archiving
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PS4 1.70 firmware goes live, has a bunch of extra tweaks
The latest major firmware update for the PlayStation 4 is available to download now, adding SHAREfactory, HDCP disabling, Twitch and Ustream archiving, auto-downloading and pre-loading for pre-ordered games, and a few extras besides. A large chunk of the 1.70 update centers around video capture and streaming, headlined by the new SHAREfactory suite that lets players edit and customize their gameplay vids. The HDCP off option allows people to record with capture cards (external recording devices). On the streaming side, broadcast resolutions are upped to 720p and streams can be archived to watch later on Twitch and Ustream - that was originally expected in a separate update, so its inclusion in 1.70 is an early bonus. There's a bunch of smaller extras in the update too, including brightness settings for the DualShock 4 light bar, sorting trophies by rarity, PayPal support for the PS4 Store, and more voice commands for the PS Camera. The updates aren't limited to the PS4, either. A Vita update brings automatic detection of devices for Remote Play, while the PS App has one of the coolest little additions: being able to change your profile picture to a stored image or photo on your mobile. For the full list of updates, head over to the PlayStation Blog.
Cloud storage meets old-school archiving with IDrive's new Safe service
An internet connection is usually the only thing between you and your remotely stored data. Not with IDrive's new "Safe" service, however, which is a strange mix of traditional archiving and newfangled cloud storage. For a one-off payment of $100, the company'll send you a physical 1TB hard drive to fill up, collect it from you, and store it indefinitely (with no recurring charge). With 24 hours notice, IDrive will dive into its warehouse, dig out your HDD and let you have at its contents through the magic of the interwebs -- higher pricing tiers are also available for individuals or businesses that require more frequent data dumps. We can almost see why some might prefer their very own HDD as opposed to an anonymous server rack, even if both are technically out of reach. Best to keep some treasured family photos backed-up though -- that flight isn't going to wait 24 hours for you to recover your e-ticket.
Sony and Panasonic ally to launch next-generation 300GB optical discs
During the heyday of optical storage we saw a 400GB Blu-Ray flavor (shown above) and even 1TB discs in the lab, but lately such development has waned. Sony and Panasonic have teamed up to move things along, however, saying there's a need for reliable long-term storage that only optical disks can provide. The pair will develop a "next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs," saying that a 300GB flavor could be ready in two years or so. Though geared towards industries like cloud storage and digital cinema at first, the tech could eventually trickle down to consumers, too. Given rapid developments in on-demand streaming and cloud gaming, however, there might be nothing left for us plebes to archive by then.
Fujifilm sees which way wind is blowing, ends production of cinema film
Since your average talkie is now recorded onto SD card and SSDs, companies that produce old-timey film are feeling the squeeze. As such, and despite its own efforts, Fujifilm is shuttering a large part of its cinema business by March 2013. While it'll continue to produce stills film (for the time being, at least) and archival material similar to Kodak's Asset Protection film, moves are under way to redirect its focus toward digital tools that won't be left behind as people start to make movies on their smartphones.
Millenniata's Millennial Disk should last longer than you, your memory
Considering that we're still waiting patiently for any company (we're looking at you, Call/Recall) to produce a commercially viable holographic storage solution, we're required to tackle Millenniata's newest assertion with a sprinkle of skepticism. The claim? It's specially lubricated, fortified and homogenized Millennial Disk is said to last some 1,000 years, making it the world's finest and most longevous archive solution. If it's legitimate. We're told that digital information is carved into layers of hard, "persistent" materials, and somehow, those carvings are able to stay fresh and readable for more years than you care to count. Still, we reckon the robot apocalypse will be in full effect by the time 3009 rolls around, so even if it only lives up to half of its claims, we'll still be impressed.[Via Slashdot]
Entourage Email Archiver, Emailchemy updated for Entourage 2008
Archiving your Entourage mail is a chore that varies in ease and effectiveness, depending on how much time and tweaking energy you're willing to put into it. You can drag messages to Finder folders to export them, or pull out entire folders as MBOX files; you can also export folder sets to Entourage's proprietary idiosyncratic RGE format... neither particularly appealing. You can streamline this process with Paul Berkowitz' multifaceted Import/Export Entourage script, but it's still a pain.For an easy, one-step archiving option in Entourage, your best bet is Entourage Email Archiver X (EEAX), just updated to version 4 -- now Leopard and Entourage 2008-only, with v3.6.1 still available for Tiger/2004 users. Along with the companion Entourage Email Optimizer product that Scott mentioned last week, EEAX can streamline your archiving to six different target formats. You get Spotlight-searchable archives, a FileMaker template for database storage, and .eml native-format messages in case you need to bring things back to the mothership. A single-user license of EEAX is $30, and upgrades to v4 for existing users are $10.If you've got scores, hundreds or thousands of mail accounts to archive, or you're converting from one mail format to another (say, from Outlook Express to Entourage), that's a job for an industrial-strength email exporting and conversion tool. You might want to check out Emailchemy, which has a pretty good track record; it's the only tool I know that can go directly from Outlook 2003 PST files to Entourage RGE archives. The latest version supports Entourage 2008 and includes a Google Apps migration tool as well. Emailchemy is $28 for a single-user license.
