Crave

Will the next version of Mac OS X be so fast that this little icon only bounces only once before it launches?

(Credit: Apple)

This week, we take a look at advertising and discuss what makes people identify with certain products. For example, some people consider themselves Macs and other PCs. The way I see it, people just want to feel that they are a part of something. I wish I would have thought to say that during the podcast...

Then we go in-depth with Snow Leopard(Mac OS X 10.6) and attempt to calculate how many bounces faster it is than 10.5.

Finally, in e-mails Dong gets some questions about Vietnamese restaurants he attempts to dodge, but I catch him in time. Also, we get a great question from the heart of Wisconsin about making tech career choices. We do our best, but I'm not sure we actually help...anyone...ever.

To subscribe to this podcast, visit us at our main page and click the podcast link on the right. Don't forget to leave us voice mail at 1-800-947-6399 or e-mail us at insidecnetlabs@cnet.com.

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Hitachi joined the 2TB hard drive club Tuesday with the Deskstar 7K2000, an all-new hard drive it claims offers both capacity and performance for desktop computers.

(Credit: Hitachi)

While this is not the first 3.5-inch 2TB hard drive, it's indeed the first consumer hard drive that boasts the spinning speed of 7,200 rpm. Western Digital released its first 2TB hard drive back in April, the WD RE4-GP, which is a low-power and low-performance hard drive that doesn't have rpm specifications.

There are lots of factors that would affect a hard drive's performance. However generally, the higher rpm number translates to higher performance.

The new Deskstar 7K2000 features Hitachi's five-platter design with relaxed bit density and perpendicular magnetic recording technology. It has a 32MB cache and supports the SATA2 interface. Hitachi claims that apart from the performance, the new drive is also designed to be eco-friendly, being halogen-free and compliant with the RoHS standard.

In addition to the new 2TB Deskstar 7K2000, Hitachi offers the new 7,200 rpm Deskstar 7K1000.C family that comes in capacities from 160GB to 1TB.

These two new hard drives are available now, with the 2TB Deskstar 7K2000 costing $329.

Today we find out why Jeff is walking around with his head down all day, and why Justin's new canine glows in the dark. It seems some genetic engineering has turned man's best friend into a flashlight.

(Credit: 6-ft-under.com)

Next we pick apart Best Buy's decision to roll out a closet-sized vinyl section in all of its stores, and why we think this might be a step backwards in terms of progress. We're not trying to put record players down; we just think our blue-and-yellow friends are jumping on that bandwagon a little too late and probably for all of the wrong reasons.

We mentioned the App Store's one-billionth app yesterday, but failed to talk about it. Today we'll reveal the useless piece of software and why we'd be happier with that baby-shaking app taking its place.

Then it's off to Firefoxland, where we discuss the highly anticipated version 3.5. We go around the room geeking out by sharing browser fantasies, thus permanently ensuring Wilson and Justin will never date again.

Finally, we dive into the world of 4chan, quite possibly the most influential crew on the Internet. So influential, in fact, that the community has voted its fearless leader to the top of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people list. That's kind of a paradox, isn't it?

All this plus Calls From the Public on today's show!

EPISODE 331

(Credit: MSI)

We had gotten word previously that MSI's follow-up to the Wind 100--the 120--would likely hit the streets this December. According to Digitimes, though, we won't have to wait that long. In fact, the 3.5G-sporting Netbook should be available sometime next month. The specs are fairly impressive, running Windows XP on Intel's Atom N270 processor with 1GB of RAM.

With its 8.9-inch screen, this ultraportable is inviting with its estimated street price of $552, but that price could come down if the manufacturer squares deals with American 3G network operators like AT&T or T-Mobile, both of which use the same 3G technology as Taiwan's Vibo Telecom, the first carrier to subsidize the Netbook.

We aren't expecting deals like that until next year at the earliest, though, if they come at all, but as carriers are looking for new ways to lock us into long term contracts, fancy hardware is an appealing way to go.

The ioSafe 3.5 has the same form factor and functions like any other regular 3.5 SATA hard drive.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

ioSafe, a company specializing in disaster-proof storage devices, today launched the world's first internal hard drive with built-in disaster protection called ioSafe 3.5. On the outside, the new drive has the same form factor and functions just like any regular 3.5-inch desktop SATA hard drive. However, on the inside, it's definitely something I've never seen before.

