Gizmodo Australia » memory cards

Kingston MobileLite G2 Card Reader Protects Your Cards

Dan Nosowitz — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:10:00 +0000

Kingston’s followup to its MobileLite, the MobileLite G2, brings a new, dual-slider design that aims to protect your SD/HC and microSD/HC cards from harm. It’s the most caring card reader on the market.

The MobileLite G2 features a dual-slider design: On one side lies the USB plug, and on the other, the card readers. Both sides, when slid outwards, protect what’s within. It sounds kind of complicated, but isn’t too hard to use, though it certainly requires more steps than a typical card reader. To insert a card, you push the card reader side toward the middle, revealing the slot for your card. After your card is safely in its slot, you extend that side back out again, protecting the cards (or not, you can leave them unprotected if you’re some kind of negligent owner). Then, push the USB side in, revealing the USB jack, and plug it into your computer.

It does sound a little complicated when I explain it, but really it’s pretty simple: Both the card side and the USB side extend to cover their respective delicate bits. (Note: The first person to say “foreskin” will be either banned or promoted, I haven’t decided which). Unfortunately, the MobileLite G2 only supports SD/HC, microSD/HC and Memory Stick Duo, not CompactFlash, which is a bummer. But it’s given an MSRP of $US11, and it could well retail for less. It’s a pretty handy little gadget to have around, that’s for sure, and it should be available later this week. [Kingston]

Oops! Did Someone Forget Something?

Nick Broughall — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:45:49 +0000

I don’t know what’s worse – that someone forgot to stick in a memory card, or that this sign has been displaying the words “Insert Memory Card” for at least two full days.

[Thanks Damo!]

Win! One of 10 Lexar Prize Packs Worth $287!

Nick Broughall — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:33 +0000

Out of all the awesome prizes in the Lexar prize packs we’re giving away this week, I reckon the 16GB Firefly Jump Drive is the pick. And not just because it’s named after one of my favourite TV shows, either.With 16GB, you can pretty much forget about worrying about storage ever again. Stick this baby on your keyring and you’ve got instant access to all your favourite files, photos, videos, and documents wherever you are.

The prize pack also includes a Lexar Platinum II CF 8GB, a Lexar Platinum II SDHC 8GB, a Lexar Dual-Slot USB card reader and a Lexar Mobile Memory Kit 2GB, for a total prize value worth $287. And we’ve got 10 of them to give away!

To enter, click back to yesterday’s competition post and answer, in 25 words or less, “How can Lexar Media enhance your photographic experience?” in the comments section. Entries close Friday at 5pm, with winners drawn next Monday.

[Lexar comp on Giz]
[Lexar.com/au]

Win! One of 10 Lexar Prize Packs Worth $287!

Nick Broughall — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:53 +0000

The world has changed. My first digital camera – a Cybershot P9 from Sony that shot 5MP stills and cost me $1,300 (right before the bottom fell out of the digital camera market) was state of the art for its time. Nowadays, both DSLRS and compacts are shooting HD video, 10MP stills and can chew through your memory faster than my old Cybershot chewed through its included 32MB memory stick. Fortunately, memory has also changed to adapt to the growing needs of the discerning photographer, with faster read and write speeds and higher capacities. And Giz AU has partnered with Lexar to offer readers the chance to win one of 10 high capacity storage prize packs.Each of the ten prize packs will include the following Lexar products:

· Lexar Platinum II CF 8GB
· Lexar Platinum II SDHC 8GB
· Lexar Dual-Slot USB card reader
· Lexar Mobile Memory Kit 2GB
· Lexar FireFly JumpDrive 16GB

Even if you’re shouldering the latest DSLR from Canon or Nikon, that should be enough to keep you going for a while.

To be in the running to win this awesome storage prize, all you need to do is tell us in the comments section below, in 25 words or less, “How can Lexar Media enhance your photographic experience?”

Entries close at 5pm on Friday, with winners announced next Monday, April 27. Full termas and conditions can be found here (pdf file). And you can check out Lexar’s website for more info on each of the products on offer. Good luck!

[Lexar.com/au]

Elecom 2GB MicroSD Loverish Line Prettifies Your Memory Cards

Elaine Chow — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:26:44 +0000

MicroSD cards are so prolific nowadays that it’s about time for companies to differentiate their products using cutesy designs. If you’re a 15-year-old girl, these goth- and love-themed 2GB ought to thrill.

The Loverish line comes in four colours each and a read/write speed of 6.5MB/second. Pricing was not yet available, but it probably doesn’t matter considering these most likely won’t make it over to the States anytime soon. If and when it does, we’re sure you’ll be able to find it at a Hot Topic. [Elecom via Akihabara News]

SanDisk ImageMate Card Readers Were Actually Designed

Matt Buchanan — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Whoa, these are card readers? Mundane but necessary gadgets deserve essentialised designs, and SanDisk’s new ImageMate All-in-One and Multi-card look a lot like Neil Poulton’s bare, black and glossy hard drives for LaCie.

