LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling sent out a press release this morning, announcing the launch of its new LightScribe Design Center. The Design Center contains more than 400 free CD/DVD labeling designs as well as other creative resources such as a photo labeling center and disc sleeve designer.

LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling today announced the launch of the LightScribe Design Center, a free resource available on www.lightscribe.com offering more than 400 CD/DVD labeling designs with themes such as weddings, music, gifts, travel, photography and business. Anyone owning a LightScribe-enabled computer or external CD or DVD burner can visit the LightScribe Design Center, explore free designs by theme and immediately create visually striking full disc designs - complete with personalized photos and text.

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G.Skill recently announced its new line of affordable, ultra-performance SATA II 2.5-inch Solid State Drives (SSDs). These new MLC-based SSDs are available in 64GB and 128GB capacities and are capable of 155 MB/s read and 90 MB/s write speeds.

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G.Skill International Co. Ltd., a world leader in high quality, extreme performance memory, today unveils affordable ultra-performance SATA II 2.5" Solid State Drives (SSDs) with 64GB and 128GB capacities. With NAND MLC flash storage medium, G.SKILL SATA II 2.5" Solid State Drives (SSDs) provide cost effective, ultra reliable and power-efficient performance hard drives for general consumers who want to improve mobile products.

Covered with a strong metal alloy housing, G.SKILL SSDs protect valuable data from any mishaps that should happen during travel, and the highly power efficient nature means a boost to battery life allowing longer on the go. Ensuring ultimate reliability, G.SKILL SSDs have impressive 1.5 million hour mean time before failure (MTBF) and with a Lifetime Warranty and ever ready technical back-up, G.Skill SSDs are the total storage solution.

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Silicon Power recently announced the availability of its latest USB flash drive, the LuxMini 910. This high-capacity drive offers 32GB of storage and comes bundled with Silicon Power's SmartKit security software which give users the ability to set passwords, encapsulate data and create a bootable disk.

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Silicon Power has introduced the availability of its new 32GB LuxMini 910, a high-capacity USB flash drive, in global markets. The LuxMini 910 features a light, sophisticated body with a LED at the bottom of the USB that lights up during use. Its curved body with silver hairline treated surface has anti-scratch and fingerprint free. The huge amount of storage space enables users to backup easily and store all essential documents, music, digital photos, and high quality video recording, which is designed for businessmen traveling around the world.

The LuxMini 910 has a hole at the bottom and is easy to carry-on combining with key chain or a neck chain. The state of art curved body combined with silver and black color represents personal fashion style. The LuxMini 910is available in 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB and 32GB capacities. It not only has a very elegant design but also bundles with a very practical software pack- “SmartKit”, which allows users to set passwords, partition disk, encapsulate data, or set a bootable disk quickly and easily. The LuxMini 910 provides customers a more efficient and safe way to manage personal data. The software can be downloaded from www.silicon-power.com. The LuxMini 910will deliver SP’s promise to customers in terms of creating high speed, best quality and reliability products for your digital life. The LuxMini 910 32GB is priced at US$ 58 and comes with a lifetime warranty.

Plextor LLC updated its website this morning to include information on a number of new DVD writers. Along with the Qflix enabled PX-806SA and PX-Q840U, the company unveiled two new 22x DVD writers, the PX-850A and PX-850SA. The two drives support Plextor's new PlexUTILITIES software and are capable of 22x DVD±R, 8x DVD±R DL and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds. The only real difference is that the PX-850SA sports an SATA interface. No word yet on pricing or availability but I'd expect to see an official announcement from Plextor very soon.

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Our spies have returned from Taiwan and have delivered Lite-On's latest product roadmap. While we cannot post the files our spies acquired, we can give you an idea of what to expect for the rest of 2008 and most of 2009.

Blu-ray fans will be happy to know that Lite-On has a number of new Blu-ray Disc drives in the works. Hot on the heels of the iHES206 is an 8x BD Combo drive, the DH-8E2S/L (iHES208). The company is also looking at releasing a new BD-ROM drive (DH-403S) during the first half of 2009 as well as a 10x BD Combo drive (DH-10E3S/L) later in the year. Lite-On is also looking to tackle the notebook market by offering their own line of slim BD Combo drives which includes both tray (DS-4E1S) and slot loading (DL-4ETS) models.

Lite-On's Blu-ray Disc writers will also be getting a much needed speed boost. The company currently plans to introduce an 8x Blu-ray Disc writer (DH-8B2S/L) some time in 2009 with a 12x writer (DH-12B2S/L) scheduled for the end of the year. Lite-On will also be introducing its first slim Blu-ray Disc writer (DS-6B1S/L) during the second half of 2009.

While Blu-ray has definitely become the focus at Lite-On, they haven't abandoned the DVD quite yet.  The company plans to release a new 22x DVD writer (DH-22A9P) at the end of this year and is currently looking to introduce its first 24x DVD writer during the first half of 2009. According to our sources, the DH-24AAS will be based on the Mediatek MT1879 chipset and have features similar to Lite-On's current 22x DVD writers. If the DH-24AAS is a success, Lite-On could release a second 24x DVD writer (DH-24AMS) during the second half of 2009. Also keep an eye out for Lite-On's first 18x DVD-ROM drive (DH-18D5S) during the first half of 2009.

