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Kim Dotcom’s Mega Will Offer 50GB Of Free Storage
Kim Dotcom has announced on Twitter that his new Mega service will offer users 50GB of free pc which is a massive amount compared to what is offered by companies like Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft;s SkyDrive.
Dotcom also announced he is working to brings users files from Megaupload over to Mega, although how he will actually do this remains to be seen because of his current legal battle with the US Government.
@KimDotcom
#Mega will have very generous limits for free users. For example you get 50GB storage for free 
The US Government shut down Megaupload last year, and raided Dotcom’s home in New Zealand, in a raid which looked like something out of a Hollywood movie, it will be interesting to see what happens with his new venture.
Source The Next Web
LaCie CloudBox NAS Launches In 1TB, 2TB, 3TB Capacities (video)
LaCie has today launched updated versions of its ,
the LaCie Cloudbox, which has been re-designed to allow families easy access to media from multiple devices.
The Lacie Cloudbox when it first launched was available with 100 GB of storage both locally and within the cloud. However the newly updated versions of the Lacie storage are no longer supplied with cloud storage, but instead have increased local storage. Watch the video after the jump to learn more.
The storage now available within the Lacie Cloubox includes a 1, 2 or 3TB capacity NAS, and works as a personal cloud server. However it doesn’t come with any RAID capability. Lacie explains:
“Mom can share her photo albums with out-of-town family and friends by sharing a secure download link,”-”She doesn’t have to worry about privacy or size limitations. All the files are under her full control. Plus, parents can create private folders to keep business and tax files safe from prying eyes.”
LaCie, the CloudBox has been designed by Neil Poulton and is now available with the 1TB version starting at $120, 2TB for $149.99 and 3 TB for $179.99 all available via the LaCie Online Store and LaCie resellers.
Source: LaCie
LaCie intros Porsche Design drive for Macs with SSD and USB 3.0, helps the speed match the name
Porsche Design may not be directly involved in building German supercars, but there are certain expectations to be met, aren’t there? LaCie is rolling out a new version of its Porsche Design hard drive skewed towards Mac owners that should offer more of the performance you’d associate with the automotive brand. The P’9223 Slim SSD is a third thinner than its ancestor but carries the option of a 120GB SSD that makes the most of the USB 3.0 port. If all runs well, nearly any Mac launched in 2012 can shuttle data along at a brisk 400MB per second. Demanding Mac fans will need to pay $150 for the flash-based edition to have the P’9223 feel truly Porsche-like; others only have to spend $100 if they’re content with the Volkswagen pace of a 500GB spinning drive.
Google takes us inside their data centers, shows you where the internet lives (video)
Ever fancied a look inside one of Google’s cavernous server farms? Given the security issues, the company isn’t likely to just let anyone mooch around — but understands if you’re curious. That’s why it’s adding a special collection to its Street View data that lets you wander inside without a big trek to Iowa, Belgium or Finland. If you’d like to sample some of the delights, you can check out our gallery or head down past the break to get a video tour of the facility in Lenoir, NC.
Apple Gives Previous MobileMe Users An Extra Year Of iCloud Storage
When Apple replaced its MobileMe service with iCloud last year, it gave users of MobileMe, who had purchased extra storage on MobileMe the same storage on iCloud for an extra year.
I was a previous mobile me user, and when iCloud was released I was given an extra 20GB of storage on iCloud, this was due to run out at the end of September, but Apple sent out emails on the weekend to say that the extra storage had been extended, you can see the email I received below.
When you moved your MobileMe account to iCloud, we provided you with a complimentary storage upgrade beyond the standard 5GB that comes with an iCloud account to help you with the transition. Originally, this storage upgrade was set to expire on September 30, 2012.
As a thank you to our former MobileMe members, we will continue to provide you with this complimentary storage upgrade at no charge, for an additional year, until September 30, 2013. No action is required on your part. For complete details, please read this article.
