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More and more products seem to be going green now-a-days, the latest comes in the form of a 500GB external hard drive from SimpleTech. The new drive is called the [re]drive and is being touted as the “World’s Most Eco Friendly External Drive.”

The [re]drive’s outer casing is made from aluminum and bamboo and features a low-powered hard drive and an Energy Star power adapter. In addition, SimpleTech has also opted to offer the [re]drive as a fanless drive, having the aluminum on the case act as a heat sink instead. And further helping with power management, the [re]drive also has a feature that will automatically turn the drive on and off with your computer.

The [re]drive, which has Turbo USB 2.0 connectivity and 500GB of storage space is going to retail for $160.

SimpleTech is also offering a nice way to back up your external drive with the Fabrik Ultimate Backup which includes 2GB of online storage for free, and if needed you also have the option to upgrade that to an unlimited option for 5GB a month.

Product [Fabrik]

The company that brought you myfabrik has been busy developing a tool to let you share your files with virtually anyone.  Next Monday (11/20), Fabrik will be launching the new myfabrik lite, which allows you to embed hosted media right into your blog or website.  With their new offering, you can make slideshows, photostrips, as well as music play lists.  Another great use for it is if you have a large file that you want to send to someone, but don’t have the email capacity to do so. 

Also, Fabrik is ending the beta-period of the standard myfabrik on Monday, as they launch to the general public.  With the service, users can store up to 1GB for free, and $0.49 per gig per month beyond that - and according to the company, this includes unlimited bandwidth, uploading and downloading.

With myfabrik, it’s like having a combination of YouTube, Flickr, .Mac and G Drive all wrapped up into one, with a free GB of space.

Head over to the site and get yourself a preview before they officially launch on Monday.

Read more about Fabrik here, and see a screenshot of their new homepage after the break…

Product: Maxtor Fusion
Price: $799.95
Rating: 7.8/10.0 (Good)
Pros: Lightweight web-top application, makes sharing easy
Cons: Expensive, no photo-editing capabilities, difficult to navigate with so many unfamiliar icons - need to hover to see what they do
Overall: Convenient storage solution that makes sharing with friends and co-workers a breeze

Shortly after we got our hands on the Maxtor Fusion, we pumped out a Peep Show – then some exclusive news surfaced.  Now we’re ready to give you an extended review.  Lets get right into it.

The Fusion is essentially an external storage device that has built in organization software called Fabrik.  It’s not just a hard drive though – it’s a personal web server.  When you connect this guy up to your home / small office network via your router, you no longer need to waste a USB port on it.  Simply pull up the software in your web browser, and you’re on your way to organizing the chaos on your computer.

Read on for a complete review of the Maxtor Fusion.

Installation - 8.0 - I have to say, it sounds intimidating to install a personal web server, right?  You’re probably wondering, what if I don’t know anything about networking or servers at all?  Don’t worry Maxtor / Fabrik have got you covered.  The device is very close to plug-n-play.  All you need to do is hook up the hardware to your router via an Ethernet cable and then go back to your computer.  On your computer, launch the setup file on the included CD and you’re guided through the user-friendly process. 

There are a couple of things that may strike you as confusing – 1) I have to set up a DNS?  And 2) I have to read the serial number off the back of my router?  The answer to the first question is yes, but the install process makes this completely painless.  All you have to do is make an account on the DNS provider of your choice and copy/paste the information back into Fabrik.  Oh and the thing about the serial number on the router – all I’ve got to say is you better put on your glasses for that one.  The DNS thing is only relevant if you plan on sharing the files outside of your network.  If not, then all you need to do is about half of the setup pages, just click the handy “skip” button and you can get to the end in a jiffy. 

And if you plan on setting it up for external access in the future, but don’t want to right now, don’t worry because you can always change your mind and go back to the preferences.

Usability - 7.5 - The GUI is very simple.  The problem is if you make a GUI too simple, it starts to get confusing.  It’s kind of an annoyance when you have to hover over things just to see what the button does.  On a more positive note, the design is crisp and does a really good job at acting as a “web-top” application (a desktop application that lives on the web).  With the use of AJAX, you’re almost never taken to a new page – elements just load on top of another, or in another element’s space.

There are many different views that you can use.  Similar to in your operating system, you can view as a list, by details, by files/folders, and even by timeline.  For each files and folder, you can add tags and a description so when you lose something in the future, it’s accessible through search.

The file import process is also very good.  There are several ways to go about this.  The way that I used was through the network, so it was not listed as attached storage on my computer.  In this case, I had to use the web-based import process.  When you click the Import button in the top right of the screen, you’re presented with a series of text boxes with corresponding browse buttons.  Since this can get annoying if you have a bunch of files to upload, they’ve included a java-based drag-and-drop uploader that is linked on that window for easy access.