The ioSafe 3.5 is actually a 2.5-inch SATA hard drive (found in laptops) covered by layers of protective materials. The materials, together with ioSafe's proprietary circuit board transform the drive into a 3.5-inch form factor drive that can withstand 15 minutes of intense heat up to 1,400 degree Fahrenheit and is waterproof down to a 5-foot depth. To put this in perspective, most fireplaces burn at only 700 to 800 degrees.

ioSafe came to CNET to show off its new product's ability to handle extreme heat and here are a few photos of its impressive and convincing demo:

The ioSafe 3.5 (left) and a regular 3.5-inch hard drive inside a burner, ready to be toasted.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

The chamber lights up...

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

...and the two drives were immediately engulfed in intense fire. The temperature inside the chamber increased very quickly.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

After a few minutes, the thermometer registered 1,413.2 degrees. By the end of the demo, the temperature was more than 1,500 degrees.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

After about 10 minutes, the fire was extinguished and the drives were taken out of the chamber. The regular hard drive (left) was now completely destroyed, while the ioSafe 3.5 was also very hot and smoky.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

However, when the protective layers were peeled off, the hard drive inside the ioSafe 3.5 still seemed in good shape.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

It was indeed in a like-new state with the original data still intact.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

By the end of the demo, the hard drive survived with the original data stored on it still intact.

Based on a 2.5-inch hard drive, the ioSafe 3.5 comes in two flavors: the Pilot Series (5400rpm, up to 320GB) and Squadron Series (7200rpm, up to 200GB). Both series will offer more storage space as larger 2.5-inch laptop drives become available, and ioSafe also plans to make ioSafe 3.5 products based on solid-state hard drives in the near future.

While ioSafe 3.5 drives are not as fast as regular desktop hard drives that serve as a server's main hard drive, they are fast enough for most desktops and regular applications. They are definitely fast enough to be used as backup hard drives, and this is exactly what they are intended for.

The ioSafe 3.5's price varies from $330 to $450 depending on specs and sizes. ioSafe seems to be very sure about its new product and backs it up with a three-year warranty. It, by the way, is a very interesting kind of warranty that includes Digital Asset Recover Service. This means, during the warranty time, if disaster strikes, you can choose to recover the data by yourself, (which is a rather simple job that involves in peeling off the protective layers, hooking up the internal 2.5-inch hard drive into a computer, and copying data off of it). Or ioSafe will pay for you to ship the drive to them. Either way, you will get a brand-new replacement. In case the drive is damaged beyond the simple recovery mentioned above, ioSafe will pay up to $2,500 for a forensic-style data recover service.

All things considered, this is a very convenient solution to protect critical data from disaster, especially for home and small businesses. Before the ioSafe 3.5, the only alternative I could think of to keep your data safe from disasters was off-site backup, which is time-consuming and totally inconvenient.

Update 4:00 p.m.: I clarified two sentences and added a third to make it clear that Nikon and Canon never forced customers to buy small-frame lenses. Still relevant in my opinion, though, is the practical reality that customers already have and will again.

Rob Gruhl shot this photo with a 12-24mm 'DX' lens geared for small-frame Nikon cameras mounted to a full-frame 'FX' camera, the new D3. The DX lens is designed to shed light only on a small-frame image circle, but the D3 can be set to record on its entire sensor frame. This shot, taken at a focal length of 12mm, shows the portion illuminated with the DX lens.

(Credit: Rob Gruhl)

Canon beat Nikon to market by years with a high-end digital SLR whose image sensor is the size of a full frame of 35mm film. But while Nikon may have been late to the party with its new D3, I think it employed a much smarter approach to a lens compatibility issue.

One of the chief merits of single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras is their ability to accommodate multiple lenses, letting photographers adapt the same camera body to shoot everything from faraway birds to the confined quarters of a small house. It's annoying that one company's lenses generally don't work on another company's camera bodies, but it's even more annoying when a single company's products are incompatible, and the full-frame trend in higher-end cameras has put the spotlight on the issue.

Here's the background. The vast majority of digital SLRs sold today use smaller image sensors measuring roughly 24x16mm that are much less expensive to manufacture than full-frame 36x24mm sensors. Canon and Nikon both have made lenses specifically for these smaller sensors; Canon's small-frame lenses bear the EF-S label and Nikon's are called DX. Although neither company forced anyone to buy these lens lines, many have done so.

One big reason to make small-frame lenses is that wide-angle lenses need to be reworked for small sensors. For example, you need to use a 10mm lens on a small-frame Canon camera such as an EOS 40D to get the same field of view as a 16mm lens on a full-frame camera model such as an EOS 5D. Another big reason is that lenses for smaller sensors can be made smaller and lighter.

