Infinitec's 'infinite' USB memory drive delayed until August, shown streaming to Xbox 360 (video)
By Tim Stevens 
posted June 29th 2010 8:53AM
posted June 29th 2010 8:53AM
Infinitec Announces Final Shipping Date for World's First Infinite USB Memory Drive
Highly anticipated Infinite USB Memory Drive (IUM) will Ship August 31st and comes with New Sleek Design. Pre-orders start August 1st.
Dubai, 28 June 2010: Dubai-based Infinitec announced today that it will begin shipping the world's first Infinite USB Memory Drive (IUM) to its customers on August 31st 2010. This small delay in shipping the highly anticipated wireless device that mimics traditional USB flash drives is due to industry lead time issues in sourcing components and microchips.
Ahmad Zahran, Chief Executive Officer at Infinitec, pointed out, "We've had to slightly delay our product shipping date because of all the issues in the industry for component sourcing. We understand that our customers are eager to get their hand on the product and we've received many requests to ship earlier. Unfortunately this unexpected situation has simply been one that we couldn't avoid. However, to make up for it we'll open our site for pre-orders sooner and give our customers free shipping during that period."
The device will be initially sold through the company's website, which will open for pre-orders on August 1st 2010. This will allow eager consumers to place their orders prior to the August 31st date and receive free shipping to any destination around the world.
Infinitec is also working with several distributors and resellers to allow the IUM to become available in retail stores globally within the next year.
In addition, the company also announced that the IUM has been re-designed to become sleeker and more attractive. "We wanted the IUM to be instantly recognisable, something extra-ordinary and extremely attractive," said David McKern, Chief Marketing Officer at Infinitec. "We've also made sure it's small enough to fit in your pocket without inconveniencing you and that you can connect it into tight USB locations such as the Xbox 360's USB port design which is very small."
Pre-orders for the IUM will open on August 1st 2010 and can be make through the Infinitec website (www.infinitec.com). The product will sell at $129 and customers who pre-order before the August 1st shipping date will receive free shipping to any destination around the world.
About Infinitec (http://www.infinitec.com)
Infinitec is a modern developer and marketeer of innovative products and technologies. With an avant-garde vision of the future and a strong focus on simplifying our customers' lives, the company aims to simplify the way users interact in the Digital World.
Cool
@SomeGuyAtSomePlace
Indeed! A very interesting concept. Hopefully clients are released for Linux and MacOSX, as this makes sharing data a snap.
@SomeGuyAtSomePlace
Sweet. Give it support for OSX and I'm in.
@SomeGuyAtSomePlace
I know right, I didn't know Fat Joe and Terror Squad was this big in the tech industry.
@SomeGuyAtSomePlace This is pretty pointless. If you have a home network, you can just stream everything to your Xbox. I'm not understanding this, I read the whole article too.
@Grubasaurus Rex
Probably pointless for the XBox. But there are probably other devices that support USB mass storage devices, but don't support network streaming. This would probably be useful for them. I know the original WDTV box didn't have network support.
Although I think the pairing is pretty silly. I'd rather see a wireless/wired usb network adaptor that automatically scans and converts a SMB network into a file system. That would seem to be more useful (and system agnostic).
@SomeGuyAtSomePlace
Shame it relies on an internet conection though.
A stand alone connection (of whatever kind) between host pc and the client would be better in my opinion, even if it required two dongles.
I'd rather be able to do this where I don't have an interent connection, as well as where I do.
Best example: At school, WiFi is locked down. Only accessible by school PC's, however much you beg and bribe IT staff. I would love to be able to transfer files between my netbook and school account, but obvioulsy don't have the connection needed to do it with this device..
How does it transfer the data when not connected to anything?????
@thefrataline
i dont think it does .. when the USB is powered up ( by what ever machine you plug it into) It simply creates a connection ( via WiFi probably) to it's "Home" device.
A virtual cable between devices without the set up hassle ..
I would like to see this working 'remotely' !!
@o0timbo0o
So if you're not in range of a Wifi signal...no data? The point of this?
@o0timbo0o Hmmmm I wonder if it works both ways. Like once you pair it you can just use it to transfer files to the host desktop from your laptop. If so i will buy this in a heartbeat. The would be so amazingly convenient.
@Tes
To stream media photos, music and video back an forth to the access point but, have it appear as a USB. It's for the people that can't figure out how to use WMP, Tversity and all the other streaming methods out there. It's the kind "throw money at it" solution...
@Tes
From the video I would say this is simply creating an ad hoc connection from the laptop's wifi to the Infinitec UIM. As long as your laptop is close enough to the UIM, you will be in range. The "pairing" is nothing more than the ad hoc network setup happening under the Infinitec software. The software then sets a shared folder for the UIM to look at. Nothing spectacular here. I could see the UIM being hacked to simply connect to your house wifi and have access to all the shared folders on your network. I need to look at their website a little.
@Tes
think! oh right you dont have to write to a usb drive which takes longer than just streaming some content you will be temporarily using
@Tes I think you're missing the point dawg
@thefrataline
It has to be driven by some sort of communication ie: Bluetooth, or Wifi, or hard wired..
It uses some sort of pairing to the host controller.. like Bluetooth.
but transfers like wired speed...its like... iSCSI / hamachi style VPN / dropbox / security key...thingy...
@thefrataline Yes you can. You can write files to the Paired PC. We have created a specific write folder on the IUM which writes to a specific folder on your PC.
