(Credit: Lexar)

First announced at CES 2011, the new SDXC memory card comes in two capacities, 128GB and 64GB, and offers speeds of up to 133x (about 20MBps). This means the new card enables you to take multiple high-definition photos continuously or record extended-length 1080p HD videos without having to stop and swap the memory card.

The Lexar Professional 133x SDXC memory card includes the latest version of the company’s Image Rescue software, which helps recover lost or deleted photo and video files.

Lexar claims that the card has been tested to ensure performance, reliability and compatibility with more than 800 existing digital devices. It also works with any SDXC-enabled devices such as card readers.

The Lexar Professional SDXC card comes with a limited lifetime warranty. The card is available now and costs AU$296.80 for the 64GB version and AU$504.50 for the 128GB version.

Via CNET

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The Little Big Disk has two 250GB solid-state drives inside and comes with two Thunderbolt ports, allowing for daisy chaining with up to six other devices.

Designed to store large audio and video files, LaCie says that thanks to the support for Thunderbolt, the Little Big Disk can deliver multiple streams of HD video plus hours of content in just minutes instead of hours, as in the case of USB 2.0 or FireWire. Basically, the external hard drive now offers speeds previously available only from rack-mounted storage arrays, allowing general and professional users to access a large amount of data in real time in a matter of seconds.

As Thunderbolt runs two protocols (PCI Express and DisplayPort) simultaneously over a single cable, it provides two channels of up to 10Gbps in both directions. This means users can connect their notebooks to high resolution displays, cameras and storage all at the same time and push video and data both ways without compromising the bandwidth.

The LaCie Little Big Disk will be available by mid-year. Final pricing and capacity options are still to be determined.

Via CNET

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First demonstrated at CES 2010, Wi-Fi Direct has taken another step to become part of the Wi-Fi usage spectrum.

Wi-Fi Direct helps making connections between Wi-Fi-enabled devices much more flexible.
(Credit: Wi-Fi Alliance)

The Wi-Fi Alliance, the group that tests and certifies Wi-Fi products to make sure they interoperate, announced yesterday that it has begun certifying products capable of making Wi-Fi-based device-to-device connections and designating them Wi-Fi Certified Wi-Fi Direct.

Traditionally, Wi-Fi clients need to connect to a central place, called an access point, before they can connect to one another in their "infrastructure" mode. Other than that, they can also connect in pairs via a mode called "ad-hoc", which is limited both in range and throughput speed.

Wi-Fi Direct, on the other hand, allows Wi-Fi devices to connect to one another without an access point at the same speed and range of the infrastructure mode. They can also establish a connection much faster via Wi-Fi Protected Setup, a method that enables connecting devices by pressing a button. In other words, Wi-Fi Direct allows Wi-Fi products to connect much like Bluetooth devices but at a much faster speed and a much longer range.

With this flexibility, Wi-Fi Direct devices fill an important hole in daily usage: directly connecting devices for applications such as content sharing, syncing, printing and gaming anywhere, without users having to carry along an access point.

According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, another advantage of Wi-Fi Certified Wi-Fi Direct devices is the fact that they can work with traditional Wi-Fi Certified devices, as they act as a mini access point, to which traditional Wi-Fi products can connect.

The Wi-Fi Alliance says that it formed the test suite for the certification program by using the following products, which are also the first that are designated Wi-Fi Certified Wi-Fi Direct:

• Atheros XSPAN dual-band 802.11n PCIe mini card (AR928x)
• Broadcom BCM43224 dual-band 802.11n 2x2 MIMO PCIe half mini card
• Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200
• Ralink MiMobility 802.11n 2x2 PCIe half mini card
• Realtek RTL8192CE-VA4 HM92C00 PCIe mini card

The group used the Cisco 2106 Wireless LAN Controller and Cisco Aironet 1240 Series Access Points for the certification test suite.

Via CNET

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• Has fast throughput speeds
• A large capacity
• A portable and sleek design at an affordable price
• The bus-powered device is backward compatible with USB 2.0
• Comes bundled with backup software
• A generous five-year warranty

The bad

• Doesn’t have FireWire or eSATA connections
• The included backup software only works with PCs

The Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 is the first USB 3.0 external hard drive we’ve reviewed and it proved itself to be an excellent storage device. The drive is bus-powered and works with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 connections. Externally, the Black Armor PS110 USB 3.0 looks the same as the USB 2.0-based BlackArmor PS110 - that is to say it’s very sleek and portable. The only difference is its USB 3.0 mini-USB port on its back. On the inside, the new BlackArmor PS110 USB 3.0 has a 7200rpm hard drive (as opposed to a 5400rpm drive in the USB 2.0 version).

Design and features

The Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 looks great and feels sturdy. The drive is thin and compact enough to be easily tucked in your pocket to carry on the go. Unlike many other sleek-looking devices we’ve seen, the BlackArmor’s cover doesn’t attract fingerprints, which while not really important, affords the drive a clean look all the time.

As USB 3.0 is new technology that officially debuted during CES 2010, most existing computers don’t have the technology built-in. However, the Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 comes in a kit that includes a USB 3.0 add-in card for laptop users. This card uses the laptop’s PC Express slot to add a USB 3.0 port to the computer. However, the BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 is fully compatible with USB 2.0 and you can use it like any other external hard drive. Since the drive is bus-powered, you need only to plug it into the computer via a USB port to start using it.

The Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 comes with one mini-USB 3.0 port on the back. This port isn’t compatible with USB 2.0 and you will need to use the included mini-USB 3.0 cable that comes with the drive. The drive doesn’t offer any other connection options such as FireWire or eSATA; however, since USB 3.0 is faster than any other connection on the market - up to 5Gbps - this lack of connection options makes sense.

Out of the box, the drive is formatted using the NTFS file system and is intended to be used with Windows computers; however, it can be easily reformatted for Macs. Unfortunately, the included PC Express card only has drivers for Windows.

Like the USB 2.0 version, the Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 comes with Acronis-based backup software that allows for easy backing up and restoring of data. You can choose to back up the computer’s main hard drive and restore the whole system to the point when the backup was created, or you can restore a few single files by mounting a backup as a virtual drive. The software also allows for encrypting the backups with AES 256-bit encryption to keep your data safe in case the drive is lost or stolen. Unfortunately, the backup software only works for Windows. If you have a Mac, you’ll need to get another third-party backup software or use Time Machine, Apple’s proprietary backup solution available in OS X 10.5 or later.

Cost per gigabyte

With the price tag of AU$180, the BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 has a capacity of 500GB and costs about 36 cents per gigabyte. This is slightly more expensive than the 30-32 cents per gigabyte average of many other external drives on the market. Nonetheless, considering its speed, great design and the added laptop PC card, we find that BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 offers very good value for the money.

Performance

When connected to a computer via a USB 3.0 port, the Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 is by far the fastest external hard drive we’ve tested with scores more than double those of even the fastest USB 2.0 external hard drives.

In the USB 3.0 write test, the drive scored 72 megabytes per second compared to 24.7 megabytes per second of the Iomega eGo, which is the second fastest. In the USB 3.0 read test, the BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0, interestingly, did worse than its write test at 59.4 megabytes per second. Still, this is about twice the read speed of even the fastest USB 2.0 hard drives. With USB 2.0 hard drives, generally the write speed tends to be slower than the read speed. This is reversed in the case of the BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0.

When connected to a computer via a USB 2.0 port, the BlackArmor PS 110 was still among the fastest USB 2.0 external hard drives with a write test speed of 25 megabytes per second and the read test speed of 29.6 megabytes per second.

There will be more USB 3.0-based external hard drives coming out in the near future and we can’t wait to see how the BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 will stack up to them. For now, it’s by far the fastest USB external hard drive we’ve seen.

Performance tests (in megabytes per second)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Read

Write

Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0

59.4

72.6

Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 (via USB 2.0 port)

29.6

25

Iomega eGo Portable

29.5

24.7

Seagate BlackArmor PS 110

30

24.6

Transcend Storjet 25F

27.5

24.3

Clickfree Portable Backup drive

26.4

23.3

Fujitsu HandyDrive

27.9

22.5

Service and support

When it comes to external hard drives, nothing is more important than its warranty, and nobody can beat Seagate in this regard. The company backs the BlackArmor PS 110 USB 3.0 with a generous five-year limited warranty. Seagate will replace any defective drives under warranty, and you can even choose to upgrade to a larger/newer drive for a discounted price. The company’s telephone support is available 8am to 6pm, Monday through Sunday, and you can find a comprehensive list of FAQs and an external hard-drive knowledge base at its website.

Via CNET.com

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• Fast throughput
• Easy to use
• True dual-band
• Guest networking
• Printer and network storage support
• Aesthetically pleasing design

The bad

• Limited networking features
• Picky support for USB external hard drive
• Only three Ethernet ports
• No web interface
• No remote access for Windows users
• Supports only 50 clients
• Only OS X 10.4 or later can access storage feature

Editors’ note: Apple recently released a new revision of the AirPort Extreme Base Station, presumably to address speed and performance concerns with the older model. We tested the new model and retested the old one for this review. Only the Performance section of the review has been changed, as that is the only difference between the previous version of the AirPort Extreme Base Station and the new one.

At AU$229, the new AirPort Extreme is on the pricey side among high-end routers and unfortunately, it offers a relatively skimpy amount of networking features, especially for Windows users. It does, however, have high throughput speeds and the ease of use found in most Apple products. This new AirPort Extreme Base Station wireless router is the update to Apple’s previous model with the same name and sleek design. The router offers two big improvements, including true dual-band Wireless-N and guest networking. These make it comparable to other true dual-band Wireless-N routers such as the D-Link Xtreme DIR-825 or the Linksys WRT610N. If you are a Mac user or in need of something simple, the new AirPort Extreme Base Station is definitely worth the investment. On the other hand, if you want more networking features and more control over your networking and remote access, there are better options available to you.

Design and ease of use

Like its predecessor, the AirPort Extreme Base Station is one of the best-looking routers we’ve reviewed. Though it doesn’t have the smallest design, the router’s square shape and internal antenna create a compact illusion.

On the front is a status light that changes colour according to the working condition of the device. For example, solid green means everything is in order, while flashing amber indicates a possible problem. On the back are three gigabit Ethernet ports and one USB port. There is one Ethernet port fewer than most other USB Wireless-N routers we’ve reviewed, which means you can connect only three wired clients to the router before necessitating a hub or a switch. The USB port can be used to host either a printer or an external hard drive to share among network users.

As the Base Station doesn’t offer a web interface, setting up the AirPort Extreme Base Station requires the installation of the AirPort Utility software, which comes in both Mac and Windows versions. The Windows version of the software installs quite a few services, such as Bonjour and AirPort Base Station Agent, that run whenever the computer starts. AirPort Base Station Agent helps automatically detect shared folders from a USB drive connected to the router.

With other routers that support a web interface, you can configure them via a web browser without the need to install any software. It’s also convenient, as you can immediately access the router’s settings from virtually any computer connected to it. Some vendors, such as Linksys, offer both the desktop software and web interface for their routers.

To make up for this, the AirPort Utility makes setting up the router very easy for novice users, taking only a few minutes to get up and running. It has a wizard mode that walks you through the configuring process step by step. To customise the router beyond the recommended settings, you can use the manual mode, which has access to more advanced features.

The Base Station required a restart to apply any changes made to its settings, which is a nuisance because it interrupts the connections of all users. Other high-end routers can apply most minor changes without restarting.

According to Apple’s website, the AirPort Extreme Base Station supports a maximum of 50 clients at a time. While 50 is quite a large number, this is only suitable for home or small office environments. We’ve never tested this, but generally if you have a cafe or a restaurant, look for other routers that support more clients at a time.

Features

Other high-end routers include a breadth of features, including website filters, port triggering, Wi-Fi-protected push-button set-up (allowing users to hook up new clients to the network with the push of a button), or Dynamic DNS. The Base Station doesn’t offer any of these.

