Motorola announces Jelly Bean for Droid RAZR M, talks about upcoming Test Drive program

For those who like to live on the wild side, staying on the bleeding edge of tech, say hello to Motorola’s newly announced Test Drive program. Announced along side the Motorola Droid RAZR M Jelly Bean update, the Test Drive Program is similar to what Moto has been doing all along with their soak tests, only this is a bit more exclusive. Motorola mentioned that it would only allow for a “few hundred” or so users sign up for early access to major updates, starting with Jelly Bean. I’m guessing those pre-JB will have to stick with soak tests in the Motorola Feedback Network. Details on how users can sign up will be provided at a later date, but we’ll stay on the lookout.

As I mentioned above, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was also announced and is now rolling out for the Motorola Droid RAZR M. Software update 98.12.4 brings all the features you love from the J-Bean, giving you access to Google Now’s “always on” automated services, a smoother UI, as well as a handful of other enhancements and fixes. Here’s the full changelog per Verizon support:

Let us know if any of your guys’ RAZR M’s received the update yet. If not, you can always attempt to pull the update yourself by jumping into your Settings > About phone > System updates > Download. Don’t forget to visit our Droid RAZR M forums to discuss the update or just talk about general Android related topics. Godspeed.

[Motorola | Verizon Support]

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VMultra bundles USB hub, DVD drive, SD slot and 500GB HDD to form ultimate laptop peripheral

Velocity Micro® Announces Two New Products – Vector™ Holiday Edition Desktop and VMultra™ Drive External Peripheral

Priced at $599, the Holiday Edition is the first to bring boutique style, quality, and support to the mainstream; VMultra drive is a 4-in-1 external peripheral for $199

Richmond, VA - November 8, 2012 - Velocity Micro®, the premier builder of award winning enthusiast desktops, laptops, peripherals, and the remarkable line of Cruz™ tablets announces the immediate availability of the Vector Holiday Edition desktop and VMultra drive external peripheral, priced at $599 and $199.99 respectively. Both are available directly from VelocityMicro.com.

"PC shoppers are tired of the bland, plastic designs of those behemoth manufactures that fill their systems with bloatware, mass produce product in China, and outsource support to India," said Randy Copeland, President and CEO of Velocity Micro. "We've created the Vector Holiday Edition to be a viable alternative to those brands, by offering our expert build quality and award-winning support at a mainstream price."

Designed, built, and supported in the USA, the Vector Holiday Edition takes the boutique sensibilities that have made Velocity Micro a top choice amongst enthusiasts and makes them more affordable to mainstream users. The system is fully customizable with options that include quad core processors, up to 16GB 1600MHz RAM, solid state drives, and powerful discrete graphics. Specs of the $599 Vector Holiday Edition configuration include:

Dual core AMD® A6-5400k Processor
8GB DDR3-1600MHz RAM
AMD® Radeon® HD Graphics
1TB 7,200 RPM HDD
Choice of Windows® 7 or Windows® 8
1 Year US-based warranty
Lifetime in-house phone support
The VMultra™ Drive combines four different peripheral devices to create a powerful external hub that's a perfect accessory for All-in-Ones, Ultrabook™ devices, notebooks, and netbooks. Features include an external DVD±RW drive, USB 3.0 hub, SD card slot, and 500GB back-up storage solution. Orders for the VMultra drive will begin shipping Nov. 12th for $199.99.

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A*STAR unveils 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, touts affordability and improved energy efficiency

A*STAR's Data Storage Institute Launches Next Generation 5mm Hybrid Hard Disk Drive

SINGAPORE, 1 November 2012: The "A-Drive", one of the world's thinnest 5mm hybrid hard drive in a 2.5'' form factor, was officially launched by Mr. S. Iswaran, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade & Industry, to commemorate the Data Storage Institute's (DSI) 20 years of R&D in the area of data storage capabilities.

The "A-Drive" represents the next generation of storage innovation providing capacities of up to 1 TB Hard Disk Drive (HDD) with 32 GB Solid State Drive (SSD). This potentially allows the "A-Drive" to store over 250,000 songs in its 5mm body. The "A-Drive" also addresses limitations of the popular, yet expensive, flash-based SSD, as well as the conventional HDD for the consumer and business industry.

DSI's "A-Drive" is set to change the consumer and enterprise landscape, targeted specifically for tablets, ultrabooks, and future data centres. With its slim form factor, the "A-Drive" could fit into tablet devices, greatly expanding its storage space while extending battery life by up to 30%. The "A-Drive" will be a cheaper alternative to the SSDs currently used in ultrabooks, offering the same instant-on capability but with larger storage capacity. In addition, the "A-Drive" can be extended for enterprise storage applications, reducing power consumption by up to 50%, resulting in greener and more efficient data centres with better optimisation of the already limited rack space.

"Today, our year-long vision of creating a 5mm thin hybrid hard drive in 2.5'' form factor with increased storage capacity and reduced power consumption at a lower cost for manufacturers has become a reality," said Dr. Pantelis Alexopoulos, Executive Director of DSI. "We have managed to fit an amazing amount of innovation and advanced technology into a thinner, cheaper, and faster design, and we think the consumer and enterprise impact will be significant."

One of the main challenges in reducing the thickness of current 7mm hard disk drives by almost 30% without compromising on its performance and stability is its spindle motor design. To achieve a reduction in size, DSI researchers developed a proprietary axial field motor which runs smoother, quieter, more efficiently, lowering power consumption by up to 70% yet at a fraction of the cost of SSDs. The motor's design has been patented, along with 30 other unique designs for the "A-Drive". In addition, DSI has collaborated with multinational corporations and local companies, such as Seiko Instruments, Miyoshi, and Unisteel, to develop key components for the "A-Drive".

"Our capabilities today have been the result of two decades of collaboration with industry partners around the world. This has enabled DSI to develop groundbreaking solutions like the 'A-Drive'. We look forward to future partnerships as we continue our drive towards new innovations that will shape the data storage landscape," said Dr. Alexopoulos.

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