Samsung makes first PCIe-based SSD for Ultrabooks, we see one likely customer

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/17/samsung-makes-first-pcie-based-ssd-for-ultrabooks/

Solid-state drives are so speedy these days that that even a SATA interface might not have the bandwidth to cope. It's a good thing that Samsung has started mass-producing the first PCI Express-based SSDs for Ultrabooks, then. The new XP941 series uses PCIe's wider data path to read at nearly 1.4GB/s -- that's 2.5 times faster than the quickest SATA SSDs, and nimble enough to move 500GB in six minutes. It also ships in a tinier M.2 format that makes past card-based SSDs look gargantuan, even when there's up to 512GB of storage. Samsung hasn't named laptop makers receiving the XP941, although it doesn't take strong deductive skills to spot one of the (probable) first customers. When Apple is shipping a new 13-inch MacBook Air that just happens to use a very similar PCIe SSD from Samsung, there's likely more than coincidence at work.

Filed under: Laptops, Storage, Apple, Samsung

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Source: Samsung

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The World's Most Efficient Solar Cell Is a Tiny Little Miracle

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-worlds-most-efficient-solar-cell-is-a-tiny-little-513361860

While solar power promises a lot, it's only ever going to help satisfy our energy needs if it becomes efficient enough. Fortunately, Sharp has just made the world's most efficient solar cell, which converts a staggering 44.4 percent of incident light into electricity. Take that, fossil fuels.

The cell uses a special lens-based concentrator system, which focuses sunlight onto the cell to help improve the efficiency Once the light's focussed, a stack of three photo-absorption layers convert it into electricity. Even then it's no mean feat to squeeze out an efficiency of 44.4 percent, and the process saw Sharp invest a huge amount of time in tuning the device's dimensions to focus the light properly and reduce losses between layers.

While it's impressive, you probably won't see one strapped to the roof of a house any time soon. Devices this exotic are more likely to end up on a spacecraft in the first instance, where efficiency trumps cost every time. That's not to say it won't ever make it to the domestic market—it might just take a little time. [PhysOrg]

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Zoom's New H6 Audio Recorder Will Make Any DSLR Filmmaker Salivate

Source: http://gizmodo.com/zooms-new-h6-audio-recorder-will-make-any-dslr-filmmak-513200479

Back in April we learned that Zoom had a successor to the popular H4N audio recorder in the making. Details were slim, but it certainly looked promising. Well now we have the full low-down on the new device.

The recorder looks a great deal more filmmaker-suited than its predecessor, with physical knobs and even a shoe mount on the back for mounting directly atop a DSLR.

Here are the key specs:

• Six tracks of simultaneous recording
• Four interchangeable input capsules: stereo X/Y (included), Mid-Side (included), Shotgun (optional) & combo dual XLR/TRS (optional).
• Large full-color display for easy viewing of recording and playback levels
• Records directly to SD, SDHC and SDXC cards up to 128 gigabytes
• Compatible with MP3 and BWF-compliant WAV file formats, including 24-bit / 96k for ultimate HD audio
• Four XLR/TRS combo jacks to connect external microphones or line-level devices each with their own gain control, pad switch AND phantom power in three different voltages
• USB port for data transfer to audio editing software and allows for H6 to serve as multichannel audio interface for computer and tablets
• Connects to DSLR or digital camcorder
• Runs on 4 AA batteries for up to 20 hours.

The Zoom H6 will be available in late July. It will be interesting to see if it shares the success of the H4N, since DSLR video is waning a bit with the introduction of dedicated video cameras like the Canon C100/300 and Sony FS100/700. But the H6 looks to be versatile enough to find a place in the gear closets of other types of users.

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Sharp branching into robo-vacs, grow lights, e-whiteboards to offset slow LCD sales (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/14/sharp-branching-into-other-industries/

Remember the Cocorobo robotic vaccum that could send you pics of your newly-cleaned carpet? Sharp is going to be doing a lot more of that kind of thing soon, if a recent demo at its research center in Nara, Japan is any indication. Since the company has been losing gobs of money on its tepid LCD-panel business, it'll soon be using some of that tech in completely different industries: for instance, converting powerful LED lighting from TV backlights to grow lamps, and touchscreen TV panels to interactive whiteboards. Sharp admitted to PC World that it needed to branch into other businesses since "rivals have been able to catch up from behind" to its LCD TV and mobile phone businesses -- and judging by the drastic actions the company's taken to stave off disaster lately, it'll need to hustle those products to market, stat. Check the video after the jump to see some of the prototypes in action.

[Image credit: PC World]

Filed under: Displays, Robots, HD

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Source: PC World

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Google Search Competitor DuckDuckGo Got Record Traffic Following The PRISM Revelations

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/duckduckgo-hit-a-record-high-this-week-2013-6

Search engine DuckDuckGo saw a record number of searches this week, according to VentureBeat. 

On Thursday, DuckDuckGo clocked 2.5 million search queries, a 33% increase over last Thursday. On Wednesday, users made 2.35 million search queries. 

With news of the PRISM program, people seem to be becoming more skeptical of the services they use on the Internet, and how secure their information is.

DuckDuckGo doesn't track your clicks across the Web, unlike Google. So if the government were to come knocking on DuckDuckGo's doors, seeking information, they would have no way to tie that information to individual users.

But PRISM may not be totally responsible for DuckDuckGo's traffic spike. DuckDuckGo has recently appeared in major news publications, like the Washington Post, Bloomberg, and CNBC.

DuckDuckGo launched back in 2008 as an alternative to traditional search engines that don't respect your privacy. DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg has mostly bootstrapped DuckDuckGo, but he also received $3 million from Union Square Ventures, Scott Banister, Peter Hershberg, Joshua Stylman, Joshua Schachter, Kal Vepuri, and Jim Young.

SEE ALSO: After Making Millions In His 20s, This Guy Got Venture Funding For A Google-Killer

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