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Moderna enters clinical trials for its mRNA-based flu vaccine
Moderna has injected its mRNA-derived vaccine for the seasonal flu into a human volunteer for the first time as part of a Phase 1/2 clinical study, the company announced on Wednesday.
Blood-based TB test will provide a low-cost option for developing nations
The World Health Organization has been calling for the development of a blood-based triage test for active tuberculosis (ATB) -- one that's accurate and cheap enough for use in developing nations where most TB-related deaths occur. Sputum-based tests are typically slow and require infrastructure some local communities in developing regions may not have. Now, a team of researchers have developed a blood-based test, which can be configured into a $2 consumable version that delivers results in 30 minutes.
The PS4's new update sneaks in 4TB drive support and more
Yes, yes, you can now play your PS4 on your PC or Mac. However, the latest update also resurrects old features, adds new ones, and does plenty more if you have no remote interest on depending on your internet connection to play PlayStation at work. First up, your newest PlayStation will now support up to 4TB of storage, if you're in it for the long haul -- or really like your own gameplay videos. The update also marks the return of USB music playback, allowing you to easily listen to your own music -- just plug in a stick and select. As Reddit goes to work finding all the new things, we've added more notable tweaks right after the break.
PAX East 2013: Red 5 on Firefall's new gaming TV channel
Red 5 Studios' MMOFPS Firefall is probably familiar to the Massively family, but it presentation Friday at PAX East was a chance to get a look behind the curtain at how far it's come and how far it has to go during testing. CEO Mark Kern and Lead Game Designer Scott Youngblood presented a little history of the game's development so far, with a look to the future. But if that's not enough to get you to gear up and plant a Thumper, maybe their announcement about a brand-new video channel devoted to everything and anything involving gaming will catch your interest.%Gallery-183638%
Sub-$1500 Kingmax 1TB SSD spotted in Japan
Terabytes. We all want them -- especially if they're served solid-state. But if you're not quite ready to pony up for OCZ's Octane SSD 1TB model, you might want to take a trip to Japan. KingMax's SMU25 Client Pro 1TB SSD has been spotted for 119,000 yen (roughly $1,490), shaving a good chunk off the price of its OCZ rival, although there is a trade-off. The Kingmax drive doesn't quite catch up to the Octane performance-wise, with 250MB/s read speeds bested by 460MB/s on the pricier drive and 200 MB/s write speeds trumped by 330MB/s on OCZ's model. According to Bit-tech, there's no plans for the drive to leave the Land of the Rising Sun for US just yet, although the Taiwanese manufacturer is already doing business in other parts of Asia so you might just get lucky if you shop around. Its full spec list is housed at source below.
Apple unveils updated Time Capsule, bumps storage to 3TB
It's been a good long while since Apple unveiled a new Time Capsule, almost two years since the 2TB model rolled out. At the time that was a volume of storage that you couldn't possibly fill up -- even if you ripped your entire Peter Gabriel collection in lossless. Now, nearly 24 months later, you're out of room for the latest Greatest Hits compilations, never mind Scratch My Back and the subsequent buddy album. Now Apple has your back, releasing an updated Time Capsule offering up to 3TB of storage for all your former Genesis frontman listening needs. Update: The new Time Capsules have finally hit the Apple Store and prices haven't changed -- now you just get more for your money. The 2TB model slides into the $299 slot while the 3TB takes over the $499 position.
Sony, Tohoku University develop blue-violet laser with 100 watt output, eyeing 1TB optical disk future?
As much as some would like to envision a world entirely bereft of disk-based media, with Blu-ray being the medium's swan song, that ain't happening. Sony's already looking to the future, and in cahoots with Tohoku University, it has developed a blue-violet laser capable of 100 watt output. That's reportedly more than 100 times the "world's highest output values for conventional blue-violet pulse semiconductor lasers." In the press release, the company said its tested using such technology for next-generation, large-capacity optical disc-storage, and while that doesn't say too much at face value, the Examiner reports (by way of various Japanese news outlets) that it equates to 20 times the storage of current Blu-ray disks, or about 1TB of data. Don't worry, we're sure all those 4K 3D films will still find a way to justify a "barebones" release dearth of features before magically making room for a second (and even third) Special Edition in time for respective holiday seasons.
ioSafe Solo hard drive places a 2TB bet on all kinds of disasters
It's Friday the 13th, and ioSafe couldn't have chosen a better time to update their Solo fireproof and waterproof hard drive line with a 2TB model. Sure, it'll cost you $399 for a USB 2.0 connection instead of eSATA, FireWire 800 or USB 3.0, but you'll never know when your yacht sinks or burns down, sending that precious Kenny G collection to oblivion. Don't go thinking you can just get the $149 500GB model and upgrade it yourself either -- you'll have to destroy the waterproof seal to get to the hard drive, as demonstrated before. Yeah, life's tough.
