states

Looking to upgrade your laptop? One great option is to replace your pokey old mechanical hard drive with a lightning-fast solid-state drive (SSD). However, they carry a much higher price-per-gigabyte: A typical 128GB SSD can run anywhere from $125-200, for example.

Ah, but what about a solid-state hybrid drive (or SSHD)? These clever units combine old-school platters with newfangled flash storage to deliver SSD-level performance along with HDD-level capacity -- and for a lot less than the cost of a pure SSD.

To wit: Amazon has the Seagate ST1000LM014 1TB solid-state hybrid drive for $119.99 shipped. (Out of stock? … Read more

The dream of a solid-state drive that offers near 1TB of storage space without breaking the bank has just come true.

Crucial today announced the availability of the M500 SSD, its first terabyte-class drive, which comes in 120GB, 240GB, 480GB, and 960GB capacities and costs $129.99, $219.99, $399.99, and $599.99, respectively.

This is the first SSD on the market to offer close to 1TB at a cost close to that of most existing 480GB to 512GB SSDs.

According to Crucial, the M500 uses Micron's 20nm MLC NAND flash and Micron's custom firmware to deliver … Read more

We like Excel workbook templates because they do so much of the work for you by integrating a variety of tools and features directly into your spreadsheets; all you need to do is enter the data. Small Business Friendly's Basics Payroll State 2013 is a good example. It can calculate withholding for state taxes on your payroll and even print the paychecks. It generates a variety of reports you can use with your business taxes or planning. It prints top-quality, professional-looking checks and stubs in "Top Check Format" style and retains weekly or bi-weekly processed payroll data … Read more

Western Digital Capital, the investment arm of the hard-drive giant, has revealed that it is pouring approximately $51 million into enterprise startup Skyera.

Having previously funded Skyera as the initial outside investor, Western Digital Capital co-invested in the series B round as the two storage solutions makers enter into a joint agreement.

While it wasn't revealed as to exactly what technology the two businesses are going to develop together, it will likely build upon Skyera's enterprise solid-state storage systems.

For example, Western Digital pointed towards Skyera's SkyHawk solid-state storage, which is priced at "an industry breakthrough … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas -- Once again, Uncle Sam wants you. This time, the U.S. government is after your nerdy, data- and public policy-obsessed brains.

That was the message delivered by Acting Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller to a small but actively curious group of techie and policy wonks at South by Southwest today.

In a session entitled, "Mobilizing Ingenuity to Strengthen Mobile Security," Gottemoeller and CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman discussed the U.S. government's interest in getting the public more involved in disarmament and the detection of weapons of mass destruction. … Read more

Now that you have learned all about solid-state drives (SSDs) and even know how to take care of one, the only thing left is buying the SSD itself.

Any of the following drives will be a single upgrade that makes your computer feel like new, if the machine is currently running on a hard drive. Some of these drives can prove to be great upgrades even when your system is running on a budget or older-generation SSD. In short, it's upgrade time for many of you out there, especially when most of the drives listed here now cost less … Read more

The United States' top arms control official thinks the public can play a vital role in helping to combat international arms control violations and threats.

At South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, this Friday, Acting Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller will take part in a session, to be moderated by CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman, in which she will talk about the U.S. State Department's plans to develop initiatives that utilize technology and public participation in tackling some of the thorniest security problems the United States and its allies face today.

During … Read more

The State Department today unveiled three winners in its inaugural Innovation in Arms Control Challenge, a contest that tasked the public with coming up with new ideas for how to tackle arms control issues around the world.

During a Google Hangout moderated by CNET's Daniel Terdiman, Acting Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller introduced the winners and unveiled their three projects (see video below).

In August, the State Department launched the challenge, asking the public to answer the question, "How Can the Crowd Support Arms Control Transparency Efforts?" The competition was the … Read more

China has accused the U.S. for most of the cyberattacks launched against its military networks.

In a statement released today, China's Ministry of National Defense said that cyberattacks against its military sites have increased over the past few years. Based on checks of IP addresses, the Defense Ministry claimed an average of 144,000 cyberattacks per month last year, according to Reuters.

And it fingered the U.S. for almost 63 percent of them.

The allegations from Beijing come hot on the heels of a recent report from U.S. security firm Mandiant, linking the Chinese army to cyberattacks … Read more