Sony and Panasonic ally to launch next-generation 300GB optical discs

During the heyday of optical storage we saw a 400GB Blu-Ray flavor (shown above) and even 1TB discs in the lab, but lately such development has waned. Sony and Panasonic have teamed up to move things along, however, saying there’s a need for reliable long-term storage that only optical disks can provide. The pair will develop a “next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs, ” saying that a 300GB flavor could be ready in two years or so. Though geared towards industries like cloud storage and digital cinema at first, the tech could eventually trickle down to consumers, too. Given rapid developments in on-demand streaming and cloud gaming , however, there might be nothing left for us plebes to archive by then. Filed under: Storage , Sony Comments Via: The Verge Source: Sony

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Sony and Panasonic ally to launch next-generation 300GB optical discs

ASUS’ RAIDR Express PCI-e SSD is compatible with both legacy and UEFI BIOS

These days, it’s fairly easy to find a PCI Express-based SSD to transform one’s desktop — Angelbird , Fusion-io , Micron and ASUS will sell you one, just to name a few. That said, the last of those three has just revealed a new entrant that will certainly catch the eye of many, as the RAIDR Express claims to be the first PCI-e SSD to be compatible with both legacy and UEFI BIOS. The so-called DuoMode feature is joined by 240GB of storage space, sequential 830MB/s read and 810MB/s write speeds and a reported 620, 000 hours mean time between failure (MTBF). You’ll also find the latest LSI SandForce controller, Toshiba-built 19nm MLC flash, and 100, 000 4K read/write input/output operations per second (IOPS). The bundled RAMDisk utility allows users to dedicate up to 80 percent of a computer’s available RAM for use as a high-speed virtual drive, and if you needed any further proof that it’s fast, look no further than in the video after the break. Curiously, ASUS isn’t talking pricing just yet, but it should start shipping in the very near future. Filed under: Gaming , Storage , ASUS Comments Via: PC Perspective , Engadget Japanese Source: ASUS

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ASUS’ RAIDR Express PCI-e SSD is compatible with both legacy and UEFI BIOS

Did you know that the Saturn V’s fuel economy was 7 inches per gallon?

An incredible fact from a fascinating new Buzz Aldrin interview: the Saturn V was only making 7 inches to the gallon at the moment of launch. Of course, the fuel economy improves dramatically when you actually take into consideration the entire distance travelled. Read more…        

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Did you know that the Saturn V’s fuel economy was 7 inches per gallon?

Man gets ransomware porn pop-up, goes to cops, gets arrested on child porn charges

A man from just outside of Washington, DC turned himself in to local police—with his computer in tow—after receiving a pop-up message from what he believed was an “FBI Warning” telling him to click to pay a fine online, or face an investigation. While specific details on the case are scant as of yet, it appears that the suspect here fell victim to a type of ransomware that has been proliferating for years now—raking in millions for the scammers behind it. Police said Jay Matthew Riley, 21, of Woodbridge, Virginia, walked into Prince William’s Garfield District Station on July 1, 2013 to “inquire if he had any warrants on file for child pornography.” Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments        

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Man gets ransomware porn pop-up, goes to cops, gets arrested on child porn charges

India Thought Jupiter and Venus Were Actually Chinese Spy Drones

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a Chinese spy drone! Oh, and there’s another one! That’s what the Indian Army must’ve thought when they saw two specks of something “spying on them” in the sky. Instead, what India thought were Chinese spy drones turned out to be… Jupiter and Venus. Read more…        

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India Thought Jupiter and Venus Were Actually Chinese Spy Drones

PIN-punching $200 robot can brute force every Android numeric screen-password in 19 hours

Justin Engler and Paul Vines will demo a robot called the Robotic Reconfigurable Button Basher (R2B2) at Defcon; it can work its way through every numeric screen-lock Android password in 19 hours.        

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PIN-punching $200 robot can brute force every Android numeric screen-password in 19 hours

Head-shop CCTV catches police informant/undercover planting crack

Charlie writes, “There is a smoke shop in Scotia NY, owned by a young black man. There are many, many smoke shops in the capital region, but the rest are owned by white people.        

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Head-shop CCTV catches police informant/undercover planting crack

Here Are Your Odds of Dying from the Most Common Causes of Death

We can’t know for sure exactly how we’re going to die, but some ways of going are more common than others. The National Safety Council has calculated the probability of dying from a variety of causes in this interesting graphic. Read more…        

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Here Are Your Odds of Dying from the Most Common Causes of Death