The Base Station also lacks some other basic functions, including MAC replication - the ability to take a client’s MAC address as its own. This is important, as some service providers require users, especially at college dorms, to register their computers’ MAC addresses to ensure that only those particular computers can connect to the network. The Base Station doesn’t make client control easy either. For example, if you want to add a client to the DHCP Reservations or the MAC Address Access Control list, you’ll have to go to “Logs and Logistics”, which is at a different part of the AirPort Utility, copy the MAC address of the client in question, then go back to the list to enter it. Many other routers show the list right where you need it, making it much more convenient to get the job done.

On the bright side, the Base Station is one of a few routers that offers print serving, storage capabilities and full support for IPv6 (the new version of the IP protocol). It is also the only router that’s tied to Apple’s MobileMe service for remote access and administration, which is a plus for Mac users who already have a MobileMe account.

The two biggest features of the new AirPort Extreme are true dual-band and guest networking. We found both to work well, though a little differently from what we’re used to seeing.

Out of the box, Apple recommends using the same SSID (the name for a wireless network) for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. According to an Apple representative, the client would detect the band by itself and if it supports both bands, it would pick the 5GHz over the 2.4GHz. In our test, this indeed worked with a MacBook Pro. The laptop immediately picked the 5GHz band every time.

It was a different story, however, when we tried it with a Windows system. Our Windows laptop, which supports both 5GHz and 2.4GHz Wireless-N, picked the 2.4GHz every time. The reasons for this are inconclusive and we were also unable to manually set the machines to use the 5GHz band to take advantage of the higher throughput speeds.

For this reason, we would recommend having a separate wireless network name for each band to allow more control of which band a client wants to use. Fortunately, the Wireless Option button in the AirPort Utility allows you to do this.

You can’t turn off either of the bands separately. You can choose to turn off the wireless function of the router altogether, but once it’s on, both bands are on. This means using the router to work as a 2.4GHz-only or a 5GHz-only wireless network is not possible. All other true dual-band routers we’ve reviewed allow people to have more control over the router’s wireless functionality.

The Base Station’s guest networking feature worked well in our trial. Guest networking allows for creating a separate wireless network that has access to the internet but not local resources, such as your computer or printer. The router allows you to create an additional network, the options to apply encryption to it, and make guest clients interact with one another. Again, unlike other routers that offer guest networking, the Base Station doesn’t allow you to pick what band you want the guest network to operate in, nor can you make a separate guest network for each band.

We didn’t get to try the print-serving feature, but we found that the router’s support for USB external hard drives was rather limited. It doesn’t read drives formatted in the NTFS file system, but only FAT32 and Mac OS Extended. Generally it’s more difficult to format a drive larger than 32GB using FAT32. This means Windows users can’t simply plug most of their USB external hard drives into the router and expect to share the data contained on it. If you are willing to reformat your hard drive, you’ll need to use a computer to do so, as the router doesn’t include the formatting feature.

We tried the router with two of our USB external hard drives, the G-Drive and the Seagate FreeAgent Go. Neither of them - when formatted using FAT32 and tested with a MacBook - worked with the AirPort Extreme Base Station. The router kept showing a “Disk needs repair” error without revealing any details or how to repair it.

Nonetheless, the drives worked when we formatted them using Mac OS Extended. Once plugged in, the router took about 30 seconds to see the hard drives. After that, the default share folder appeared in the Finder of any Mac in the network running OS X 10.4 or later. For Windows, the AirPort Base Station Agent software will make the network drive for you or you can browse for it using the network browser, as long as you have Bonjour installed on the machine.

If you are a Mac and MobileMe user, you can access the hard drive the same way when you are on the go, via the internet. You just need to register the router to your MobileMe account and it works similarly to the “Back to My Mac” feature. You can also change the router’s settings this way, using the AirPort Utility. It’s important to note that the remote access might not work at all if you access the internet via a corporate network, where certain services of the Base Station are blocked for security reasons.

Unfortunately, the remote access feature is not available for Windows users, even when they have a MobileMe account. MobileMe is free to use for 60 days; after that it costs AU$119 per year.

You can only share the hard drive as one shared folder, but you can’t make multiple folders and share them separately with different access privileges. You can also use the AirPort Utility to create user accounts so each user has a private folder of his or her own. For example, if you log in as User1, you will see the default share folder and a folder called “User1″, but you won’t see the folders of User2 or User3. If you log in as User2, you will see the default share folder and a folder called “User2″, and so on. These features make for a simple network storage solution that works well in an environment where you don’t need a sophisticated way of sharing resources.

The router is also able to power the external hard drive via its USB port, which is very important, as a lot of new pocket-size external hard drives don’t come with separate power cords.

Security

For security, the AirPort Extreme Base Station features a built-in firewall and supports WPA, WPA2 and 128-bit WEP for wireless encryption. It also supports RADIUS access control, with which you can manage wireless clients from a centralised location.

Although parents aren’t able to filter websites, they can restrict their kids’ access based on time, provided they know how to get the MAC address off the kids’ computers, which is a rather daunting task as mentioned earlier.

Performance

Let us be clear. We tested the AirPort Extreme in the uncontrolled environment of CNET’s San Francisco office building. You may see better or worse performance depending on the wireless environment you use it in.

We tested the AirPort Extreme’s throughput speeds by copying data from one computer to another using its wireless connection. This means the scores - while much lower than the theoretical maximum throughput speed of the Wireless-N specification - are the actual sustained-data rates, taking all overhead and interference into account.

We tested both the new version of the AirPort Extreme and the previous revision on the same day, within an hour of each other. In our 5GHz throughput test, the new AirPort Extreme edged out the old, scoring 66.6Mbps and 54.2Mbps, respectively. We saw a much smaller difference in the 2.4GHz band, with the old and new versions of the AirPort Extreme scoring 36.8Mbps and 35.5Mbps, respectively.

In our range test, where the client was 100 feet away, the new AirPort Extreme scored 31Mbps at 2.4GHz - virtually the same as the 30.5Mbps of the older AirPort Extreme. At 5GHz, neither version of the AirPort Extreme could hold a connection to complete the test at that range.

In our mixed-mode test, where the new AirPort Extreme was set to work with both Wireless-N and Wireless-G clients simultaneously, it scored 35.9Mbps - compared with the 35.2Mbps of the older AirPort Extreme. In our testing facility - an office building not optimised for wireless range - using a PC, we were able to hold a steady connection to the new and old AirPort Extreme from about 60m in the 2.4GHz band and about 72m for 5GHz. When we used a Mac, the connection range was slightly longer, by 1.0 - 1.5m.

The router ran warm throughout our testing, and we recommend you leave it in an open, well-ventilated location.

Service and support

As with the previous model, Apple backs the new AirPort Extreme Base Station with one year of support, which, albeit short, is standard for wireless routers. You can, however, purchase an extended AppleCare coverage plan. Also, if your Apple computer or Apple TV is covered under AppleCare, the AirPort Base Station is also covered. The router comes with 90 days of complimentary, toll-free phone support. At Apple’s site, you can view FAQs, troubleshooting articles, user forums and download the manual as well as software.

Via CNET.com

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Ever since Apple opened up the door for developers to create turn-by-turn GPS applications with the third-generation iPhone operating system, there have been many GPS applications for the iPhone. Soon owners of phones running on different platforms, including Android and Windows Mobile, won’t be missing out anymore.

Navigon, the developer of the Navigon MobileNavigator for iPhone, one of the better iPhone nav apps, announced on Thursday at CES 2010 that the MobileNavigator app will soon be available on Windows Mobile and Android platforms.

MobileNavigator being a bit of a paranoid android.
(Credit: Navigon)

Unlike the version for the iPhone, MobileNavigator for Windows Mobile and Android won’t, for now, have the option to control music playback within the app - in the US, it will also miss out on live traffic.

However, Navigon says the app will still have a long list of advanced features, including junction view, lane guidance, text-to-speech, speed warnings, day and night modes, direct access to addresses stored in the phone’s contact list, and automatic switching between portrait and landscape modes.

The Windows Mobile version of MobileNavigator will also have the capability to do GPS simulation where GPS signals are not available, such as in tunnels.

MobileNavigator for Windows Mobile will become available in the next few weeks through online stores for North Americans for US$89, with the Android version due in Q2 2010. Availability and pricing for Australia has yet to be announced.