Similar to desktop navigation, when you want to view a file in full size, all you need to do is double click on it and it pops up.  Pretty nifty.

Features - 7.0 - Within Fabrik, you can share files by either making a “Public site” or by sending via email.  The email route is done by connecting to your email host similar to how Outlook does.  All you need is your outgoing SMTP hostname, and your username and password.  The software then will send an email sharing the items you selected with the recipient.  If you’ve got a bunch of people that you regularly share with, you can create a “Group” – so in the future, you can send to all of the members with one click.

One setback of using Fabrik / the Fusion is that unlike iPhoto or Picasa, there is no photo editing software built-in.  This means you cannot remove red-eye, resize pictures or anything.  The only thing you can do is rotate the pictures.  This could start to become bothersome if you have to keep replacing the files on the server.  This is of course when you’re using the drive as a network server – since I’m sure when you have it plugged into your computer you can just open up the files and edit them.  In the future, I’d like to see integration with a web-based editor such as SnipShot.

Performance - 8.5 - The device is a well performing beast of a drive.  It’s huge size will even satisfy the craziest of photographers and music archivers.  The uploading tool goes relatively fast – which will obviously depend on how you choose to connect to it.  Over my network, I uploaded (imported) 77 pictures (which were about 1 MB a piece) in about 3 minutes.  I’d say that’s pretty fast.  If you connected up via USB 2.0, I’m sure you’d be down to about 1 minute.

The GUI is also quick.  For having so many elements preloaded in AJAX, it doesn’t seem to be bogged down at all.  I have to say, Fabrik and Maxtor seem to have done a great job at bringing a desktop application to the web.

Editors Note: The categories were weighted in the following manner to reflect the importance of some features over others (in our humble opinion). Installation 20%, Usability 30%, Features 20%, and Performance 30%.

Since we’re in need for some major file organization on our cluttered computers, Fabrik sent us over the 500GB Maxtor Fusion personal web server to try on for size.  The device comes preloaded with Fabrik’s new software, which lets you store, and organize all of your media files and documents (read our post about their new service Myfabrik here).  The Fusion will also plug directly into the Internet so your files can be accessed anywhere (notice the ethernet port on the back of it)!  We’ll get you a full review soon, but for now, feast your eyes on the huge piece of hard drive they sent us after the break.

Are you like us and have so many pictures, videos, and documents on your computer that you don’t know what to do with them?  What if we told you that there’s now a way to organize all of that mess...and even share it with others.  Myfabrik, a new service from none other than Fabrik, allows you to “store, find, manage, share, link and access the media content from your personal library using any computer with a Web browser.” The myfabrik service has been out for some time now, but it officially goes into final beta on Monday.

Myfabrik is what the company is calling a “WebTop” application, meaning it resembles a desktop application - only the content lives on the web.  Monday, the hosted/shared Myfabrik application will be available for free until their public launch in early-to-mid September.  In September, they will begin charging $0.99 per month for 1GB of online storage.  For each additional gig beyond that, an extra $0.49 will be added.

If you’re the kind that would rather have your data sitting next to you, you can get your hands on the Maxtor Fusion personal Web server - a 500GB storage device that allows you to host your own Myfabrik content.  This bad boy can be connected up straight to the Internet and shared with anyone in the world.  They can be purchased at Fry’s, JR, or anywhere else they sell huge hard drives.  Pick one up for the low low price of $799 (sarcasm).  The company sent us over a Fusion, so a review is just around the corner.

“While many sites and services allow users to host only one media file type like photos or videos, we provide the same intuitive but powerful interface to tag, search, share and combine videos, photos, music and other files quickly and easily – either by context or file format. We let you be the conductor of your own personal media symphony.”

Fabrik is definately different than any of the Web 2.0 start-ups that we’ve seen...it seems that they actually have a business model (but that’s another topic for another day)!

Check out Myfabrik

More screenshots after the jump.

Online storage isn’t a new concept, but Fabrik is revolutionizing it.  Imagine Picasa or iPhoto (combined with videos and documents) on the web.  The “weblication” has an easy to use “mac-like” interface that allow you to store, share, and browse your pictures, music, videos, and documents.  The slick interface loads quickly so reorganizing and navigating through your files is a breeze.  In addition to the hosted solution, they also will soon have a “home-version of ‘online storage.’” This will include a storage device with special networking hardware/software on it that will talk to Fabrik.  The home-version is said to look exactly like the online version on the hosting is local instead of remote.  There’s no word on pricing or availability yet but we’ll let you know as the Fabrik unfolds.  Until then, enjoy the remote storage.  Check out another screenshot after the break.

Screenshots courtesy GigaOM.