duo

FAA may change in-flight gadget rules

Keep your seat belt fastened for Tuesday's tech news roundup:

The Federal Aviation Administration has formed a committee to reconsider its policy on when electronics can be turned on during a flight. But this does not include making a cellphone call, so no worries about noisy neighbors. This group will look into how (or if) today's smartphones and tablets interfere with communication and instruments, and perhaps future electronics could have some new certification standard that marks it as safe for use during a flight.

Android users might have to thank the Apple vs. Samsung trial for speeding up … Read more

WD My Book Thunderbolt Duo review: Good but not really a page turner

If price has been your biggest concern about a Thunderbolt storage device, and it should be, then the new My Book Thunderbolt Duo from Western Digital is worth the wait.

After teasing about it at CES 2012, WD finally released the drive, and it costs about $100 less than the 2big Thunderbolt from LaCie, which offers exactly the same storage capacities and RAID support.… Read more

WD demos its first Thunderbolt drive at Macworld

Having shown its first Thunderbolt drive at CES 2012 without providing much detail, Western Digital is now sharing more information the second time around.

The major storage vendor is showing off the same drive again, called the My Book Thunderbolt Duo, at Macworld iWord 2012, which is currently taking place in San Francisco.

The new My Book Thunderbolt Duo dual-drive storage system comes in the same shape and design as Western Digital's My Book Studio Edition II but it now has two Thunderbolt ports instead of any other connection options, such as USB or FireWire.… Read more

WD teases with Thunderbolt drive demo

LAS VEGAS--It's a teaser to say the least.

Without any ado or even a hint, Western Digital showcased at CES 2012 its first Thunderbolt-based external hard drive, called the My Book Thunderbolt Duo. This is a drive that looks exactly like the My Book Studio II with one main difference: on the back it comes with two Thunderbolt ports and no other connection types.

There's not much information about the drive, but one thing is clear: this is a dual-bay drive, meaning that it hosts two internal hard drives. These hard drives are more than likely set up … Read more

WD My Book Live NAS server now supports RAID

Western Digital today announced an upgraded version of the WD My Book Live that can host two internal hard drives.

The new NAS server is called My Book Live Duo and comes in 4TB or 6TB capacities. The server's two internal hard drives can be combined in a RAID 0 configuration for maximum storage space and performance or in a mirror RAID 1 configuration for double data backup. These two RAID setups are a common feature of any dual-volume storage solution.

Like the original My Book Live, the My Book Live Duo supports personal cloud storage, meaning remote users can access data stored on it from anywhere in the world by pointing a browser to www.wd2go.com. It comes with WD mobile apps for iOS-based devices and Android-based mobile devices.

The My Book Live Duo features a built-in DLNA-compliant media server that can broadcast digital content to a networked media player, such as a WD TV Live player, a Blu-ray player, a PlayStation, or an Xbox 360.

The new My Book Live Duo is compatible both Windows (XP or later) and Mac OS (10.5 or later) and is available now, costing around $400 for the 4TB version or $500 for the 6TB version.… Read more

Samsung launches duo of dual-SIM Galaxy Y Duos Androids

Samsung today introduced the Galaxy Y Duos and Galaxy Y Pro Duos, a pair of Android smartphones in the Galaxy product family that hve space for two SIM cards, letting you lead a double life on your phone.

The two SIM cards mean you've got two phone numbers at your disposal, one for work, for instance, and one for your personal life. You can use data according to your plan, regardless of the SIM. Both phones run on the GSM technology (850/900/1800/1900 MHz bands) and have Samsung's TouchWiz software overlay.

The Galaxy Y Duos is … Read more

Netgear unveils budget pro ReadyNAS servers

Netgear today announced new NAS servers designed for "economical pro" users. Apart from the amount of drive bays (and hence the types of RAID support), the two-bay ReadyNAS Duo and the four-bay ReadyNAS NV+ V2 are essentially the same.

Besides RAID 0, 1, and 5 (available with the NV+ V2 only), both servers support Netgear's XRAID 2 configuration, which is a proprietary flexible RAID that allows you to use hard drives of different capacities and upgrade the RAID without having to build it from scratch. XRAID 2 automatically manages hard drives based on the amount of drives used with a balance between performance and data integrity, with one drive always being used for data redundancy. XRAID 2 has been available in other servers from Netgear, such as the higher-end ReadyNAS Ultra4. … Read more

Akitio intros personal MyCloud Duo NAS server

Akitio announced today the availability of the MyCloud Duo, its second-generation personal cloud NAS server.

The company says the new server features a Web-based file browser and media player to offer over-the-Internet file management and media playback, via a convenient portal. For the local network, the server features a one Gigabit Ethernet port and has a built-in UPnP AV media server, allowing users to stream content to any UPnP-AV- and DLNA- compatible devices.

As a storage device, the MyCloud Duo supports the SMB standard and can be automatically detected by other computers. The server can house two SATA hard drives … Read more

Atari joystick goes all retro on your iPad

The Ion Audio iCade, which came out earlier this year, gives your iPad that good old-fashioned game feel that takes you back to when you skipped class to drop quarters at the local arcade. There's no denying that the iCade is nifty, but the $99 price tag is a bit of a turn-off.

That's why retro gamers are getting excited about the upcoming Atari Arcade Duo Powered Joystick. It's designed to work with the Atari's Greatest Hits iPad app, which features 100 classic Atari and arcade games.

The Atari joystick isn't as fancy as the iCade, but it should be cheaper. The iPad simply docks into a slot at the top, rather than use Bluetooth like the iCade. The controller part of the device has a simple pattern with four buttons and a joystick.

Details are sketchy so far. All we know is that the Atari Arcade Duo Powered Joystick is supposed to be available soon at retailers like Target and Toys "R" Us.

If you haven't been able to tear yourself away from Centipede or Asteroids or simply want to relive the Atari glory days of your childhood, then you can add this gadget to your gaming wish list.… Read more

New 2010 MacBook Air dips below $900, refurb $749

As of Saturday, the price of a new 2010 11.6-inch MacBook Air had fallen well below $900 at Best Buy, in the wake of the release of the 2011 models. And refurbs are now under $750 from Apple.

While other retailers list the low-end 11.6-inch model (MC516LL/A) at just below $900, Best Buy is listing it at $834.99. The 2010 11.6-inch Air is equipped with a 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics, 2GB of memory, and a 64GB flash drive.

How long the Best Buy price will last is anyone'… Read more