@DeFlanko It is WiFi 802.11n however point to point not over the internet or sharing an access point which is how we get the speed for 1080p content.
Cool
@SomeGuyAtSomePlace
Thats funny is entered twicw
Looks good.
Did anyone else get the urge that this video needs the same treatment as the "Autotune the news" vidoes?
Nice tool, but can't I just add a folder for my xbox to be able to see and place contents in there? I have been streaming all this to my 360 since XP media center edition and with Play On and such I was able to get Netflix and such streaming before I had the Netflix channel on 360. Not bashing it may suit some but I think I would come out better upgrading my xbox wireless adaptor to N than this.
And I think with alot of routers you have the ability to attach an external HDD to make the router have a NAS as well. I have the ability just haven't found the need to.
Not sure I see the benefit over just using Windows Media Center for sharing "Unlimited" content.
I see game file saving being used with this
I think it's strange they won't play music and when they are going to play the movie the lights in the room go on and at that moment you can see the tv change input device. Maybe it's just me I think it's a bogus demo.
As far as you know the pictures are on the usb drive...
Sorry not convinced.
@suddenelfilio
I agree. I cannot understand why the tv's input switches after they select a video to play.
After the trailer ends, we don't see a transition back to the Xbox interface, instead there's a cut scene.
Also, if you pay attention to the laptop with which he initially pairs this device, you can tell that the internet connection is not enabled: the taskbar network icon shows that it is not connected to an access point and if it had an ethernet connection, there would be a relevant icon reflecting that (unless that specific icon is set to 'always hide' in the taskbar preferences). Of course this doesn't really mean anything definite. Merely speculating.
@andalusiancat
I'm not familiar with the XBox in particular, but on some TVs when you switch resolutions the input screens/labels pop up briefly. IF the Xbox interface was in 720p and the video was in 1080p (or vice versa), starting the video may cause the TV to display the input/resolution information.
@suddenelfilio It's great that you think it is bogus as shows our hard work in making the performance as good as possible has paid off.
We didn't show the music as wanted to keep the demo short. We will make more movies showing more of the features and functionality over the next couple of weeks and post them to YouTube.
@andalusiancat
It does seem a little fishy that wi-fi was turned off on the laptop, but the usb stick could have been communicating over bluetooth. Also, I noticed that the lights actually aren't turning on but they were always on, the camera is adjusting for brightness and the lights appear to come on when the screen goes black. You can see after a few seconds into the video the lights appear to dim again when the screen brightens.
@andalusiancat The TV input message appears on the older series TV we were displaying when playing mov files. Next video we do we will use the PS3 with avi files.
We cut the avatar clip short as wanted to video to only be a couple of minutes long.
Regarding the Pairing Process, This is done over USB which is why the IUM needs to be connected at this point. WiFi is not required at that point.
my 'write-only' drive has infinite storage capacity.
i dont see how this is an infinite usb storage device. it can only be paired with laptops and then must be in range of said laptop to do anything. my usb drives can go anywhere with me regardless of wifi or laptop signals.
Dont get it you can already do all of this...
Music, Pictures, Video etc from any pc to the xbox
Also a usb device is limited to 16gb how is that unlimited?
@mt1 it streams the data, nothing is on the actual usb device
@chasstaf totally get how it works just dont see the point, any pc can stream photos, video and music to a 360 if they are on the same network
@mt1 This could be good if you are at a friends house and they dont want you on their network or dont have one.
Love PS3~~~
@(Unverified) 360 can already stream all of the things mentioned in the video already
Or you can buy the same thing from DX for USD 37.50:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.36387
@barabace
Man, I love DX.
Nice catch, man.
How is the laptop connected to the drive? Via wifi?
It's a bit nifty but what if you don't have wifi? And you can't take the drive out of range of the laptop, unless there is some kind of network streaming involved.
And being a pedant, how is this infinite? Does the laptop have infinite storage? If so, I want one of those laptops that doesn't exist.
@Lloytron over WiFi. As long as the laptop and the IUM are in range then it will work. it is a point to point connection. not over internet or sharing your access point.
@infinitec I guess this is your product!
I can see the benefit, but surely the setup is more complicated than demonstrated? How do you setup the wifi connection?
BTW is it two way? Meaning can the Xbox install games and saves etc?
@Lloytron Regarding it being Infinite, you can share any files that your laptop has access to so not limited to it's internal HDD.
@Lloytron We have spent a lot of time working on making it as easy as possible. Our software manages the WiFi connections to the IUM so is simple as possible. We will be putting videos up on YouTube over the coming weeks showing in detail each of the functions as sure people have a lot of questions. We are very excited about this product.
Regarding the XBOX saves, we are still investigating if we can support the requirements for storing save games etc as very specific implementation. It will not be there for launch however hopefully something we can provide later.
@infinitec That's potentially a huge amount of data, but hardly infinite!
I'm being overly pedantic now but one could argue that this is a zero memory stick as it doesn't actually add any storage at all - it's a wireless USB pass through to other storage devices!
I'm simplifying now and being a tad unfair I know as this has no bearing on the quality or function of the product but the name isn't strictly accurate :D
(BTW can I have a free one please :D)
@infinitec Havin said that, I jus tnoticed the price! $129?!
I can get a couple of USB terabyte drives for that, and have the advatange of storing a whole load of files that I can access via any networked machine, or take it with me without needing a wifi connection or a laptop!
If this offers any convince increase for you, then you just don't have your home network set up right.