CompactFlash
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Lexar intros 300x UDMA CompactFlash cards, readers
Lexar has already given its SDHC cards a boost this year, and the company doesn't seem to be wasting any time bringing its CompactFlash offerings up to speed as well, today introducing a series of new 300x UDMA CompactFlash cards, as well as a pair of card readers to go along with 'em. Available in 2, 4, and 8GB varities, the cards are said to be 125% faster than the company's current CompactFlash cards, delivering a sustained write time of 45MB per second. To hit that top speed, however, you'll need to use them with a UDMA-enabled device, which are currently a rare breed, although Lexar says it expects "several" UDMA-enabled digital cameras to be announced later this year. In addition those mystery cameras, you'll also be able to get the most out of the cards using one of the two UDMA card readers Lexar's set to release this spring, available in your choice of FireWire or USB 2.0 models for $80 and $50 respectively. The cards themselves should also be released about the same time, although Lexar doesn't seem willing to spill the details on how much they're gonna cost just yet.Read - Photography Blog, Lexar Professional UDMA 300x Memory CardsRead - Photography Blog, Lexar UDMA Card Readers
Sony's CompactFlash cards in the flesh
Hey, don't beat yourself up too much, as you probably weren't the only one heavily doubting Sony's ability to churn out a non-proprietary flash card, but nevertheless, it looks like the company has delivered as promised. The 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB CompactFlash Type I cards are purportedly aimed at filling the slot in the outfit's DSLR lineup, but of course, will play nice with any other CF-accepting device out there as well. All three editions tout 10Mbps (66x) transfer speeds, while the 2GB and 4GB flavors come in 20Mbps (133x) versions as well, and while we can't imagine why having a Sony logo on your CF card would truly lead to fantasies being fulfilled, the entire trio should be shipping within a few days for a currently undisclosed price.[Via AkihabaraNews]
Sony announces CompactFlash cards as hell freezes over
Sony just announced support for yet another new memory card format today -- fortunately, it's only new to them. Available later "this Spring," Sony will introduce their first CompactFlash memory card. A move foreshadowed by Sony's entry into the high-end, consumer digital camera business with their alpha α100 -- a DSLR lacking direct support for Sony's Memory Stick. The new Type I CF cards will share the same α branding and will hit 66x and 133x transfer speeds with capacities between 1GB and 4GB. So, does this signal the end of their proprietary Memory Stick format? You wish. [Via Photography Blog]
NextoDI's NextoCF Ultra ND2525: "world's fastest" storage device for photogs
If you've been looking for an ultra-fast personal storage device to offload your DSLR images on the quick then check it photog, NextoDI has the device for you. The Nexto CF Ultra ND2525 is capable of a sustained 20MB/sec backup from Compact Flash cards hitting a max speed of 32MB/sec. That's more than 1GB of data per minute off the fastest CF cards. There's even a bit-by-bit verification implemented at the hardware level; that feature, however, will double your transfer times -- a sacrifice many professionals will happily trade for added peace of mind. The device then hooks up to your PC or Mac via USB 2.0 or Firewire for any required post-processing. The internal Li-Poly battery is capable of transferring up to 40GB (about 42 minutes) before giving up the ghost, and can be recharged in about 3-hours off the mains or 4.5-hours over USB -- an external 70GB capable battery is also available. Ok, it doesn't feature a display like the PSDs from Canon, Epson, and others, but how important is that sub-4-inch display if you're toting a laptop anyway? The ND2525 only has a single CF slot which can be augmented with a 17-to-1 CF adapter. It's apparently already loosed in Korea for 198,000KRW ($213) in a BYOD (bring your own disk) chassis or in 395,000KRW ($425) config with a 160GB disk baked in. Given our druthers, we'd bung the fastest 7200rpm PATA (not SATA, unfortunately) disk into the empty chassis for max performance, but that's us... and we're afraid of robots. [Via AVING]
Delkin targets pros with ExpressCard 34 CompactFlash Adapter
There are already a number of solutions on the market for amateur photographers looking to offload SD- and MemoryStick-confined photos to an ExpressCard-equipped laptop (Buffalo and Y-E Data both offer such card readers), but for pros looking to transfer pics from more capacious CF cards or MicroDrives, USB readers and camera tethering have so far been the only options. Well that long nightmare is about to come to an end, thanks to Delkin's upcoming ExpressCard 34 CompactFlash Adapter, which works with both PC and Mac laptops sporting either 34- or 54-millimeter slots. Coming October 16th for $60, the Delkin adapter promises 20MBps file transfers, keeping downtime at those weddings and Bar Mitzvahs to a minimum. Okay, so soon you'll be able to get your SD / MS / CF transfers on without much hassle, but won't someone please, please think of the humble xD card?
