VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the VIA EPIA-M850 Mini-ITX board, the first board to feature the latest VIA VX900 media system processor, creating the ideal solution for today’s HD-intensive, commercial multimedia-centric devices.

The VIA EPIA-M850 is targeted at OEM and ODM manufacturers of commercial multimedia embedded devices. Featuring a 64-bit, high performance VIA Nano E-Series processor and the VIA VX900 unified all-in-one media system processor, the VIA EPIA-M850 delivers a highly optimized platform that boasts comprehensive HD video performance, HD audio and HDMI support in a compact, power-efficient package.

VIA EPIA-M850: Mini-ITX with Multimedia Muscle
Measuring 17cm x 17 cm the VIA EPIA-M850 Mini-ITX board features the VIA Nano E-Series processor, available in both 1.6GHz and fanless 1.2GHz SKUs. The VIA Nano E-series is paired for the first time with the VIA VX900 MSP, supporting up to 8GB of DDR3 system memory and featuring the VIA ChromotionHD 2.0 video processor.

The VIA ChromotionHD 2.0 video engine boasts comprehensive hardware acceleration for the latest VC1, H.264, MPEG-2 and WMV9 HD formats at screen resolutions of up to 1080p without affecting CPU load. Display connectivity support includes onboard HDMI and VGA ports with pin headers for dual channel 24-bit LVDS.

The VIA VX900 boasts the VIA Chrome9™ HCM 3D integrated graphics core with full DirectX 9.0 support and a 128-bit 2D engine with hardware rotation capability. The VIA VX900 also features the VIA Vinyl HD audio codec. Storage includes ports for two SATA drives.

Rear panel I/O includes a Gigabit LAN ports, PS/2 support, HDMI port, VGA port, four USB 2.0 ports, a serial port connector and three audio jacks. An on board a PCIe x4 slot is accompanied with pin headers providing dual channel 24-bit LVDS support (including backlight control), an additional three COM ports, a further four USB 2.0 ports and one USB device port, LPC support, Digital I/O, SPDIF out and an SMBus header.

VIA EPIA-M850 Product Highlights:

* High-performance 64-bit VIA Nano-E Series processor
* Hardware acceleration for VC1, H,264 and WMV9 HD video
* On board HDMI and VGA ports, plus dual channel 24-bit LVDS
* Support for up to 8GB of DDR3

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Seagate today announced channel and OEM shipments of the Momentus XT drive, the world’s fastest 2.5-inch laptop PC hard drive, combining SSD-like performance with the massive capacity and much lower cost of HDDs.

The Momentus XT drive also features Adaptive Memory – a groundbreaking new technology from Seagate that learns and optimizes the drive’s performance to each user by moving frequently used information into the flash memory for faster access. The Momentus XT solid state hybrid drive boots up to 100 percent faster than traditional 5400RPM drives, the mainstream spin speed for laptop PCs, and sets new benchmarks for real-world system performance for laptops and gaming systems.

Today’s high-performance SSDs for mobile computing cost as much as 10 times more than hard disk drives of the same capacity, with the price of a 250GB SSD outstripping even the cost of many laptop PCs. As a result, most consumers and system builders are unwilling or unable to pay the high price for the greater speed and quiet operations of SSDs. Additionally, SSDs offer fewer capacity options than hard disk drives.

The Momentus XT drive is a best-of-both-worlds solution that combines a 7200RPM spin speed, 4GB of solid state memory and Seagate’s Adaptive Memory technology to deliver unprecedented hard drive performance. The unique Adaptive Memory technology works by identifying patterns in how often certain digital data is used, and then moving the most frequently used information to the embedded solid state memory for faster access – effectively tailoring hard drive performance to each user and their applications.

Momentus XT Drive Brings Unprecedented Speed to New ASUS Gaming Laptop PC
ASUS has also announced that it will offer the Momentus XT drive as an upgrade option for its new Republic of Gamers (ROG) G73Jh notebook. The system is powered by an Intel i7 720Qm quad-core processor, 8GB of DDR3 memory, and DX11 capable ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5870.

Power Quotient International (PQI) released its latest USB flash-drive, the CoolDrive U368. Among a small, growing group, the U368 is USB 3.0 SuperSpeed compliant, and offers transfer-rates on par with hard drives, with access times comparable to those of SSDs.

