Maxtor SATA Ultra16 Hard Drive Kits

Maxtor today announced that it is shipping its new Maxtor SATA Ultra16(TM)Hard Drive Kits. As the only retail hard drive featuring a 16MB buffer andoffering best-in-class 7200RPM performance(1), Maxtor's new Ultra16 kits areperfect for consumers who want to upgrade their systems for an improvedmultimedia, computing and gaming experience. The new Ultra16 Hard Drive Kitscome with a high-performance Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive and offer capacitiesup to 300GB, allowing consumers to store 5,000 hours of their favorite MP3s,230,000 digital photos (JPEG) or 144 high-definition video games(2).

Maxtor's easy-to-install SATA Ultra16 Hard Drive Kit includes an installationguide with step-by-step instructions, a SATA cable and mounting screws. The kitalso includes Maxtor's popular MaxBlast(TM) installation software, whichpartitions and formats the drive for use, and helps copy files from the old harddrive to the new Maxtor drive. In addition, the new Ultra16 drive offers a150MB/sec interface speed and SATA II features including Native Command Queuing(NCQ) for more intelligent hard drive operation, and runs quietly with a fluiddynamic bearing motor.

"Customers continue to rely on Maxtor's innovative storage solutions. Our retailproduct line, including our award-winning Maxtor OneTouch(TM) external drive,has become the industry benchmark in desktop performance, reliability andbackup," said Stacey Lund, executive director of Maxtor's Consumer ProductsGroup. "We take pride in offering a desktop hard drive solution for everyonefrom extreme gamers to cost-conscious consumers."

PC or Mac users who play intense games, edit digital videos, juggle multipleapplications at once, or who have an older parallel ATA system are perfectcandidates to upgrade their systems to SATA. To upgrade, customers simplyinstall a Maxtor Ultra16 hard drive and a SATA controller card, or install thedrive directly with any new motherboard that supports SATA. Compared to parallelATA, new SATA-enabled PC systems, particularly with NCQ, will show improvedperformance while multithreading or running two streams of multimedia content atthe same time.

Pricing and Availability

Maxtor 250GB and 300GB SATA Ultra16 Hard Drive Kits are available through majordistribution and retail channels. Manufacturer's suggested retail prices are$ 239.95 and $ 279.95 respectively. Parallel ATA Ultra16 Hard Drive Kits will beavailable in Q4 2004.

Fujitsu digitizes sticky-note brainstorming with proprietary digital pen technology

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Fujitsu Laboratories today announced that it has developed an industry-first technology supporting the digitization of results from sticky-note brainstorming sessions by utilizing a digital pen.

Sticky-note

Key Features of the New Technology

1. High-precision note area extraction system

This system automatically extracts sticky-note surface area data from images captured by a digital camera with a high degree of precision. Because the system converts the image to a multi-tiered binary format and hierarchically analyzes the results to locate each sticky-notes' surface area, data can be extracted with high accuracy, regardless of the illumination level.

2. Method for mapping digital pen stroke information with sticky-notes

Since pen stroke information can be recorded using a digital pen, character recognition utilizing that information produces results of a higher precision than traditional handwritten character recognition based on images alone. The system collates image data from the extracted sticky-note surface area and the stroke information from the digital pen. It can also automatically input the results of the handwritten digitization by more than 80% compared with conventional manual input. The results of brainstorming sessions can be easily converted to other formats, including PowerPoint or Excel, enabling utilization in a variety of ways, such as looking back to brainstorming processes at a later date and reorganizing brainstorming data.

IBM introduces new powerful mainframe computers

IBM on Tuesday introduced a new line of mainframe computers the company calls its most powerful and technologically advanced ever.

IBM said its zEnterprise EC12 mainframe server is designed to help clients securely and quickly sift through massive amounts of data, meeting the demands of retail and other clients in the age of "Big Data." Running at 5.5 GHz, IBM said the

"Whether its retail or whether its transportation, making reservations, whatever it is, the system has been built really to help clients do those new types of new-age transactions," said Doug Brown, an IBM vice president of marketing.

IBM says more than $1 billion was spent on research and development for the system at 18 sites worldwide, with most of it in Poughkeepsie, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of its headquarters in Armonk in Westchester County.

The new mainframe is being promoted as one of the most secure systems ever with a tamper-resistant cryptographic co-processor to provide privacy for sensitive transactions.

IBM has been focusing on its software and services divisions, which are more profitable than selling the mainframe computers that made the company famous decades ago. But the sales of those mainframes help feed demand for IBM services.

LunaTik lets you wear your iPod Nano on your wrist

If you are the owner of the stylish Apple iPod Nano, you would probablywant this cool watch kit to make theportable media player into a watch.Launched at the recent COMEX Show in Singapore, and carried by Tat Chuan Acoustic Pte Ltd in Singapore, the LunaTik isa premiumconversion kit designed for those want toconvert their iPod Nanoas a wristwatch. The product comes with a tool kit that lets you screw in the nano into the wristband.The LunaTik case is forged from aircraft-grade aluminium with great durability and the straps are made from compression moulded high-grade silicone rubber with anti-dust coating while the hardware is made from stainless steel. Available in silver, black andred, the LunaTik is retailing at S$129 (with GST).

The other model, which is called TikTok,has asimple snap-in design that allows the user to quickly and securely snap the iPod Nano in and out of the wrist dock. It integrates the media playerand transforms it into a modern multi-function timepiece. TikTok is designed for those who want to easily transition from clip mode to watch mode. Moulded from reinforced PC/ABS, the straps are made from compression moulded high-grade silicone rubber withanti-dust coatingand the hardware is stainless steel. The TikTok isavailable in black or white at S$69 (with GST).