memory

Seagate has agreed to acquire Samsung's hard drive business for $1.375 billion in a deal that gives Samsung a 9.6 percent stake in the hard-drive specialist and that forges an alliance for the new era of flash memory storage.

The companies announced the deal today, a new step in the steady consolidation of a major part of the computing industry. Last month, Western Digital signed a deal to acquire Hitachi's hard-drive unit for $4.3 billion, thereby vaulting it over Seagate to become the largest hard drive maker. Seagate's deal today would reduce the market … Read more

The iPad 2 is "winning" with two double-your-fun hardware features. Buh-bye iPad 1.

After using the iPad 2 for a few weeks, I can now say the upgrade was worth it. Even waiting in line with the huddled Los Angeles masses, yearning for the iPad 2, was worth it.

Allow me to insert a brief parenthetical by saying I wouldn't be completely honest if I didn't mention there's always a psychological need to justify the purchase of a pricey gadget. Not unlike seeking absolution for a sin. That said, I'm pretty sure this review … Read more

I've owned, listened to, and reviewed a lot of high-end CD players, but none of them sounded as good as PS Audio's PerfectWave Transport and Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) components.

The Transport uses a CD-ROM drive mechanism that "reads" and rereads the data on the CD as many times as necessary until a bit-perfect match is achieved. PS Audio's Web site says the CD's data is placed in a 64MB memory buffer as the music plays, so you're not directly listening to the CD. To prove that claim remove the disc from the Transport and the music will continue playing for approximately 30 seconds!

The Transport can also play high-resolution WAV files off DVDs, with sample rates up to 192-kHz with 24-bit resolution. I had a few of these DVDs on hand for this review, and the PerfectWave components really shined with high-resolution audio. … Read more

Academics working with carbon nanotubes have developed a low-power memory technology with application for smartphones, cameras, and other consumer gadgets.

The "mechanical arm" storage technology, developed by scientists at Edinburgh University, Seoul National University, and Konkuk University in South Korea, uses a tiny cantilevered arm to deliver charge to gate electrodes in storage devices.

"We've come up with a new way to do the [electrode] charging that consumes very little power," researcher Eleanor Campbell, who worked on the technology in Edinburgh's chemistry department, told ZDNet UK today. "We have a very little cantilevered … Read more

Flash memory chips and batteries, major components in the iPad 2, appear to face different fates, owing to the location of the manufacturing facilities in different parts of Japan.

Clarity is hard to come by in Japan, especially in the earthquake-stricken areas. But the impact of the continuing crisis on two major technologies used in Apple's latest tablet is pretty clear.

While Toshiba's manufacturing production of flash memory continues to recover, lithium-ion battery production is not faring so well, as it was much closer to ground zero.

Flash memory/Toshiba: The world's largest supplier of flash memory--and … Read more

Beyond the devastating loss of life and property, the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last week are likely to shorten the supply and increase prices of key electronic components, according to a report released yesterday by IHS iSuppli.

Most of the factories for the major electronics makers managed to escape severe damage as they were located far enough away from the epicenter of the quake and the areas affected by the tsunami.

However, the disaster has severely affected the country's transportation and power grids, leading to problems shipping and receiving parts, getting people to work, and maintaining production.… Read more

The supply of flash memory chips, a principal component in hot-selling tablets and smartphones, will likely be affected by the earthquake in Japan, according to a report. But the factories that manufacture flash are well to the south of the quake's epicenter, possibly mitigating the impact.

An 8.9-magnitude earthquake and series of major tsunamis struck Japan on Friday, causing massive damage. The quake struck Friday at 2:46 p.m. local time about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo. Aftershocks registered 7.1, 6.2, and 5.9, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's report. At least … Read more

When troubleshooting Macs and other systems, the word "memory" may be thrown around rather carelessly when addressing problems such as slowdowns. People may suggest "freeing up memory," increasing RAM, or doing the same for hard-drive space; however, the similarity and overlapping use of these words can confuse people, especially given that both RAM and hard-drive contents are sized in megabytes and gigabytes.

I regularly receive comments and questions from people asking me about RAM and hard-drive optimizations and including phrases similar to, "I know that the problem has to do with RAM (I have 2GB), … Read more

Every once in a while, we need a friendly reminder about the importance of getting a good night's rest--after all, the average human spends about a third of his or her life asleep, and a chronic lack of rest can lead to memory loss, depression, higher risk of heart disease and stroke, and more! The Sleep Doctor Michael Breus is back with more tips on how to maintain a healthy sleep cycle and to address the growing concerns about sleep!

We're lucky to have Dr. Breus in the hot seat today to answer your questions about sleep. His schedule is filled with appearances on Martha Stewart Morning Living, a bi-weekly column on Huffington Post, a new Twitter account, and a line of temperature-regulated mattresses at Sleepy's Mattress Store!

On today's hour-long episode, we're spending a little extra time with the good doctor to answer your concerns about the importance of a healthy night's rest. We start with an experiment in Europe with cars that drive themselves, allowing commuters to catch up on sleep en route to work.

We're all still questioning our own abilities to fall asleep and trust that the car will get us to our destination in one piece, but the article brings up an interesting point about the dangers of sleep driving, since over 60 percent of Americans have admitted to driving drowsy. Next time you're feeling tired, pull over and take a nap-a-latte!… Read more