Ainex AKB-88 keyboard packs a 10-in-1 card reader
Given that we've already seen some rather strange memory card readers, it's high time that a company came out with one that's actually convenient to use. We've always thought that a card reader directly built-in to a keyboard would do the job nicely, no? Fortunately Ainex has used its engineering powers to read our minds, and has released the AKB-88, a new compact keyboard with four, count 'em four, card slots on the far side of the keyboard, featuring all your favorite types, including CompactFlash, Memory Stick, SD and the oft-neglected SmartMedia. Sadly, this flashy little keyboard is Windows-only, even though we think it would compliment the MacBook nicely, given that it comes in both white and black. The AKB-88 was just made available on the company's website for the ever elusive "open price," but if these 'boards ever surf across the Pacific, we'll let you know.[Via Akihabara News]
Pretec, SanDisk kick CompactFlash capacities up to 16GB
You're probably already aware that CompactFlash cards in 32GB and 64GB capacities exist in prototype form, but currently no sizes larger than 8GB have been available to the gigabyte-hungry public. Enter SanDisk's Extreme III and Pretec's 16GB CF cards which will go into mass production later this year. Pretec's remaining mum on the price of its card, but SanDisk has admitted that the Extreme III will have a hefty suggested retail price of $1,049, and €633 in Europe. Fortunately for SanDisk and Pretec, the target market for these kind of cards, Digital SLR owners (read: paparazzi), likely won't care: more capacity means that many more compromising shots of Paris Hilton, price be damned.Read - PretecRead - SanDisk
Delkin eFilm ExpressCard 34
Finally, something to do with the ExpressCard slot on your MBP. Storage and digital photo accessory supplier Delkin Devices today announced their eFilm ExpressCard 34 is available for pre-orders. To be officially unveiled at Photokina and shipping Oct. 16th, the EC-34 is the first Compact Falsh-to- ExpressCard converter. It is plug-and-play on both Macs and PCs in both 34mm and 54mm EC slots, and will allow photographers and others to transfer photos and other data directly between their CF cards and computers at 20MB/s without the need for external USB readers. All I can say is: Delkin, where were you when I came back from vacation this Summer?From the press images, it looks like there is also an eFilm EC-34/8GB CF Card combo pack in the works, but it's not listed in the store yet.
Samsung makes possible 32 and 64GB CompactFlash cards
It's been barely 10 days since we discussed 8 and 16GB SD cards, but today, Samsung announced today that it has developed the world's first 40-nanometer memory device, allowing for 32 and 64GB CompactFlash cards. According to the company's press release, the new design uses a Charge Trap Flash architecture, which "reduces inter-cell noise levels." Oh, and remember when we asked if anyone had figured out the Moore's Law for flash memory? Turns out Samsung has: "Introduction of a 40nm manufacturing process for 32Gb NAND flash marks the seventh generation of NAND flash that follows the New Memory Growth Theory of double-density growth every 12 months, which was first presented by Dr. Chang Gyu Hwang, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics' Semiconductor Business in a keynote address at ISSCC 2002." By those calculations, we should have laptops with flash memory within a year.
How to: hook up a hard drive to your Nintendo DS
We'll forever be in awe of people like Alexei Karpenko, a modder who one day "decided to do a quick IDE to GBAMP hack". That's right -- as a casual aside, Alexei hooked up a hard drive to his Nintendo DS via a GameBoy cartridge originally designed to play short movies from a CompactFlash card. The hack is apparently possible due to similarities between the CF interface and that of standard IDE hard drives: Alexei simply soldered the correct pins onto a 40GB disk and connected it to a 11.1 volt battery and 5 volt DC-to-DC converter. As you can see, the unwieldy setup isn't much of a PSP rival (remember, that second "P" stands for portable), but the mere fact that it's at all possible will undoubtedly impress your inner geek.
Buffalo's "28-in-1" card reader
It looks like Buffalo hasn't met a memory card it didn't like, finding room for just about every format under the sun in it's new MCR-C12H/U2 series card reader, although they sure know how to stretch the definition of individual card types. Still, marketing hype aside, the so-called "28-in-1" reader packs support for most everything you could ask for, including seemingly every variation of SD, mini/microSD, xD, CompactFlash, and Memory Stick -- and, with the aid of a fresh firmware update, SDHC cards up to 4GB as well (making it a 29-in-1 reader if you follow Buffalo's logic). Our friends in Japan should be able to pick the reader up now, in their choice of four pretty tame colors, for ¥2,960 (about 25 bucks).[Via Akihabara News]
SanDisk's Extreme IV CompactFlash cards
Today's speed record for fastest CompactFlash writes set by: SanDisk. Their new SanDisk Extreme IV CF cards come in sizes up to 8GB, and offer speeds of at least 40MBps, not to mention the extreme environmental conditions they can suffer through (-13°F to 185°F). The cards are surprisingly affordable, however, weighing in at $160 for the 2GB, $320 for the 4GB, and $640 for the 8GB. Perhaps it's overkill for your puny mid-range DSLR, but from the looks of it you'd probably hang on to this memory card a lot longer than your average digital camera.