CellScope, the cellphone microscope, gets UV upgrade to spot tiny glowing things
It was over a year ago that UC Berkeley introduced the world to CellScope, the 60x microscope for cellphones made from cheap, off the shelf components (like a re-purposed belt clip). Now, even though we're disappointingly still not seeing this thing in stores, there's an upgraded version able to take pictures of even smaller nasties. Using a filter the scope can now spot microscopic critters tagged with dye that glows under fluorescent light -- things like Mycobacterium tuberculosis (that's the cause of TB if you, like us, lack a med degree). A software app is able to then count the number of cells within a given sample and tell you whether to worry about that annoying cough. There's still no word on whether this product will ever actually start scoping out such things in the wild, but we certainly hope it will -- if only so that we can keep our vast collection of cellphone accessories complete. Video after the break.[Via Crave]
Goon Squad reunites Jaina and Thrall
Dipex from Goon Squad contacts us to report on the guild's having brought Jaina and Thrall together for a -- uh -- tempestuous reunion in Orgrimmar. The video above can be seen in a higher quality version here, and it's quite a sight. On occasion I've entertained thoughts of the stunts I'd pull as a GM in WoW, and high on that list would be pitting raid or faction bosses against each other for an ingame version of Two Bosses Enter. Well, Goon Squad actually pulled it off. I won't spoil the video for you, but apparently Thrall and Cairne aren't immune to Jaina's teleportation ability...I can't begin to imagine the kite job this must've been, but if you take a look at their video of Jaina going postal on Org, you get a sense of just how many people it took. Dipex writes toward the end of the first video that this is the quest-spawned version of Jaina, which I can only assume means they were kiting her from her spawn point in Dustwallow Marsh where the Alliance quest "The Missing Diplomat" ends. This certainly would have simplified matters; getting her out of Theramore would have been significantly more difficult, and I daresay this was an elegant solution. Elegant? Do I mean elegant? Maybe I mean something else.
Dell XPS / Alienware desktops to ship with Hitachi's 1TB hard drive
Whatever your reasons, we're sure just about everyone could envision a way to fill up a single terabyte of hard drive space, and while achieving such a milestone in one machine has long been available via a bevy of internal drives, Hitachi's 1TB Deskstar 7K1000 drive has made things a lot simpler. Not waiting around for prices to plummet, Dell is touting itself as the world's first pre-fab PC maker to offer up the ginormous HDD in its machines, initially selling it within the cases of the Alienware-branded rigs and ensuring the XPS beasts follow suit shortly. Currently, Alienware is offering up the 1TB drive for $500 above the price of the included 250GB SATA HDD, so if you've got the means, now you've got the option.
Seagate - the answer to digital distribution?
When thinking of gaming, the companies that make the storage medium are rarely thought of. Seagate, however, is offering up an interesting view of the future; a future that could effect the way we buy our games. According to Seagate, they are working on a technology that will drastically increase the amount of data we store on hard drives. Using a technology called heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), the company expects to be able to shove 50 TB of information into a single square inch of drive space, or around 300 TB of information on a standard 3.5" drive. With that kind of space, the entire Library of Congress can be stored ... without any compression. The technology is expected to become commercially viable in a scant three years, by 2010. This means we may be seeing the Xbox 720 and PS4 being entirely based around digital distribution or fully installed console games, mostly eliminating ugly load times and noisy disk drives. With that kind of space, we may never have to worry about filling it up; 300 TB can hold around 6,144 50 GB Blu-ray disks (or the entire Library of PS through PS3 games that could ever be created with room to spare).
NEC launches new 1 / 2TB NS50 desktop NAS
Another day, another NAS. This time it's NEC bringing the goods, with a relatively small 8.66-inch tall enclosure and a lockable front door. The forthcoming NS50 packs a 600MHz Intel XScale processor, 256MB of RAM, dual LAN ports, and twin USB 2.0 connectors, and plays nice with a slew of Windows and Linux-based operating environments. Per usual, the box connects via gigabit Ethernet and can be managed through a secure web connection as well as remotely, and touts support for Microsoft's Active Directory as well. NEC claims the unit can integrate seamlessly as an FTP server or as a "soon to be announced" print server, and can run things in RAID 0/1/5 or JBOD, whichever you please. NEC's perfectly average NS50 should hit shops next month for £949 ($1,845) if you're digging the 1TB (4 x 250GB) version, while the 2TB (4 x 500GB) flavor will set you back a whopping £1589 ($3,088).
Prestigio unveils 2TB Storage NAS-540
With spacious NAS drives rocking everything from WiFi to fancy enclosures, sometimes we forget the primary focus of such networked storage devices. Prestigio gets back to the basics with its Storage NAS-540 (which admittedly resembles a small safe), sporting four hot-swappable 3.5-inch half terabyte SATA hard drives, gigabit Ethernet, and the full suite of configuration options: RAID 0, 1, 5, and JBOD. Although wireless connectivity isn't built-in, it does support a mini-PCI WiFi upgrade, and touts its (uninspiring) abilities to automatically assign IP addresses, run scheduled backups, and receive administration solely from a web browser. To its credit, however, Prestigio did throw in a USB 2.0 port for those moments where quick, unplanned access is needed, and you'll even get automatic email alerts / event logs if anything traumatic should happen to your data. While information concerning pricing and availability has yet to be released, this shouldn't run you too much more than any other run-of-the-mill 2TB NAS device whenever it drops.