Its casing is typically-shaped, measuring 90.1 x 22 x 11.1 mm, and weighing 25 g. When connected using USB 3.0, the drive offers transfer speeds of around 105 MB/s, which can be improved with the bundled TurboFlash USB software. It is available in capacities ranging from 8 GB, all the way up to 128 GB. It is backwards-compatible with USB 2.0, albeit with lower transfer-rates. Pricing and availability are yet to be known.

Corsair has introduced a new Flash Voyager Mini with a storage capacity of 32GB. These compact USB drives feature a cap-less retractable connector plug, and are available in capacities ranging of 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB.

“USB flash drive users love the convenience and ruggedness of the Flash Voyager Mini form factor,” stated John Beekley, VP of Technical Marketing at Corsair. “The increase in density to 32GB allows users to carry their digital world with them at all times on this compact drive.”

The Flash Voyager Mini utilizes a cap-less retractable USB connector, which easily opens with the flick of the thumb, and its diminutive size makes it easy to carry virtually anywhere. The rubberized housing is also durable, making it an ideal flash drive for users with busy and active lifestyles.

The 32GB Flash Voyager Mini is available immediately from Corsair’s authorized distributors and resellers worldwide. Complete customer support via telephone, email, forum and Tech Support Xpress is also available.

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Wowzers, that took them a while. How long does it take to get an 8GB memory card to the market? If you’re Eye-Fi, and the card is the WiFi 802.11n-toting Eye-Fi Pro X2, then it’s a couple of months; the company has announced that its latest wireless-enabled memory card is shipping from today, promising faster transfer speeds and improved overall performance.

According to the Eye-Fi blog, that’s all down to their new X2 engine, which bundles together a 200 MHz ARM926 processor with an MMU, dedicated flash and radio interface engines, and encryption acceleration hardware. Combined, they’re good for improved WiFi-triangulation geotagging accuracy and “Endless Memory”, Eye-Fi’s new system whereby images and video are automatically deleted from the X2 once the card has verified that they’ve been correctly uploaded to the server.

The Eye-Fi Pro X2 will also come with Eye-Fi Center, the newest version of the company’s desktop manager app for PC and Mac. Eye-Fi Center will also be available for existing Eye-Fi owners, though so far we can’t find it to download on their site. As for the Eye-Fi Pro X2, that’s available for $149.99.

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Mushkin has announced two new additions to its Blackline memory kit series, 8GB dual channel and 12GB triple channel kits. Both meant for use with Intel chipsets, but we guess that 8GB dual channel one could work with AMD as well.

Both kits are working at the same specs so you’ll end up with a 1600MHz kit with 7-7-7-20 latencies at 1.65V. Although the dual channel 8GB kit is meant for Intel’s Socket LGA 1156 processors, we are pretty sure that you won’t have any trouble running it on an AMD-based platform as well.

Both kits use Mushkin’s black painted Frostbite heatspreaders and are backed by a lifetime warranty. Unfortunately, Mushkin didn’t announce a price for these two, but we guess that they will show up in retail/e-tail pretty soon.

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OCZ’s CrossOver flash drive was introduced in December last year, and back then we taught that integrating a microSDHC card reader into a flash drive is a really clever idea, and that it’s a practical concept.

Flash memory prices might be raising lately, but USB flash drives are still dirty cheap and have became an every day gadget that you either use for storage or quick transfer of files.

When you take into account the fact that today most mobile phones use a microSD/microSDHC card for its storage capabilities and that some of those same mobile phones come with a weird cable, the CrossOver sounds like a great thing to have in your pocket.

The CrossOver is a plain and normal USB flash drive that comes in 2, 4 and 8GB capacities. It is packed in a well built dark gray aluminium chassis, and it is pretty compact. It’s not bulky as some other flash drives, but it’s not very small either.

Despite the fact that this one targets the value part of the market the build quality is still high. Thankfully, OCZ decided to go with aluminium on this one, no cheap plastic to be seen here.

The card reader is well hidden on the end of the flash drive, just below the lanyard hole. The card does not slide all the way in, but it feels solid, so we doubt that you will have any problems if you consider using it as an expander for some additional storage.

OCZ targets mainstream market with this one, so practicality, value and low price are the key points for this drive. This means that transfer speeds are mainstream as well. We decided to put OCZ’s CrossOver against some flash drives which we had around, and we simply included the Patriot Xporter to show the advantage of SLC based flash drive, which are much more expensive.

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