Tuesday, January 8, 2013

CES 2013: Kingston’s HyperX Predator Flash Drives Go to 1TB – Yes, 1TB

Given the sheer number of products that get unveiled at each CES, it’s of no surprise that some will shine a bit brighter than others, causing people to do a double-take or drop their jaws. This year, the first product to manage both of those for me is Kingston’s DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.0, a flash drive that boasts not only a seriously long name, but huge storage. How does 1TB sound?

Let’s put this into perspective. About a year ago, I took a look at Kingston’s first-ever HyperX flash drive, weighing in at 64GB. At the time, that was in all regards impressive – though not quite as impressive as the 256GB offering the company also had. It’s not uncommon for technology to move at such a pace where densities can double each year, but I am not sure anyone expected Kingston to be announcing a drive today that quadruples last year’s top-end model.


Despite its massive storage, Kingston was able to retain a modest size with Predator. The 64GB DT HyperX I mentioned before came in at 2.95″ x 0.92″ x 0.63″. By comparison, the Predator is a tad shorter but also a tad beefier at the sides, at 2.83″ x 1.06″ x 0.83″.

Performance-wise, Predator boasts SSD-like throughput at 240MB/s read and 160MB/s write. These speeds make the Predator not only useful to store large files, but store large files fast.

At Predator’s retail launch, which should take place soon, only a 512GB model will become available. The 1TB model that I’ve been raving over will see its launch later in Q1. Unfortunately, the vital piece of information we’d all like to know isn’t yet available: pricing. Given the fact that Kingston’s smallest Predator offering is 512GB, we have to assume that these will not be consumer-focused, but are instead targeted at the business or workstation user. Either way, for what it offers, I think Predator is aptly-named.

Source: http://techgage.com

Monday, January 7, 2013

How to Use an Xbox 360 Controller with Your Mac



If you like to play games on your Mac you may tire of using the keyboard and mouse and not like the available third-party controllers available for OS X. Instructables user fungus amungusshows how you can adapt either a wireless or wired Xbox 360 controller to work with your Mac.
The basic process is the same for wired or wireless controller use with the exception that you'll need a $14 wireless gaming receiver if you want to be wireless. You'll use a USB driver utility called Tattieboogle to recognize either the controller or receiver and the $5 app Joystick Mapperto get the controllers working. After that you should be good to go, but some games you might have to spend a few minutes remapping the buttons before playing.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Bookmark Specific Gmail Pages for Quicker Access


Usually, you need to head to your Gmail inbox in order to compose a new message, view your drafts, or visit another part of your inbox. Lifehack.org notes that you can actually bookmark these pages for quicker access.

I generally pin my Gmail inbox to the side of my tab bar, but that isn't ideal for everyone—in fact, it's likely to distract you into constantly checking your email. So, if you try to keep your Gmail out of sight, Lifehack says you should add a few bookmarks—to things like like Compose, Drafts, Starred, or any other specific locations—to your bookmark bar so they're easily accessible in fewer clicks. It's an incredibly simple tip, but one that could be pretty helpful if you want to minimize both distractions and mouse clicks. (Of course, you could always do it from your address bar or from an app launcher too, if you want even more speed).

You can do this with other Google services, too.

Source: http://lifehacker.com