Thank you again for using iCloud,
iCloud Team
So basically, anyone who was allowed to transfer their extra storage from MobileMe to iCloud, will now get the same amount of storage for another year, this is on top of the free 5GB of storage that comes with iCloud.
Source Apple
ADATA’s got an 8.9mm thick portable USB 3.0 drive, limbos under the competition by a millimeter
When it comes to your device being the “world’s thinnest” or not can be decided by a single millimeter. Just days after Toshiba unveiled its 9mm-thick 500GB external hard drive, ADATA has knocked a little more off its own enclosure and declared victory. It’s releasing the DashDrive Elite HE720, a stainless steel USB 3.0 drive that measures in at 8.9mm-thick, and size is not the only department where it’s making an end-run around ol’ Tosh — it’s also $25 dollars cheaper, costing $90. In more mundane news, users who pick up the unit are entitled to snag a 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security and it’ll be available shortly.
Samsung SSD 840 Pro caters to speed seekers with faster random access
It’s difficult to thrive in the solid-state drive world. Unless you’ve got just the right controller and flash memory, most performance-minded PC users will rarely give you a second glance. Samsung muscled its way into that narrow view with the SSD 830 last year; it intends to lock our attention with the new SSD 840 and SSD 840 Pro. The Pro’s 520MB/s and 450MB/s sequential read and write speeds are only modest bumps over the 830, but they don’t tell the whole story of just how fast it gets. The upgraded MDX controller boosts the random read access to a nicely rounded 100,000IOPS, and random writes have more than doubled to 78,000IOPS or 90,000IOPS, depending on who you ask and what drive you use. The improved performance in either direction is a useful boost to on-the-ground performance, as both AnandTech and Storage Review will tell you. We’re waiting on details of the ordinary triple level cell-based 840 model beyond its 120GB, 250GB and 500GB capacities, although there won’t be an enormous premium for the multi-level cell 840 Pro over existing drives when it arrives in mid-October — the flagship line should start at $100 for a basic 64GB drive, and peak at $600 for the ultimate 512GB version.
LaCie 2big, 4big Quadra drives hop the USB 3.0 bandwagon, give Macs 12TB of speedy storage
LaCie has been sprucing up its smaller drives to handle a new crop of Macs that support USB 3.0. It’s now turn for the big boys to play. Updated versions of the 2big Quadra and 4big Quadra (not yet shown here) use the faster port to reach the potential of their high-capacity RAID arrays, peaking at either 210MB/s for the dual-drive 2big and 245MB/s for its quad-drive cousin. We’re not seeing a fundamental shakeup of the design apart from the higher speeds, although that’s not necessarily a problem given the FireWire 800 to catch legacy users and hot-swappable bays for future upgrades. Video editors and other storage mavens should just prepare themselves to pony up. The upgraded Quadra models will start at respective $499 (4TB) and $1,099 (8TB) prices when they ship in October, and they’re only poised to get more expensive when LaCie sets the costs for the higher-end 6TB and 12TB models.
Western Digital My Passport for Mac portable hard drives get stamped for USB 3.0 and 2TB capacity
If you prefer your Passports to sport the same Mac sensibilities as your go-to work machines, Western Digital has upgraded said portable hard drives for the aforementioned laptop variety. The My Passport for Mac family of external HDDs have received the same USB 3.0 boost and increased 2TB capacity that the regular ol’ My Passport got cozy with back in the spring. However, the Apple flavored offerings tout Time Machine compatibility and a ruggedized WD Nomad casing that should keep your files safe from dust, moisture and unintentional drops. Options include 500GB and 1TB units as well, with prices ranging from $99 on up to $200 for the 2TB portable drive. The entire trio is available now and a few more details await in the full press release that follows.
