GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

In 1956, IBM’s Ramac computer storage system squeezed 20MB of data into a large office room. Big Blue’s new mid-size storage rack packs over a million times more data (up to 24TB) and fits on a desktop.

Size and storage aren’t the Storwize v7000’s only selling points; IBM also touts its performance, particularly for high-volume cloud computing or transactions over the web. It uses a mix of efficiency software that IBM either developed through its own R&D or recently acquired.

For example, Storwize’s UI, storage architecture and virtualization technologies are modeled on those of Israeli storage startup XIV. In 2008, IBM purchased XIV, founded by the highly-regarded Moshe Yanai, former head engineer for IBM’s storage rival EMC, for $300 million; an analyst called Yanai’s move to IBM akin to a Boston Red Sox star joining the New York Yankees. No pressure there. Yanai left IBM in August; the Storwize’s success or failure will test whether the high-profile acquisition has paid off.

Storwize’s Easy Tier software, developed by IBM Research, automatically scans files for high I/O usage and moves them to higher-performing SSD drives for quick access. ProtecTIER, technology IBM also bought in 2008, eliminates duplicate files; real-time compression software (also the result of an IBM acquisition) further reduces the storage footprint. IBM also promises non-disruptive migrations, meaning you can move data around, but you and your customers can still access it, reducing one of the main causes of planned downtime.

I wonder what storage downtime in 1956 looked like — probably just someone turning off the lights and going home.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Digital Inspiration’s Amit Agarwal has a clever Dropbox-based solution for printing documents from a smartphone or tablet, whether your printer’s down the hall or thousands of miles away.

The idea is so simple, you’ll be amazed you haven’t thought to try it yourself. Dropbox is a popular utility that allows users to sync and share files on different computers. Most smartphones have built-in Dropbox applications, and many mobile applications are now integrating Dropbox for remote syncing and storage. You can also add files to your Dropbox account via email or the web.

In this solution, use any of those means to get the file you want printed into a shared Dropbox folder — call it “PrintQueue” — that you’ve set up for this purpose. Your print-capable computer uses a script to monitor “PrintQueue”, automatically print its documents and then move them to a different folder. (Agarwal calls this second folder “logs”; I’d call it “Completed Jobs”). If you’re a clever hacker, you could even add scripts to send a remote notification that the print job has been completed.

For Windows, Agarwal has a downloadable VBS script that will set this up for you; as he notes, there are different scripting solutions for Mac OS X or Linux too.

Once you’ve got this rigged, the immediate use case is to send a document wirelessly from a smartphone or tablet to a local printer. And it is kind of magical to stand there and watch the whole process unfold, as in the video above.

But think beyond that. Suddenly, your printer is capable of networking with any computer, anywhere — with any phone, anywhere — that you approve and authorize. This is potentially so much better than hooking up a computer to a wireless router or navigating the virtual bureaucracy of an office printer network. It’s way better than a fax machine.

This could be one future of social networking and file sharing: instead of big, ad-cluttered feeds that push photos, status updates and Farmville notifications or anonymous networks that chop files into bits and reassemble them, imagine friends and acquaintances broadcasting to each other, wheels within wheels, each with different levels and fields of access. Designating someone a “friend” might not be worth very much in this cockeyed world, but automatic remote access to someone’s printer still means something.

Print Files from any Mobile Phone using Dropbox [Digital Inspiration] via Gizmodo

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

The Pogoplug is a little box that lets you access your hard drive’s contents over the internet. You plug the drive into the Pogoplug, plug the Pogoplug into your router and you’re done: always-on, use-anywhere access to your files. Now, a new Wi-Fi adapter means you don’t even need to put it near your router.

The dongle costs $29 and plugs into the main unit. It lets the Pogoplug hook up to your network via 802.11 b,g or n instead of Ethernet, so you can stow both the Pogoplug and a stack of USB hard-drives in a closet and forget about them. Best of all, if you already have a Pogoplug, the company will give you a wireless adapter, free.

For accessing your data from outside the home, this should make no difference at all to speed: the limiting factor will be your home connection’s upload rate, likely a lot slower than even the slowest home Wi-Fi network. Even at home on a wireless-n network, you’ll get the best speeds unless your computer is wired direct to the router.

The Pogoplug adapter will ship in three to four weeks in the U.S. only.

Pogoplug Wireless Adapter [Pogoplug]

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Dropbox, the file-syncin’, cloud-storin’ service for the cognoscenti and the extremely good-looking, has released a beta for the Blackberry. Currently limited to 1,000 users (and already fully subscribed), the beta essentially brings gigabytes of remote storage to your crackberry.

Dropbox is a service which syncs any files in the Dropbox folder on your computer with 2GB free space in the cloud (you can pay for more). This is at once a backup (with versioned saves of files, so you can rescue a file you wrongly edited) and as a sharing service.

Like the versions for iPhone and Android, Dropbox for Blackberry lets you open files, stream movies and music and view pictures right on your handheld. You can also upload files: pictures taken with the Blackberry’s camera, for example.

It’s too late to sign up for this wave of the beta, but hopefully this signals that the fully-baked app, which will run on OS 5.0 devices, will be launched soon.

Dropbox for Blackberry Beta Begins [Dropbox Forums via <a href="http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/07/31/dropbox-launches-a-limited-beta-version-for-the-blackberry/
">Boy Genius]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Spotify, the jukebox-in-the-cloud which is still not available in the US has been updated to work with iOS4. This adds several new features, but the game-changer is that it can now run in the background, replacing the iPod app almost completely.

Spotify is a free, ad-supported or paid application for Mac, PC, iOS, Symbian and Android which lets you play any music in the catalog as if it were iTunes. Unlike Pandora, the US-only music streaming service, you can actually choose an artist and track, and organize music into playlists, even saving them for offline listening.

Now, with iOS4’s multitasking, you can continue to listen to Spotify in the background as you send mail, read Instapaper or do pretty much anything else. Just as planned, the music controls in the app-switching dock control Spotify instead of the iPod app, the inline remote on the headphones does the same, as do the music controls on the iPhone’s lock-screen. If your iPhone or iPad is in the universal dock, using the Apple remote will also let you control Spotify. In short, it takes over all iPhone music functions while running.

Further, if you play a track from Spotify that is already on your iPhone, it will be pulled from the local copy rather than over the network (currently, this causes the app to pause if running in the background).

There are more new features in this release. Just like the latest desktop client, Spotify mobile lets you send music to your Spotify and Facebook friends, as well as browsing the “top lists”, charts based on new and popular tracks.

The only thing that keeps Spotify completely replacing your iPod app is podcasts, which can be accessed but cannot be updated automatically. The usability is also a little clunky. Searching the gazillion songs in Spotify’s catalog is fast and easy, but browsing your own saved playlists is an annoyingly linear affair, with much scrolling and clicking to find what you want.

Spotify is free, but to use it on your iPhone or iPod Touch you have to pay the premium 10-per-month subscription. I do. I figure its worth it to have 8 million track on my iPad and iPod Touch.

Bonus tip: Did you know that in iOS4, music keeps playing even whilst you sync to iTunes?

iPhone app updated – background listening arrives! [Spotify]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews