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Microsoft Surface Pro shows off its inner ultrabook

Is the Surface Pro a tablet or a laptop? Well, let's put it this way: benchmarks put it squarely in the laptop category, leaving Apple and Android tablets in the dust.

Chip review site Anandtech ran benchmarks on the solid-state drive in Microsoft's new Surface Pro tablet, underscoring the performance gap with the flash drive in Apple's iPad 4.

It's a "full blown" SSD, wrote Anand Shimpi of Anandtech, referring to Micron Technology's C400 solid-state drive in the Surface that Anandtech tested.

The Micron SSD posted speeds of 400 megabytes-per-second when reading data … Read more

Top five Thunderbolt storage devices: Performance meets capacity

The Thunderbolt technology can be applied to a lot of things, but currently, the most popular use is in storage products. In this regard, it's similar to USB 3.0 but offers about twice the transfer speed, and you can also daisy-chain as many as five storage devices together using a single Thunderbolt port without degrading the data rates.

Despite the fact that Thunderbolt has gone multiplatform, most Thunderbolt storage devices are geared toward Macs. And their pricing, while progressively getting lower since Thunderbolt was first introduced a few years ago, is still quite high when compared with USB … Read more

Amazon, Overstock argue in NY court against sales tax demand

Amazon and Overstock are duking it out with New York state in a court battle over the issue of collecting sales tax.

In a case being heard by the State of New York Court of Appeals, attorneys for both retailers claimed yesterday that a 2008 New York law requiring them to collect sales tax on online purchases is unconstitutional, as reported by Reuters.

A 1992 Supreme Court decision found that retailers can't be forced to collect sales tax on out-of-state purchases unless they have a physical presence in those states. But the New York law skirted that decision. The … Read more

Dueling disks: Apple's 128GB response to Surface Pro

With the 128GB iPad, Apple is obviously trying to steal thunder from Microsoft's Saturday roll out of the Surface Pro. But that doesn't mean you can equate the iPad's disk performance with the Surface Pro's.

Apple's carefully-timed release of the 128GB iPad ostensibly puts the iPad's storage on par with Microsoft's 128GB Surface Pro, which will go on sale Saturday.

Well, not quite.

Apple is using a flash drive optimized for power efficiency, while Microsoft's solid-state drive favors speed -- the same kind of drive used in ultrabooks. (And Apple's MacBooks, … Read more

Trying to lose weight? Breathe into this gadget

Did you indulge at the Super Bowl party last night? Maybe you're still trying to work off the excesses of the holidays. Well, here's a dieting tool that's quite breathtaking -- literally.

Created by four Ph.Ds, mostly from Arizona State University, Breezing is a portable device that measures your metabolism using a method called indirect calorimetry. It analyzes your rates of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production.

You breathe into the mouse-size gadget that contains a sensor cartridge. It gauges your resting energy expenditure (REE), the metabolic rate indicating how quickly you're burning calories at rest. If you're trying to slim down, the faster the better. … Read more

Udacity, San Jose State University offer online classes for credit

So you've graduated from high school and been accepted at a four-year college. But when you arrive on campus you find out that you can't pass college entry-level courses, so it's back to remedial classes. That's the fate of half of all freshman at San Jose State University, according to Provost Ellen Junn. Add to those woes decreases in funding for higher education across California, higher tuition fees, and greater competition for college admission.

Those are just some of the reasons the university has partnered with Silicon Valley startup Udacity to offer San Jose State Plus, … Read more

The 404 1,197: Where we are who we said we were (podcast)

Jeff hasn't finished complaining about last year's Retina Display iPad yet and Apple went ahead and announced a new 128-gigabyte model for $799. But wait, haven't we been getting beaten in the head with Apple's cloudcentric messaging for the last two years? Why the push for local storage all of a sudden?

In pop culture news, we'll spend some of the first half talking about mistaken identities through the Internet and the "Catfish" show on MTV that just wrapped up its first season.

Some critics accused the episodes of being staged (like the film it was based on), but a casting application for Season 2 at least proves that the stories are staged at most, not entirely made up.… Read more

How CNET tests storage devices

Testing a storage device is more difficult than you may expect. They may not be particularly glamorous, but storage devices serve a vital function in your digital life. Making sure they perform efficiently is important, which is why I wrote this post detailing how CNET tests the devices that we review.

Before I begin, though, it's essential that you have a good understanding of digital storage basics. So click over to read that series if you want to learn more.

There are three types of mainstream consumer-grade storage devices: internal, external, and network. Generally, we test them by transferring … Read more

Windows 8 to mainstream solid-state drives, says analyst

This could be the year of the solid-state drive.

Newfangled uber-thin Windows 8 devices and falling flash memory prices could double the size of the solid-state drive market, according to a research note today from IHS iSuppli.

"The newest wave of ultrabooks loaded with Windows 8 has started to generate enthusiasm," wrote Ryan Chien, analyst for memory and storage at IHS, adding that a growing appetite for laptops, hybrids, and tablets could conspire with falling flash memory prices to drive demand.

Worldwide SSD shipments are expected to rise to 83 million units this year, up from 39 million … Read more