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How to cram more shows on your TV recorder

May 15th, 2008, 9:50 am by

WD’s My DVR Expander adds 60 hours of HD-video storage to the DISH boxIn this age of high-definition TV, not a whole lot of TV fits on a digital video recorder (DVR). It seems like I can only squeeze five movies and a few hours of prime-time shows on mine.

Western Digital Corp. in Lake Forest just announced a fix for DISH Network’s users. Its $149.99 MyDVR Expander hard drive (on right) plugs into DISH Network’s ViP Series HD DVR via USB. It immediately adds 60 extra hours of HD space (or 300 hours of standard-definition video).

In addition to the extra space, the 500-GB external drive may also save you money. The drive uses WD’s GreenPower technology, which means it uses less power because it has a no-fan passive cooling system. WD says it reduces energy consumption by 30 percent and is quiet enough to use in the bedroom.

WD already offers My DVR Expander drives for TiVo and Scientific Atlanta cable boxes.

WD’s My DVR Expander adds 60 hours of HD-video storage to the DISH box While that excludes my home DVR, WD does offer the rest of us hope: “Further compatibility of the My DVR Expander drive is planned as other cable and satellite DVR manufacturers enable the USB ports on their currently-deployed DVRs,” says the company.

Posted in: Storage • Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

Western Digital releases pocket size 320-gb external hard drive

January 30th, 2008, 10:18 am by

passport320Want over 90,000 photos in the palm of your hand? Well, that’s now a possibility because of Lake Forest’s Western Digital new portable hard drive announced today.

The black 320-gigabyte My Passport portable drive weighs just .3 ounces more than a Motorola V3 Razr cell phone at 3.696 ounces. The drive works via USB 2.0 with both Windows and Apple computers.

The drive also includes WD Sync software for backing up data and comes with Google’s Desktop Search, Picasa and Google Toolbar.

The Passport costs $199.99 and is said to be available at Western Digital’s online store, though when I visited this morning I could not find a link to buy the product. Western’s Web site also shows two other sizes for this drive – 160GB and 250GB.

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Charter deletes e-mail of 800 California subscribers

January 25th, 2008, 12:40 pm by

chartercommunicationsThe contents of 14,000 Charter Communications e-mail accounts, including 800 in California, were deleted because of a software error during routine maintenance, according to company spokeswoman Anita Lamont.

She could not say how many of those 800 effected California e-mail accounts were in Orange County. The state with the fewest number of customers affected were three in Arkansas, the largest was Michigan, where 1,300 customers lost their e-mails.

There is no way to retrieve the messages, photos and other attachments that were erased from inboxes and archive folders across the country on Monday, Lamont said for the St. Louis-based company.

“We really are sincerely sorry for having had this happen and do apologize to all those folks who were affected by the error,” Lamont said Thursday when the company announced the gaff.

Every three months the company deletes e-mail accounts that have been inactive for three or more months. It was during this maintenance that the company “erroneously deleted active accounts along with the others,” Lamont said. “It’s never happened before. They are taking steps to make sure it never happens again.”Charter provides service in 29 states. The affected customers were scattered around the country in at least 20 states. All told, the company has about 2.6 million high-speed Internet subscribers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Western Digital goes pink!

October 24th, 2007, 12:01 am by

Western Digital blings up its MyBookI really liked Western Digital’s swanky gold MyBook hard drive (on right), which I spotted at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year. But that was a one-time gadget that the Lake Forest company blinged up just for the show. Consumers were out of luck.

Western Digital adds colorThe company has since added more spark to its lineup, including sprucing up its portable hard-drive line with metallic-red and a vibrant-green hues. This is on top of the more ordinary black and white shades.

Now, I hear the company is adding a new color to its silver and black line of portable hard drives: PINK!

And here are the photos to prove it:

Western Digital’s pink Passport

The WD Passport is a 250 GB drive (nice!). The company is also donating a percentage of the net sales to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

It’s self-powered through USB so you don’t need to drag along an extra power cord. Prices weren’t available as of my writing, but the drive should be on sale starting this Sunday, Oct. 28, at shopwd.com and Best Buy stores. The black 250 GB Passport drives is $250.

