Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Not even a month ago, Pioneer had announced that they had developed a 16 layer disk with 400 gigabytes of data storage. Totally amazing, right? Well, apparently those engineers at Pioneer don’t like to sit on their haunches, because they’ve just announced the development of a 500GB disk that includes extra encoding layers (I’ve read it has anywhere from four to nine extra).  I’m not even sure what I’d DO with all that space on one disk.

Although details haven’t really been given about the development of the new disk, we can probably logically theorize that they followed the same process as it’s predecessor.  With the 400GB disk, data transmission issues were minimized by lowering the amount of crosstalk and hiking high-precision signal transmissions from each respective layer.

Both of the disks will work with Blu-ray players, though Pioneer is quick to stress that their strides in these ultra-high capacity disks will see more of an impact on the industry as file formats grow past the current limitations of the Blu-ray technology used today. Don’t look to run out to your local Wal-Mart or Staples to pick one of these puppies up today though, reports show that since they are still technically in the prototype stage, they aren’t available to the general public at this time, and won’t be for the next two to four years.

Via [ubergizmo]

So we’ve all been there. That rush of panic when we’ve lost (or at least momentarily think we’ve lost) our cell phone.  When our phone contains lots of confidential data like bank info and emails, the panic level tends to rise even more quickly. Now we don’t have to just worry about Joe Finder using up our minutes, but now Joe Finder could access our bank accounts and read all those spicy emails we sent to Suzy at the office, uh-oh. This not even counting in the fact that the money spent on the phone is now down the drain.

Enter your possible savior, the cell phone Superhero! Nope, it’s not some guy sporting a cape and a mask (regardless of their logo), but a new service just launched yesterday in the US and Canada from YouGetItBack.com. Claiming to be able to protect your confidential data and aid in safely returning your gadget, YouGetItBack.com may just be a lost cell phone users new best friend.  The way it works is that once a phone is lost or stolen, subscribers of the downloadable software simply go online and remotely lock their mobile phone. This will prevent anyone else from being able to make calls or access information on the device. Subscribers are also able to retrieve contacts from the phone via the internet.

MORE »

The alleged takeover of the City by the Bay may sound totally rare, but, unfortunately, it has happened before that disgruntled employees take to modern technology as a means for revenge.

City tech employee Terry Childs, allegedly modified the city system so that he was the only one with top level clearances. The city is still in a tizzy trying to regain control of their new fiber optic municipal network that handles everything from the mayor’s email to electronic court records. Childs, who was arrested on Sunday, is still being held on $5 million bail, after allegedly refusing to hand over the passwords. He at first did supply some, but they turned out to be bogus.

It isn’t even clear why he did what he did, although it’s been said that in days leading up to his arrest, his behavior towards his colleagues was becoming erratic. A new security chief had been brought in to oversee the group’s security, and over the past few weeks some evidence of tampering had been found. It was escalated to the police, who in turn brought in their own forensics team to investigate their network.

MORE »

In days past, photographers had to rely on their memory to answer the question “where did I take this shot?”. Not so any more. Geotagging is fast becoming popular in the days of digital photography. By definition, Geotagging is the process of adding a form of geospatial geographical identification metadata to your images. It can also be added to other media like websites or RSS feeds. This metadata almost always consists of latitude and longitude coordinates; although it can sometimes also include things like altitude, bearing, or even location names depending on how specific you want to get.

Geotagging can also be useful if you are looking for location-specific information. For example, you are trying to find images taken near Red Rock Canyon. You simply enter the latitude and longitude coordinates into a Geotagging-enabled image search engine. There you go! These same search engines can also be used to locate location-based news, websites and more.

MORE »

Google is getting ready to launch their Street View technology in the UK, and it isn’t being met with open arms. Although the mapping tool is already in place in some major US cities, folks in the UK are protesting the implementation on their turf.  Street View works by taking photos of, logically enough, streets to match maps. However the photos also include any people on those streets. This is where the problems come in for the UK folk. They feel this is a blatant disregard for privacy; and that permission should be granted by any individual photographed since the pictures are being used in a commercial regard. 

Personally, I don’t see how Google is getting away with this. As a freelance photographer myself, I know that any photographs that I take (even in a public setting) must have release forms signed by each recognizable person in the photo, if I am to be using them in any way for profit. (They even consider a person to be “recognizable” if the photo only shows the back of them for the record.) Apparently, Privacy International, a UK rights group, agrees. They believe the technology clearly breaks data protection laws. 

MORE »

While Canada, or more specifically Rogers has never been know for their fairly priced data plans for phones, they have just added a few additional plans designed for the BlackBerry. These do seem to be an improvement, but sadly they are not as low-priced as we would have hoped, and they still are not offering any unlimited plans, of course from what we have seen in the past nothing is ever truly unlimited, so that may be a blessing in disguise.

The new plans offered include a 300MB option for $30, or 1GB for $60, 3GB for $80 and a 6GB plan for $100. While expensive I think most people would be surprised how little data they actually use, and most would probably be OK with the 300MB plan if not the 1GB for sure, but at the same time it would be nice have an unlimited offer and just not have to worry.

Lets just hope the soon-to-be-released 3G capable BlackBerry Bold will not encourage users to take full advantage of data use and start going over their service plan, because one thing is for sure, overages are expensive.

Via [BGR]

After several cries and complaints, Sprint has finally explained its decision to cap its “unlimited” data usage plan to 5GB a month, plus 300MB a month of off-network roaming. According to Sprint, the new limit is plenty enough, since it only affects 0.5% of customers. Sprint also notes that the limit applies to both existing and current consumer and individual accounts, but not corporate, business, public sector, or government contracts. The company states that the Simply Unlimited plan is exempt from the new rule—as the limit only applies to data cards and phone-as-modem plans. Interestingly, Sprint is permitting customers to go over the limit only if they do not exceed the limit in two out of three consecutive months—otherwise, termination is possible. However, Sprint is being gracious enough to inform users of the new limits prior to termination, giving customers a chance to change their usage habits. To aid monitoring data usage, the company will allow customers to check their data usage via Sprint.com starting June 8.

If 99.5% of customers are not going over the 5GB limit, than why is Sprint enforcing it? Granted 5GB of bandwidth should be plenty for most users, is it really worth losing the 0.5% of its “hardcore” customer base? Wouldn’t keeping the 0.5% and removing the limit give Sprint the competitive edge its needs, by being the only wireless provider to offer a true “unlimited” data plan?

Via [MobileCrunch]

Sprint is probably the only wireless carrier to offer a true unlimited data plan. However, according to a Sprint employee on the SprintUsers forum, this may no longer be the case. A reportedly leaked internal memo has revealed that Sprint is now enforcing a monthly 5GB data usage cap on its Phone as Modem (PAM) and data card plans, thus, joining the other carriers that are also limiting data usage to 5GB (AT&T and Verizon). Additionally, the memo says Sprint users that roam on another network will only be allowed 300MB of data per month.

“Sprint reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred and to deny, terminate, modify, or suspend service if usage exceeds 5GB per month in total or 300MB/month while off-network roaming. Check your subscriber agreement rights on Sprint.com”

It should be noted that there has not been any official announcement by Sprint, so at this point it’s only a rumor at best. But, the leaked memo mentions that Sprint will be updating its Terms of Service to put the new limits into effect on July 13. Despite the new revelation, it is unknown whether or not the wireless company will actually be enforcing the new rule. What exactly does “reserve the right” mean? Does this only apply to heavy users, or to the entire member base? Regardless, the good news is that Sprint customers may be able to terminate their contracts earlier, due to the change.

Read [SprintUsers]

Following up on the recent confirmation that Rogers will be indeed offering the iPhone “later this year” we are now left to wonder just how affordable their data plans will be. The latest word has it that they will be offering an unlimited plan for just $7-a-month, which sadly at this time is nothing more than a rumor and speculation as it has come from the wonderful “un-named source.”

MORE »

Sony has made available a slew of tiny USB flash drives in its Microvault product line, branding these babies as the USM-L. The drives measure in at 0.69 x 0.33 x 2.44-inches and weighing only around 0.32-ounces, who would think that the USM-L flash drives can store as much as 16GB of data? Well, that’s how flash drives are nowadays, the smaller they get, the larger their storage capacities are, and this is particularly true with the Sony USM-L flash drives.

As if the USM-L flash drives were not small enough, Sony even made use of the Click mechanism which makes it shorter when it is connected to your machines. This also enables Sony to do away with the common USB flash drive design that comes with a cap that you have to pull out to reveal the flash drive’s USB connector. With the USM-L, all you have to do is to slide out the flash drive’s body to reveal the USB connector. 

MORE »