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Netgear’s Push2TV device (Credit: Netgear)

Netgear, in collaboration with Intel, unveiled at CES 2010 the first Wi-Fi Direct-enabled device that links your laptop screen to a TV. It’s called the Push2TV (model PTV1000).

Wi-Fi Direct is a new Wi-Fi-based technology backed by the Wi-Fi Alliance that lets multiple devices connect peer-to-peer at the throughput and range of Wi-Fi but without an access point.

Slightly larger than a deck of playing cards, Push2TV enables consumers to display their entire laptop computer screens on their HDTVs wirelessly without much user involvement. In a nutshell, the device received a signal from the laptop’s display and plays that back on the TV via its HDMI or composite video connections.

The Push2TV was announced and demonstrated by Intel’s president and CEO Paul Otellini during his keynote speech at CES 2010; it only works with certain laptops that support Intel Wireless Display (or Wi-Di) technology.

Netgear’s Push2TV adapter, combined with an Intel Wi-Di laptop, offers a simple extension of the browsing and viewing experience on a PC. According to Netgear, consumers will be able to display the vast majority, if not all, of the content from their computers on their TVs, from internet surfing to high-definition content playback.

Technically, the Intel Wireless Display captures fully rendered display frames in real time and sends the compressed video and audio directly to Push2TV via Wi-Fi Direct.

The Push2TV is the first commercially available Wi-Fi Direct-enabled device on the market. According to Netgear, when compared with other solutions where the TV adapter connects to the home network or gateway, Push2TV reduces the wireless bandwidth overhead by up to 50 per cent.

From the demonstration, connecting a laptop to Push2TV seemed as simple as pointing and clicking. According to Netgear, the solution completely hides all the networking complexity found in currently available solutions, offering consumers the benefits of a fully integrated PC-to-TV solution without requiring any networking or advanced computer knowledge.

It’s predicted that with the adoption of Wi-Fi Direct, future TVs will probably soon have the functionality of the Push2TV built-in. Many other electronics will also become Wi-Fi Direct-enabled in the near future.

For now, however, the Push2TV is the only product of its kind. Backed by a one-year warranty and 24/7 technical support, the Netgear Push2TV (PTV1000) will be available in Australia by March 2010 at an RRP of AU$149.

The Push2TV supports HDMI or composite video connections. (Credit: Netgear)

Via CNET.com

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Other than the fact that they offer extra storage, the LaCie Starck Desktop Hard Drive and the LaCie Starck Mobile Hard Drive come with a bit of fashion flair. Both are housed in a distinctive-looking, sturdy aluminium case that protects the internal drives from shocks.

Starck has lent his touch to a mobile hard drive as well. (Credit: LaCie)

While the LaCie Starck Mobile Hard Drive seems to be just a plain yet good-looking compact USB external hard drive, the LaCie Starck Desktop Hard Drive features a curvy front that responds to the touch of a finger. It also has a status LED light that shines an orange plus sign - Starck’s signature symbol - on the surface.

There’s not much you can do with the drive’s novelty touch-sensitive surface, unfortunately. It can be programmed to launch an application, such as Firefox or Word, when you touch the front of the drive. But to do this, you will need to install LaCie Destkop Manager software, which runs all the time in the background. This is sort of a waste for a function that’s not really useful or necessary. But obviously fashion isn’t always about necessity and functionality.

The LaCie Destkop Manager software will also help format the hard drive to work with a Windows, Mac or Linux platform. The drives also come with LaCie Backup Assistant software, which can automatically back up the computer’s data onto the drive.

Other than that, the LaCie Starck Desktop Hard Drive is very much like a brick. It also generates some sort of vibration during operation, reducing its suitability for sitting on top of your desk. It only comes with a USB port, which is rather disappointing as this is the slowest connection. Other desktop external hard drives often come with FireWire and eSATA connections.

LaCie’s two new external hard drives are available now. The LaCie Starck Desktop Hard Drive costs AU$199 for the 1TB version and AU$399 for the 2TB version. The LaCie Starck Mobile Hard Drive comes in 320GB and 500GB versions, which cost AU$139 and AU$199, respectively.

Via CNET.com

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