Western Digital’s pink Passport

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Review: Protect your CDs

October 22nd, 2007, 5:28 am by

If your CDs or DVDs are prone to scratches, the d_skin protective CD skins are worth trying.

d_skin protective CD skins

These clear, plastic-like covers from Norazza Inc. fit snug on the recorded part of the disc. The amazing feature is you don’t need to take the skin off to play the disc.d_skin protective CD skins

I was fascinated as I placed a covered disc into a CD player and it played! I even tried scratching the skin-covered disc with my fingernail – it kept the disc scratch free.

I’m still a little in shock that you can listen and watch discs that have this curious plastic coating on them.

Five skins for $12.99, with packs up to 100 available. Available at Hollywood Video, Micro Center and Amazon and other online stores. More details at Norazza.com.

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Fabrik’s storage lineup goes pro

October 15th, 2007, 5:00 am by

Fabrik’s Pro line of hard drivesMore competition in the OC hard-drive space starts today as San Mateo’s Fabrik Inc. launches a professional line of hard drives.

Fabrik, which bought the consumer storage division of Santa Ana’s SimpleTech in February, says that operations of the pro line are also based in Orange County.

The new SimpleTech Pro Drives are serious pieces of hardware — terabyte storage with gigabit connections and a sleek industrial design made for stacking drives on top of one another.

Two styles are available, the Pro Drive with one hard drive and the Duo Pro Drive with two hard drives. A third option, the Simple Drive, offers the new design but not the higher-end features.

“From feedback from prosumers and SMB (small-to-medium business) teams, what our customers said they wanted was something more professional,” said Matt McRae, Fabrik’s vice president of marketing.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Slimmer My Book storage from Western Digital

September 20th, 2007, 3:17 pm by

From earlier: Halo 3 coverage + midnight openings

Western Digital’s slimmer My BookI already liked the look of Western Digital’s clever My Book external storage drives, which look like books.

Now, the Lake Forest company has slimmed down the design so these take up even less room on a bookshelf.

The thinner My Books are available in Home Edition, Office Edition and Essential edition in sizes from 320 GB to 1 terabyte.

Other notable software/hardware features, according to WD:

  • Automatic, continuous backup that works in the background
  • Synchronization and encryption of data
  • Capacity gauge that shows how much space is available on the drive
  • Environmentally-friendly power-saving design that goes into standby mode after 10 minutes of inactivity and wakes up automatically when you’re ready to use the drive
  • SmartPower feature that powers the drive on and off with the computer
  • Triple interfaces (USB 2.0, FireWire 400, eSATA)
  • 3-year limited warranty
  • Kensington security slot that works with a Kensington lock kit to secure the drive to your desk
  • More details: www.wdmybook.com

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Purple USB memory for a cause

September 13th, 2007, 6:00 am by

SanDisk memory for a cause

SanDisk has taken its key memory products to help out those who need it most: people with Alzheimer’s disease. The Milpitas company is offering 2 GB versions of its popular USB Cruzer Micro storage key and Ultra II SD memory cards in the Alzheimer’s Association‘s signature shade of purple.

So no, this isn’t a fashion statement.

SanDisk memory for a causeI’ve written stories about Alzheimer’s and it’s not pretty. Sometimes I fear that I will lose my memory because I’m pretty forgetful. Alzheimer’s, of course, is much worse. Memory loss is so bad, the brain forgets how to function making it the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.

Through August 2008, SanDisk will contribute $1 to the Alzheimer’s Association for each special-edition cards or key sold, up to $1 million.

Greg Rhine, SanDisk’s senior vice president and general manager of its Consumer Products Division, sums it up best in the official press release: “SanDisk as a company is dedicated to preserving digital memories, so it’s appropriate for us to do what we can to help stop a disease that attacks human memory.”

The products are the same price as SanDisks regular 2 GB storage keys and memory cards — $45 for the SD card and $40 for the flash drive. They will be available in stores in October, though they are now at select Best Buy stores. More details at www.sandisk.com/alz

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