Western Digital MyBook VelociRaptor Duo: Thunderbolt, 2TB capacity, and a whopping $900 price tag
If you fancy Western Digital’s MyBook Thunderbolt Duo, the outfit has just announced a new external storage offering that also sports the aforementioned connection. The MyBook VelociRaptor Duo packs two 1TB 10,000 RPM WD drives that carry the same prehistoric moniker — as the name suggests (in both cases). These dual heavy-hitters create a 2TB repository for HD video, 3D rendering and the like while boasting SSD-like speeds of up to 400MB/sec and both RAID 0 and RAID 1 configurations. Of course, if one of these drives isn’t taxing enough on your savings account, you can daisy chain a few for a more robust storage setup. Time Machine compatibility? You betcha. The unit works with Apple’s backup system immediately and is user serviceable should the need arise. For those ready splurge on a couple of VelociRaptors of their very own, the Duo is on sale now. If you’re not quite ready to commit your funds, consult the full PR below for the nitty gritty.
Google Drive SDK version 2 supports Android and iOS apps, common file tasks
Virtually every corner of the Google universe is being touched at Google I/O, and that now includes Google Drive. A version 2 update to the Drive SDK gives Android and iOS developers the option of building the cloud storage into their mobile apps, whether it’s downloads, uploads or on-the-spot edits. The programming interface has likewise been expanded as a whole to handle everyday file duties, such as conversions, copying and revision handling. Web-only users are taken care of with support for embedded shares and opening Google documents in any given software that will take the exportable formats. The updated Drive SDK is ready to go, with a flood of apps either coming or already here — if you want to hop on the bandwagon, just take a peek at the source link.
Thunderbolt on Windows gets hands-on, lacks Mac’s hot-swapping
Thunderbolt’s 10-gigabit interface is only just making its way to Windows after spending more than a year as a Mac-only feature, so it’s not surprising that a lot of questions surround how well the Apple- and Intel-developed connection works for those of a Microsoft persuasion. A thorough test at AnandTech of one of the first motherboards to support the spec on Windows PCs, an Ivy Bridge-ready board from MSI, has shown some positive signs along with a few flies in the high-speed ointment. The good news? Most general storage devices will work as expected with a minimum of fuss, and you can even get some features of Apple’s Thunderbolt Display working if you’re willing to accept a lack of pre-supplied software brightness controls and USB support. The bad news comes mostly in the absence of true hot-plugging like on the Mac: if a device isn’t plugged into the Thunderbolt port on boot, Windows won’t see it. Professionals who need everything to be just perfect will want to wait, then, but bandwidth lovers will still find something to like if they’re willing to build Thunderbolt-equipped PCs themselves.
Apple Extends MobileMe Subscribers Free 20GB iCloud Storage To September
When Apple announced their iCloud service, they also announced that MobileMe users would have to switch to iCloud bu the end of June of 2012, and they offered users of MobileMe who had purchased additional storage free storage on iCloud until the 30th of June 2012.
It looks like Apple has now decided to extend the free storage period until the 30th of September 2012, and this was discovered on Apple’s website, you can see the details here.
“MobileMe members with 20GB of purchased storage receive a complimentary iCloud storage upgrade of 20GB, and accounts with additional purchased storage (40GB to 60GB) receive a complimentary upgrade of 50GB after moving to iCloud. These free upgrades are good through September 30th, 2012,” the site read.
You will then be able to choose whether to pay Apple a fee to continue to have 20GB of storage or you can just downgrade to the free 5GB iCloud account.
Whether or not you will need the storage remains to be seen, whilst Apple’s MobileMe service had it flaws, it did have some features like the ability to store your photos without any limits, unlike Photostream in iCloud which is limited to 1,000 photos.
Apple sort of missed a trick with the launch of iCloud, if they had offered unlimited storage of photos, and not what you currently get with photostream, then users like myself who previously stored all their photos in MobileMe would not have switched to other online storage services for photos, like Dropbox.
Source Apple Insider
Microsoft SkyDrive impressions: a look at features and functionality
You may remember a certain, somewhat anticipated cloud service finally coming in to land in recent days. That wasn’t the only news in nebular computing last week, however: perhaps in anticipation of Google’s long-rumored Drive service, Microsoft made some updates to the Windows Phone app for its own offering, SkyDrive. This comes not long after the release of desktop SkyDrive applications for Windows and OSX, all suggesting that Redmond’s hoping to cut itself as large a slice of the cloud-storage pie as it can, preferably while others are still taking their seats at the table. We spent some time with the latest quiver of tools from Microsoft, to see how they’ve progressed.
Google Drive preview: an in-depth look at features and functionality
It’s been a long time in the making, but the once-mythical cloud storage service known to all as Google Drive is real, and it made its official debut today — and even though Goog’s taken plenty of time to make it available to the masses, our impatience certainly got the worst of us, and we immediately started digging through the new service. So what does this online storage option entail? Will it make you delete your Dropbox and SkyDrive accounts and jump for joy? Or has Google simply waited too long to start playing the game? Read on to find out our first impressions.
LogMeIn branches out from its remote desktop roots, intros Cubby cloud sharing service
Ready for yet another option in world of cloud storage services? LogMeIn today announced it’s ready to get in on the remote storage action with its own offering, built atop its Gravity Data Service, dubbed Cubby. Currently in beta, Cubby allots you 5GB of storage in the cloud, while allowing you to turn your Mac, PC and any folders into “virtual cubbies.” You’ll be able to sync selected data between your choice of devices and even share access (read-only if needed) to specific cubbies for collaborative efforts — and although the service is free, there’s no limit on how much data you can move between your machines. Better yet, iDevices and Androids are also supported via LogMeIn’s free Cubby apps. If you’ve been looking for another option aside from the likes of Pogoplug and Dropbox, you can request an invite to the service by hitting up the source link below. If you’d like more details in the meantime, check out the press release after the break.
IDrive Connect offers Google Docs access via virtual folder on your Windows machine
Elgato Thunderbolt SSD Offers 240GB Of Storage For $700
Apple Mac users that are looking for a super fast way to transfer and backup data from their Thunderbolt equipped systems, and have a few extra dollars to burn. Might be interested in the new Elgato Thunderbolt SSD drives that are now available.
The pocket size Elgato Thunderbolt solid state disk drives come in a 120GB model that retails for $430 or a larger 240GB unit for $700, and have been specifically designed for handy Thunderbolt connectivity alone.
The design of the drive has been kept very simple and on the outside no lights or power buttons have been added to ruin the sleeked curved lines of the small Thunderbolt equipped SSD.
Elgato Thunderbolt solid state disk drives are capable of transferring at 270 MB/second for data reads, say Elgato who tested the speeds with a 15in 2.2GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro. Unfortunately the Elgato Thunderbolt SSD is only equipped with one Thunderbolt port so it will need to be at the end of your daisy chain.
Source: Mac World
SanDisk X100 SSD Promises Speed and Storage Capacity
Earlier today, we talked about the new SanDisk Extreme SSD that debuted and briefly mentioned the X100. I am going to talk a little bit more about the X100 now. The new SSD will be offered in capacities from 32GB to 512GB and uses MLC technology inside. The drives plug in to various ports depending on the model.
SanDisk will offer the new X100 in several form factors, including designs for the desktop, netbook, and notebook user. The drives are very power efficient needing 150mW when active and 75mW when on standby. The drives are rated for up to 2 million hours mean time between failure.
Performance is up to 500 MB per second sequential read and up to 420 MB per second sequential write. It appears that the drive will be offered to PC makers in volume shipments only, no retail pricing is offered.
LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series Storage Now Available
LaCie has today started shipping their new LaCie 2big Thunderbolt storage solutions with the 4TB LaCie costing $650, and the larger 6TB costing a hefty $800. Originally announced during CES 2012 back in January, the LaCie 2big offer speeds up to 327MB/s, together with hot-swappable disks, RAID security, and of course the ability to daisy chain them together using the new Thunderbolt ports.
