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Keeper of Flash, Adobe, has unveiled its far-reaching “Open Screen Project,” garnering the interest of a who’s who of heavy hitters ranging from ARM to Verizon and pretty much everyone in between. Why the massive corporate attention? The project ultimately aims to open-source Flash’s file formats and portions of its inner workings — but perhaps more importantly, it’ll kill the license fee manufacturers pay to bundle Flash players on their devices, potentially opening the door for the same massive level of acceptance Flash has enjoyed on the desktop in our pockets as well. There’s no word on exactly when the fruits of the project will be available to the public — Adobe says it’s “just underway,” after all — but if this means our Flash-laden phone is going to be, like, 20 cents cheaper now, we’re all for it.

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SuperTalent’s wide lineup of SSDs got a little bigger today, with the addition of some low(er)-cost MLC flash-based gear. Like the company’s earlier “world’s thinnest” 256GB drive, the three new models are external units, and you’re looking at capacities of 30GB, 60GB, and 120GB for $299, $449, and $699, respectively. That’s actually not all that bad, considering a bare 64GB SLC SSD can run an easy grand. Available now, it looks like.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

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Taking a cue from America’s army and, er, America’s Army, the Australian military is also using online games to pump up flagging recruitment numbers. As the New Zealand Herald reports, Australia’s Defence Jobs web site allows visitors to control crude, Flash versions of ARV Tiger Attack Helicopters, F/A-18 Hornets and more.

The games aren’t exactly new (JayIsGames discussed one of them back in 2004) but they’re getting increased attention now as a way for military recruitment to compete with a fierce job market. “It is critical to the future of the ADF that Generation Y and beyond can access and interact with recruiting information via the technology they are comfortable with,” said Defence Science and Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon, who sounds extremely old.

Two of the Air Force games have recorded over 300,000 plays, according to the Herald report, which might not seem like much compare to America’s Army’s 8+ million users. Remember, though, that America’s defense budget exceeds Australia’s (and indeed, the rest of the world’s) by leaps and bounds. Whoo! We’re No. 1! Don’t mess with the U.S.! These colors don’t run! And so on …

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A year ago today Toshiba was announcing ¥26.17 billion in profits for the quarter. Today, just ¥1.25 billion or about $12 million. In addition to the $580 million hit on account of its withdrawal from HD DVD, Toshiba also saw a swift decline in flash memory prices. While bad news for Toshiba on all accounts, we consumers are basking in a market dominated by a single high-def optical disc standard and cheap NAND and DRAM pricing. Sorry Tosh, but you won’t find any tears around here.

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Apparently catering to the few folks out there that feel they have too few USB flash drives, Ultra Products recently let loose this so-called SpaceStation 6, which comes with no less than six tiny thumb drives that can be neatly concealed and used as the mood strikes. Of course, there’s no hub action going on here — which would be convenient — and the slots likely won’t play nice with your current stash of flash drives. If you’re still interested, however, you can grab either a 12GB version (consisting of six 2GB drives) or a 6GB version (with six 1GB drives) right now for $90 or $60, respectively.

source:engadget.com

The alphabet soup of different flash memory technologies is already a little bewildering, but it looks like the latest entrant could end up being the most promising of all, with single chip storage capacities of 1TB expected within ten years. Called array-based memory, the tech has been under development at a company called Nanochip, Inc. for nearly 12 years, and it looks like the first working samples will go out next year. Although those first prototypes will have storage roughly equivalent to NAND flash at tens of gigs per circuit, the plan is to rapidly scale up to 100s of gigs and finally to 1TB on a single chip. Because the chips can be manufactured using conventional fabs and aren’t subject to the same manufacturing constraints as traditional flash, they may also end up being far cheaper per gigabyte. The company is being funded by a number of prominent tech giants, including Intel, and says the tech can be used to improve everything from USB keys to SSDs to enterprise-grade servers — wait, bigger, cheaper, and potentially better? Yeah, sign us up.
source:engadget.com

SanDisk has joined the huge memory storage allocation race by coming up with their own version of the 4GB memory card. Their newest format is the microSD High Capacity or “microSDHC”. It is a flash card which includes the brand new “MicroMate SD/SDHC compatible, high-speed USB 2.0 card reader.

This new card reader ensures that you have a smooth transition from microSD format to the revolutionary microSDHC format. The kit that SanDisk includes with this particular memory card also includes a full-sized SD adapter so that it can fit into devices with an SD slot.

You get the optimal speed and performance for those devices which accept microSDHC. You also get a large storage capacity of 4GB which is by far, the industry standard for devices such as these. One of the great things about this particular memory card is that your microSDHC is backed by a 5 year limited warranty.

This is a must if you’ve always wanted to keep your microSD cards while wanting to try out future technology. Once you try this format, you’ll understand what all the buzz is about.

The Olympus FL-50 electronic Flash is specifically developed as an attachment for digital SLR cameras. The flash coverage can be automatically adjusted to the lens when zooming or it can also be set manually. The Olympus FL-50 Electronic Flash also comes with a variety of other features.

The FL-50 can be attached to the camera via a hot shoe, cable or using the FL-BK01 Flash Bracket. The FL-50 operates in five modes. At TTL Auto mode, it flashes after being able to measure the appropriate illumination needed for a subject with the use of a pre-flash. In auto mode, the illumination is controlled to match the lens aperture with the use of the FL-50’s light receptor window.

The manual mode for the FL-50 allows the user to flash using a guide number setting. In FP-TTL Auto mode, the flash illumination can be synchronized with shutter speeds of up to 1/4000 sec. In FP-Manual mode, the FP flashes at a manually set illumination.

Other features of the FL-50 Electronic Flash include Redeye Reduction that helps reduce the redeye effect usually caused by flash illumination in developed photos. The FL-50 also has a Slow Synchro feature that allows it to be used when taking photos at slow shutter speeds. A Second-curtain Synchro feature allows it to flash just before exposure ends while using a slow shutter.

In the digital world, speed is of the essence, and in the digital photography world, this means everything. The new Lexar 80X 4GB Compact flash card has the patented 80X speed which enables digital shooters to record 12MB per second. This is, by far, the fastest write speed in Compact Flash cards today.

The Type II Compact Flash card is especially constructed for the professional shooter who needs immediate confirmation that they have been able to capture a particular shot where they can quickly identify precise levels, bracketing ranges and other elements.

This is practical for fast-paced application such as sports events or photojournalism where one needs to capture “the moment”. If you have this in your camera, you won’t need to worry about missing anything.

This high-speed professional digital compact flash card will bring out the best in your professional equipment as well as complement the fast-paced photographer in you.

SanDisk has joined the huge memory storage allocation race by coming up with their own version of the 4GB memory card. Their newest format is the microSD High Capacity or “microSDHC”. It is a flash card which includes the brand new “MicroMate SD/SDHC compatible, high-speed USB 2.0 card reader.

This new card reader ensures that you have a smooth transition from microSD format to the revolutionary microSDHC format. The kit that SanDisk includes with this particular memory card also includes a full-sized SD adapter so that it can fit into devices with an SD slot.

You get the optimal speed and performance for those devices which accept microSDHC. You also get a large storage capacity of 4GB which is by far, the industry standard for devices such as these. One of the great things about this particular memory card is that your microSDHC is backed by a 5 year limited warranty.

This is a must if you’ve always wanted to keep your microSD cards while wanting to try out future technology. Once you try this format, you’ll understand what all the buzz is about.