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A new automated emergency-braking feature will be in U.S. Nissan cars by next year, the company said Tuesday.

The feature works in tandem with the gas pedal to help drivers avoid a crash.

When speed and distance sensors on the car detect an imminent crash, the gas pedal lifts slightly to warn the driver. If the driver eases pressure on the gas pedal in response, the car automatically brakes instead of waiting until the driver slams a foot on the brake pedal, according to a report from the Associated Press.

But the driver still has ultimate control over the … Read more

Buffalo Technologies announced today enhanced versions of its MiniStation and DriveStation product lines that allow for faster data transfers over USB. The proprietary Turbo USB feature operates at the controller level to increase data throughput between 30 percent and 60 percent, according to Buffalo. Because the Turbo USB utility resides on the drive itself, you should be able to benefit from the speed increase while plugged into any PC.

The MiniStation comes in 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, and 250GB capacities. It has built-in shock-resistant technology, which can be crucial for portable drives that are likely to be dropped. The USB cable … Read more

Those familiar with PQI's U510 USB Card Drives already know the deal: they're 3 millimeters thin--thin enough to slide in your wallet as you would a credit card--and they pack an unbelievable amount of flash storage in that sleek frame.

The storage device even has a sliding USB dongle that folds into the Card Drive, eliminating the presence of an awkward cable dangling out of your billfold.

Past models offered a whopping 16GB of storage, and now PQI has upped the ante to an incredible 32GB with its latest model. That's perfect for lugging around your favorite … Read more

Iomega announced today three new members of its StorCenter Network hard drive family. All three offer a built-in media server, an on-board print server, Active Directory support, a journaling file system, and EMC Retrospect backup and recovery software, as well as two external USB ports for hard drives or printers.

The 1TB product comprises two 500GB drives and supports RAID 1, RAID 0, and JBOD. The 500GB and 750GB versions each contain just one drive. All three use 7,200rpm SATA-II drives with 8MB of cache. They also offer a gigabit Ethernet connection.

Both Macs and PCs are supported, as … Read more

When I look at my Sony noise-cancelling earbuds, I'm embarrassed. Although I love their sound quality--I can completely block out everyone when I'm listening with them--their black and silver minimalist design is nothing to brag about. So when I heard that Swarovski and Philips Electronics will start selling their new crystal-adorned headphones and other gizmos in August, I was pleased.

The new line, called Active Crystals, features eight styles of sound accessories and USB drives. My personal favorite is the key-shaped USB drive, which can be worn like a necklace, featuring signature Swarovski crystals embossing the pendant. There'… Read more

Will external hard drives ever become a fashion accessory? Seagate Technologies released its FreeAgent line of drives, complete with clever packaging, earlier this year.

Now, Samsung is going to give it a shot. Later this year, the South Korean electronics giant will release that thing in the picture. It's an 80GB 1.8 inch drive in a package that's about the size of a business card holder. The cover is grooved like an album, and it feels sort of cool.

No word on pricing yet, but the company will try to bring it out for under $200. Capacity … Read more

It may be a sad commentary on modern society, but we fully understand why people would want to install cameras in their cars specifically to document what exactly might happen in an accident. We just don't think the ideal solution is a model so big that it could obstruct a driver's view and possibly cause the very accident it's trying to monitor--no matter what Paris Hilton's parents have to say about it.

Clarion's "DriveEye" may be a good compromise, though Technabob says it's available only in Japan at present for about $412. … Read more

Western Digital announced today that all of its dual-drive My Book lineups are now available in 2-terabyte capacities. Products include My Book World Edition II, My Book Pro Edition II, and My Book Premium Edition II. All of these dual-disc external drives offer RAID mirroring and RAID striping, for data protection and speed improvements. The Premium and Pro Editions have three connector options: USB 2.0, FireWire 400, and FireWire 800. The World Edition offers Gigabit Ethernet.

The 2TB versions are available immediately, ranging from $749 to $799.

LaCie announced yesterday its new Big Disk Extreme+ desktop hard drive, a fairly standard external drive whose standout feature is the massive capacity. It's available in 1-terabyte, 1.5-terabyte, and 2-terabyte capacities, starting at $350 ($850 for the 2TB drive). The design is LaCie's classic Neil Poulton d2 look: brushed gray body with a blue programmable one-touch button mounted on the front. Connection options include two FireWire 800 ports, one FireWire 400 port, and one USB 2.0 port. It comes bundled with LaCie's 1-Click Backup software, Silverkeeper (backup software for Macs), and two versions of EMC … Read more