Possible Sony Alpha DSLR specs revealed
Australia's Digital Photography Blog is reporting that an anonymous source has emailed them detailed specs of Sony's upcoming DSLR, which -- if accurate -- show that the company's first foray into this product category will sport a 10.2 megapixel CCD and go by the name Alpha 100. As we already knew, this model will be compatible with existing Konica Minolta lenses as well as some 20 new lenses that Sony plans to release over the next year, but the information revealed today would seem to flesh out all of the remaining details concerning features, pricing, and availability that had previously been unknown. DPB's tipster claims that the 100 will rock an anti-reflective 2.5-inch, 230,000 pixel LCD, in-body Super SteadyShot image stabilization, maximum ISO of 1600, nine-point auto focus, CompactFlash support (but oddly enough, your MemoryStick Duo cards will only work with the included adapter), a reported 750-shot battery, and about a million different shooting modes and scene settings. If we are to believe what this mystery "insider" says, you'll be able to pick up your very own Alpha next month for around $1,000, sans lens.[Via Let's Go Digital, thanks Pascal V.]
Cheaper PS3 loses HDMI, slots, Wi-Fi, 40GB
As you can see above, there are a few things different between the two PS3 SKUs planned. (Hint: the obvious alterations concern high-def output and wireless connectivity -- though Bluetooth controllers should work just fine with both, with or without any chrome case highlighting.)So what's HDMI, built-in multimedia card-reader slots, wireless internet connectivity, and an extra 40 gigabytes' hard disk space worth to you? $100? Now that Sony's gone with the 2-SKU approach with its next-gen hardware (a la the Xbox 360's premium and "Core" systems), we can expect some tough consumer choices after six months -- with console shortages possibly for another six months after that -- as $100 separates the base $499 and premium $599 versions of Sony's "Clear Black" hope.HDMI is important to those who want to take full advantage of Blu-ray high def and have the new screens to use it; MemoryStick, SD, and CompactFlash slots would be nice for the PS3 memory-card users and those will run multimedia on the system; Wi-Fi's the only way to avoid stringing ethernet cables for online access; and 360 owners might appreciate the full 60GB available to potential buyers of the premium PS3 model. Neither model comes with a second HDMI port; thankfully, one should hopefully be all most users need. The details are laid out in a feature-comparison table at the end of Sony's official PS3 hardware press release, available in both Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word formats. Determine what's most important to your PS3 ambitions there.[Image pieced together from the PlayStation.com forums; thanks, Guru]
2007 Infiniti G35 gets in-dash system with hard drive and CF
Infiniti's G35 may be the most expensive CD ripper you ever bought (or lusted after, anyway). The new 2007 G35 has an in-dash system apparently outfitted with not only a CompactFlash slot, but a CD player that will also rip and encode your CDs for storage on an internal drive of unspecified size (we're really hoping the "9.5G" mentioned in the article is a model designation, and not capacity). Sure, it might just be easier to have a removable drive (or USB port) for dropping already-ripped or, um, downloaded songs into your car, but Infiniti must not expect the unclean to understand luxe doesn't always mean ease.[Via Anything But iPod]
NES gamepad as card reader; innovation in controller design
Who says there's no innovation in controller design? Zieak has turned an NES controller into a 12-in-1 card reader using nothing more than a Dremel, an X-acto knife, and some glue. Gut the controller, glue the buttons, transplant new guts, cut openings, and install the cord. Voilà!Check out the tutorial over at Instructables.[Via MAKE: Blog]
PSP Neo 5in1 Pad: CF/SD/MMC Adapter, AA Batteries, USB Ports
Lik-Sang has a gotten their hands on a variety of different PSP adaptors, including the Neo 5in1 pad. The Neo 5in1 promises a bevy of features including: Compact Flash, Secure Digital, Multimedia Card, regular sized Memory Sticks, support for up to 4 AA batteries, and USB support for recharging or to mount the unit on a PC as a card-reader. While this is certainly an impressive list of features, look at what its done to the once lovely form of the PSP! Does the absence of a long-lasting battery and an open standard media format on the PSP really drive market adoption of these monstrosities or is this a case of a product looking for a market?[Thanks, pspnews]