Lite-On's line of slim DVD writers will be getting an update as well. The company will be releasing new tray (DS-8A3S/L) and slot loading (DL-8ATS/L) models at the end of this year, with its first 9.5mm drive (DU-8A3S) coming in mid-2009. The entire line will get revamped again during the second half of 2009 with new tray (DS-8A4S/L) and slot loading (DC-8A2S/L) 12.7mm models as well as a slot loading 9.5mm drive (DO-8A1S).  A number of these drives have already been tagged by Plextor for released under their brand.

Please keep in mind that these plans could change at any time. As we've seen in the past, development days and market changes can push back a drive for months or cause it to be dropped from a company's product lineup altogether.  

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Hammer Storage recently announced its new line of morespace Portable hard drives. These pocket sized drives are available in capacities up to 750GB and can be customized through the use of personalized skins.

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Hammer Storage, a division of Bell Microproducts Inc. (OTC: BELM.PK), one of the world's largest value-added distributors of storage and computing technology, today announced the release of its latest storage solution: morespace™ Portable. Hammer's morespace Portable is a compact, lightweight portable hard drive that allows users to instantly add more space to both PCs and Macs. Complete with easy to use back-up software, morespace Portable is available now. Priced below comparable offerings, morespace Portable costs under 26 cents per gigabyte (GB) of storage and can be found at select retail stores and online retailers listed at www.hammer-storage.com.

For on-the-go consumers, the new morespace is small enough to fit into a shirt pocket and offers users the ability to make their morespace exclusively their own through the use of customizable skins – which will also protect it from scratches. morespace Portable sets itself apart by offering more than just the standard color choices available from its major competitors. One skin is included with the morespace Portable unit to get consumers started, which can easily be removed and replaced with a custom skin of the consumer's choice.

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Apevia X-Master HTPC Case @ ThinkComputers.org
ASUS P6T Deluxe and Intel Nehalem CPU @ InsideHW
ATI Radeon HD 4830 @ HotHardware.com and Hardware Zone
Coolmax CUG-950B 950W Power Supply @ Rbmods
ECS GeForce 9800 GTX+ Hydra Liquid Cooled SLI Kit @ HotHardware.com
GIGABYTE EP43-DS3R Motherboard @ TweakTown
Nyko Energy Pak for Wii Balance Board @ Futurelooks
Sapphire Radeon HD 4550 512MB @ Phoronix

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Super Talent has launched a new line of ultra-small solid state drives (SSDs) for use in UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) and DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) devices. These NAND flash based SSDs are available in 1.0-inch and 0.85-inch widths and capacities as high as 8GB. With their parallel ATA (PATA) interface, the drives are also capable of 40MB/s read and 30MB/s write speeds.

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Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announced two new ultra-small solid-state drives (SSDs) that were developed using Intel technology for use in UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) and DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) devices.

Super Talent is introducing 1.0-inch and 0.85-inch SSD models, both of which employ a parallel ATA (PATA/IDE) interface with a ZIF connector. These are definitely among the world’s tiniest SSDs, designed to be smaller, faster, lighter and cheaper than the smallest hard disk drives (HDDs).

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Toshiba Electronics Europe has announced a new range of USB flash drives with a redesigned case that is shorter than previous models. The drives are available in 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities and are capable of 18MB/s read and 4.5MB/s write speeds.

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Toshiba Electronics Europe has announced the introduction of a new range of USB flash memory drives that feature a redesigned case and a maximum memory capacity of 16GByte, double that of existing products. The stylish design is shorter than previous models and also more robust. The drives will be showcased at the GITEX Technology Week in Dubai.

Toshiba, which developed flash memory in 1984, has continually driven the development and improvement of memory for consumer and business use. Having invented NAND flash technology, Toshiba has utilised its latest, high integration 43nm NAND flash process to extend the range of its USB drives up to 16GByte - twice the previous maximum.

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LaCie recently launched its new line of rugged multimedia hard drives. The LaCinema Rugged features a scratch-resistant aluminium shell, internal shock absorbers, and shock-resistant rubber bumper. The drive also offers up to 500GB of storage and ,when connected to a television, it can be used to listen to music, view pictures or play videos at resolutions as high as 1080i.

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LaCie announced today the LaCinema Rugged, the latest generation in multimedia products to provide high quality movie viewing with the compact and acclaimed reliability of LaCie’s trusted mobile enclosure. Bus-powered and durable, the LaCinema Rugged allows users to enjoy their collections on the go or at home.

Designed by Neil Poulton, the Rugged features a unique scratch-resistant aluminum shell, internal anti-shock absorbers, and a shock-resistant rubber bumper to better protect media files against everyday blunders. Similar to previous LaCinema creations, the Rugged edition provides the convenience of a centralized media library with graphic menus and an easy-to-use remote control.

Compatible with both Mac and Windows environments, the USB 2.0 interface connects to the computer for easy multimedia loading. Once the data is transferred to the portable drive it is ready to be viewed on any display, where the user’s media can be accessed through an HDMI connection or legacy composite video connection. Optimized viewing through HDMI 1080i upscaling will allow you to play back videos on your HDTV or enjoy photos in clear HD resolution.

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