SanDisk has announced the availability of their latest USB flash drive, the Cruzer Contour. The drive's unique slider brings out and hides the USB connector with only a few flicks of the thumb.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today announced availability of Cruzer Contour, a sleek USB flash drive that brings together high-end design and blazing speed. Much like a fine wristwatch, Cruzer Contour is a luxury personal accessory as well as a piece of functional technology.

What especially sets apart Cruzer Contour, with its glossy black top and silver metallic body, is the drive’s unique sliding USB connector. Using a thumb to slide the top of Cruzer Contour back and forth brings out or hides the connector. There’s no visible switch, and no cap to lose.
The Cruzer Contour is available now in capacities of 4GB and 8GB. More information, including prices, can be found here. Add a comment
Samsung announced over the weekend that they've started mass producing the industry's first 1.8-inch, 64GB solid state drive (SSD). Here's part of their press release:

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced that it has begun mass producing 1.8-inch solid state drives (SSD) at 64GB (gigabytes) - the highest density SSD available today for mobile computing applications...

...The 64GB SSD consists of 64 eight Gigabit (Gb) single-level cell flash memory chips. Use of 51nm process technology permits fabrication of much smaller components, with each chip having circuitry 1/2500th the width of a human hair.
No word on pricing or availability yet. As we find out more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, Samsung's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
SanDisk recently announced that it has expanded its line of solid state drive (SSD) products to include 64GB SSD's for notebook PC's. According to their press release, their new SSD's offers greater durability, higher performance and lower power consumption than conventional notebook hard drives.

Reaching for the “sweet spot” of memory storage for laptop computers, SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) today expanded its line of solid state drive (SSD) products with the introduction of a 64-gigabyte (GB)1 SSD aimed at both enterprise users and early adopter consumers such as gamers. SanDisk 1.8-inch UATA 5000 and 2.5-inch SATA 5000 SSD products, which already are available in a 32GB capacity, are compatible as drop-in replacements for hard disk drives in most mainstream notebook computers.
No word on pricing or availably. However, SanDisk's new 64GB SSD's will be on display this week at Computex Taipei 2007. More information can be found here. Add a comment
Transcend has announced the launch of its new Ultra-Speed JetFlash Drives. These new USB 2.0 flash drives come equipped with dual Hi-Speed SLC NAND Flash chips, giving them 30MB/s read and 25MB/s write speeds.

Transcend Information Inc. (Transcend) released today its Ultra-Speed USB2.0 Flash Drives, the JetFlash 160, the JetFlash 168, the JetFlash 110 and the JetFlash 2A. These JetFlash models are equipped with dual Hi-Speed SLC NAND Flash chips (Max. Read 30MB/s, Max. Write 25MB/s), and are engineered using top quality components to ensure better performance and a longer lifespan. This device is a combination of style and superior performance that will be appreciated by those who need high-speed data transfer rates. The Ultra-Speed JetFlash Drives conveniently plug into the USB port on any desktop, or notebook computer, so you can fast transfer, store, and share files.
Transcend's Ultra-Speed JetFlash Drives are available now in 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB (JetFlash 2A only) capacities. More information can be found here. Add a comment
SanDisk has announced two new secure USB flash drives. Developed with business users in mind, the Cruzer Professional and Cruzer Enterprise offer password protection and hardware-based 256-bit AES encryption.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today introduced Cruzer Professional and Cruzer Enterprise, two USB flash drives that deliver strong security and state-of-the-art speed to business users. Cruzer Professional is primarily for individuals and small businesses who want to protect crucial data while also making it easy to share selected files. Cruzer Enterprise is primarily for medium and large organizations that require mandatory policy enforcement, central management and regulatory compliance...

...Cruzer Professional and Cruzer Enterprise offer password protection and virtually ironclad data security through hardware-based 256-bit AES encryption. Hardware-based encryption is much more reliable than the software-based security used in most consumer USB flash drives with password protection, because software-based protection relies on the host computer - which can be compromised by spyware and other threats -- to perform security operations. Cruzer Professional and Cruzer Enterprise are true plug-and-play devices, requiring no software installation on a host computer, so the drives will connect instantly to any computer running a modern version of Microsoft Windows.
The Cruzer Professional and Cruzer Enterprise are available now in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB capacities and range in price from $54.99 to $184.99. More information can be found here. Add a comment