storage

One megawatt of grid storage, 10 big flywheels

Beacon Power says its latest flywheel will provide one megawatt of storage to the electricity grid by the end of the year.

The company's carbon fiber flywheels, which are one meter in diameter, spin constantly at up to 16,000 revolutions per minute--a surface speed of about Mach 2, Beacon CEO William Capp explained Friday. Each 8,000-pound unit can provide 100 kilowatts of electricity for 15 minutes.

Combining 10 of those flywheels will give a utility one megawatt of storage, or 25 kilowatt hours--the equivalent of what a home consumes in a day.

Fifteen minutes of storage may … Read more

Get a 500GB external hard drive for $69.99 shipped (after rebate)

I've yet to see a 500GB external hard drive for less than $80, even on Black Friday. But Buy.com has the Micronet Fantom Titanium II 500GB USB drive for $69.99 shipped (after a $20 mail-in rebate). That's a lotta storage for not a lotta cash. (Somewhere my old grammar teacher is feeling faint.)

This 7,200-rpm drive promises solid performance and near-silent operation, as it's housed in a fanless enclosure. It's not much to look at, but, hey, you're paying for gigabytes, not glamour. CNET hasn't reviewed the drive, but a couple users gave it high marks.… Read more

Honey, I shrunk the Corsair Flash Voyager

I've accidentally left my thumdrives in the pocket and let them go through the laundry treatment multiple times. Some times they survived, other times I had to buy a new one. Either way, I had to deal with this familiar lingering bad feeling after finding the little device inside the dryer. It's like "Gosh, I couldn't believe it happened, again!" And yet, I just can't guarantee that it won't. This is why I've been very happy with Cosair's Flash Voyager series that features a water resistance and shockproof housing.

And today, … Read more

Store 160GB of stuff with Maxtor OneTouch III Mini, $49.99 shipped

Running out of storage space on your notebook hard drive? Would an extra 160GB do ya? Newegg has the Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition on sale for $49.99 shipped. It's a compact, travel-friendly drive stocked with backup, sync, and system-rollback software.

I own one of these babies, and it's a slice of portable-storage heaven. However, I do wish it had an integrated USB cable instead of the separate one that's included. On the plus side, this is a new unit, not a refurb, and it includes a one-year warranty. CNET gave the OneTouch high marks, praising … Read more

Sun: 2008 'tipping point' for solid-state drives

2008 is the year of the solid state drive. That's what Sun Microsystems believes as reliability finally measures up to the rigorous requirements of server storage and the cost per gigabyte plunges.

On Wednesday, Sun announced that it is preparing to introduce solid-state drive (SSD) technology that "will completely change how server and storage infrastructure is designed and deployed in enterprise data centers." Sun said it is already shipping Solaris ZFS software "optimized" for SSDs.

Though Sun is not specifying suppliers, Intel confirms that it has collaborated with Sun on SSD development for servers. Intel … Read more

A kitchen accessory for the jet set

Longing for a stylish way to create more storage in your tiny kitchen? Borrow a solution from one of the tiniest food-prep areas known to man: the airplane kitchen. Thanks to trendy travel retailer Flight 001, you can get your hands on a vintage airline food cart for use as a dry bar, serving vessel, or kitchen storage.

The carts were actually used on planes, so they come complete with small dents and scratches. Fortunately, Flight 001 has prettied up the exterior with a number of groovy finishes to appeal to your modern sensibilities. Inside you'll find a retractable … Read more

Get a 4GB flash drive for $9.99 shipped

Back in January, I was pretty excited about finding a 4GB flash drive for $17.49. So imagine my geeky glee at finding one for just $9.99.

That's the deal Newegg is offering Tuesday. (And I guarantee you it won't last long, so chop-chop if you want in.) Equally amazing: That price includes three-day shipping.

The Corsair Flash Voyager drive offers 4GB of storage (see full specs here). It's compatible with all operating systems and comes with the TrueCrypt encryption utility (Windows only) for securing your data. You also get a lanyard, USB cable, and 10-year … Read more

Gadgettes 92: The Summer Weekend Entertainment Extravaganza Episode

Summer happens but once a year. Enjoy it. Here...we'll get you started on your path to summer fulfillment. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 92

A TV phone that Spongebob would appreciate http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9954140-1.html

Take to the seas, it’s barbecue time! http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9954596-1.html

Baja BBQ http://www.core77.com/blog/events/baja_bbq_9953.asp

Always be ready for battle with a squirt-gun coffee table http://dvice.com/archives/2008/05/always_be_ready.php

Dutch claim world’s first solar speedboat http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9951260-1.html

The Dough-nu-matic: Homer Simpson … Read more

Buffalo LinkStation Mini: Network storage device goes pocket size

I've tested and reviewed a good amount of NAS devices and found them generally bulky. Even those we consider "compact", like the Synology DS107+ or the D-Link DNS 323, are still in no way close to being able to fit in your pocket. This is why I let out a big "wow" today when I saw Buffalo's newest kid on the NAS block. The LinkStation Mini immediately and totally changed my expectation in regard to how tiny a network storage device can be!

By tiny I refer strictly to the form factor. Having the … Read more