cool, curved touchscreen interface so you can get the job done, pronto.

Without PC is a concept design entry to the 2013 iF design award, but there is no word on a production version at this point. With that custom curved touchscreen we might be waiting a while.

[via Yanko Design]

Heterogeneous Uniform Memory Access may sound like the orderly queue you make outside the RAM store, but for AMD, hUMA is an essential part of squeezing the best from its upcoming Kaveri APUs. Detailed for the first time today, hUMA builds on AMD’s existing Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) – integrating CPUs and GPUs into single, multipurpose chips – by allowing both the core processor and the graphics side to simultaneously access the same memory at the same time.

That’s important, since currently the CPU and GPU on an APU have to wait for time-consuming memory block management to take place in order for both parts to access it. If the GPU wants to see the same data that the CPU is seeing, that data has to be replicated in two places.

hUMA, however, would do away with that copying process, since it would make the memory visible to both CPU and GPU simultaneously. Called bi-directional coherent memory, it will mean less time involved for both halves of the APU to track data changes, as well as introduce efficiencies in memory management, since they’ll have a better understanding and control over what free memory there is, and what they can use at any one time.

The upshot is systems that take less time for processing, as well as software that’s easier to code since developers won’t need to consider memory block management when they’re trying to integrate GPU acceleration. Instead, that will all be handled dynamically by the hUMA system.

The first evidence of hUMA in the wild will be AMD’s upcoming APU refresh, codenamed Kaveri. Revealed back at CES, full details on Kaveri are unknown, but the APU will be a 28nm chip and is tipped to include up to four of AMD’s Steamroller cores, Radeon HD 7000 graphics, and a 128-bit memory controller with support for both DDR3 and GDDR5 memory.

AMD expects to have its Kaveri APUs on the market in the second half of 2013.

[via Notebook Review; via HotHardware]

AMD hUMA wants to speed your APU memory use, no joke is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

I have a feeling I’m not the only one who’s ever needed to move information to or from the iPhone and felt like Apple played some sort of cruel joke on us. Without a memory card slot or some sort of data transfer application, you can’t just move files back and forth easily. This is one of the big benefits of most Android phones in that they have a built-in memory card slot so you can just copy files to and from that card as you need to.

A company called Apotop has unveiled a new accessory aimed specifically at iPhone users that should make it very easy to move your data around. The product is called the DW-09 Wi-Reader and it has a built-in USB port and SD memory card slot. The device is designed to allow you to plug in an SD, SDHC or SDXC memory card or a flash drive. When using the companion application that runs on your iPhone or iPad, you can transfer data to and from that memory card wirelessly.

Powered by an internal rechargeable battery, the device can also be used with external USB hard drives as long as the drives are externally powered. Another cool thing about the Wi-Reader is that it supports content streaming for up to three users at the same time, and you can also use the DW09 as a Wi-Fi hotspot to connect wireless networks when traveling.

Pricing and availability for the Apotop DW09 have yet to be announced.

It would appear that as Apple begins a move away from reliance on Samsung to create the most massive amount of its mobile products’ flash memory, the Korean company is seeking outside help to create enough product for its own Galaxy lineup. Two reports have surfaced today that suggest both Apple and Samsung to be seeking new means and ways of accessing enough product for the innards of their smartphone and tablet lineups. While Apple has bee reported to be teaming up with Taiwan Semiconductor on one hand, Samsung has been tipped to be purchasing memory from Elpida Memory and Toshiba.

The first report comes from EE Times where their “observers of the electronics and computer industries” – aka nameless sources – have said that Apple has “thrown out” their contract with Samsung for microprocessor manufacturing and is teaming up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. for the immediate future. Apple’s next-generation A7 processor has also been rumored to have been taped out by this company already – that’s a few steps behind actual production!

Meanwhile Digitimes – a group we must remind you has been as reliable as unreliable with their sources in the past, but do have some top-level contacts that end up revealing valuable information rather often – suggest that Samsung is currently unable to fill even their own requirements for memory products. With their Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets pumping out sales like no tomorrow, this report suggests that they’ll be looking for help!

Samsung’s own supply of memory products is already falling short of demand, including that for its Galaxy-series smartphones and tablets, industry sources have claimed.

Also interesting is the added suggestion that Samsung isn’t using these purchased parts for their own Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets. Instead, this source suggests, Samsung is keeping its own production reserved for its own mobile products while the rest is shipped out to non-Samsung devices.

They noted that Samsung reportedly is buying more chips from Japanese firms while continuing to use its in-house produced chips for its Galaxy-series mobile devices. This is reportedly happening when Samsung has actually implemented a strategy to tightly control its chip output, the observers pointed out.

That’s a rather sizable claim to be making, and unless Samsung comes forth to say it’s true, we suggest you down a bit of salt while you think about it. If Samsung was indeed reserving its whole DRAM and NAND flash memory production for its own mobile products, notebooks, PCs, and the like, they’d have to integrate their whole business and depend solely on those mobile products to win. Samsung is simply too massive to do such a thing without some big-time decision-making being made.

Samsung hunts for memory help as Apple tipped to jump ship is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.