OCZ Z-Drive R4 review roundup: this is what 2,800MB/s looks like

Assuming your local laws give you permission to drool, you might want to smack your lips and read on for some expert verdicts of OCZ’s enterprise-level 2.8GB/s Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSD. If your statutory position is trickier, then maybe just do it quietly?

  • Storage Review: the R4 “blew away the competition in nearly every test by a significant margin,” even though it costs just $7/GB — up to 40 percent less than its rivals.
  • Hot Hardware: benchmarks support the ridiculous speed claims, but thermal sensitivity means the card must be constantly bathed in cool air.
  • AnandTech: it’s hard to compare the Z-Drive R4 because no other SSD comes close, but this type of technology has no track record for reliability and may therefore be a hard sell.

OCZ Z-Drive R4 review roundup: this is what 2,800MB/s looks like originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

6 Odd Things Eaten in Japan

Because it’s surrounded on all sides by water, it makes sense that much of what the Japanese eat comes from the sea. We all know they eat whales and dolphins, but how about fish sperm and poisonous puffer fish? The short list below also includes a few specialties found on land that I just had to include. As always, if you’ve tried any of these, please let us know how they taste in the comments below.

1. Zazamushi (Aquatic Insects)


Zazamushi isn’t just one kind of insect; rather, a catch-all name applied to the larvae of insects that live at the bottom of rivers. The name “zazamushi” literally translates to “insects (mushi) that live in a place where the river makes the sound zaazaa as it flows.”

2. Fugu (Poisonous Puffer Fish)


The Japanese have been eating fugu for centuries, which means they’ve had plenty of time to figure out HOW to eat this poisonous fish. Fugu flesh is edible, but the skin, liver and ovaries contain lethal amounts of the poison tetrododoxin. If any of these elements are consumed, then the poison paralyzes the muscles while the victim stays fully conscious, and eventually dies from asphyxiation. Good times. For this reason, it’s imperative that a special, qualified fugu chef prepares your meal.

3. Shirako (Fish Sperm)



Shirako, a common item found in most Japanese pubs consisting entirely of the male genitalia of fish still fat with seminal fluid.

4. Basashi (Raw Horse Meat)


While Japan isn’t the only country that eats horse meat, I believe it’s the only one that eats it raw, as sashimi.

5. Hachinoko (Bee Larvae)


This crunchy, maggotty bee larvae is served in pubs the way we serve beer nuts. Yum!

6. Shirouo no Odorigui (Dancing Icefish)

Shirouo are very small transparent fish that are eaten alive. They dance in your mouth – or rather do the odorigui (dancing while being eaten).

Read the original:
6 Odd Things Eaten in Japan

(Lots of) Earth-like planets are very likely

Public Archives Images Screen Eso1134A

About one-third of sun-like stars are predicted to have at least one terrestrial planet in a habitable zone, says California Institute of Technology astronomer Wesley Traub after studying data from the Kepler orbiting observatory. (Thanks, Ariel Waldman!)

(Also, as Rob previously pointed out, astronomers recently found more than 50 new exoplanets including 16 super-Earths, one of which is near its star’s habitable zone!)


Read More:
(Lots of) Earth-like planets are very likely

Firefox 7 now officially available, promises ‘significantly’ reduced memory usage

A new version number for a browser release may not be quite as major as it used to be, but Mozilla is promising a few fairly big improvements with the just-released Firefox 7. The biggest of those are all in the performance department, including “significantly” reduced memory usage (up to 50 percent less in some cases), and a new version of the hardware-accelerated Canvas that promises to speed up HTML5 sites. Also making its debut is a new Telemetry feature that lets users anonymously provide browser performance data to Mozilla if they choose to opt-in. Hit the links below for the complete rundown and download link.

Firefox 7 now officially available, promises ‘significantly’ reduced memory usage originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink