Storage

OWC is a company that caters to iMac fans who want to upgrade their new Apple all-in-ones. It has announced its new Memory Kits for the 2019 27-inch iMac (the 5K model). As this new 2019 variant has 4 user-accessible slots, OWC is also currently testing out the possibility of maxing its RAM to 128GB.

Vivo has announced its newest devices in a Chinese event today (March 19, 2019). They are the X27 and X27 Pro. The X27 has 2 variants with either the Snapdragon (SD) 675 or 710, although they both have the same screen and single pop-up selfie camera. The Pro version has a larger display, and a more novel wider pop-up module with a dedicated flash.

Kingston has just announced two new lines of enterprise-grade SATA SSDs. The drives offer similar features of other enterprise-level flash storage solutions, including ECC, onboard power loss protection, and more. Compared to other enterprise solutions, Kingston's drives are competitive and look to be aimed at smaller cloud service providers.

The Xiaomi Black Shark 2 has been launched today (March 18, 2019) in China. As expected, it is powered by the Snapdragon 855 processor, has a 6GB RAM base model and has a 6.39-inch FHD+ AMOLED display. This panel has some interesting HDR features, touted to enhance gaming and media experiences.

Roland Quandt has posted a new article in which he claims to set out every detail on the upcoming Huawei P30 and P30 Pro prior to their launch. This includes nearly every major spec and detail of the phones, including their relative RAM capacities, camera counts, new color schemes and battery capacities.

Xiaomi's new gaming phone, so far known as the 'Black Shark 2', has been listed by the online retailer JD.com. Although this page does not reveal its price, it allows potential buyers to reserve a unit ahead of its launch date (March 18, 2019). At this point, the final cost of the phone will presumably be revealed.

Samsung has announced that it is ready to start producing its highest-capacity RAM module for mobile devices. It has a 10-nanometer architecture and should deliver data speeds of up to 34.1 gigabytes (GB) per second. This 12GB low-power double data rate 4X (LPDDR4X) chipset is likely to be integrated into phones such as the Galaxy Fold.

NVMe technology is slowly trickling down to more affordable SSDs. The WD Blue SN500 will performance faster than any other drive before it in its family while costing less than a high-end WD Black SSD.

Xiaomi had planned a sales event for the Mi 9 Transparent Edition, as well as the Mi 9 SE, for today (March 14, 2019) in China. However, reports that it has been abruptly cancelled have come in from that country. The OEM cited unit supply issues while apologizing for this move.

A recent post on SlashLeaks shows real-life images of a device with Honor branding. The poster alleges that it is of the brand's 10 line - however, it can't be the pre-existing 10 Lite, as it appears to have triple rear cameras. Therefore, its contributor has dubbed it the Honor 10i.

A Huawei device with the model name VOG-L29 has surfaced on Geekbench today (March 12, 2019). It has exhibited 2019 flagship specs and the scores to go with it. They have beaten up-to-date entries for the P20 Pro on the same database by a considerable margin.

A slew of leaks and speculations have pointed to the resurrection of the RAZR product line in the release of the first foldable under the Motorola brand. A new post on SlashLeaks consists of the new logo for this putative phone. It is accompanied by a supposed list of its major specs.

Months ahead of its launch, the OnePlus 7 has appeared in sale-page form on the retail website GizTop. It contains a list of specs with many details that may be plausible for this new release. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that it will prove accurate.

Although it became commercially available more than three years later, the compact disc as we know it was demonstrated for the international press by Philips on March 8, 1979. Later that month, Sony joined in and the two companies quickly managed to turn the CD format into a global standard and bring this technology to the masses.

Multiple new entries for the same device - a 'blackshark AAA' - have appeared on the Geekbench 4.3 database. They are all powered by the same SoC, which is likely to be the Snapdragon 855. Interestingly, all but 2 of the 10 listings specify 12GB of RAM.

The OPPO F11 Pro has been characterized as a phone that would come out with a pop-up selfie camera on release. These leaks have been vindicated at its launch. It was also joined by the F11, a second variant of the same basic phone, but with a water-drop notch to house its own front-facing camera.

The Meizu Note 9 is one of a handful of phones that rocks the new 48MP Samsung camera sensor. It has been launched today in China for prices ranging from about US$208 to $238, depending on the variant selected. However, it will not be on sale until March 11, 2019.

Some Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL smartphone owners have been reporting that the March update for their devices has optimized read/write storage performance to a considerable degree. Images of AndroBench comparisons between February’s update and March’s update show some benchmark results drastically improving.

A blog has claimed that a GTX 1060 6GB card had gone down to €179.90 (about US$204) in a French computing store. However, this price is no longer available. In any case, it turns out that the card in question was of the single-fanned variety, and those with any more are still often above the €300 ($340) mark.

Unveiled more than four months ago, the AI-ready TS-2888X NAS lineup is finally available for purchase. As previously announced, these storage accessories can support up to 4 graphics cards and feature Intel Xeon W processors, ASETEK liquid cooling, up to 512 GB of memory, a 2,000 Watt PSU switch and connector.

An Indian Twitter user has alleged that an Android TV to which he had access allowed him to see all the other accounts linked to the same via the Google Home app. The bug in question also could have let him put their Google Photos-stored images up on the screen. Google has responded by temporarily suspending the app options involved.

While the CFExpress 2.0 standard promises speeds reaching 4 GB/s, Sony's first cards will be on par with the average NVMe SSDs. The new CFExpress cards are still meant for professional DSLRs and video cams, however, since they support the new NVMe interface, they can also be used as external SSDs for compute clusters and enterprise servers.

The HERO7 Black is the top-spec'd SKU of its GoPro camera series. It is now available in a limited-edition alternative finish, Dusk White. This version will be released on March 3, 2019 on gopro.com and selected retailers worldwide.

Without any fanfare, Google Play Movies has started to offer US$0.99 movie rentals, down from a previous US$5.99. However, this deal does not apply to B-rated movies as one would expect. The list of US$0.99 Google Play Movie rentals includes blockbusters like "A Star Is Born," "Bohemian Rhapsody," and more.

There is a new alternative to the foldable phone already. Nubia has unveiled the Alpha, a device with a screen that curves along a wide watch-like form factor. This display is 4 inches long, and operates using the Snapdragon 2100 wearables processor.

Energizer, a brand known better for disposable lithium-ion batteries, has brought new smartphones made under its name to MWC. One is an extremely typical mobile device, although it has a dual pop-up camera. Another is a foldable prototype with specs to challenge Samsung or Huawei in the same regard.

BlackBerry had an announcement of its own for the MWC19 event. It was not for a new device, however, but for a new variant of the pre-existing Key2. It is a vibrant, red, dual SIM, 128GB version of this phone.

Western Digital and Micron both announced 1 TB microSD cards earlier today. At 1 TB, these will be the largest microSD cards upon release later this year. Additionally, the SD Association announced SD Express, a new protocol that will be part of the upcoming SD 7.1 specification. SD Express promises to bring transfer rates of 985 MB/s to SD cards and microSD cards, although there is no word on when the standard will be released.

Alcatel has brought four new phones to show off at 2019's Mobile World Congress (MWC19). The 1X and 1S are bugdet-friendly options, whereas the 3 and 3L are slightly more premium. They have been finished with some attractive materials, and boast some up-to-date features such as AI camera enhancements and face unlocking.

Meizu has announced that its Note 9 is to be launched on March 6, 2019. This phone will feature a Samsung GM1 48MP camera sensor. It may also have 6GB of RAM, a 6.2-inch FHD display and the Snapdragon 675 processor.

STT-MRAM is one of the alternatives for current SRAM and NAND flash memory / storage solutions. Intel's current implementation is manufactured on the 22 nm node and promises faster read/write speeds, better endurance, and long-term data storage at higher temperatures. Its hybrid nature should allow Intel to include it in future Optane products.

A YouTuber has asserted that Microsoft will port some games and features to the Nintendo Switch later this year. The indie title Ori has been specifically named in relation to this new purported deal to link the two platforms. This development will also apparently bring Xbox Game Passes to the Switch.

Adobe is offering a discount on the prices of all-app Creative Cloud (CC) plans. This offer applies to monthly-paid prices for CC and CC plus Adobe Stock plans only, and drops them to US$39.99 and $69.98 respectively. It is valid from now until March 1, 2019.

Reuters has reported that the South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix is planning on investing 120 trillion won (~US$106.6 billion) on chip manufacturing plants. The company will also spend an additional 55 trillion won (US$49 billion) on two existing factories over the next 10 years. SK Hynix is the world’s third-largest semiconductor vendor by revenue.

Samsung also devoted some of its latest launch event to 5G and its potential in the future of telecommunicatons and online life in general. This led to the unveiling of the Galaxy S10 5G. It has an extra 3D-sensing module on its rear panel, in addition to the three cameras also found in the S10 and S10+.

The Realme 2 Pro is a phone directed at the younger market in a number of countries, including India. Here, the 2 Pro is available at Rs. 1000 (about US$14) less than usual. However, its better-spec'd SKUs are currently out of stock.

Canon has launched a new full-frame mirrorless camera, the EOS RP. Unlike other DSLRs, even those with APS-C, these devices use a sensor equivalent to traditional film (i.e. they measure 36x24mm in total). This confers advantages such as improved depth-of-field and general image quality.

The existence of the TU116 GPU, which exists to deliver Turing-level performance without ray-tracing, has been established at this stage. Today (February 14, 2019), VideoCardz has posted what it describes as exclusive images of this chipset. It also has pictures of what may be the MSI Ventus XS 1660 Ti, a card purportedly based on the TU 116.

Shuttle has expanded its range of compact Mini PCs. The DH370 is a barebones PC based on the H370 chipset that can be equipped with up to a hexa-core processor.

Jensen Huang, NVIDIA's chief executive officer (CEO), will deliver the keynote speech at this year's GPU Technology Conference (GTC). This event will take place in several locations in San José, California, from March 17 to 21, 2019. Huang will present on his company's recent breakthroughs in AI, robotics and self-driving tech during his speech.

The OPPO K1 is now available on the Indian market. This phone may compete with others such as the Redmi Note 7, as it has many specs in common with this device, but also has an in-display fingerprint reader. The K1 is exclusive to Flipkart, which sells it for about US$237.

A tweet including possible live images of the upcoming Galaxy S10 Plus has been submitted by the well-regarded leaker Roland Quandt. Two versions of the same phone in the same color (black) are shown. However, variations in their shade supports descriptive text that identify them as the rumored Prism Black and ceramic black SKUs of this device.

Wang Teng Thomas, Xiaomi’s product director, has written a post on Weibo indicating that a follow-up to the 2018 Black Shark Helo is on the way. The executive claimed to have seen this phone in the flesh, describing it as "too fast". However, no further details on this next-gen gaming device were discussed.

Gerry Cotten, the founder of QuadrigaCX, a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, recently passed away at the untimely age of 30. However, the company's woes quickly escalated as it became apparent that Cotten had not left the passwords to the company's cold wallet to his staff. They have reportedly been scrambling to recover the US$137 million stored in it ever since.

A major leak for the various verions of the Samsung Galaxy S10 may have outlined which colors and materials these phones will be shipped in this year. This information also contains pricing details which, as MySmartPrice claims, apply to the Dutch market. It suggests that even the base Galaxy S10 E model will cost €749 (or US$859).

The Investor, a division of the Korea Herald, has reported that 3 SKUs of the Samsung Galaxy S10 are now being manufactured. This information has apparently come from a source exclusive to the outlet. The S10 units being made now are all of the 4G variety, apparently.

Samsung Electronics has posted a news item to announce the fact that mass production has started on its 1 TB embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) solution. The 1 TB eUFS has been measured producing a sequential read speed of 1000 MB/s and a sequential write speed of 260 MB/s. As Samsung carefully points out, this makes it faster than a typical SATA SSD.

The Nokia 1 Plus is a potential refresh or successor to the 1, an ultra-budget Android Go device. Images and specs purportedly associated with this new phone have surfaced online. According to them, the 1 Plus may gain a faster SoC and a more modern design compared to the 1. However, the two may remain similar in many aspects.

Cricket Wireless can now offer the Nokia 3.1 Plus as a result of a new deal made with HMD Global. The budget smartphone will be sold at US$159.99 in its stores. However, it will have competition from the Alcatel Onyx, an equally budget device available at $119.99 through the same carrier.

Unveiled back in 2018, the QNAP TR-004 is finally available for purchase. This storage accessory is a 4-bay hardware RAID storage expansion device that sports USB 3.0 Type-C connectivity and can be attached to a PC or a NAS. When connected to a NAS, the TR-004 can be used as external storage or as an expansion storage device.