Pioneer Japan sent out a press today, announcing its new portable, slot-loading Blu-ray Disc writer, the BDR-XS05J. This USB 3.0 equipped drive is capable of 6x BD-R, 6x BD-R DL, 6x BD-R LTH, 2x BD-RE and 2x BD-RE DL writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 6x. The BDR-XS05J also writes to triple- (100GB) and quad-layer (128GB) BD-R media at 4x and triple-layer (100GB) BD-RE media at 2x.

Along with a customizable, transparent panel, the BDR-XS05J includes features like Pioneer's PureRead2+ technology and noise reducing firmware. It also ships with a software bundle from CyberLink that supports BDXL recording as well as Blu-ray 3D playback. The BDR-XS05J is scheduled to ship in late June and is expected to retail for about 15,000 Yen ($266US).

Patriot, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash, storage, and mobile accessories today announces an exclusive partnership with Meteor Entertainment, a leading publisher of online games, to launch a one-of-a-kind Supersonic RAGE XT promotion bundle with Meteor’s online mech action game, HAWKEN. This valued-added bundle pairs the ultra-fast 64GB USB 3.0 Supersonic RAGE XT flash drive with a game changing 7-day HAWKEN Double XP Boost for the extremely popular multiplayer mech combat video game.

Providing the enhanced transfer speeds of USB 3.0 in an extra tough rubberized housing, the Patriot Supersonic Rage XT is the perfect solution for those looking for a compact design that doesn’t compromise performance. The Supersonic Rage XT comes with a custom slide to connect design that provides best in class protection from wear and tear.

HAWKEN is an online action game that allows players to jump into the cockpit of customizable giant mechs and battle it out for online supremacy in a variety of game modes and arenas. This special Double XP Boost pack bundle will grant players the ability to level up faster, unlocking new abilities and technologies for total domination on the battlefield.

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Today, CDRLabs brings you a review of Plextor's new 256GB M5M Series mSATA SSD, the PX-256M5M. Designed for ultrabooks, tablets and other portable devices with limited space, the M5M provides high-performance and reliability in a space one-eighth the size of a standard 2.5 inch drive. This pint-sized SSD combines Marvell's 88SS9187 "Monet" controller with Toshiba's 19nm Toggle Mode MLC NAND to deliver up to 540MB/s read and 430MB/s write transfer rates. The M5M also supports Plextor's True Speed and True Protect technologies as well as the SATA Device Sleep (DEVSLP) standard which extends the battery life of a device by reducing the drive's power consumption when its not in use.

Intel Corporation today announced the Intel Solid-State Drive DC S3500 Series, its latest solid-state drive (SSD) for data centers and cloud computing. Designed for read-intensive applications such as Web hosting, cloud computing and data center virtualization, the Intel DC S3500 Series is an ideal replacement for traditional hard disk drives (HDD), allowing data centers to save significant costs by moving toward an all-SSD storage model.

Intel SSDs, including the Intel SSD DC S3500 Series, enable transformational improvements in cloud infrastructure, fostering new and enriching Web experiences. End customers experience quicker Web page loads and improved response times as a result of dramatically improved data access times and reduced latency. IT managers and cloud developers are rewarded with improved total cost of ownership as a result of reduced power consumption, more consistent performance and smaller space requirements. More than half of U.S. businesses now employ cloud computing applications, and IDC predicts that worldwide spending on cloud services will reach $44.2 billion this year1. Data centers powering these cloud applications need to quickly, efficiently and reliably scale to handle the tremendous growth of connected users and data traffic.

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Seagate Technology today took the wraps off its new Seagate NAS HDD— a cutting-edge drive custom-built for always-on, one- to five-bay network attached storage (NAS) systems. Engineered with performance and reliability in mind, the new drives are available in multiple capacity points including a 4TB option— the industry’s highest capacity NAS hard disk drive (HDD) solution available— and strong industry support from nine NAS system partners.

“Today about 50 percent of NAS arrays are sold diskless meaning that customers are challenged with identifying and installing the right storage for their system. By developing a drive like NAS HDD, we’ve taken the guesswork out of it and made it easy for customers to identify the right drive for their system,” said Scott Horn, Seagate vice president of marketing. “By collaborating closely with a variety of partners who specialize in NAS systems, we’re making what was a confusing effort into a plug-and-play one.”

Featuring up to 4TB of storage the drive now enables NAS systems, such as those utilized in homes and small to midsize businesses (SMB), to provide up to 20TB of data in a five-bay NAS array. And with over 30 percent capacity improvement over competitive offerings, the NAS HDD 4TB drive delivers the highest capacity available on the market.

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QNAP, Inc. today announced the app-centric QTS 4.0 Turbo NAS system is available for the existing Turbo NAS series, including TS-x69, x19 and x12 series. Users of the applicable Turbo NAS models can download and update to the latest QTS 4.0 system to enjoy the entire new NAS management experience and the abundance of home entertainment applications.

“The launch of QTS 4.0 alongside the Turbo NAS TS-x20 and x21 series was a tremendous success, and we have received many positive responses from our users,” said Meiji Chang, general manager of QNAP. “Now more users can experience the easy-to-operate yet feature-rich QTS 4.0 that makes storing and managing home digital data easier, and enjoy the stored multimedia contents with more fun.”

The app-centric QTS 4.0 integrates multi-window operations into the web-based user interface, adds the Qsync utility for file synchronizing across different devices and file sharing across groups and communities, supports several smart mobile apps, and more. The abundant multimedia applications the QTS 4.0 offers a greatly enhanced entertainment experience in the modern connected home.

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Mushkin, Inc., an industry‐leading designer and manufacturer of high‐performance and mission‐critical computer products, announced today the launch of their new Scorpion Deluxe PCIe SSD alongside Mushkin's "Pacific Rim Sweepstakes" which will run from June 5, 2013 until August 17, 2013. Prizes offered include a home theater system valued at $3,500 and a brand new Razer Blade Pro Gaming Laptop valued at $2,299, in addition to a limited edition Mushkin themed PC and Mushkin/Pacific Rim prize packs.

"Mushkin's Pacific Rim sweepstakes definitely appeals to our audience on a variety of levels and provides our consumers with the chance to win some amazing prizes," said Nicolas Villalobos, Director of Global Marketing at Mushkin, Inc. "Alongside this campaign we are excited to launch our latest Scorpion Deluxe line of SSDs. Our customers can now manage data faster, safer and more efficiently. Whether for digital content creation, virtualization, database acceleration, motion picture visual effects or your own application, the Mushkin Scorpion Deluxe PCIe SSD is always ready."

The Mushkin Scorpion PCI Express SSD was conceived to offer multimedia designers maximum performance and a scalable 4-way format. With up to 21000MB/s throughput and 100,000 4K random write IOPS, the Scorpion PCI Express is a natural for the digital effects arena. Available worldwide starting mid-June, Scorpion Deluxe PCIe SSDs will come in 240GB, 480GB, 960GB and 1920GB capacities.

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