For many folks with digital SLRs, having a separate line of lenses for small-frame cameras isn't a big deal. They'll buy a lower-end, small-frame camera, and if they buy a later model, there's a good chance it'll be another small-frame model and their lenses will work fine. But for photographers upgrading to a full-frame camera, the lens compatibility issue rears its ugly head.

Canon shooters can't use small-frame EF-S lenses on full-frame cameras. Full-frame cameras physically can only accommodate EF lenses. Nikon, though, permits its small-frame DX lenses to be mounted on its full-frame FX cameras.

Nikon's approach isn't all smooth sailing. DX lenses are designed to shine light only a small sensor, so by default, a full-frame camera will use only the central portion of the larger sensor, meaning that many pixels are wasted. On the 12.1-megapixel D3, you only get a 5.1 megapixel image. And if you do enable the full sensor to work, in many situations light will only fall on the central pixels anyway, leaving a clear record of the lens' smaller image circle. (The DX-on-FX photo by D3 owner Rob Gruhl above illustrates the effect.)

Nikon's strategy meant that lens compatibility is a bigger issue for professional-level photographers. Its first full-frame camera, the $5,000 D3, has only just hit the market in recent weeks. That means pro-level photographers who wanted to go digital with earlier pro-level SLRs such as Nikon's D2Xs might well have felt no compunctions about investing in small-frame lenses and might have been enticed to do so to get a super-wide-angle zoom, for example.

In addition to the relatively inexpensive "kit" lenses that ship with lower-end SLRs, Nikon DX models include a $900 12-24mm f/4 wide-angle zoom, a $1,200 17-55mm f/2.8, a $600 10.5mm f/2.8mm fisheye, and a $700 image-stabilized 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 super-zoom that's the company's best-selling lens ever.

Canon, on the other hand, introduced full-frame cameras many years earlier--2002 with the EOS-1Ds--when pros weren't as far along in their transition from film to digital and therefore might have been less likely to have made investments in EF-S lenses. Indeed, one EF-S lens useful in getting full performance out of a small-frame SLR, the 10-22mm f/4-5.6 zoom, wasn't even on the market until 2004.

But the market is different now. Canon introduced the full-frame 5D more than two years ago, and it's now available for $2,100. No entry-level buyer will be interested, but that's within the range of a lot of enthusiasts, and I wouldn't be surprised if a more powerful successor (the 5D Mark II? The 7D?) is announced in conjunction with the PMA photo show in January. This is an obvious upgrade path for people who bought solid small-frame models such as the Rebel XT or 20D.

Unfortunately, it's not just a matter of reworking the lens mount on the 5D successor. The approach Canon chose with its EF-S lenses means they physically can't work on full-frame cameras because the camera's reflex mirror, which flips out of the way when a photograph is taken, would strike with the rearmost lens element or at least a rubber ring that protrudes to protect it.

"The reflex mirror on a full-frame camera would definitely collide with the rubber ring on EF-S lenses if someone managed to jam one on," said Canon spokesman and tech guru Chuck Westfall. Canon is not currently rethinking its approach to small-frame lenses on full-frame cameras, he also said.

Canon stands by its approach of permitting only full-frame lenses on full-frame cameras. "In our view, it's more valuable to preserve a full angle of view wherever possible," Westfall said. "The image circle projected by EF-S lenses is only sufficient for EOS digital SLRs with APS-C format (small-frame) image sensors, so allowing such lenses to be mounted on cameras with larger imaging formats wouldn't be practical."

The "S" in EF-S refers to the shorter back-focus distance separating the lenses' rearmost element and the sensor. "Probably the most important potential advantage of shorter backfocus is smaller, lighter and more affordable lenses," Westfall said. "Case in point: EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 is significantly smaller, lighter, and more affordable than a lens of the same zoom range and maximum aperture with full-frame coverage."

Canon has some good engineers and I'm sure it carefully evaluated its options when making small-sensor lenses. Its lens approach probably helped it be the first to market with a sub-$1,000 digital SLR, the original Digital Rebel.

But with full-frame SLRs now dropping in price--potentially even faster now that Nikon is exerting competitive pressure--I think it's too bad Canon didn't opt for a design with better lens compatibility. If you're the type of photographer who might consider upgrading to a full-frame camera, think carefully before laying out nearly $1,000 for a Canon 17-55mm EF-S f/2.8.