They’re promising some speedy transfer times with the All-in-One—up to 34MB/s with the speediest CompactFlash cards—and you can use multiple card simultaneously to move stuff between cards. It’s $US30. The Multi-Card is a little pokier, at 30MB/s read times with a fast enough SDHC card. It’s $US20.

Since we don’t see where the USB cable plugs in, I wonder if they have the same problem as the old-school ImageMate I’ve got—if you don’t have ‘em propped up on the stand, the port is so recessed you can’t use a standard USB cable with it. Blam actually broke the corner off his to make regular mini USB plugs fit. I hope not, since I wouldn’t want to mar these. [Sandisk via Ubergizmo]

SanDisk 16GB MicroSD Cards Arrive in Stores

Mark Wilson — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:22:00 +0000

While SanDisk has made no official announcements, their 16GB MicroSD cards are popping up for sale at various internet retailers (at various prices, we might add). Ranging from $US80 to $US220 (we’d go with the $US80), prices will settle with more availability. But we’re pretty excited to toss an iPhone’s worth of flash storage into any fancy smartphone we like. Plus, whenever we pop a tiny MicroSD card into one of our gadgets, it always feels like we’re in the future. [mymemory via internettabletalk Thanks tipsters!]

Pretec’s Stumps Up 64GB Compact Flash Card, and 100GB World’s Largest

Kit Eaton — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:58:00 +0000

100GB CF cards…. holy moly that’s huge. Pretec’s saying it’s the world’s largest capacity CF, and I’m not going to argue. It’s a 233x speed card, capable of access rates at 35MB/s and it, along with its smaller sibling, is being shown at Photokina this week. Not satisfied with that though, Pretec’s also extending its range of ultra-fast cards (apparently the world’s fastest) with 333x speed and 50MB/s data rates in 32GB and 50GB capacities. The 333x 32GB and 233x 64GB are due to ship now, for $US630 and $US400, and the 233x 100GB and 333x 50GB by the end of the year. But Pretec’s being shy about pricing those, or indeed even showing a product pic. Press release below.

COLOGNE, Germany & TAIPEI, Taiwan —(Business Wire)— Sep 22, 2008 Pretec, creator of the highest capacity and fastest CompactFlash card in the world, will demonstrate even higher capacities including a 64GB CF card, in the Leaf booth (West Hall 4.2, B009) and CFA (Hall 5.1, G-019) at Photokina 2008.

Pretec today releases 64GB and 100GB, 233X CF cards with access speed of up to 35MB/s, overtaking the Pretec 48GB CF card, the previous world’s record holder; and super high speed 333X 32GB and 50GB CF cards capable of running up to 50 MB per second of Read/Write speed, the highest speed CF card in the world.

Pretec CF 233X and 333X CF cards use metal housing and ruggedized construction to provide extensive ruggedness. Pretec 64GB CF cards can be configured or reused to make a 256GB SATA, the highest capacity 2.5″ SSD, by using Pretec Q-SATA, a patent-pending technology of flexible, scalable and modular SATA/PATA design based on up to 4 CF cards.

Pretec CF cards will be demonstrated together with high performance digital cameras from Leaf, a business unit of Eastman Kodak. Their new Leaf AFi-II system delivers the fastest shooting speeds of any camera in its class. These speeds are enabled by advanced communication and CF technologies and Leaf Capture software. “We are pleased to have chosen Pretec as our exclusive storage partner at Photokina 2008 and to witness the excitement as Pretec breaks the CF card speed and capacity world records,” said Seth Greenberg, Leaf Marketing Director.

Pretec 233X 64GB and 333X 32GB CF cards with suggested retail price of $399 and $630 are slated to start delivery by Photokina 2008.

[Pretec]

Sandisk’s SlotMusic MicroSD Cards to Have Big-Name MP3 Albums Aboard

Kit Eaton — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:56:00 +0000

Sandisk’s slotMusic cards are not much more than tweaked 1GB microSD cards with a logo and a special USB-compatible sled: but the fact that they’ll carry albums from big names like BMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group makes them interesting. They’ll also be DRM free too, which is a pleasant surprise. It’s an attempt to change the way some people buy MP3s—you’ll get a card you can slot into your mobile phone or PC with high-quality MP3s (up to 320kbps), artwork, videos and such, which you can also reuse as a 1GB memory card later, and that’s kinda handy.

It’s impossible to say how these’ll work in the market where instant and convenient downloads are a click away, since you’ll have to either buy one in a physical store, or purchase them online and wait for them to come in the mail.

But you can guess that downloading market is why the music biz is trying to grab back control of at least some of their music sales. There’s no official data on pricing, but word is it’ll compare to existing CD albums, and a list of titles will hit in time for the holiday season. [SlotMusic]