flash

Toshiba will introduce new USB 3.0 flash drives next week at the Consumer Electronics Show next week in Las Vegas, as products using the faster USB interface begin to trickle out.

"SuperSpeed" USB 3.0 is about 10 times faster than current USB technology and will become standard in virtually all laptops when Intel's Ivy Bridge silicon begins shipping this spring.

Toshiba says its TransMemory-EX flash drive will deliver speeds up to 22 times faster than previous models. That's read and write speeds of 220 megabytes per second (MB/s) and 94 MB/s, respectively. … Read more

Lexar announced a 1000X-rated CompactFlash memory card line today that the company guarantees can keep pace with professional-quality video recording.

The 1X speed from days of yore meant 150KBps, and the new line of 1000X cards reaches sustained read speeds of 150MB per second. Write speeds are a smidgen slower--966X, or 145MBps--but still enough to keep up with the Video Performance Guarantee (VPG-20) "to enable professional-quality video capture at high frame rates with no dropped frames," the company said.

The cards are priced for professionals, too, with retail prices of $169.99 for 16GB, $299.99 for 32GB, $… Read more

OK, time to test the new-and-improved Cheapskate newsletter system, which shoots out the e-mail shortly after my post goes live.

That's key today, as we're looking at an item that's likely to sell out fast.

While supplies last, Buy.com has the Kingston 8GB DataTraveler Mini Fun flash drive for $7.95 shipped.

Update: Sure enough, it sold out. But as at least one helpful commenter pointed out, Newegg continues to offer the 8GB DataTraveler 108 drive for $7.99 shipped. Excellent alternative.

(In case of sellout, here's a preemptive backup: B&H Photo … Read more

The reported acquisition of Anobit should catapult Apple into the ranks of leading flash memory companies and mirrors what it has done with the A series of chips in its iPhone and iPad.

Apple is in the process of buying Anobit, an Israel-based flash memory firm, according to Israel's Calcalist business news site. The purchase price isn't small--in the range of $400 million to $500 million, according to reports.

So, what does a payout in that range bring to Apple? First of all, it's important to understand that Apple is not a flash memory neophyte, according to … Read more

Apple has acquired Israel-based flash memory startup Anobit, a report claims.

The deal, according to Israel's Calcalist business news site (Google Translate), is in the $400 million to $500 million range. Earlier today, Anobit apparently informed its employees that Apple had made an offer that it had accepted and that they were on their way to being employed by the iPhone maker.

Today's report follows a claim made by Calcalist last week, saying that Apple and Anobit were nearing a deal.

Anobit's flash memory technology is found in Apple's iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Air. The startup … Read more

Panasonic, Samsung, SanDisk, Sony, and Toshiba today announced an agreement to develop new content-protection technology for SD cards and embedded flash.

Dubbed "Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative," the press release claims the as-yet undeveloped technology will be based around public key encryption. Based on the release's limited information, it sounds like it will create unique IDs that will tie a variety of fixed and mobile CE devices to you, making content producers less nervous about allowing you to download--rather than just stream--DRM'd content to devices they currently can't control, like phones and tablets. … Read more

If you've been browsing the Internet at all over the past couple of months, you've probably come across several Flash advertisements on pages that produce sound.

While this isn't a problem if the sound is muted by default, several of these ads begin playback immediately while also defaulting to max volume. Flash Control, an extension for Google Chrome, blocks these Flash applets from loading until you say it's OK.

Begin by downloading and installing the Flash Control extension.

Navigate to a page with a Flash applet on it. You'll notice it no longer automatically loads. … Read more

This software engineer really, really loves Christmas...and symphonic metal, as his cube decoration contest entry shows.

Redditor and software engineer Billiam5 posted this video on Reddit late last night demonstrating his achievement in action, replete with dancing Christmas lights synced to the song "Wizards in Winter," by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO).

According to the artist himself, Billiam5 used the Arduino prototyping platform and Flash-based animation programming to bring the LEDs to life:… Read more

According to a report over at TechCrunch (drawing on Calcalist, a Hebrew publication), Apple is preparing to purchase Israeli flash memory manufacturer Anobit for $400 million to $500 million.

The acquisition would be CEO Tim Cook's first as the guy in charge at Apple, though he has been through the process before. Apple recently purchased P.A. Semi in order to produce the mobile processors (the A4 and A5) that now appear in iPhones and iPads.

Purchasing Anobit seems like a prudent move on Apple's part. By controlling its own flash storage manufacturing, Apple should be able to … Read more